5 Native English Speaker Mistakes

http://www.engvid.com/ Native English speakers make mistakes all the time. In this grammar lesson, I look at five common errors to watch for by native and new English speakers. Make sure you're not learning bad English from a native speaker! http://www.engvid.com/5-native-english-speaker-mistakes/ TRANSCRIPT: Hey guys, I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on five common native English speaker mistakes. So, these are mistakes that native speakers make in conversation with other native speakers. So for those of you who are just learning the language, this is good for you too because you will hear these mistakes being made on the street. And if you're wondering: "Hey, that doesn't sound correct. Why, why is that person not using correct grammar?" It's because they might not know that they are using incorrect grammar. Those of you who are English speakers: well, this is the stuff that drives English teachers absolutely crazy. So, let's begin with number one: Double Negatives. Okay, so what's a double negative? There are three examples on the board. We have: "I didn't see nothing.", "She didn't do nothing.", "They don't buy nothing with trans fats." Okay, now you see two negative words in each of these three sentences. In the first one: "I didn't" so "didn't" obviously is a negative word. We have "nothing" which is also a negative word. So if you say "I didn't see nothing", you actually mean that you saw something. So you're giving the opposite meaning of what you actually want to say. So what word should replace "nothing" in these three sentences? "Anything", that's absolutely correct. So, you can say, "I didn't see anything.", "She didn't do anything." Or: "They don't buy anything with trans fats." Okay, so just remember: watch out for those double negatives. Now, on to number two: "Less" vs. "Fewer". Okay, so this is a question of count and non-count nouns. Basically, when you use "less", you should only be using it with non-count nouns. So we're talking about nouns like honey, water, milk -- anything you can think of that you can't really count like abstract concepts like love or justice, for example. Now, things that you can count and are in plural form should be using "fewer". So in these three examples there are three mistakes. We have: "There were less than 50 people at the club.", "There are less reasons to own a home phone today.", "I know less languages than my cousin." All of these are absolutely wrong because they all use "less", which you should be using for non-count nouns. But, if you look at this closely: "people" -- you can count people. You have "reasons" -- you can count reasons. "Languages" -- you can also count languages. So with all of these, you should actually be saying, "fewer, fewer, fewer". Now, I know this is a mistake that I hear commonly, especially with relation to people. "Less people" -- you should actually be saying, "Fewer people, fewer reasons, fewer,"-- sorry -- "fewer languages". So remember: if it's plural, it's countable, you're thinking "less/fewer". If you can count it, it's plural: "fewer". Now, let's move on to number three: "I could care less." This is an expression we use when we want to say that we have almost no interest in something that one of our friends or somebody has just said. So for example: -"Spain won the World Cup!" And you might, say, hear somebody say, -"I don't care about soccer, I could care less about this.", -"Dianne bought a new purse!" -"I don't know Diane, I don't know her very well; I could care less about Dianne buying a new purse." -"Do you like U2?" -"I could care less about U2." Maybe because I'm not a fan of rock and roll or I just don't like the band, or I don't like Bono's political views or something like that. Now, this expression: "I could care less", actually says that you care a little bit. So what you're trying to say is not exactly what you're trying to say. If you want to say that you have no interest or this doesn't affect you in some way, the expression is: "I could not care less." Okay? So let's just fix this up here and say: "I couldn't care less." This means your interest is so low that there's nowhere for you to go. If you say: "I could care less", maybe you care this much and you could still care a little more -- or sorry --, care a little less. Okay guys, so again, next time you want to show that you don't have any interest in a topic a person is talking to you about, say: "I couldn't care less." Now let's move on to number four: "Have went". This is a problem of using the incorrect verb form. So basically in English, you're going to have three verb forms for each verb. So for example: with the verb "go" we have the present: "go", the past: "went", and we have the past participle which we use in the perfect forms of English, which is "gone". So when you use: "have + went", you actually mean: "have gone" and you should be saying: "have gone".

Comments

1. I don't believe English people commit such silly mistakes. These are obvious and naive ones which novices make. I think its disrespectful to claim that the English commit these.
2. I knew all these mistakes, except second one))
3. great lesson.
4. Another common problem is in the sentence, "There are many people that make this common grammar mistake"---using "that" instead of "who" when referring to people.
5. Who else knew all of these before watching this video, and also are native English speakers.
6. thanks for your lesson.
7. what about some people say I been. rather than I've been
8. This is really true! that's why when you're a learner one, you might fall in those mistakes regarding to the native English speakers mistakes, but when you see advance grammar in a class, you realize they're in mistake and that you've been in one as well!
9. Nice video. Very informative. I personally see some native speakers using "each and "every" interchangeably without noticing their subtle differences. Of course there are times when both are acceptable but in most situations one is more appropriate than the other.
10. № 4 have never heard. Past Simple instead of Pres Perf - Yes!
11. past history, prior history, true history,true history, historical facts, future plans preboard prepay board bored,prequalify prepay preregister, you're your they're their, there , excape,instead of escape,excetera for et cetera,have heard librarians say 'ehgscape
12. Hello! Thank you for this amazing video!
    I have a question about the 4th mistake, "have went".
    Wouldn't it be better to say "I have been to Ohio 3 times" rather than "I have gone to Ohio 3 times" as it shows the result, no? What I was thinking before is that 'gone' is used when the trip is still in progress, for example, I have gone to Paris....
    If I am not correct, can you please explain this case to me?
    Thank you in avance :)
13. nothing is a neutral word isn't it?
14. thanks you teacher !
15. You know what grammatical error really gets on my nerves? Use of the word "good" in such a case that it is contextually appropriate to say "well." For example do NOT say "Do you think that you will do good on your exam?" You should say "Do you think that you will do well on your exam?"
16. It's not incorrect to use "less" in some countable situations. For instance, I dropped my weight from 230 lbs down to less than 200 lbs. It would sound quite unnatural to me if I were to use "fewer" here. My problem with some English teachers is that they just abide by the old rules and refuse to loosen up even if it means going against common sense.
17. It is hard to explain to my students that it is wrong to say so. They say, "Native speakers say so, it means it is correct")))
18. Thanks for the class Alex. Well, 'there were' sounds a kind weird. Learn this will be like when I discovered in the English language don't have occult subject. A little bit confusing, but I accept and learnt it.
19. Double negatives? Who cares. Don't make me no nevermind. And 'I could care less' is an idiom. It doesn't have to be grammatical.