Comments on: 10 Common ESL Mistakes

By: MJ

MJ — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:08:36 +0000

Well, I’m mexican and I can tell you the most common mistakes I’ve heard here are:

- Using “in” for everything (instead of on,at,into,above,upon…)
because in spanish we use “en” for all those purposes (it has all those meanings)…

Also, they miss the pronouns that are COD…
they say “i don’t like at all” instead of “I don’t like IT at all”

And stuff like that =/

By: Khalid Momand

Khalid Momand — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 04:38:29 +0000

Well, good information, but i have a question regarding “According to me” how it is incorrect because it makes sense, the grammar is right as “According to” is a prepositional phrase and “me” is the object of this phrase so then what is the matter with this? Looking forward for a logical answer.

By: David Armstrong

David Armstrong — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 08:55:40 +0000

Also, a very common problem is understanding the differences between: say, speak, talk, tell etc

Student: Tara said Jo to go away.
Me: Tara told Jo to go away.

Student: Ana said me that she was hungry.
Me: … told me

Student: He told that he likes coffee.
Me: … he said

Student: She told to me that she was coming.
Me: she told me or said to me.

Student: He always says lies.
Me: … he always tells.

I used to waste a lot of class time on this topic alone.

By: Barry

Barry — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 04:58:14 +0000

it’s = it is

example, It is getting cold. = It’s getting cold.

its is a possessive pronoun

This is my car this is its tire.

Sorry guys. This is not debatable.

By: Roberta B.

Roberta B. — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:40:34 +0000

@rpwig
“What will I do…” (?)- is a question
“What I will do….” – is a statement