Frequent Mistakes

Frequent mistakes

TO WORK ON   

The correct preposition for this verb is ON."I'm working on a new project."

NEAR +NO PREPOSITION   

The preposition "near" is never followed by another prepostion: "He's near the window"

FOR TO  

These prepositions never go together:"For working on...""To work on..."

ON + DAYS  

This is the preposition used with days:"On Monday""On my first day"

IN + PARTS OF THE DAY, SEASONS, MONTHS, YEARS 

"In the evening""In winter""In April""In 2008"

TO BE UNDER ALERT  

This noun always takes the preposition under:"We were under alert" 

USE OF TENSES  

If your story is written in the past tense, always use past tenses. We will work on them soon. 

•  All and everybody/ everyoneWe do not normally use all to mean everybody•   Everybody enjoyed the party, (not 'All enjoyed...') 

   But note that we say all of us/ you/ them, not 'everybody of...':• All of us enjoyed the party, (not 'everybody of us') 

  •  All and everythingSometimes you can use all or everything:• I’ll do all I can to help,   or I’ll do everything I can to help.  

  You can say 'all I can' / 'all you need' etc. but we do not normally use all alone:• He thinks he knows everything, (not 'he knows all') 

   We use all in the expression all about:• They told us all about their holiday.  

   We also use all (not 'everything') to mean the only thing(s):• All I've eaten today is a sandwich. 

   Every/ everybody/ everyone/ everything are singular words, so we use a singular verb:• Every seat in the theatre was taken. 

HEAR AND LISTEN    

To listen to sthing/bodyTo hear something/body"I'll listen to you""I'm hearing something"

RECOMMEND

To recommend st to sb.To recommend sb st.To recommend sb to..."He recommended this film to me"He recommended me a film" "He recommended me to go"

APPROACH

To approach something/somebody"I approached the city"

VISIT

To visit something/somebody"I visited the city""I'm going to visit my grandmother."

TO PICK UP

To pick st/sb upTo pick up (long expression)"He picked me up""He picked up the children"  

SIEBLINGS

  Brother and sister are "sieblings", not brothers.

ARRIVE IN/AT

To arrive in (big place)To arrive at (small place)"He arrived in Seville/Africa""I arrived at the party at... 8 o'clock"

CONFUSED / CONFUSING

I feel confused.He looked exhausted.The book was confusing.Playing football is exhausting.

QUITE / QUIET

• quite: Adverb which means "very":

The music is quite loud.• quiet: Adjective which means "silent": 

He's a quiet man.

SAFE / SURE

• This is a safe place. •  I'm sure of this.