100 Common English Mistakes and How to Correct Them

Know is a state verb: it describes a state of mind, not an action in progress, so it is not normally used in continuous (-ing) forms. Say “I know him” for now, and “I have known him for five years” for a duration up to now. Have (meaning own), like, want, believe and understand work the same way.

No. Information is uncountable in English, so it has no plural and does not take “a”. Say “some information”, “a lot of information” or “a piece of information”. Advice, furniture, luggage, equipment, knowledge and news work the same way, even though some of them are countable in other languages, which is why the mistake is so common.

Just “discuss”: “We discussed the plan.” The verb takes a direct object, with no preposition. The noun is different, so “a discussion about the plan” and “we had a discussion about it” are both correct. Enter, reach, marry and request follow the same pattern: no preposition after the verb.

It is grammatical and common in Indian business English, but outside India it sounds old-fashioned and vague, because the reader does not know what “the needful” is. In an international email or exam, say exactly what you need: “Could you please send the signed form by Friday?” That is clearer and more polite.

It is widely used in Indian English, and some dictionaries list it as an Indian English word, but most speakers outside South Asia do not know it. In international writing say “bring forward” or “move earlier”: “The meeting has been brought forward to 10 a.m.” The opposite, “postpone”, is understood everywhere.

In international English, “I have a question”. Outside India, a doubt means you think something may not be true, so “I have a doubt about your answer” sounds as if you believe the answer is wrong. Use doubt only for real uncertainty: “I doubt the train will be on time.”

As the subject, “My friend and I went to the market.” As the object, “He invited my friend and me.” To check, remove the other person: you would say “I went” and “He invited me”, so keep the same pronoun. Putting yourself last (“my friend and I”) is also the polite order.

You lend something to someone: you give it to them for a while. You borrow something from someone: you take it from them for a while. So “Can you lend me your pen?” and “Can I borrow your pen?” are both correct, but “Can you borrow me your pen?” is not.

Use fewer with things you can count: fewer people, fewer mistakes, fewer than ten cars. Use less with things you cannot count: less time, less money, less traffic. In everyday speech many people say “less people”, and you will hear it often, but in an exam or formal writing use fewer with countable nouns.

Tell needs a person after it: “He told me the answer.” Say does not; if you mention the person, use to: “He said the answer to me”, or more naturally, “He said that the answer was B.” Fixed phrases also use tell: tell the truth, tell a story, tell a lie, tell the time.

A misplaced modifier is a word or phrase put next to the wrong part of the sentence, so it changes the meaning. “She almost drove her kids to school every day” means she nearly drove but did not; “She drove her kids to school almost every day” is what was meant. Put almost, only, just and nearly next to the word they describe.

No. When you name a finished time (yesterday, last week, in 2019, two days ago), English uses the past simple: “I saw him yesterday.” The present perfect connects the past to now and cannot take a finished time: “I have seen him this week” is fine, because this week is not over.

Not in standard English. Myself is a reflexive pronoun, so it cannot be the subject of a sentence. Say “I am Rahul”, “My name is Rahul” or, more casually, “Hi, I’m Rahul.” Use myself only when the subject and object are the same person (“I taught myself”) or for emphasis (“I did it myself”).

Most repeated mistakes come from the first language: a structure that is correct there is carried across into English. That is why speakers of the same language tend to make the same mistakes, such as “discuss about” or “I am knowing”. It is also why finding and fixing your own top five mistakes improves your English faster than general study.

Find your own five most frequent mistakes, then re-read every piece of writing once just for those. Reading aloud, slowly, catches agreement and tense slips your eye skips over. Leave a few minutes at the end for checking, and practise sometimes without a grammar checker so you learn to notice the errors yourself.

Yes. Grammatical accuracy is part of how writing and speaking answers are graded, and in Fill in the Blanks and Read and Complete the grammar decides the correct form of the missing word. A few small slips will not sink a score, but repeated errors of the same kind add up, so fix your most frequent ones first.