Correct your english errors avoid 99% of the common mistakes made by learners of english

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CONTENTS
Introduction
Acknowledgments
PronunciationandSpelling
Pronunciation
Spelling
Capitalization
Punctuation
Grammar
Nouns
Numbers
Determiners
Pronouns
Adjectives
PossessiveWords

Verbs
Be:SimplePresentTense
SimplePresentTense
PresentProgressiveTense
Imperatives
Be:SimplePastTense
SimplePastTense
PastProgressiveTense
PresentPerfectTense
FutureTensewithGoingtoandWill
ModalVerbs
Subject-VerbAgreement
PassiveVoice
Two-WordVerbs


ReflexiveandReciprocalVerbs
Infinitives,Gerunds,andParticiples
Adverbs
Prepositions
ConditionalSentences
ImpersonalExpressions
Vocabulary
CatchtheErrors
IrregularVerbList
AnswerKey
IndexofWordsandExpressions
SubjectIndex

INTRODUCTION
ThepurposeofthisbookistoidentifythemostcommontroublespotsforEnglishlanguage
learners,toprovideabasisforunderstandingwhythesetroublespotscausedifficulties,andto
offerguidanceandpracticeforavoidingpotentialerrors.
Manyerrorscommonlymadebyspeakersandlearnersofasecondlanguagearecausedby
transferringpatternsandfeaturesofthenativelanguagetothenewlanguage.Thishappensinall
aspectsoflanguagefrompronunciationtowordformationtosentencestructure:
DifficultysayinganEnglishsoundarisesbecausethefirstlanguagedoesnothavesuchasound.
DoublelettersareomittedfromEnglishwordsbecausethefirstlanguage’sspellingsystem
doesnothavedoubleletters.
Verbendingstoshowtenseornounendingstoshowpluralsareomittedbecausethefirst
languagedoesnotaddsuchsuffixestothesewords.
Adjectivesareplacedafter,ratherthanbefore,nounsbecausethefirstlanguagefollowsthat
pattern.
“Tallerfrom”issaidinsteadof“tallerthan”becausethat’sthepatterninthefirstlanguage.
Anothersourceoferroristhelearningprocessitself.Thatis,learnerstendtooverapplyor
misapplypatternsandrulesinthenewlanguage,donotlearnexceptionstotherules,ordonot
applytherulesfully.Hereareexamplesofthesekindsoferrors:
Applyingtheregular-edpast-tenseendingtoirregularverbs:Igoedhomeearlyyesterday.
Usingmorewiththeadjectiveheavy(whichrequiresthe-erending)becausetherulethattwosyllableadjectivesendingin-yuse-er,notmore,wasnotfullylearned.
Usingasleepinfrontofanounbecausetherulethatacertainsmallgroupofadjectives,
includingasleep,areusedonlyafteralinkingverbwasnotfullylearned.
Inthisbook,youwillfindhelpwiththeseandmanymorecommonerrorsthroughexplanationand
example.Youwillbecomeawareofpotentialtroublespotsandlearnhowtobreakthehabits,
learnthenecessaryrules,andcorrectyourmistakes.Severalexamplesaregivenforeachtopic,
followedbyexercisesthattestyourunderstandingandhelpyouavoidthepitfalls.
Becauseindividualwordsofalanguageareusedinconnectionwithotherwords,youwillfind
thatmanytopicsarementionedinmorethanoneplace.Extensivecross-referencingwillhelpyou
findconnectionsbetweenrelatedtopics.Topicsandlistsarepresentedinlogicalorder.For
example,irregularverbsarepresentedingroupsofverbsthatfollowsimilarpatterns.

Comparativeandsuperlativeformsofadjectivesarepresentedinlogicalgroupingsaccordingto
howtheyareformedandspelled.Verbtensesarepresentedinorderfromthepresenttenseto
modalverbs.Complexsyntacticpatterns,suchasthepassivevoice,arepresentedattheendof


thevolume,afteralltheprerequisiteknowledgehasbeenpresented.Inaddition,thebackofthe
bookincludesacomprehensiveanddetailedindex,whichservesasaguidetolocatingallthe
referencestoeachtopic,aswellasakeywiththeanswerstoalltheexercises.Ihopethatthe
materialspresentedinthisbookwillhelpyouimproveyourproficiencyinEnglishandavoidthe
mostcommonandvexingerrorsinEnglish.

SuggestionsforUsingthisBook
Thisbookisdividedintotwoparts:PronunciationandSpellingandGrammar.Thelargest
sectionisGrammar,whichidentifiesthevariouspartsofspeechintraditionalterminologyfor
easeofcomprehension.Eachtermisexplainedandillustratedwithmultipleexamples,providing
necessaryrevieworclarification.
Therearemanywaystousethisbook:
Examinethe“AvoidtheError”headingsineachsection.Readtheexamplesandthenthe
relatedexplanations.
Usetheindextofindspecifictopics,asyouneedthem.
Usethetableofcontentstofindthespecificchaptersyouwanttostudy.
Workthroughthebookinsequencefrombeginningtoendforacompleteovervieworreview
ofEnglishgrammarandthemostcommonandvexingerrorsthatlearnersmake.
Completetheexercisesonyourownpaper,andusetheAnswerKeytocheckyourwork.Then
reviewanyareaswhereyouneedextrarevieworexplanation,andcompletetheexercisesagain.
Usethe“CatchtheErrors”sectionattheendofthebooktocheckyourunderstandingofthe
majortopicsinthebook.
Throughoutthisbook,allerrorsarepresentedinredtypeandmarkedbyan .Formaximum
clarity,allerrorsarecorrected,andeachcorrectedversionispresentedwitha .
TheguidelinesherearebasedoncurrentstandardusageinNorthAmerica.However,usage

variesaccordingtoregionandothervariables,andlanguageisconstantlychanging.Incases
wherevariantsexistforformalandinformalsituations,detailsareprovided.Thebiggesterrorof
allwouldbetocorrectanativespeaker,ortoimplyinanywaythatheorshedoesnotspeak
correctEnglish.ThebestwaytoimproveyourEnglishistolistentonativespeakersandinteract
withthem.


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
IamindebtedtoGraceFreedson,whopresentedmewiththeopportunitytowritethisbook;to
GarretLemoi,whogavepatientguidanceandfeedbackthroughoutthewriting;toJuliaAnderson
Bauer,whoskillfullyputthebookthroughthepublishingprocess;toRobertF.Wilson,whose
networkingskillshavebeeninstrumentalinmycareer;andtoMaryJaneMaples,whohas
providedmewithpeerlessadviceandcountlessopportunitiesthroughoutmycareer.
Thisbookisdedicatedtoallmyteachersoflinguistics:
CynthiaCornell,DePauwUniversity
ErnestoCarratalá,UniversitatCentraldeBarcelona
RoserEstapáArgemí,UniversitatCentraldeBarcelona
JoséEnriqueGargalloGil,UniversitatCentraldeBarcelona
JoanVeny,UniversitatCentraldeBarcelona
LyleBachman,UniversityofCaliforniaatLosAngeles
MarioSaltarelli,UniversityofSouthernCalifornia
H.DouglasBrown,SanFranciscoStateUniversity
LawrenceF.Bouton,UniversityofIllinoisatUrbana
RonCowan,UniversityofIllinoisatUrbana
WayneB.Dickerson,UniversityofIllinoisatUrbana
PearlGoodman,UniversityofIllinoisatUrbana
HansHock,UniversityofIllinoisatUrbana
YamunaKachru,UniversityofIllinoisatUrbana
JamesF.Lee,IndianaUniversity
BillVanPatten,UniversityofIllinoisatChicago

CarolKlee,UniversityofMinnesota
JohnBordie,UniversityofTexasatAustin
JabierElorrieta,UniversityofTexasatAustin
ElaineHorwitz,UniversityofTexasatAustin
ZenaMoore,UniversityofTexasatAustin
DieterWanner,TheOhioStateUniversity


PRONUNCIATIONANDSPELLING


PRONUNCIATION
EnglishSounds
TheEnglishlanguagehasaboutfortysounds,twenty-fourconsonants,andsixteenvowels.
Knowingthesesoundscanhelpyouimproveyourpronunciation.Specialphoneticsymbolsare
usedtorepresentsounds.Keyplacesinthisbookusephoneticsymbolstoclarifypronunciation.
Theyarewrittenbetweenslashmarks,suchas/b/,toindicatethattheyaresymbols.Youdonot
needtomemorizethesesymbolstolearnEnglish—justusethemasreferences.Manylearners’
dictionariesusethesesymbols,sobeingfamiliarwiththemwillhelpyouwhenyoulookup
words.Eachofthesesoundscanbespelledinmanyways.Forinformationonspelling,seepage
9.

Consonants
ThistableshowstheconsonantsoundsofEnglish:
VOICELESS

VOICED


VoicedandVoicelessSounds

Consonantsfallintotwogroups,voicedandvoiceless.Whenyousayavoicedsound,yourvocal
chordsvibrate.Whenyousayavoicelesssound,yourvocalchordsdonotvibrate.Tofeelyour
vocalchordsvibrate,placeyourhandonyourthroatandsaywordpairssuchasfan/van,
pill/bill,orSue/zoo.Yourvocalchordsshouldnotvibratewhenyousaythefirstconsonantin
eachpair.
Manylearnershavedifficultywiththesounds/θ/and/ð/.Thesound/θ/isnotvoiced(i.e.,itis
voiceless),whichmeansthevocalchordsdonotvibratewhenyousayit.Thesound/ð/isvoiced.
Thechordsshouldvibratewhenyousaythisconsonant.

AVOIDTHE

Topronounce/θ/and/ð/,yourtonguemustbebetweentheupperandlowerteeth.Instead,
peoplemaymakethemistakeofsaying/d/oranothersound.

Thesounds/θ/and/ð/maybedifficultforindividualsfromaculturewhereitisnotpoliteto
showyourtongue.KeepinmindthatwhenspeakingEnglish,showingone’stongueto
pronouncethesesoundsisperfectlynormal.Nevertheless,ifyouareshy,youmightcoveryour
mouthwhenyousaythesesounds,untilyoubecomecomfortablesayingthem.

Tolearn/r/,listentonativespeakersandpracticesayingwordswithmany/r/sounds,suchas
refrigerator.Sayingtonguetwistersisalsoagoodwaytopracticethissound.
Aroundtheroughrockstheangryrascalran.

AVOIDTHE

Thesounds/l/and/r/areoftendifficultforspeakersofChinese,Japanese,Korean,andother
Asianlanguages.Infact,theirlistenerscanbecomeconfusedbythewrongsound:

Wordpairsthatcanbeconfusedinthiswayinclude:right/light,lock/rock,grass/glass,
lamp/ramp,raw/law,row/low.

Thesound/l/isproducedbythetipofthetonguetouchingtheroofofthemouth.Thesound/r/
involvesnocontactbetweenthetongueandtheroofofthemouth.


ThespellingofwordsinEnglishisareliableclueforwhentopronounceeachsound.The
letterlisalwayspronounced/l/,andtheletterrisalwayspronounced/r/.However,some
wordshaveasilentl:would,could,should,half,chalk,talk,walk,Lincoln,almond,and
salmon.

Vowels
ThistableshowsthevowelsoundsofEnglish:

The/εr/soundisparticularlyhardtosay.Tolearnit,practicesayingwordswithvowel+r
combinations.

Stress
Stressistheloudnesswithwhichwesayawordorsyllable.(Asyllableisapartofawordthat
consistsofatleastonevowelandcanhaveoneormoreconsonants.Awordcanconsistofoneor
moresyllables.)Awordcanhaveoneormorestressedsyllables.Aone-ortwo-syllableword
canhaveonestressedsyllable.

Awordoftwoormoresyllablescanhaveprimarystressandsecondarystress.Primarystressis
markedwith',secondarystresswith'.

Somewords,suchasarticlesandone-syllableprepositions,arenotstressedatall.

InEnglish,unstressedvowelsusuallybecome/ /.


AVOIDTHE

Sometimesthemeaningofaworddependsonwhichsyllableisstressed.

Insuspect/suspectandmanyotherpairsofwords,thefirstsyllableisstressedifthewordisa
noun,butthesecondsyllableisstressedifthewordisaverb.

ContrastiveStress
InEnglish,wecanstressanyword,evenonethatnormallyisnotstressed,toexpressaspecial
meaning.Lookathowthemeaningofthissentencechangesdependingonthestress:
Wewillfinishworkat1:00.(Otherswillfinishatanothertime.)
Wewillfinishworkat1:00.(Wewon’tfinishatanothertime.)
Wewillfinishworkat1:00.(Wewon’tstartordosomethingelseatthattime.)
Wewillfinishworkat1:00.(Wewon’tworkafterthattime.)
Wewillfinishworkat1:00.(Wewillfinishatexactlythattime.)
Wewillfinishworkat1:00.(Wewillnotfinishat2:00.)
ListencarefullywhenEnglishspeakersgivespecialstresstoacertainword.Itmeansthatthe
personisusingcontrastivestress.

RisingIntonationforQuestions
Intonationisthepitch,higherorlower,ofsound.Englishusesrisingintonationforyes/no
questions.Withrisingintonation,thepitchgoesupattheendofthesentence.Therisingintonation


signalsthatthepersonisaskingaquestion.
Areyoufinishedusingthecomputer?

AVOIDTHE

Donotuserisingintonationwithwh-questions.Usefallingintonation.

Inwh-questions,thequestionwordsignalsthatthepersonisaskingaquestion.Rising
intonationisnotnecessarywithwh-questions.


SPELLING
Englishspellingoftenseemsdifficult,butmanycommonspellingpatternscanhelpusspellbetter.

Vowels
ShortVowels
Spellshortvowels/I,ε,æ, ,υ,/withonlyoneletter.

LongVowels
Tospelllongvowels/i,e,o,u/,usetwoletters.

Usually,thesecondvowelissilent.Torememberthisrule,childrenuseasimplerhyme.Youcan
useit,too:“Whentwovowelsgowalking,thefirstonedoesthetalking.”
Avowelthatcomesattheendofawordorsyllablealsoislong.

iBeforee
Whenthelettersiandearetogether,theyareusuallyspelledie.

Therearesomeexceptionstothisrule:
Afterc,eusuallycomesbeforei.

Whenthecombinationsoundslike/a/,ecomesbeforei.

However,notallwordsfollowthispattern:


Achildren’srhymemakesthisrulememorable:“Ibeforee,exceptaftercorwhensoundedas/a/,

asinneighborandweigh.”

Consonants
Thesound/f/canbespelledwith/,ph-,-ough,or-augh.

Therearesomeexceptionstotheserules.Thelettergroup-oughalsorepresents/o/.

Thelettergroup-aughrepresentsthesounds/ /.

AVOIDTHE

Theinitial/f/soundinPhilippines(anislandnationinAsia)isspelledPh-,butFilipino(an
individualfromthatcountry)isspelledwithF.

Thesound/k/canbespelledc,cc,k,orck.

Theletterqisalwaysfollowedbyu.

The/s/soundcanbespelledwithcors.Usuallyc+ioreispronounced/s/.Otherwise,cis
usuallypronounced/k/.

The
soundcanbespelledwithgor/Usually,g+ioreispronounced
usuallypronounced/g/.

.Otherwise,gis


AVOIDTHE

Don’tforgetthedoubleconsonantlettersinEnglishwords.

SilentLetters.
Manywordshavesilentletters.
Thekissilentintheinitialkn-.

Thelettersgharesilentinthefinal-ght.

Theletterbissilentbeforetinwordssuchas:

Thelettershandwaresilentinthesecombinations:rh-andwr-

Aninitialhissilentinmanywords.

Theletter/issilentinthesewords:

Manywordsendwithasilentfinal-e.


AVOIDTHE

Takecarenottoforgetafinalsilent-e.

AddingPrefixes
Aprefixisawordpartaddedtothebeginningofawordtochangeitsmeaning.Commonprefixes
includemis-,over-,pre-,andre-.Addingaprefixtoaworddoesnotchangethespellingofthe
word.

AVOIDTHE

Ifthelastletterofaprefixandthefirstletterofawordarethesame,theletterwillappear
doublewhentheprefixandwordarecombined.Donotforgetthedoubleletter.

AddingSuffixes
Suffixesarewordpartsthatareaddedtotheendsofwords.Commonsuffixesinclude-ed,-ing,er,est,-s,-ful,-ly,andsoon.Addingsuffixestowordsinvolvesmanyspellingchanges.Hereare
somesimplerules.
Whenaddingasuffixthatendsinavoweltoaone-syllablewordthatendsinavowelanda
singleconsonant(hot),doublethefinalconsonant:hotter.

Thisisoftencalledthe1+1+1rule.Ifawordhasaone-syllableword,oneshortvowel,and
oneconsonantattheend,thendoubletheconsonantwhenaddingasuffix.
Ifawordhasmorethanonesyllable,doublethefinalconsonantonlyifthefinalsyllableis
stressed.


Whenaddingasuffixtoawordthatendsinconsonant+-y,changethefinal-yto-i.

Whenaddingasuffixtoawordthatendsinavowel+-y,donotchangethefinal-yto-i.

Whenaddingasuffixtoawordthatendsinavowel,dropthefinalvowelifthesuffixbeginswith
avowel.

AVOIDTHE

Donotdropthefinal-ewhenitcomesbeforecorgandthesuffixbeginsina,o,oru.

Whenadding-abletolikeorlove,droppingthe-eisoptional:

Whenaddingasuffixtoawordthatendsinavowel,keepthefinalvowelifthesuffixbeginswith
aconsonant.

Fordetailsonadding
-stonouns,seepage47.
-stoverbs,seepage131.
-ingtoverbs,seepage138.


-edtoverbs,seepage150.
-er/-esttoadjectives,seepage105.
-lytoadjectives,seepage223.
-er/-esttoadverbs,seepage233.

Contractions
Contractionsareshortformsfortwowordswrittentogether.Useanapostrophetospella
contraction.Theapostrophereplacesthelettersthathavebeendeletedfromthecontraction.

AVOIDTHE

Don’tconfusethecommoncontractionsthey’re,it’s,andyou’rewithotherwords:
They’reisthecontractionoftheyare.Writersoftenconfusethey’rewiththepossessive
adjectivetheirortheadverbthere.

It’sisthecontractionofitis.Writersoftenconfuseit’swiththepossessiveadjectiveits.

You’reisthecontractionofyouare.Writersoftenconfuseyou’rewiththepossessive
adjectiveyour.

CompoundWords
Compoundwordsaretwowordsthatcometogethertoformanewword.Compoundwordscan
bespelledassinglewords,withhyphens,orastwoseparatewords.

AVOIDTHE

Thankyouiswrittenastwowords.

Whencompoundwordsarepronounced,thefirstwordisalwaysstressed.

Tospellacompoundword,saythepartsaloud.Ifthefirstwordisnotstressed,it’snota
compound.Spellitastwowordswithoutahyphen.Ifthefirstwordisstressed,thentheentire
wordisacompound.Checkadictionarytoseeifaspaceorahyphenisneeded.

Homonyms
Homonymsarewordsthatsoundthesamebuthavedifferentspellingsandmeanings.Usingan
incorrecthomonymisveryconfusingtoreaders.Thefollowingtableshowssomecommon
homonyms:


AVOIDTHE

Becarefultousethecorrecthomonym.Usingthewronghomonymisveryconfusingto
readers.


Ifyoutypeonacomputer,thespell-checkercanhelpyoucatchmanyspellingerrors.However,it
willnotalwayscatcherrorswhenyoutypeonehomonyminsteadofanother.

Makesureyouusethewordyoureallymean.

AVOIDTHE

Somecommonspellingerrorsaretheresultofquickorcarelesskeyboarding.Insteadoftyping
oneword,suchasor,wetypeasimilarwordbymistake,suchasof.

Watchforerrorssuchas:

Goodspellingtakescarefulproofreading.Ideally,youshouldcheckyourwritingforerrors
severaltimes.Alwaysdouble-checkyourwritingforcorrectspelling.

AVOIDTHE

Avoidthesecommonspellingerrorswhenyouproofread.


InternetSpellings
TheInternethasresultedinthecreationofmanynewwordsandspellingproblems.Becausethe
Internetissonewandnewideasemergesoquickly,manytermshaveseveralspellings.Hereare
somecommonInternetterms:
Internet
e-mailoremail
websiteorWebsite
online
URL
blog
LISTSERV
Checkwithyourteacher,coworker,orbossaboutexactlyhowyoushouldspellthesetermsifyou
needtousethem.