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Scattered through the posts of this blog are mentions of numerous English language errors commonly made by professional writers whose mother tongue is not English. Most of the errors are of grammar (as defined in the post 100. What is a Grammar Error?), but vocabulary, pronunciation, punctuation and spelling also feature.
This page attempts to bring together in one place the most common of the errors mentioned in the blog, so that interested readers can browse through them and link to a more detailed explanation of any that they choose. Further attention is given to errors in general in 138. Test Your Command of Grammar 1 and 214. Test your Command of Grammar 2.
Verb Errors
2. Participle after who/which (*which having/who named)
3. To + verb after the object of MAKE (*make … to do)
4. ALLOW with a directly following to verb (*allow to do)
5.*LOOK FORWARD + to do (absent -ing)
6. Missing verb after firstly, secondly, etc.
7. Confusion of could and was able to
8. Citation verb in the wrong tense (*Smith wrote that …)
9. EXPLAIN + someone instead of to someone
11. Must used instead of have to
12. ENJOY + infinitive instead of -ing
13. LIKE + that … instead it that …
14. Unnecessary as after CALL and NAME
15. Past perfect tense instead of past simple
16. Passive infinitive after certain adjectives, e.g. *easy to be done
17. STOP + non-purposive to verb
18. Verbs without an ending after BE (e.g. *is develop)
19. Ordinary verb after there is instead of a participle or which
20. Adding about after the active form of CONFUSE
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Noun Errors
1. Infinitive after possibility (*possibility to do)
2. Infinitive after the noun aim (*the aim to do)
3. Infinitive after experience, custom & habit (at the end of the relevant post)
4. Uncountable nouns used as if they were countable (*luggages, *an advice)
5. Plural instead of singular noun after type of
6. Saying *a parking and *a training for a parking lot and a training session
7. Confusing the preposition and noun uses of opposite
8. The whole without of before proper nouns lacking the (*the whole Greece)
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Preposition Errors
1. Of after despite (*despite of)
5. Incorrect use of for + -ing to express purpose (*go for walking)
6. *Worth to do instead of worth doing
7. Between with a later to instead of and
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Conjunction Errors
2. Use of in case instead of if
4. As and that used together (*As Smith says that …)
5. Beginning a sentence with and, but or so
6. Use of *or… or… to list alternatives
7. Use of that before an indirect question or command
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Pronoun Errors
1. Dropped subject pronoun after a subordinating conjunction (*when … are)
3. Unnecessary it after as (*as it is shown below)
5. Unnecessary pronoun immediately after the noun it represents (*People, they …)
6. Confusion of little with a little and few with a few
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Adjective & Adverb Errors
1. Much between too/very and an adjective or adverb
4. Adverb positioned between a verb and its object
5. Base-form Adjective / adverb combined with than
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Errors with Determiners (“a”, “the”, “this” etc.)
1. The before a generalizing plural or uncountable noun
2. Superlative adjective without the (*first time that…)
3. *Many of instead of many or many of the
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Vocabulary Confusions
1 Confusion of such as and namely
2. Confusion of everyday and every day
3. Confusion of regard and regards
4. Incorrect use of on the contrary
5. Confusion of aspects and respects
6. Confusion of loose/lose, raise/rise, lie/lay
8. Incorrect use of in a minute’s (hours’/day’s/week’s etc.) time
9. Confusion of shade and shadow
10. Saying security instead of safety
11. Using hopeless to mean “lacking hope”
12. Confusion of coming and following
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Punctuation Errors
1. Comma instead of a full stop (“spliced” comma)
2. Semi-colon instead of a colon
3. Incorrect punctuation with however, therefore and similar words
4. Question mark after indirect questions
5. Confusion of comma uses before and after for example
6. Comma between that and indirect speech
7. Confusion of comma requirements with who, which and that
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Word Order Errors
1. BE positioned Incorrectly in indirect questions (*tell me what is your name)
2. Below before a noun (*the below reasons)
3. Adverb between a verb and its object
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Style & Logic Errors
1. Such as and etc. with the same list
2. Use of informal get, big and a lot in formal writing
3. *We are three instead of There are three of us
4. Incorrect word division between the end of a line and the start of the next
5. Unnecessary which are between a list name and list
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Pronunciation Errors
3. Failing to pronounce “-s” as /z/ when necessary and “-ed” as /t/
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