Legendas (230)
0:00Hello everyone and welcome back to
0:02English with Lucy. Do you make common
0:09He explained me why not.
0:21Now if you do, I'm going to help you
0:24stop. In this video, I'm going to teach
0:26you five of the most common mistakes in
0:30English. I hear my beginner students
0:33make these mistakes, but also some of my
0:36most advanced students have these errors
0:40ingrained in their brain. Now, to help
0:43you even further, I have created a free
0:46PDF that goes with this video. You'll
0:48find all the information from today,
0:50lots of extra information along with a
0:53quiz and a link to some extra exercises.
0:57I've basically written your lesson notes
0:59for you. To download it for free, just
1:01click on the link in the description box
1:03or scan that QR code there. Sign up to
1:05my mailing list and you'll automatically
1:07receive it. Right, let's get started.
1:10The first mistake, I think yes. I hear
1:14my students say this all the time and I
1:17know that this is often a direct
1:19translation from other languages, but
1:22it's just not right in English. We will
1:25understand you when you say it, but it's
1:28technically not correct. We usually say
1:32I think so. For example, is Catherine
1:35coming today? I think so. You can also
1:39say yes, I think she is. or I think she
1:43is. Yes. You can even just say yes on
1:46its own, but not I think yes. Erase that
1:51phrase from the English-speaking part of
1:53your brain. And an extra note, we don't
1:55say I think no in English either. I
1:58wonder if you know what we do say. We
2:01usually say I don't think so. Does Mark
2:04eat meat? I don't think so. You could
2:07also say no, I don't think he does. or I
2:10don't think he does. No. Or even no on
2:13its own. Okay. Common mistake number
2:16two. Do you ever say how is it called?
2:21Again, this is a direct translation from
2:24many other languages, but we shouldn't
2:26say it in English. We will understand
2:29you, but it's not correct. We also don't
2:32say how do you call it. Do you know
2:35which question word we use instead of
2:38how? It's what? What is it called? What
2:42do you call it? We use what in questions
2:46to ask for specific information about
2:48something or somebody. What's that
2:52called? What is it called when you wake
2:55up but can't move your body for a short
2:57time? Sleep paralysis would be the
3:00answer. I guess we have a fantastic word
3:04call it. It's in the dictionary. We use
3:07this word when we can't think of the
3:10name of something or even someone. I
3:13need a whatchamacallit. A whisk.
3:16Remember, it's whatchamma call it, not
3:18how do you call it. Now, remember when
3:21asking about someone or something's
3:23name, we also use what. What's she
3:26called? What's your dog called? Okay.
3:29Next up, mistake number three. I'm
3:32married with Will. This is incorrect.
3:36And no, marrying Will was not the
3:38mistake. The preposition with is
3:41incorrect. We don't say with in this
3:43sentence. What should it be instead? It
3:46should be to. I'm married to Will. No
3:49mistakes there. To identify our husband
3:52or wife, we use the structure married
3:55to. He's been married to Alice for 50
3:58years. She got married to her long-term
4:01partner last week. Now, I often hear a
4:05common pronunciation mistake with
4:07married. Lots of my students try to use
4:10three syllables. They say married, but
4:12it's married with to. We can also say
4:16we're married to something figuratively.
4:19This means someone is extremely
4:21committed to something and so involved
4:23with it that they don't have time for
4:24anything else. For example, Ellie is
4:28married to her job. She works all the
4:30time. However, you might have heard
4:34married with used in a correct way
4:36before. You will see married with
4:40children as a phrase. This means a
4:43person is married and has children.
4:46Think of it as married with children.
4:49Ken is married with three children. He's
4:52married to someone and he has three
4:55children. It's very important not to mix
4:57up married to and married with in this
5:00case. I'm sure you can understand. Okay.
5:03Common mistake number four is in these
5:06sentences. I wonder if you can spot it.
5:08She explained me the rules. Can you
5:12explain him how this works?
5:15So, explain me or explain him is not
5:19right. Explain is not generally followed
5:22directly by a person, whether that's an
5:25object pronoun like me or him or a noun
5:28referring to a person. It is not she
5:31explained John the rules or he explains
5:35people the history of the building.
5:37Let's correct it together. You can
5:39explain something. So explain can be
5:43followed by a noun that is not a person.
5:46She explained the rules. Pete explains
5:51difficult concepts clearly. We can use
5:54adjectives before the noun like in
5:58If you want to mention a person, you can
6:01explain to somebody. It's hard to
6:04explain to people who aren't in the
6:07industry. Now, often there's a noun
6:09after explain. For example, she
6:11explained the situation to us. or will
6:16you explain it to me? It is an object
6:20pronoun, but it refers to a thing, not a
6:22person. Now, explain can be
6:24intransitive, meaning it doesn't always
6:26require an object. For example, please
6:29let me explain, not let me explain you.
6:33We follow explain with a clause
6:35beginning with the words how, who,
6:37where, what, when, or why. For example,
6:40the boss explained who each person is
6:44and what they do. Or please explain why
6:47you haven't finished yet. We also have
6:50the structure explain to somebody what,
6:53who, how, and so on. For example, Ian
6:57explain to us what he was doing. And we
7:01can use explain plus the that clause. He
7:04explained that he hadn't been feeling
7:07well. So stop saying please explain me
7:11and choose one of the many other
7:13structures we can use instead. Okay, we
7:15have reached common mistake number five.
7:18Can you spot it in this sentence?
7:21I don't know where is Diego. So the
7:25problem here is with the word order. It
7:28should be I don't know where Diego is.
7:33Most of my students see where or another
7:36similar wh question word and immediately
7:40switch the subject verb order of the
7:42words after it from a statement to a
7:46question. For example, where is Diego?
7:49It's correct. But with I don't know at
7:52the beginning, the sentence becomes an
7:55indirect or embedded question. And we
7:58should have a statement word order.
8:01Subject plus verb. I don't know where
8:04Diego is. Here are a couple more
8:07examples of indirect questions. I don't
8:10know who she was or I wonder who's
8:15coming. We don't use a question mark
8:17when the introductory phrase has a
8:19subject verb word order. This is the
8:21case with I don't know and I wonder. We
8:24can also use introductory phrases like
8:26do you know or could you tell me to
8:29create indirect questions. We use a
8:31question mark because the introductory
8:33phrases have a question word order verb
8:36plus subject. For example, do you know
8:40where Helena is? Where Helena is, not
8:44where is Helena. Could you tell me what
8:47time it is? What time it is, not what
8:51time is it? Okay, those are the five
8:53mistakes. Now, it's time for a quiz. If
8:56you get five out of five on this, it's
8:58exceptional. you've really been paying
9:00attention because some of these concepts
9:02are really quite tricky. Question number
9:04one, complete the gap. Ethan is married,
9:08Joanne. Is it with or to?
9:16It's to. We say you are married to
9:18someone. We only use married with to
9:21talk about a married person who has
9:22children. Two. Is this sentence
9:24grammatically correct? Can you explain
9:27the plot of the film to me?
9:35Yes, it is. Explain can be followed
9:37directly by a noun, not a person, and
9:39then to somebody. Remember, we can't say
9:42explain me the plot. Number three,
9:45correct the mistake. Is it going to rain
9:54So, I think so is probably the most
9:57common option, but you could also say I
10:00think it is or even just yes.
10:05Number four, correct the mistake. We
10:08don't know who is Beth.
10:15It should be we don't know who Beth is.
10:19After we don't know, we use a subject
10:21verb order in the next clause. Okay.
10:24Okay, the final one. Complete the gap.
10:28Is that thing called?
10:34It's what. What's that thing called?
10:38Remember, we use what, not how in
10:41questions to ask for specific
10:43information about something or somebody,
10:46including for names. And you remember
10:48that really cool word I taught you,
10:50watch him or call it. Okay, how did you
10:52do? Let me know your score out of five
10:54in the comments. And with that, we're at
10:57the end of the video. I've already
10:58prepared your lesson notes for you.
11:00There's lots more information in the
11:02free PDF download, as well as a quiz and
11:05a link to some secret exercises. Let me
11:08know what your score is and other
11:10mistakes that you find it hard to avoid
11:12in English. I will try to put them in my
11:14next video. I hope you enjoyed this
11:16lesson. I hope you learned something and
11:18I'll see you in the next video. Bye.
