Common English mistakes and how to fix them
Ten errors that cost learners marks again and again, from "informations" to "discuss about", with quick fixes.
বাংলায় সারাংশ (Bangla summary)
যে দশটি ভুল বারবার নম্বর কমায় — যেমন "informations", "discuss about" — এবং সেগুলো ঠিক করার উপায়।
By the end of this lesson you can
- Recognise uncountable nouns that never take -s
- Avoid extra prepositions after common verbs
- Use "people", "the" and verb forms accurately
Uncountable nouns
Some nouns are uncountable in English even if they are countable in your language: information, advice, research, equipment, furniture, knowledge, evidence, traffic, homework, news.
They never take -s and never follow "a" or "an". Say "some useful information", "a piece of advice", "a lot of research".
Verbs that take no preposition
Some verbs go straight to their object: discuss (not discuss about), emphasise (not emphasise on), reach (not reach to), enter (not enter into a room), contact (not contact with), attend (not attend to a meeting).
Others need one: listen to, depend on, consist of, apply for, focus on, result in. Learning verbs with their prepositions as one unit is faster than learning rules.
Before and after
✗ The teacher gave us many informations. → ✓ The teacher gave us a lot of information.
✗ We discussed about the problem. → ✓ We discussed the problem.
✗ Peoples are worried. → ✓ People are worried.
✗ The most of students agree. → ✓ Most students agree.
✗ He don't like crowds. → ✓ He doesn't like crowds.
Guided practice
Choose the correct sentence.
Practise on your own
Find the correct version.
Mini test
Check what you learned. Wrong answers go to your mistake notebook for revision.