English Grammar and Usage: Common Mistakes and Key Concepts
Common English Mistakes and Usage
- Be aware of: Be aware of
- Belong to: Membership
- Brave: Courageous
- Campaign: Campaign
- Closely: Carefully
- Coach: Coach
- Coal: Carbon
- Common: Common
- Date: The date or dates
- Deserve: To deserve
- Dwarf: Dwarf
- Fairly: Fairly
- Fairy tale: Fairy tale
- Fight: Fight
- Forget: Forget
- Injured: Injured
- Joke: Joke
- Look after: Take care
- Look for: Look for
- Look forward to: Anticipate
- Look out: Be careful
- Look up: Seek information
- Mess: Disorder
- Mine: Mine
- On the contrary: On the opposite
- Patient: Patient
- Request: Application
- Shy: Shy
- Suggest: Suggest
- Suppose: Assumed
- Tidy: Order
- Treat: Try
- Who cares!: Who cares!
Modal Verbs and Tenses
- Perfect Manners: Modal + have + past participle
- Used to: Past habit
- Future Continuous: To be + future + -ing (subject will be + verb + -ing). Example: All this tomorrow we’ll be studying Latin.
- Future Perfect: Subject + will have + past participle. Example: At this time tomorrow we’ll have studied maths.
- Manners: Infinitive without to.
Liability and Obligations
- Liability: Must have to all the time.
- Lack of Liability: Need not present. Do not have to all the time.
- Banned: Mustn’t
Ability and Possibility
- Physical Ability: Can, in the past could, to be able to.
- Something happens Possibility: Can, could, may, might
- Request Permission: Can, could, may, might
- Give Advice: Should, ought to
- An Evidence-Based Pay Period: Must can not affirmative and negative.
Past and Present Perfect Tenses
- Past Continuous: Subject + see past -ed or list) did not show verb + infinitive / / did + Subject + verb? (yesterday, Aug.)
- Present Perfect: Subject + have / has + participle / / subject + + have not even / / have + Subject + match (for since, yet, already)
- Past Perfect: Had the same thing with. (Before, after)
Defining and Non-Defining Relative Clauses
Defining (Specific)
Specific, defining who or what is being talked about. Information required. Example: The woman who lives next door is a doctor.
Non-Defining (Explanatory)
Going from,, – gives extra information (can be omitted). Example: My father, who lives in New York, is a doctor.
Relative Pronouns
| Person | Place, Animal, Anything | A Thing | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Defining | Who, Whom, Whose | That | Which, Of which, Whose |
| Non-Defining | Who, Whom, Whose | Which, Which, Which |
- When: Time
- Where: City
- Why: Because
Omitting Relative Pronouns
- In defining phrases.
- When fully only when function is complete. The girl (that / who) I love does not care for me.
- Only when there is no preposition before the relative pronoun. The girl with whom I go out is a doctor (cannot omit).
My father, whose wife is a nurse, is a doctor. (Whose: possession)
My dog, whose puppies are ill, is named Ben. (My dog’s sick puppies whose name is Ben.)
The dog that barked was a Golden Retriever. (That: subject) Antecedent: dog
The dog that I bought was a dog. (That: Completion)
Examples
- Anne is very friendly. (She lives next door) – Ann, who lives next door, is very friendly.
- We stayed at the Grand Hotel. (Ann recommended it to us) – We stayed at the Grand Hotel, which Ann recommended to us.
- There’s a woman living next door. She’s a doctor. – The woman who lives in London is a doctor.
- I’ve got a brother called Jim. He lives in London. He’s a doctor. – My brother Jim, who lives in London, is a doctor.