The most common mistakes in English. Wrong goal setting
The general linguistic concept of "error" can be perceived in different ways, since this term can be applied to different levels of the language. First of all, it should be noted that the most important and important type of error is that which makes it difficult to understand. For example, "She seen it with dignity" instead of "She looked at it with dignity"
Julian Edge identifies the following categories of mistakes from the teacher's point of view. Julian Edge, Mistakes and Corrections, Longman, - 1997. - 70. c. 9-10.
1. Mistakes - reservations (slips).
This type includes errors that the student can correct himself if they are pointed out.
Example: She left college two years ago and now work as a secretary.
I decided to do it and forgotten about it.
2. Mistakes made in the material covered (errors).
This type includes errors that the student cannot correct on their own, even if they are pointed out, but the class is familiar with the correct form.
Example: That was the first English film which I have understood it.
He doesn't know about the war, doesn't he?
3. Mistakes made in unexplored material (attempts).
This type includes errors made in unfamiliar structures, or when it is not clear what the student wants to say, and what form he is trying to use in a sentence to express his thoughts.
Example: This no really for always my time...
With time it appeared more clearly.
According to Julian Edge, this classification can be effective for teachers who know the level of the language of their students, because. for one, an error in such sentences may be slip, for another - error, and for the third - attempt. And also it can be the progress of the student in learning the language from attempt to slip.
S.G. Merkulova considers the issue of classification of errors from a linguistic point of view. There are three main types of errors: semantic, grammatical and phonetic errors. Merkulova S.G. Modern approaches to correcting errors in oral speech when learning English.// English language. Supplement to the newspaper "First of September". -2002. - 45. - S. 5.
Since the distortion of meaning interferes with mutual understanding, semantic errors can be considered the most serious and require correction. Grammar errors are the second group of errors often corrected by teachers.
The last type of errors is phonetic. Frequent correction of phonetic errors eradicates children's confidence in their abilities already at the very initial stage of language learning, so this problem should be approached differently.
Depending on which language norms are violated, in the classification of S.N. Zeitlin proper speech errors are divided into a number of categories. Zeitlin S.N. Speech errors and their prevention. - St. Petersburg: Publishing House "MiM", 1997. - 192, - S. 21-22. Errors can be distinguished:
a) word-formation - consisting in the unjustified formation of new words or modifications of the words of the normative language;
Alan was insatisfied with his work.
b) morphological - associated with non-normative formation of word forms and the use of parts of speech;
He got his first book and cried angry.
c) syntactic - consisting in the incorrect construction of phrases, simple and complex sentences;
The cat was trapped at the corner of the street where the trash would be placed soon.
d) lexical - representing the use of words in non-normative meanings, violation of lexical compatibility, repetitions, tautology;
He didn't want to work on his work, because this work was ungrateful.
e) phraseological - associated with the use of phraseological units that do not correspond to the norm;
It was pouring down like from the buckets.
f) stylistic - consisting in the violation of the unity of style.
The ministers were so noisy that the speaker asked them to shut up.
Stylistic errors take special place in this system, since they do not correspond to a certain tier of the language and can manifest themselves in the field of vocabulary, morphology, and syntax.
Also, errors can be divided into two categories in terms of the cause of their occurrence:
Errors associated with the influence of the native language (interference).
I would like to speak with you some minutes.
Errors associated with the very process of learning and comprehension of a foreign language, up to an advanced level, manifested as a result of misunderstood or independently developed patterns at all levels of the language. For example, it is very common for students to add the ending “-ed” to irregular verbs when converting them to the past tense.
She took the situation seriously.
Thus, there are many classifications of errors, since this issue can be considered from different positions. Each classification helps to evaluate students' knowledge in a new way and provides an opportunity for teachers to evaluate how effective the training is and what needs to be done.
In this paper, for the analysis of tasks for the prevention of speech errors, the classification of S.N. Zeitlin.
Sat again. What's wrong?!
I remember these moments from school: an English teacher handing out notebooks with a verified test. With bated breath I open my notebook… Sat. Ooooh, what's wrong again?!
Yes, I must admit that at school I was not always good with English. But even when there was interest in the subject, it was not easy to correct, especially in written works. Sometimes it was not clear what mark the English teacher gave and, especially, what exactly the mistakes were.
English grades.
English-speaking countries have a different grading system. Our highest score is 5, and the lowest is 1. In the education system of English-speaking countries, the highest score is A, and the lowest E or F (depending on the country and school). There are also ratings N - not certified, U - failure (unclassified).
Our English teachers often introduce their own grading system in the classroom. Perhaps the most common are:
Exc. (excellent) - 5,
Sat (satisfactory) -3,
If your English teacher gives other grades, please tell us about them in the comments.
Yes, we've got the ratings figured out. Now about mistakes.
Mistakes in learning English.
It happens that out of good intentions, the teacher simply underlines the word or fragment where there is an error, and puts some kind of squiggle in the margins. It is assumed that you yourself must guess what is wrong and correct the error. The idea is good, but not everyone explains what this squiggle means. And you sit and think: "What's wrong?"
I remember exactly that no one ever explained to us what the marks in the margins mean when they mark mistakes on an English test. When I entered the university, I was supposed to already know these notations. I had to figure it out myself.
Icons and designations of errors in English.
Now a more or less general system for indicating errors in English is used. Here are the most common designations:
sp. - spelling, i.e. spelling error;
Gr. - grammar, i.e. grammar. This concept is very voluminous, of course;
T - tense, i.e. the wrong time is used;
Pr., Prep. - preposition, i.e. preposition (eg at, of, etc.);
Conj. - conjunction, i.e. union (and, but, etc.);
Art. - article, i.e. article (a, the, -);
Lex. - lexis, i.e. vocabulary. Most likely, the wrong word was used, or the wrong word was used that was supposed to be used (for example, during a control on a certain module of the textbook).
This is, of course, not an exhaustive list of error notations in English. Here I have listed the most common ones. Of course, your English teacher or tutor may use their own notation. In this case, ask him/her to explain the signs used to you.
The most malicious scourge of all Russian speakers is lowering articles in English, apparently, as unnecessary. Of course, it is very difficult for us to understand why they are needed at all, because in Russian we do very well without these “excesses”.
And yet, disrespect for the articles is a huge "sin" from the point of view of the English, and it would be good to develop the habit of inserting them all the same.
Know when to use the indefinite article a/an" or a certain " the' is sometimes quite difficult. The general rule is that the article " the» is placed before specific, defined objects- those that are already known to the speaker or that were previously mentioned in the speech. The indefinite article "a" (or "an", depending on the first sound in the next word) is placed in all other cases, before singular nouns. Compare, say: "Have you found a job?" and “Have you got the job you applied for?”. In the first case, it is asked whether a person found a job in principle, no matter what. And in the second, the questioner has in mind a very specific job, for which his interlocutor had previously applied.
However, there are many exceptions to the general rule of using articles. I highly recommend studying the English Grammar Bible English Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy Raymond Murphy) - at the time of my foggy youth, I went through it from cover to cover, and it helped me a lot in the future. However, it is almost impossible for a foreigner to achieve 100% correct use of articles, but this does not mean that one should not even try.
2. Abuse of the preposition "of"
Another common sin among Russian speakers is the abuse of the preposition "of" with nouns to indicate ownership. In most cases, the Englishman will use instead of "of" possessive, formed with apostrophe and letter s (‘s) or one apostrophe, depending on the number of the noun.
The sentence "This is my teacher's book" sounds much more natural than "This is a book of my teacher". However, in the case of friends, everything is exactly the opposite: the phrase “a friend of mine” sounds much more familiar to the English ear than just “my friend”.
3. Wrong order of adjectives in a sentence
This is really difficult to learn, especially since in Russian there is practically no difference in the order of the use of adjectives: you can say “big blue bag” and “blue big bag” with equal success. However, in English there are clear rules for the order of adjectives in sentences, depending on their semantic category, which will have to be remembered until the skill is brought to automatism. So,
1. First to go appraisal adjectives (beautiful, bad, nice, terrible).
2. They are followed by adjectives denoting the size(large, huge, small, tiny).
3. Then - age(new, old, young),
4. Then - form(square, triangle, round),
5. Colour(blue, white, orange),
6. Origin(Italian, English, Western),
7. Material(iron, wooden, paper),
8. And finally purpose(floating, whitening).
If we are talking about a bag, then it would be correct to say “This is a beautiful big new square beige French leather shopping bag” - only in that order and nothing else.
4. Mistakes in timing
There are really many tenses in English (and half are obviously superfluous). Understanding when and what form to use comes with experience. Over time, you begin to use the correct time automatically, but until then you will have to suffer, choosing between Past Indefinite and Present Perfect.
If very rough, the form Past Indefinite used for verbs of the form "did", and Present Perfect- "made". However, everything is not so simple: if the sentence contains the designation a certain moment in the past("yesterday", "last year", etc.), then you should definitely use Past Indefinite. In other cases, the general rule is: if something happened relatively recently and this happened connected with the present and, so to speak, continues to influence him - use Present Perfect("I've just seen a bear in the street and I'm still trembling with horror"). In all unclear situations, choose Past Indefinite - however, something tells me that this is exactly what everyone does.
5. Confusion in the use of modal verbs may/might/can/could/would
Oh, how difficult modal verbs are given to the Russian-speaking public! For some reason, it is especially difficult to comprehend the difference between "can" and "may", although it would seem that something is simpler. Apparently, the confusion arises due to the fact that both verbs are translated into Russian by the same word "to be able." But how can you tell them apart?
In short, the verb can' indicates physical or mental ability to do something. Let's say "I can study all day long but I still can't speak English fluently". Its twin, the verb " May", points to possibility to do something - it is very close in meaning to the verb " might”, which can be translated as “could” or “perhaps”.
If you are asking permissions to do something, use the verb " May': "May I come in?". If you want ask about something a person - avoid using "can" in questions - this can be perceived as rude. Instead, resort to more polite forms - " could you" or " would you»: “Could/Would you shut the door and wait outside?”. If you want to sound deliberately polite, add "please" to the end of the phrase - it definitely won't get any worse.
6. Incorrect tense agreement in indirect speech
Perhaps these are the errors that get rid of the very last. It is very difficult to scroll through the whole mechanism in your head every time and remember which temporary form should be used. And if we take into account that in indirect speech not only predicates change, but also some words denoting time and place, it becomes clear why this topic remains a puzzle for foreigners.
The general rule is this: if the predicate in the main clause is expressed in the form of the past tense (“she told me that…”), neither the present nor, even more so, the future tense can be used in the subordinate clause, even when it comes to upcoming actions. Times are changing one step back: Present Indefinite becomes Past Indefinite, Past Indefinite turns into past perfect, a Past continuous is replaced by Past Perfect Continuous. For actions in the future, verbs in the form Future-in-the-Past.
"She said 'I love you'" becomes "She said she loved me". And "She said 'I will do my best'" will become "She said she would do her best" accordingly.
7. Errors in degrees of comparison of adjectives
Guys, well, it’s much easier here, although pearls sometimes slip through everyone, and not only Russian speakers.
one syllable- add suffix er" at the end to form a comparative degree, and " est- for excellent.
Two or more syllables- put in front more" or " the most" (or " less" and " the least” in the case of “less/least”). “This girl is hot and that one is even hotter. But my wife is the hottest woman in the whole world.” If you say “more hot”, you immediately betray a foreigner in yourself (why declassify yourself ahead of time? It’s better to stumble over something more sophisticated).
In the case of “beautiful”, everything will look like this: “This girl is beautiful and her sister is even more beautiful but my wife is still the most beautiful woman on Earth.”
But, as is usually the case in English, there were some exceptions to the rule: the words "good", "bad" and a handful of other originals change according to special rules. Perhaps I will refer you to Murphy again - everything is described in detail there.
8. Inability to build sentences ending in a preposition
It really sounds strange and not at all Russian. Why break a preposition with a noun or pronoun if they are related in meaning? Alas, the rules of English grammar sometimes prescribe to do just that. " What are you looking at?- literally translated "What are you looking at?". Terribly clumsy in Russian, but extremely elegant in English. But what is not at all elegant is to build tracing papers from Russian, like “I don’t know about what to speak” - in English this phrase sounds simply monstrous and immediately betrays a foreigner, and an illiterate one at that. The only correct form would be " I don't know what to speak about"and nothing else.
Of course, this is not a complete list of typical mistakes in English, but perhaps the most egregious of them are listed here. If you correct at least these annoying mistakes, the quality of your speech will increase significantly, and with it, your confidence in your own English.
The study guide is intended for a wide range of people who study and teach English: school teachers and university teachers, students of secondary and higher educational institutions, as well as for everyone who strives to speak and write English without errors.
The manual includes 160 English words and constructions, grouped into 74 dictionary entries, which analyze typical errors and their causes, as well as exercises with keys that help to consolidate the correct use of the words discussed in the manual.
BY ALL MEANS BY NO MEANS.
Unfortunately, many people who think that the best way to learn a foreign language is to try to guess the meaning of words instead of using a dictionary misunderstand the expressions by all means and by no means. These are idiomatic expressions, the meaning of which cannot be deduced directly from the word "means" (means). They don't mean "by all/by any means" and "by no means".
Free download e-book in a convenient format, watch and read:
Download the book Typical mistakes of Russian speakers in English, Levina I.I., 2017 - fileskachat.com, fast and free download.
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We strive so hard to do everything right all the time. Some kind of school habit to do without mistakes and get an A ... and, perhaps, safely forget everything. Five well received - the conscience is calm.
When we make a mistake, we usually react in a habitual way - we get upset. The phrase “Everyone does them and it’s normal” upsets and even infuriates some, it seems to them that they are just trying to calm them down.
But everyone really makes them - teachers, native speakers, and super smart professors - everyone!
And you know what I'll tell you - yes, you are even very lucky if you are wrong. Some do everything right, perhaps not because they are very smart, but because they simply bypassed something, and so they didn’t learn something very important or interesting. When we make mistakes, we know. When we stumble, we remember these stones, we get so much knowledge!
Making mistakes, we learn, learn and remember much more!
Most importantly, it's SMART to be wrong! Yes, it's possible! We need to notice mistakes and work on them. And you can also learn on other people's pebbles - and on other people's cones.
Today I propose to confront some common mistakes - we will recognize them by sight!
Before that, I just want to tell you one story.
H It's been so long since we lived in the Philippines. I remembered our neighbor, a Russian guy who married a Filipina and stayed there to live.
We must give him credit - he learned to express himself very well in English, and this despite the fact that before coming to the Philippines he did not know English at all. He learned by doing, made a lot of mistakes - but he was not afraid to make them and did not get upset at all. He speaks, makes mistakes and gradually learns - as it should be.
And someone is afraid to make a mistake, is silent, like a fish, and their knowledge of the language remains at the same level.
Basic mistakes in English
So, back to the stones. Let's list and analyze the typical mistakes that Russian people often make. Go:
1. Do you agree? – Do you agree?
Incorrect: Do you agree?
Correctly: Do do you agree?
In simple tense, both (agree - what to do? - action verb) and the verb "to be" cannot be used. - am / is / are - appears in sentences only where there are no verbs (there are only adjectives, nouns).
Are you at home? (no verb)
Do you like chocolate? (there is a verb “like”).
2. He lives - He lives
Incorrect: He live
Correct: He live s
Another very common mistake for beginners is to completely ignore the 3rd person singular. Remember that with he/she/it a verb with the ending -s is used.
3. I no speak - I don't speak
Incorrect: I don't speak English
Correct: I don't speak English
In an English sentence, a negative particle is added to the auxiliary verb or the verb "to be", we talked about this in the article about (Present Simple).
4. He is a good
Incorrect: He is a good
Correct: He is good
It is correct to say "He is good" - the article is not used if there is no noun.
He is good. He is good (no noun).
He is a good person. He is a good man. (person is a noun).
5. A trousers - a pair of trousers
Incorrect: a trousers
Correct: a pair of trousers
Or just without the article. The indefinite "a" is not used with nouns, since "a" originally came from the numeral "one" - one.
6. This people / that people
Incorrect: This people / that people
Correctly: These/those people
I've been to Paris. (Just an experience, boasting☺).
I was in Paris in 2009. (the fact is in the past, we say when it happened).
12. I feel myself good - I feel good
Incorrect: I feel myself good.
Correct: I feel good.
Unlike Russian, this verb does not require recurrence.
13. Do mistakes or make mistakes?
Wrong: I make mistakes.
Correct: I make mistakes.
"Do" in English is expressed through two verbs, which causes confusion among many Russian speakers. The main difference is that “make” has an element of creativity, that is, “do” in the sense of “produce, create”, and the verb “do” has the basic meaning of “engage, perform”. But there are stable phrases that are better to just remember.
14. So and Such
Incorrect: He has so beautiful wife. His wife is so beautiful.
Correct: He has such a beautiful wife! His wife is so beautiful.
"So...So..". So is used with an adjective (no noun). Such + (adjective) noun.
Your dress is so good! (after “such(so)” there is ONLY an adjective!)
You have such a good dress! (after "such (such)" comes an adjective AND a noun).
15. Interesting or interested?
Incorrect: I'm very interesting in history.
Correct: I'm very interested ed in history.
The adjectives -ing describe the quality of something or someone, the adjectives -ed show the person's reaction to something.
This sound is very annoy ing(This sound is very annoying. It has this quality itself, annoying others).
We are annoy ed. (We are annoyed. Something annoys us. This is our reaction).
16. In or to?
Incorrect: I've been in China.
Correct: I have been to China.
The Present Perfect uses the preposition “to”.
17. Money is - money are
Wrong: Money are important.
Correct: Money is important.
Although "money" is plural in Russian, it is singular in English.
18. Clothes is - clothes are
Incorrect: Clothes are beautiful.
Correct: Clothes are beautiful.
But with clothes it's the other way around. Clothing in English is plural.
19. Didn't go or didn't go?
Incorrect: I didn't go.
Correct: I didn't go.
And this is our "woe from the mind." Learned - it is necessary to apply everywhere :)). Remember that in the past tense in negatives and questions (that is, where there is an auxiliary "did", the infinitive form of the verb is used, the first one, without any endings and transformations).
20.Advices
Wrong: advices .
Correctly: a piece of advice.
We bring to your attention a video lesson about the common mistakes that our compatriots make.
And the second part:
What mistakes are you making?
Let's discuss in the comments.
If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.
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