Learning is about making mistakes. You can only learn something by trying, experimenting, and … making mistakes. When you get corrected, you then remember it better. It’s proven by experience.
Most mistakes go unnoticed in communication. You may feel embarrassed but don’t sweat it: most people will not pay attention. It’s actually quite hard to make a mistake that will ruin communication completely.
That said, we all want to look good. So, it makes sense to get rid of some errors which could make you look like a beginner in English.
In this series of articles, I’ll cover some of the typical mistakes in English speaking I’ve encountered in my 23 years of teaching it. I hope this will help you speak English with more confidence.
English Verbs: MAKE and DO
1. Make a mistake
| Error | Better |
| I just made a mistake. |
Sometimes it’s hard to find the logics in using MAKE and DO: in some languages they are actually the same word.
I recommend learning the most common expressions with ‘make’ and ‘do’ by heart.
More examples:
- I think I made a mistake.
- It’s hard to accept that you’ve made a mistake.
- I think you are making a mistake leaving this job.
2. Do homework
| Error | Better |
| I haven’t done my homework. |
MAKE means ‘to create’ something. DO shows performing actions or complex of actions, often, following some sets of instructions.
You can make breakfast (=cook), a list (=write it down), etc., but ‘homework’ is a complex of exercises created for you by somebody else (e.g. your teacher), so you need to use DO here.
More examples:
- I do my morning exercises before breakfast (=follow the instructions).
- She has made a cake (=created).
- I like to make something (e.g. crafting, DIY).
- I need to do some work after lunch.
English verbs: TAKE
3. Take a picture
| Error | Better |
| Do you mind taking our picture? |
In some languages we ‘make’ photos or pictures of somebody. And it means pushing a button on our phone or camera.
In English, ‘making’ will mean ‘producing something’ (see above). So, MAKING a picture is actually printing it on paper or drawing (or painting) it.
So, it’s better to use TAKE when you’re asking a nice-looking stranger to capture you in front of some landmark.
More examples:
- I took a picture of it. Look!
- He doesn’t like when someone takes a picture of him.
- I take thousands of pictures when travelling.
English speaking verbs
4. SAY something / TELL somebody
| Error | Better |
| I told him or I said to him… |
The verb SAY deals with a message, not the recipient.
The most common collocations with SAY:
to say something
- Please say something!
- Don’t say a word!
- What exactly are you saying?
to say that + clause
- She said she was tired.
- He said (that) it’s too late.
TELL, however, is more connected to the recipient of the message: who you are speaking to.
to tell somebody
- Tell me where it is.
- Don’t tell anybody.
- I told her it was a bad idea.
Other possible combinations:
to say something to somebody
- Say this to him…
to tell somebody something
- He told me interesting things…
Please don’t mix them up.
More examples:
- I said that I couldn’t do it any more.
- I told him everything I wanted to say for so long.
- Do you know about it? – Yes, he told me.
- Are you sure he said that?
Try my quiz about verbs of speaking to check if you use such verbs correctly.
Adverbs with verbs
5. to really like something
The verb LIKE is the one we learn at the very beginning. And for some mysterious reason, it attracts a wrong adverb when we are being emotional.
| Error | Better |
| I really like Frank Sinatra’s voice. |
VERY can only be used with adjectives or adverbs, not verbs. You can say: very interesting, very nice, very cold, etc., but not very like.
To add emotion to the verb, you need to use ‘really’: really like, really miss, really struggle, etc.
It actually can modify all of them: adjectives (really hard), adverbs (really slowly), and verbs (really like). But in this article, we are mainly interested in verbs.
Examples:
- I am very / really tired.
- This is a very / really interesting concept.
- This is a very common mistake.
- I really like him.
- I really enjoy studying with you.
- She really wants him to be successful.
These 5 mistakes are very, very common. Probably because the verbs MAKE, DO, TAKE, SAY, TELL, and LIKE are used so often in English.
But don’t stop at this! Try this quiz and check if you make 10 more common mistakes with English vocabulary.
Let me know in the comments how you did on the quiz. And please share it with your friends if you enjoyed it.
You may also find interesting
Collocations and phrasal verbs with GO
Common mistakes in English speaking
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