Common mistakes for non-native English speaker.?

(1) Failure to conform to the basic rule of Germanic grammar that the verb is immediately followed by the object (direct or indirect), e.g. She sings well the song, OR They oppose for some months the government's programme. In my experience this is far and away the commonest mistake.

(2) Failure to use the perfect to describe something still going on, e.g. I am learning Italian since last year.

(3) Failure to understand the idiomatic use of the articles in English. e.g. I pay two pounds the gallon for the petrol. We fight for the freedom.

(4) Use of the individualised singular for the English collective plural, e.g. The knights all ride on, the lance at their shoulder.

(5) Problems with pronouncing short vowels, e.g. confusing "master" with "muster."

(6) The old problem of misleading cognates ("faux amis"), e.g. "Actual" in the sense of "contemporary," "pretended" in the sense of "claimed," "monography" for "monograph."

(7) Forming compound nouns using the first element in the plural (an error more and more frequent among native Anglophones): "a magazineS publisher." "highwayS accidents."

(8) Using colloquial English in a text intended for publishing in academic journals: "I don't have any idea" where "One has no idea" would be expected.

The a lot huge-unfold errors have a bent to be those on the subject depend of mom tongue have an consequence on. in diverse words, a pupil will use the two the grammar or the vocabulary of their interior reach language in conversing English with a view to bring about errors. Take a huge-unfold shape in a lot of languages this is noun + adjective. In English it is the incorrect way around, in spite of the undeniable fact that audio device from France (and an outstanding kind of diverse international places) would probably say, "have you ever won a pencil blue?"

It depends on their level of English, and for many mistakes on their first language (others are universal and the same as the mistakes English-speaking toddlers make), but:

(beginners)

confusion of simple present and present continuous (present progressive), or thinking the present participle is enough.

eg I going to school.

Children sing. (for "are singing")

irregular past tense

e.g teached for taught, goed (or just go) for went

(more advanced)

mistaken colocations: do vs. make, prepositions for phrasal verbs

confusion of countable vs. uncountable nouns

general trouble with the present perfect

See "Common Mistakes in English" : http://esl.about.com/od/gramma1/a/cmlist.htm

1) Putting clausal attributes to the left of the noun phrase, e.g.

* The standing near the window woman is my daugther.

instead of

The woman standing near the window is my daughter.

2) Putting the definite article where there must be zero article:

* We must protect the nature.

instead of

We must protect nature.

They tend to use the present continuous tense where they should use the present simple ( Indian people tend to do this a lot).. eg.... I'm liking this film ( I like this film).

I've noticed that a common mistake is to confuse 'since' and 'for'.

Use 'since' if you refer to a specific point in time:

e.g. 'since last Wednesday', 'since April 20th', 'since 3 o'clock'.

Use 'for' when giving lengths of time:

e.g. 'for 5 minutes', 'for 3 years', 'for hours and hours'.

My mother tongue is French.

For instance :

My mother and ME instead of My mother and I.

In English, you say "give ME that book".

In French, for both sentences, we use the word "MOI".

Examples :

My mother and I (Ma mère et MOI).

Give ME that book ( Donne-MOI ce livre).

So, some people could say "My mother and Me" instead of "My mother and I".

Also, French-English false cognates (or false friends ?).

(Non exhaustive list of examples).

edit : "How do you call that ? "Instead of "What do you call that ?" (because of French language / we use the word "comment") In French, the word "comment" = HOW.

It depends where you come from.

As an example, Indians usually get their 'V's and 'W's mixed up.

Can be quite funny though.