For starters, when it comes to learning English as a second language, there are always myriads of mistakes and confuses learners may encounter every now and then, especially in terms of pronunciation and grammar. I, however, will only be talking about 20 common grammar mistakes most people whose native language is Chinese tend to make. What I want to talk about is not actually regular grammar mistakes since they've been listed in almost all English grammar books and there's no need to put them down all over again, but rather, I'll be talking about mistakes that are apt to be ignored while incredibly prevalent. They are so common that every single one has to be paid enough attention to, as even many advanced English professors at Chinese prestigious universities, such as Peking University, are very likely to be ignorant of many of them. In a sense, knowing these mistakes can even help you immediately understand somebody's real command of English. I'll try and use easy-to-understand words and sentence structures all the way through to make sure all the points can be known in detail. All right, without further ado, now let me go through those before you get bored.
1. What’s wrong if I say “you said we don't need that”?
Well, some people who have learned some grammar knowledge perhaps would point out immediately: “it should be: you said we DIDN'T need that.” Well, you're right -- if you "didn't" instead of "don't", then the sentence is grammatically correct. But BOTH are natural! So stop correcting your students when they write sentences like that! Though the first is a bit informal, there's nothing wrong with it in our daily speech, and I believe you can even use it in essays if you want. But for a formal literature essay, that's another story. Likewise, sentences like "I just wanted to make sure that the content can be totally understood by my students." are absolutely natural. Just relax if you had said that to an American friend and they would by no means correct you. Remember, native English speakers make grammar mistakes all the time; for example, “the way we answer the questions REMAIN the same.” Why no "s" (REMAINS)? Because “questions” makes the sentence more “plural”.
2. What is the difference between "I hope you can accept me." and "I hope you could accept me."?
Many people somehow think the second one is more polite. Why? Perhaps because they think “could you help me…” sounds a little politer than “can you...”. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. Actually, "could" is the past tense of "can". You can't say I hope you COULD accept me, because the "accepting" in this case is in the future tense. “I hope you can (will be able to) forgive me” or “If I had done it, I hope you could have forgiven me”.
3. If someone has died, can I still use the present tense?
For example, can I still say "Steve Jobs is a genius"? No, you use "was" when the person is deceased unless you are saying “He is dead”. Otherwise, you would be scaring other people…
Additionally, if you are talking about something happening in the past, in my personal opinion, it’s better to use the past tense all the way through, including “is --> was”, even if it’s still the case now; you can, of course, add “and still is” to avoid misunderstanding. Let me give you one example: five years ago, she was my girlfriend (and still is); I loved her with all of my heart, and still do. However, some writers may think differently; they would say we can change the tense whenever they want in an essay. For example, " I was standing in the jetway, waiting to come home from Europe. And you know sometimes actually now most of the time we have different pilots going over and coming back there on a different trip on the six-day trip or something they’re going back to a different city." Well, that's also not so bad; rather, it's just a personal preference. Just keep in mind, as long as your sentence can be naturally understood, then it's fine.
4. "End up” always means or entails something bad or ominous?
Says who? There's no problem whatsoever if you say “I ended up scoring very high on the test.” That’s absolutely natural, and, congratulations!
5. What is the difference between “that IS what I learned” and “that WAS what I learned”?
All right. That’s another tense problem. Actions speak louder than words, and examples speak louder than reasoning:
- 'Mathematics is (actually here we still want to use “are”, even though it’s not grammatically correct.) important. That IS what I learned in college.'
-'You don't need to worry about your notes. That WAS what I learned in school. Now I think differently.'
The key is “Now I think differently.” I believe you've got the point now. However, in terms of strict grammar rules, “that WAS” seems more correct as we’re talking about the past. Similarly, for “it WAS written by Walt Whitman", and "it IS written by Walt Whitman”, they both sound alright, but "was" sounds a little more correct because the book or writing was written in the past.
On the other hand, as you may know, tenses are not always so strict. For example:
i) He says: "I've been eating bricks and rocks for around 20 years now."
Since his action must have happened in the past, why we shouldn't use "said" instead?
The reason is that the action of "saying" is currently happening, and for some currently happening actions, the past tense can be replaced by the present tense. Note that, of course, "said" can also be used.
ii) What is the difference between I finished my homework and I have finished my homework?
NO DIFFERENCE as far as a native speaker of English is concerned! The second way just sounds a little more 'formal'. So don’t be afraid of the tenses; more often than not, they’re a cinch.
It goes to show that grammar is not always that strict. Please try not to be framed by the fixed rules when learning English. Sometimes a sentence is grammatically correct and can't be stricter, but it's unnatural. For instance, “I've paid special attention, not to how to achieve it, but to what I should do to achieve it.” Is this grammatically standard? Yes! Does this sound natural? No! We would say “I've paid special attention, not how to achieve it, but what I should do to achieve it.” Because actually ‘to how’ is not proper grammar, and makes it confusing when reading it aloud. ‘To what’ could be used in the sentence, but generally it is omitted to be cleaner and less wordy; in other words, the "to" can be and is always omitted.
6. What is the difference between "I am going to" and "I will"?
That question seems to be an easy one, but still, lots of people are confused, maybe because that's too easy? Anyway, since it appears quite often, let’s review it and I am going to help make it crystal clear in a few words.
For example, "I am going to help you out" implies you had already decided it before; in other words, you had decided to help someone else out, and you didn't decide it RIGHT NOW.
"I will help you out": in this case, you JUST decided you'll help someone else.
7. "I didn't see the sun simply because it rises not from the north." Does this sound natural?
Unfortunately, no! It should be “I didn’t see the sun, simply because it does not rise IN the north.” Is "it rises not in the north" natural? No, again, it is unnatural. It may possibly be used when writing poetry (which is one of my favorite interests); but the more natural verbiage is, “it does not rise in the north.”
8. What is the difference between "that time" and "AT that time"?
Oh, that's a good one. Let me tell you an interesting story first. An English professor of mine, yet not a native speaker of English, once corrected my homework. She added an “at” before “that time” in a sentence I had written. I felt that was pretty funny right away, (yet, of course, she was still a great teacher and her command of English was excellent). Because the task was meant to be a spoken English practice instead of a formal literature essay or something. Who cares about the difference between the two sentences? If you ask, okay, "at that time" is showing more importance to the following information in the sentence; "that time" is more casual. It's, to be honest, not that easy to explain; yet you can feel it if you think about it. Anyway, they’re both incredibly natural. In Chinese, who would bother to differentiate 那时,… and 在那时,…? So, again, English grammar is flexible, learn to use it, and control it!
Speaking of which, I want to add that often times there indeed exists a subtle difference between some so-called synonyms, which might cause a tiny nuance in terms of meanings. That is something I believe nonnative speakers are quite hard to get, but that’s ok since it’s so subtle that rarely makes a difference. As an example, “be filled with” and “be full of” mean the same thing basically, except there is a slight grammar difference: "filled" is a past tense of the verb "to fill" and is the 'past participle' used as an adjective to describe whatever has the setbacks; on the other hand, "full" is just an adjective (originally made from the same verb but grammatically not a verb form itself). Yet as far as the meanings are concerned, "filled" vaguely suggests that the setbacks accumulated over time. "Full" is just a description of the present and has no time reference. This kind of difference might be used in poetry, but in everyday speech--there is no difference. Choose which one you want to use based on whether you like the "i" sound or the "u" sound better.
9. This paper will talk about three aspects vs this paper will BE talking about three aspects
Well, the first one is correct and natural, while the second is not. I think it's because "will be talking about" sounds weird for a "paper" to do. However, a speaker could say either "I will talk about three aspects" or "I will be talking about three aspects". In this case, both are natural.
10. Should it be "here's the letter I'll send him" or "here's the letter I'll send TO him"?
Oh… if you ask this, then perhaps you’re as attentive as I am. In a word, it can be either one. “To him”, as far as I’m concerned, is a little more formal. But, not by much. Sometimes sentences work like that. For example, “if you are available” and “if you are free” -- Both have the same meaning. "If you are available" is more formal and professional than the other. Let me give you another example: "I'm up to go to the restaurant" and "I'm down to go to the restaurant". Again, no difference in meaning. "Down" sounds more casual, and is something you'd be more likely to hear from a younger person. "up" you could hear from someone of any age. To be clear, in my opinion, there's also nothing wrong with an older person saying they're "down" for something.
11. "I want to make friends with you." Does this sound natural?
No! “to make friends with you” sounds stupid, unfortunately. “I would like to become your friend.” or “I would like to be your friend.” or “I would like to get to know you better.” (the last one is more indirect but it's used after meeting someone and insinuates a wish to form a friendship)
12. "Of both" or "both of"?
Well, basically, in most cases, they’re both fine. For example, "I'm a big fan of both basketball and soccer" and “I'm a big fan both of basketball and of soccer”. Grammatically speaking, they are both correct and make sense; however, the first one sounds more natural. (Don’t you think it’s awkward and wordy when using “of” twice?)
13. Could have been vs could be
Basically, “Could have been” means that you are referring to the past when they said something. “Could be” means that you are focused more on future improvement. Nonetheless, some might ask, since "could" is the past tense of "can", why "could be" cannot refer to something happening in the past? Well, That’s a good question. “Could” can also be used as a future/conditional tense when alone, and is generally only used in "past" when it is “could have”; for example,
“You could do better” = In the (near) future you will be able to do better.
“You could have done better” = In the past, you were able to do better.
14. He's a student in University of Jinan ("University of Jinan" is a university in the city Jinan). Is it natural?
No! there’s something wrong with the preposition. You can say “in” somewhere like a big country or something, like “in America”. But why you think you are in a university? Like in a room? No! AT!
Also, add “THE”, which is usually ignored by nonnative speakers MANY, MANY times! Remember, you may have taken THE TOEFL or THE GRE! THE sun is rising! Before THE 17th century,…! THE length of THE perimeter around a circle is called THE circumference! Although in some cases “the” can really be omitted, as in “you can believe people who trust you”, which is a standard spoken contraction of: “you can believe THE people who trust you”; yet not in this current case. For that particular sentence or some similar sentences, adding "the" would make it much more natural, in most cases. (Why only in most cases but not all? Well, that's quite complicated and can’t be put in a few sentences. Perhaps I will elaborate in the next essay, and just trust me now.)
So it should be “He is a student AT THE University of Jinan.”
You may want to use “of”? "I am a student of USC", for example. Well, that’s okay, though not perfect. The sentence works like it is, but it would seem better if you’re a student (at) USC. AT would be more common.
15. Mathematics comes from man’s social practice. Does this sound natural?
Nope! “Mathematics comes from A man’s/men’s social practice”! You might argue that man could be used as an uncountable noun. … Well, based on the dictionary, you’re right. However, as I said, being grammatically correct doesn’t necessarily entail it’s natural! Just like in the sentence “He’s a Chinese”, anything wrong? Yep! The more correct term would be “He’s Chinese”, but if you want to use the word A then you would have to say "he’s a Chinese man" or "he’s a Chinese person"! Though “Chinese” can refer to “Chinese person”, used as a noun based on any dictionaries, we still feel that Chinese sounds like an adjective and we don't use it that way, unfortunately; as a result, it's not natural! Similarly, "he's a gay" also sounds incomplete; change it to "he's a gay man" or "he's gay", or "he's a homosexual".
Let’s go back. Perhaps you are thinking, which on earth should I choose? A man’s or men’s? Well, that’s been very simple. do you mean man as any human or man as a male? If you want to refer to all men, you need to use the word “men” instead of “man” as it’s the plural form. So you could say “mathematics comes from men’s social practice” or “mathematics comes from a man’s social practice”. Either works fine. Can you dig it now?
16. "Have only" or "only have"?
As in “I have only 2 cats”, would it be better if I said, “I only have 2 cats”? Haha, again, you’re so attentive! Grammar is not that strict! Just relax, the world is your oyster! Both are perfectly fine in this case. If you ask the difference, well, I feel like “only have” sounds a bit more colloquial, and that’s all!
17. What is the difference between "I've graduated from college." and "I've graduated from a college.”?
Oh, that also has to do with articles, and maybe some tenses.
If you say "a college”, you are talking about a specific school. I might say, "I graduated from a college in Massachusetts."
Hey, wait a sec. Why did you change the tense? Well, because it sounds weird in that tense with the "a" and I can't figure out a way for it to not sound weird. Let me elaborate on this. Generally, "a college" is both specific and vague at the same time and that is what makes it weird. But in the past tense, I can add information about the college, and in the perfect tense, I can't do that without changing the focus of the sentence. "I graduated" is focused on the event, and "I have graduated" is focused on the speaker's status. Adding information about the college just feels more relevant to the first focus than the second in the majority of cases.
If you just say, "graduated from college" you are more generally saying that the person has earned a degree. For example: "My brother only has a high school diploma, but I've graduated from college." The latter phrasing is more common, the first is really only for when you are saying something specific about the school.
18. "All your assistants give prayers, and they solicit THE help from the gods." vs "All your assistants give prayers, and they solicit help from the gods."
Well, basically they're the same and natural except the first one would be better if you said "the help OF the gods". But that's not the point if you're not being too analytical. The additional "the" before "help" emphasizes WHAT is being asked of the gods. The latter focuses on where the help is coming FROM, the gods.
In general, that is a problem with articles. By the way, there's also a whole lot of guys confusing "a" and "the". Just remember, "a" and "the" can describe something specifically or indefinitely. "A" can mean any range of things. "The" is absolute and meant solely for the subject specifically. In a word, "a" is “possibility” while "the" is “certainty”. For instance:
1 - there was A lack of evidence, so the case was closed.
2 - THE lack of evidence is the reason why the case was closed.
Similarly, the sentence "I believe elephants possess artistic ability." is incorrect. You need "THE" to define the noun "ability". You have 2 options here:
1 - the artistic ability
2 - artistic abilities.
Also, sometimes adding“the" or "a" can cause a difference in a sentence. As examples:
i)“American people are usually nice and friendly.” It would imply that American people, in general, are usually nice and friendly. But “THE American people are usually nice and friendly” would imply that you are referring to a specific group of American people. So the sentence means something slightly different things if you add “the” at the beginning.
ii) "Some want to have better education." and "Some want to have A better education." Both are correct. The first one, 'have better education', means continue studying in the next step. For high school students to have better education means try to enroll in any college or university, or skill schools. The second one, 'have A better education', is more general and common. From a website, Quota, "Any experience in which you learn something you didn't know before is getting a better education." It could be any field, as long as it helps further improve career path or self-advancement.
In conclusion, I suggest you pay special attention provided that you're not a native speaker, because the mistake is so common but hard to be noticed! Try and avoid writing or saying sentences like "the real annoying problem for nutritionist is..."! Note that this sentence appears in an article written by a very famous English teacher whose native language is Chinese. Actually, he's scored very very high on the TOEFL and even the GRE test, and his overall English proficiency is undoubtedly great. Can you now tell the tiny problem(s) with the sentence now?
19. “I don't have any questions.” vs “I don't have any question.”
Although “any” can be used with singular countable nouns, it refers, in this particular case, to one of a number of things and it does not really matter which one. For example, take any book you like to read. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make the 2nd sentence correct. In fact, to make “I don't have any question” correct, you would need the change “any” to “a”: “I don’t have a question.” This is referring to only one question while the first phrase is referring to multiple questions, which is grammatically correct as “any” and “questions” are in a plural form.
And what’s exactly the difference between “I don’t have a question.” and “I don't have any questions”? Basically, which phrase you use is dependent on the statement that comes before it. If a teacher asks a student: Do you have a question? The student could respond: I don’t have a question. Or the interaction could be plural. Teacher: Do you have any questions? Student: I don’t have any questions. You can, of course, say: I have no questions.
20. Is there anything wrong with “he has much money”?
Yes. We might say "he doesn't have much money" but we wouldn't say "he has much money". It should be “he has A LOT OF money” if you mean he's rich. Why? Because "much" is usually only used in negative sentences, whereas "a lot of" is used in both positive and negatives sentences.
So is "much" ALWAYS used in negative sentences? In general, no. As I said before, you're correct in thinking that "much" is commonly used in negative sentences with uncountable nouns. However, it can also be used in interrogative, comparative, and declarative sentences. For instance:
"How much did you spend today?" (interrogative)
"He ran much faster than she did." (comparative)
"Much of what I learned from Ivan today was interesting." (declarative, also what I expect you to say after reading this present article!)
Ivan Janhu Fung
Written on: March 1, 2020
Edited on: July 22, 2020