Subtitle (275)
0:00Do you make common mistakes like these
0:06It's a two hours drive. We had a good
0:10time despite of the rain.
0:14He said me he was coming. All three
0:17sentences contain a super common
0:21mistake. But don't worry. Today I am
0:24going to help you stop making these
0:27errors. five errors in total and help
0:30you feel more confident in English. I
0:33need to tell you about something
0:35incredible. I have created a brand new,
0:38completely free ebook. It changes
0:42everything. 35 common mistakes English
0:46learners make and how to fix them. This
0:50powerful ebook will help you fix some of
0:52the most common errors English learners
0:55make immediately. Inside you will find
0:59everything from today's lesson, plus 30
1:02more mistakes that my teaching team and
1:04I have seen again and again. And yes,
1:08for now, I'm offering it to you for
1:10free. Just sign up to my mailing list
1:12using the link in the description or
1:15scan the QR code now. I'll send it
1:17straight to your inbox. It's genuinely
1:20one of the best resources I've ever
1:22created and I can't wait for you to see
1:25it. Okay, let's begin with our five
1:28common mistakes. Number one, can you
1:32spot the mistake in this sentence?
1:36It's a 2 hours drive.
1:44So that was sneaky of me because there
1:47are actually two mistakes. One is a
1:51basic mistake and the other is a more
1:54advanced mistake. Let's see if you can
1:57identify both. So to hours describes the
2:01drive. It's an adjective.
2:05Do we pluralize adjectives in English?
2:10One red apple. two reds apples. No, we
2:16don't. We do not pluralize adjectives in
2:19English. So, we need to remove the s.
2:23Now, I understand that the number two or
2:27anything higher than two tricks your
2:30brain into adding an s, but stop. Resist
2:35the urge. Also, the second mistake is
2:38that we should have a hyphen, a little
2:42dash between two and hour. It's a 2hour
2:47drive. So, here are some similar
2:49mistakes my students have made in the
2:54That's a five minutes walk away. Uh-uh.
3:00That's a fiveinut with the hyphen walk
3:05away. Let me show you another and you
3:07have a go at correcting it first, then
3:09I'll tell you the answer. We had a three
3:13weeks holiday in Spain.
3:17Lucky them. But it's not quite right. It
3:20should be a 3-w weekek holiday in Spain
3:24with a hyphen. That sounds like my idea
3:27of heaven. Shall we try another?
3:30I've got a 50 note again. Lucky them. I
3:36hardly ever see one of those. But it
3:39should be a 50 pound note. So remember,
3:42we don't pluralize an adjective when we
3:46describe things like duration, distance,
3:49or amount, no matter how high the number
3:52goes. Let's move on to mistake number
3:54two, which is correct.
3:58Kyle enjoyed the holiday in spite of the
4:02rainy weather. Or Kyle enjoyed the
4:06holiday despite of the rainy weather.
4:09Which one do you think?
4:17the first one. The first one is correct.
4:21It is in spite of or just despite with
4:27no of. So it should be despite the rainy
4:32weather. And notice that it's pronounced
4:36despite with the stress on the second
4:39syllable, not despite.
4:44Now these expressions are used to say
4:46that something surprising happens or
4:50something surprising is true. In spite
4:53of is slightly more informal than
4:56despite. Another example
4:59despite being afraid of heights. Ravi
5:03still went skydiving. With in spite of
5:07it would be in spite of being afraid of
5:10heights. If you would like to learn some
5:13patterns we use after despite and in
5:17spite of, I've included them in the PDF.
5:20Click on the link in the description box
5:22to download it for free or if you like a
5:25QR code, scan that there. Another very
5:29common mistake I see is people writing
5:32in spite all as one word. It is in space
5:37spite space of three separate words.
5:41Despite appears alone just one word.
5:46Okay, I hope that's clear for you. Let's
5:49move on to our third common mistake. Can
5:52you spot it? She said me. She was tired.
6:02So the mistake is using say me. We don't
6:06say somebody something. But how could we
6:10correct that sentence?
6:13Well, we could remove me. She said she
6:18was tired. Or we could change said to
6:23told and keep me. She told me she was
6:30So, we tend to say something, but tell
6:36somebody something. Now, I think you can
6:40correct this sentence. Have a go. He
6:44didn't say me where he was going. Okay,
6:47two options here. You could have he
6:51didn't say where he was going or he
6:55didn't tell me where he was going. But
6:59what if we want to use a person with say
7:03like here? We said goodbye
7:08everyone before we left. What would we
7:11put in that gap? We would put two. We
7:15said goodbye to everyone before we left.
7:18We say something to somebody. What did
7:22you just say to me? For example. So,
7:26some of the most common structures are
7:31say who, what, where, and so on, and say
7:36something to somebody. I hope that's
7:39nice and clear. You'll have lots more to
7:41practice with in the PDF. Okay. Number
7:45four, win versus earn.
7:50So many of my students confuse these
7:52words, and I totally understand why. It
7:56might be because in your first language,
7:58there's only one word representing these
8:02two words in English. Let's take a look
8:05at a sentence. I want you to tell me
8:07which word is correct. She wins a good
8:12salary or she earns a good salary.
8:21She earns a good salary is correct. My
8:25students tend to use win too often and
8:29seem to forget about earn. So what is
8:32the difference? Well, we generally use
8:36win when we get something because of
8:39luck or in a competition. For example,
8:42Heather won £10 on the lottery or we won
8:48first prize in the baking competition.
8:52We use earn when we get money from a
8:56job. Heather earns £30,000 a year as a
9:01teacher. or we use it to say we make a
9:04profit from a business or investment.
9:07The company earned $4 million last year.
9:12Win and earn have more closely related
9:15meanings, too. For example, win can mean
9:18to get something you want, particularly
9:21because of the effort you put in. You
9:23might win somebody's support or you
9:27might win a contract in business. Kelly
9:30won a lot of support by promising lower
9:33taxes or we won the contract despite
9:39stiff competition. Remember, not despite
9:41of competition, despite competition.
9:45Now, we wouldn't tend to say earn in
9:48those sentences. Win collocates more
9:52strongly with support and a contract.
9:56But to earn can also mean to get
9:59something we deserve. Although it
10:01sometimes collocates with different
10:03nouns. After running 20 km, she
10:07definitely earned a rest or the team
10:10earned the right to play in the final.
10:13Now in those sentences, we wouldn't use
10:15win. Sometimes we can use win and earn
10:19with little or no difference in meaning,
10:22particularly with words like trust,
10:25respect, and reputation. Some examples,
10:30he won the respect of his colleagues
10:32with his brave speech. Won or earned
10:36would be fine there. Or Alex has earned
10:39a reputation for being reliable. Alex
10:43has won a reputation for being reliable
10:45would also be fine there. All right,
10:47let's move on to our final common
10:49mistake. Mixing up to meet, to get to
10:53know, and to know. We will go through
10:57each meaning first. Let's start with to
10:59meet. To meet means to see or be
11:03introduced to someone for the first
11:05time. For example, I met my husband at a
11:09party. To get to know means to gradually
11:13become familiar with someone or
11:16something. For example, I got to know
11:20him over the next few months. To know
11:24means to be familiar with someone or
11:27something. I already knew his brother
11:30because he was in my class at school.
11:33So, a common mistake I hear from my
11:35students when they're going or have been
11:38on holiday is I met the culture. I knew
11:44the culture. We don't meet something in
11:48this context. And no is simply the wrong
11:52word choice here as it sounds like you
11:54had complete knowledge of the culture.
11:58My students usually mean to say this. I
12:01got to know the culture. I gradually
12:04became more familiar with it. We could
12:06say, I met lots of new people and got to
12:11know the culture. I also hear my
12:13students saying things like this. I know
12:16him more and more. Here again, we would
12:20usually use get to know. I'm getting to
12:23know him. I'm getting to know him
12:25better. Those are the most natural ways
12:28to say that you're becoming more
12:29familiar with someone. Okay, those are
12:32our five common mistakes. It's now time
12:35to check what you've learned with a
12:37quiz. There are five questions in total.
12:40I'll give you a few seconds to think,
12:42but use the pause button if you need
12:44more time. Number one, choose the
12:47correct option. John,
12:51$40,000 a year working in a bank. Is it
13:03It should be earns. Remember when we
13:06talk about the money we make at work, we
13:08use earn, not win. Okay. Question two.
13:12Is there a mistake in this sentence? If
13:16there is, correct it. Despite of wearing
13:19flip-flops, Lucy somehow managed to win
13:23the three-legged race. A three-legged
13:26race, it's when two people race
13:28together, but their inside legs are tied
13:31together, making three legs in total.
13:33Now, is there a mistake?
13:40Yes, there is a mistake. You could
13:42correct it in two ways. You could remove
13:45of or you could use in spite instead of
13:49despite. Remember, we don't use of after
13:52despite. Okay. Number three, choose the
13:55best option. Over time, you'll
13:59your colleagues better. Is it meet, get
14:09The best option here is get to know. And
14:13remember this means become familiar with
14:16someone or something gradually over a
14:20period of time. Now you could
14:23technically use no here, but it's less
14:26natural and it suggests the process is
14:29finished. Okay, question four. Is there
14:32a mistake in this sentence? If there is,
14:35correct it. My school is a 10 minutes
14:44Yep, there's a mistake. Two mistakes. It
14:48should be a 10-minute drive with a
14:51hyphen between 10 and minute. Remember,
14:5510 minute is a compound adjective, and
14:58we don't pluralize adjectives in
15:00English. Okay. Finally, number five. Do
15:04we need something in this gap? She
15:07didn't say anything.
15:15Yep. We need two. She didn't say
15:19anything to me. We say something to
15:22someone. So, what was your total score
15:25out of five? Let me know in the
15:27comments. And if you want to practice
15:29further, don't forget to download the
15:32PDF. The link's in the description box
15:34or you can scan the QR code there. We go
15:37into lots more detail in the PDF and
15:39I'll explain with more examples. I
15:42really hope you enjoyed this lesson. I
15:43hope you learned something. I will see
15:46you soon for the next one.
