Here are some common mistakes at Intermediate and Upper Intermediate+ level for you to correct, which come from students in Prague.
Spot the mistake
1. “I suggest you to read it.”
2. “I want that he does it for me.”
3. “I saw a wonderful new game at the theatre last week.”
4. “You look very well in your new coat, Simona.”
5. “Do you have a time to see me later?”
6. “If you want to do the course, you’ll need to registrate today.”
7. (from a student) “Sorry, David, I didn’t have time to prepare for today’s lesson.”
How did you go? Here are the answers below:
1. “I suggest you to read it.”
If you want to highlight that your suggestion is for your friend, and not yourself:
Correct -> “I suggest that you read it.”
After the verb suggest there are two main patterns.
a) I suggest reading it [suggest + noun or gerund]
b) I suggest (that) you (should) read it. [suggest + ‘that clause’]
So if you wanted to include yourself in the suggestion, or make it more general, you can say:
“I suggest reading it.”
Please note recommend also follows this pattern.
2. “I want that he does it for me.”
Correct -> “I want him to do it for me.”
The pattern is: to want someone to do something
3. “I saw a wonderful new game at the theatre last week.”
Some Czech speakers mix up ‘game’ and ‘play.’
A play is something you see at the theatre.
The confusion is that as a verb, you can play a game, and in Czech the verb and noun forms are very similar.
Correct -> “I saw a wonderful new play at the theatre last week.”
4. “You look very well in your new coat, Simona.”
Correct -> “You look good/great/terrific in your new coat, Simona.”
When students say ‘you look well‘ it’s not grammatically wrong, but they’re saying ‘you look healthy‘ whereas they’d like to compliment someone on how good they look after a new haircut or change of style.
5. “Do you have a time to see me later?”
Correct -> “Do you have (some/any) time to see me later?”
Time is uncountable in this sense.
You can use time as being countable, for example, in the follow examples:
I had a good time last night.
The war was a difficult time for everyone.
He thought about it for a short time.
6. “If you want to do the course, you’ll need to registrate today.”
This involves knowing the difference between the verb and the noun forms.
Correct -> If you want to do the course, you’ll need to register today
Czech students also often say conversate as a verb, when it is in fact converse.
7. (from a student) “Sorry, David, I didn’t have time to prepare for today’s lesson.”
This is one of the most puzzling mistakes I regularly hear. I asked a few Czechs if they say this in their language when they haven’t done the homework, and as they said no, there doesn’t seem to be a logical explanation for this one.
If you haven’t done the homework, then you can say:
“Sorry, I didn’t have time to do the homework.”
Regarding the comment about preparing, it’s the teacher’s job usually to prepare for the lesson.
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Hello, David! Great topic! I admit, I’m not really into grammar and I still make a lot of grammar mistakes, but I’m getting used to it, I think it’s necessary for you to improve your English, written skills and to communicate better too.
Marcelo.
Hi Marcelo
Nice to see you here! What do you find the most difficult part about English grammar?
David
Hello D., as for “Czech explanation”:
add.3 : In Czech for “game” and “play” you use the same word: so you can see Romeo and Juliette or play Člověče, nezlob se and it’s still HRA. 🙂
add.7 : We say that “učitel připravuje hodinu/lekci” a “student SE připravuje na hodinu” (it means he does the homework, reads the text he should etc). However, the second expression is much more common. This is the only one I would be able to say too.
Hi ‘Escape’ : )
Thanks for clarifying this. I already knew about no. 3, but didn’t know that “učitel připravuje hodinu/lekci” and “student SE připravuje na hodinu.”
Another favourite among Czechs is ‘I forgot it at home‘ whereas we say ‘I left it at home.’
Hezky den
David
Hello, David,
As for me, I’d say the classic past and perfect tense, conditionals and also have to memorize all the rest of it hehehe 🙂
Hi Marcelo
It seems to me you’re already excellent at grammar.
So far I haven’t written much on conditionals except this one: http://getintoenglish.com/english-grammar-conditionals/
David
Thanks for the link David! I’ll take a closer look at it tomorrow 🙂
Another favourite among Czechs is ‘I forgot it at home‘ whereas we say ‘I left it at home.’
I used to make that mistake a long time ago.
Hi David,
Could I use any instead of some (Correct -> “Do you have (some) time to see me later?”)?
Hi Martin
Thanks, I’ll make that edit.
Then this might pose the question of what’s the difference between saying:
– Do you have any time free later?
– Do you have some time free later?
Rather than analysing the grammar of the difference between some and any, there actually may be no real functional difference in this context.
How you ask the question may in fact communicate if there is a difference. For example, if you stress ANY, then it sounds like the person you’re asking is busy or you’re finding it hard to find some time to meet up.
Hi David,
… I tried to make correction … still a lot of mistakes.
As I wrote last time … I have to to study harder !!!!
I hope that during our lesson I realize how to avoid “the typical mystake of czech students”!
Great jobs!
Martina
Hi Martina
Thanks for popping in to the blog, and hope you can also go through some of the other articles 🙂
I’ll be posting again later tonight and look fwd to seeing you tomorrow!
David
With regard to preparing for lessons, in England a certain class of people used to use the term “prep” for homework – especially this was and is true in boarding schools where you don’t get to go “home” until the holidays. Maybe this is the way the term got into Czenglish?
Hi Viktor,
Thanks for your comment and sorry for the late reply, I’m travelling just now. That could be, that some Czechs are just thinking differently..
David