Most Popular Grammar Mistakes Made by Foreigners
Nowadays learning English is a very important step that helps you climb the ladder of success in terms of your studies and also career. The English language is widely used throughout the world as a language of multicultural communication, and many foreign students choose it as the main language of their studies. It unites people in a way, but also creates difficulties because English is abundant in grammar rules and even more abundant in exceptions to them. Apart from offering you editing and rewriting services, Smart Essay Rewriter posts useful articles written for English learners. This is one of them, and it will guide you through the mistakes that most foreigners make. It will put you on alert and help you avoid the blunders.
Mixing up articles
Articles present a serious problem to those who do not have the equivalent of them in their native language. Take, for example, the Russian language or Japanese, to cite just two. Even native English speakers sometimes confuse articles, and from time to time they admit that two or more options are possible for a certain grammatical structure.
To navigate through the rules of using articles in English, you would probably have to learn these chapters of English grammar by heart. The is not only for something you have already mentioned; it must also precede rivers, seas, oceans, musical instruments, adjectives referring to a group of people, well-known buildings, hotels and other difficult-to-remember groups of word. Moreover, even these rules have exceptions. Smart Essay Rewriter recommends you to arm yourself with patience because it will take a while. Start with reading grammar books, then move on to online exercises and games; eventually you will accumulate enough knowledge to manage disputable article cases with ease. Before it happens, you can always rely on our editing services.
Prepositions
Prepositions are small words that create enormous problems unproportioned to their size. English has less than a hundred single word prepositions, but the most troubling ones for foreign speakers are such prepositions as in, at and on. The thing is that the language has accumulated a huge number of phrasal verbs the meaning of which shift or change completely with the change of a preposition. What is more, some verb + preposition combinations have more than 20 meanings of their own, let alone phrases with the same verb but another preposition. In many cases English learners cannot make head or tail of these semantic conundrums.
Once again, the best option would be to learn problematic expressions by heart. In order to pick out only those that are really used in modern speech, you should listen to recent podcasts or watch recent TV shows. This will help you keep up with modern tendencies in using phrasal verbs in conversations. If you have a chance to practice your English with a native speaker, do not waste it! You will be surprised to hear how many times a native speaker uses phrasal verbs in his speech without noticing them.
The use of very
Very does not seem a difficult word at all, but a closer examination shows that it does create certain difficulties for foreigners. The pitfall lies in the fact that you must not use very with the words that already describe something of exceptional quality. For example, the adjective delicious means very tasty; therefore, it would be a mistake to say in a sentence the phrase like a very delicious cake. The same applies to enormous, lovely, great and a bunch of other adjectives. However, you still can say very big or very nice without producing a grammar mistake; and naturally, you must avoid putting adjectives like enormous and lovely in comparative and superlative degrees as there is no room for intensifying their meaning.
Answers to negative statements and questions
What should you reply if a person asks you something like, Don’t you like the movie? Would a yes in this case mean a positive or a negative response? Let’s clarify the situation. If you have to answer a negative question with which you agree, say no. It sounds a bit complicated, but it gets easier if you imagine the whole phrase: No, I don’t like the movie, for instance. However, if you want to deny the statement and say that you indeed like the movie, then avoid replying with only one word (yes or no). Here it is better to explain the whole answer and to say Yes, I like it. As you can see, yes and no answers to negative questions do not convey their usual meanings; besides, a yes requires further explanation.
There is another troublesome moment. Let’s say, for example, that no question was asked, but a person made a negative statement: I don’t like the book. Many foreigners make a mistake here by answering Me too, whereas the context requires the use of the phrase Me neither. So, the word neither helps you agree with a negative statement.
And now, let’s imagine that the phrase was formulated in other words: I dislike the book. Formally the syntactic construction became free of negation, that is why, when agreeing, use the reply Me too. A sentence cannot be considered a negative statement in terms of grammar if it does not have the particle not.
Splitting words into two
It is OK if you write long words like above-mentioned as you please: as a solid word, as two words or with a hyphen. But when it comes to two monosyllabic words, for the most part they have only one correct way of being represented in writing: as a solid word. We are talking about such nouns as bedroom and bathroom and such adjectives as online and offline. An extra space between the two parts of these words is already a grammar mistake, but many foreigners make it, by analogy with longer English words. If you are not sure how to write a compound word, consult the dictionary or install checking software on your PC. Alternatively, Smart Essay Rewriter offers high quality editing services at reasonable prices; having ordered editing from us you can be sure that these mistakes, as well as any others, will be eliminated from your text.
Now you know 5 common mistakes that foreigners make in the English language. What is more important, you have learnt how to deal with them. Grammar is the most difficult part in almost any language, that is why you will have to work hard to become an expert in it. Smart Essay Rewriter will do its best to help you boost your English knowledge. Subscribe to our newsletter to keep updated on new useful posts for learners. Becoming one of our clients, you will also get attractive discounts and the best customer support service possible.