- Everyone makes mistakes when speaking English: both English learners and native English speakers.
- Of course, it’s perfectly normal for English learners to make mistakes. Speaking a foreign language is tough. Most mistakes are made while speaking, as there is no time to think a phrase over. Written language, on the other hand, is usually more grammatically correct, as the writer has enough time to plan the text.
- However, this particular article is focused on mistakes that native speakers themselves make. Sometimes they occur in speaking, when they are in a hurry: auxiliaries get omitted, tenses get confused. But even more often mistakes occur in writing. Linguists can even deduce who a text was written by — a native or a foreigner, judging by mistakes made.
-
Why do native speakers make so many mistakes in written speech?
- The thing is, the learned their native language listening to their parents and friends, whereas foreigners learn languages in a logical way. Non-natives know the difference between your and you’re (you + are) very well. Natives confuse them because they sound quite similar in speaking.
-
What’s so bad about natives making mistakes?
- Nothing, really. It’s just that there are people who are really irritated by grammar mistakes. They suffer from this inexplicable urge to correct others. Ross (Friends), if you remember, was just the guy. He corrected everyone who confused who with whom.
- The web is a natural habitat of trolls-linguists, who can’t help but tell someone they know better. This usually causes a storm of angry comments.
- I don’t think that we should be offended by someone correcting our language. This way they feel better while we get to know something new.
-
Mistakes frequently made by natives
- We made list of the most frequent writing and speaking mistakes. Of course, not every speaker makes these mistakes (it depends on the level of education, age and profession).
- I have drank coffee. Strangely enough, using a wrong form of an irregular verb is a very common mistake. Foreigners learn a language systematically, memorizing all three forms (drink — drank — drunk), which often results in a pause in speaking. Natives don’t pause — they just say the first thing that comes to their minds.
- She could of done this. This mistake is similar to your and you’re that we explained before. It is caused by phonetic reduction. The full form could have shortens to could’ve. And could’ve sounds like could of. So, if you have never seen it written how do know it’s not could of? The same goes for I’m going to — it turns into I’m gonna or even I’mna.
- If I was rich, I would buy a house. Conditional type 2 requires to use were instead of was for all persons. Even for it (If it were cold, I would put on a sweater). But it sounds so weird. That’s why natives make this mistake so often, that it can hardly be called a mistake anymore.
- There was a lot of people. Yes, it’s about were again! The example is about people (plural), so were is required. But! When speaking, people think on the fly. This phrase, probably, sounded like this: «There was… a lot of people…». When the person just started speaking, he didn’t know what he would say next (plural or singular). And going back just to use the appropriate verb seems to be a waste of time.
- I don’t know nobody. Double negative can’t be used in English. Period. That’s what trolls always say. Anyway, the mistake is very common. It’s hard to say what the possible reasons could be. Perhaps it’s other languages (Russian, Ukrainian, Spanish) where double negative is OK. The correct phrase is «I don’t know anybody».
- In the end, it’s important to understand that the language was first to appear, rules were made up later. Rules are based on the way most people speak. That’s why it’s likely that someday they mistakes we describe will no longer be mistakes.