How can you recognise and correct your most common English mistakes?
So, you’ve got a lecture or class to take in English next week. Maybe you’ve got an interview coming up for a job that requires English. You want to improve your basics fast, cut out the most common English mistakes you make, and not sound like an idiot. What about those English emails at work? They aren’t going to correct themselves and you told your boss you can speak and understand English, right?
You need to know two things. One, what are the most common English mistakes you’re making. Do you know? I bet you know some of them but others you are not even aware of. Two, how do you correct those mistakes and bad habits (like forgetting to put an S on the end of verbs for he/she/it, etc.) and how do you remember them?
Now, you know me. I like mistakes, it shows that you’re trying and not afraid. That’s great of course, but, if you really want to improve quickly, one thing you can do is correct a few of those nejběžnější chyby v angličtině. I’m sure I made plenty of mistakes in my last post, which I wrote in Czech.
So what can you do about your most common English mistakes?
Luckily for you, over the last five years, I have made notes on the most common English mistakes that my students make and I’ve made an online video course to help you correct many of those.. You can sign up for the mini-course for FREE here and find out three more of your most common English mistakes and how to fix them. To find out how to correct one error I often hear, read on…
Come, Go and Get
Today, I’m going to focus on one of your most common mistakes. Confusing when to use come and go, and came, got and went. An example of a typical mistake would be when we are sitting in a cafe and you say to me, “I came home at 6 from work yesterday.” This is wrong because we are not in your home, we are in a cafe, and where you are dictates which verb to use.
In order to ‘come’ you usually need to be in the place you are referring to. ‘I came home at ten yesterday.’ This means you are at home now.
English Exceptions!
Of course, this being English, there are exceptional cases. If I have planned to meet some friends in a restaurant and I also want to invite you, I would say ‘Why don’t you come and join us? Or, ‘Come to the restaurant tomorrow.’ In this instance, I am not in the restaurant now but I am planning to be there before you arrive and you will therefore come to meet me.
If you are not at home we would naturally say ‘I got home at ten yesterday. (not ‘I came home’) but you can also use got if you are at home.
However, if you talking about the time that you left somewhere (not the time you arrived home) then we would use went. ‘I was at the party but I went home (left the party) at midnight.’
If you want to send somebody somewhere and you will not be with them then use go. ‘Go to the cinema on your own, I don’t like Star Wars.’ (not come to the cinema). If you are inviting me to go with you to the cinema then you can use either come or go. ‘Will you come/go to the cinema with me tomorrow?’
Compare these similar situations:
‘Will you come to my house for the party next week?’ (I will be there)
‘Will you go to my house to pick up my keys please?’ (I have forgotten my keys and left them at home. I am not there now and I will not be there when you get there to pick up the keys.
‘They went home at 11.’ (They are not at home now and you are talking about the time they left the place you are in)
‘He came home at 11.’ (He is at home now)
‘I got home at 11.’ (You could be either at home or not at home)
If you want it explained in Czech, HelpforEnglish.cz has a good explanation here.
Next week
‘What are the best ways to correct your most common English mistakes and other ways to learn?’ I’ll talk again about learning styles and if you liked today’s content but prefer video to reading then sign up for my FREE Most Common English Mistakes Mini Course, open now. 
I know that you will get massive value from this course and it will benefit you in many ways, not least by making your English sound a little more native, smoother and more intelligible.
That’s all from me for today. Remember, ‘every day’s a school day’ so let me learn from you by telling me what you think are the most common English mistakes you make when speaking English. Leave a comment below. Richard.
