What Are The Most Common English Language Errors Made by Non-Native English Speakers?

Posts0Likes0Joined4/9/2018LocationLaguna / PH
Native
Tagalog
Other English, Hindi, Japanese

Every Day & Everyday

This mistake is again an easy one to make. Many children are taught incorrectly by teachers in elementary school that the word “everyday” means that something happens each day.


This is incorrect. The word “everyday” actually means common. When you want to talk about something that happens each day, you need “every day”.


“I eat an apple everyday every day to stay healthy.”


“My mother walks the dog in the forest everyday every day.”

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#1
Posts0Likes0Joined3/7/2018LocationSpringbok / ZA
Native
Afrikaans, English
Learning Spanish, Zulu

You'll find that many native speakers also make the same and many other mistakes Myself included. 

Your vs. You're

Its vs. It's

Affect vs. Effect

Who vs. Whom vs. Whose vs. Who's

Alot vs. A lot vs. Allot

Between vs. Among


just to name a few  


¡Hagámoslo ya!

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#2
Posts0Likes0Joined3/9/2018LocationCebu City / PH
Native
Cebuano, English, Tagalog
Other Arabic - Standard, Chinese - Mandarin, Korean, Malay

Forming sentences in past participle tense is a challenge for non-native speakers. That's what I've mostly observed.


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#3
Posts0Likes0Joined4/9/2018LocationLaguna / PH
Native
Tagalog
Other English, Hindi, Japanese

For real Jeremi? That's a total relief. :D 

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#4
Posts0Likes0Joined4/9/2018LocationCaracas / VE
Native
Spanish
Learning German, Italian
Other English

Jeremi.Kress wrote:
You'll find that many native speakers also make the same and many other mistakes :sweat_smile: Myself included.
Your vs. You're
Its vs. It's
Affect vs. Effect
Who vs. Whom vs. Whose vs. Who's
Alot vs. A lot vs. Allot
Between vs. Among
just to name a few :cry:


You missed "they're" and "their"!  

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#5
Posts1630Likes1092Joined18/3/2018LocationBellingham / US
Native
English
Learning German
Other Chinese - Mandarin, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Tagalog, Thai

I'd like to point out that most of those aren't spoken errors, but written/typed errors. Spoken errors are more annoying to me. My most common mistakes in English probably have to do with inconsistent tense in a sentence, and inconsistent plurality.

In Thailand now. Next up Tanzania and Philippines.

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#6
Posts0Likes0Joined13/7/2018LocationPasig / PH
Native
Tagalog
Learning English, French, Spanish

Non-native speakers from Manila, Cebu, Mumbai and Bengaluru have the following spoken errors in common:


fails to use past tense - "Last night, I give him medicine."

uses present progressive instead of simple present - "Every weekend I'm visiting my grandma."

Prepositions - uses a limited set so there are usually many errors or inappropriate ones

mixes up "his" and "her"

Singular/plural - that's/those are, she's/they're


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#7
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