Hi, I'm Rebecca from www.engvid.com . In this
lesson, we'll be looking at ten common mistakes that are made when using verbs and prepositions. Now, of course, what's a verb? It's the word in the sentence that shows the
action. And a preposition is that little word that
sometimes drives you a little bit crazy, like in, on, at, to, with, before, after, and so
on. Okay? So, usually in English, there are three kinds
of mistakes that people make when using verbs and prepositions, okay? Sometimes, because of your language, okay,
because of your native language and because your native language is different from English,
perhaps, there are three kinds of ways in which mistakes are made. Sometimes, people make a mistake because they
add a preposition when there is no preposition necessary. Sometimes, they don't add a preposition when
we need a preposition. And sometimes, they use the wrong preposition
when we use a different one in English. So, let's find out exactly what happens in
your case, okay? Now, we're going to look at these ten common
verbs, but I have actually designed a course which has grammar mistakes like these, expressions,
vocabulary, prepositions, and pronunciation and lots of other kinds of mistakes. And if you want to work on your mistakes in
general, then you can check out that course. It'll be in the lesson description, okay? Check that out if you wish. But for now, let's work on these verbs and
prepositions. So, first of all, there are ten sentences
on the board, and there are ten mistakes. So, all of these have a mistake. So, if you're speaking like this, then remember
- or writing like this, remember it's wrong and we're going to fix it right now. So, let's see if you can help me with that. The first one: I called to my friend. So, what's wrong with that? Okay? So, what's wrong here is that we don't say
that. We say, we just say, "I called my friend." Say it after me: I called my friend. I called my boss. I called my parents. Okay? So, in this case, we have to take out the
preposition that was used, okay? As I said, sometimes we take it out, sometimes
we add it, sometimes we change it, alright? And maybe you make a different mistake, but
even if you're using a different preposition, that's wrong too. Okay? So, we just say, "I called somebody", okay? Next: We're waiting his email. So, what's wrong there? Can you fix it? Let's do that. We're waiting for his email. Okay? We're waiting for his email, okay? So here, what was wrong? We needed to add a preposition, okay? We needed to add a preposition here. We're waiting for his email. So, you can be waiting for something. You can be waiting for someone, okay? So, that's the way we fix that one. Let's look at number three: They reached to
an agreement. What's wrong there? Try to figure it out. So, we should say, "They reached an agreement." So here also, we're taking out the preposition,
okay? They reached an agreement. Say it after me: They reached an agreement. Okay? Good. Number four: She's listening the music. She's listening - what should it be? She's listening to the music. Okay? So, here we need to add a preposition. Listen to, we always say in English, listen
to. This is not the case in a number of languages,
so be careful and check whether your language actually is different from English here, okay? This is a very, very common mistake. So, say it after me: She's listening to the
music. Alright? Good. Number five: Did you contact to the manager? That's wrong also. It should be what? Again, we're taking it out this time. Did you contact the manager? Did you contact the client? Okay? So, after contact, we don't need any preposition,
alright? Did you contact the manager? Say it after me: Did you contact the manager? Okay? It's helpful, very helpful to repeat it after
me for a few reasons. One is for the pronunciation and the second
is to help you learn the grammar, right? So that your ears can hear you saying the
right thing and your brain can also learn faster by listening as well as seeing. Okay? And speaking. Alright. Number six: We discussed about the project. What's wrong there? Okay, here. We don't need that word. We just say, "We discussed the project." We discussed the idea. Okay? Say it after me: We discussed the project. We discussed the project, okay? Good, good for you. Next, number seven: I'm arriving to London
tomorrow. That's wrong. Very common mistake, okay? It must be because, in a lot of languages,
that is the preposition that is used after "arrive", but that is not the preposition
that is used in English. So, we should say, "I'm arriving in London",
okay? So here, we just had to correct it. We had to change the preposition. We still use a preposition, but we use this
particular preposition and maybe not the preposition that's being used in your language, okay? So, "I'm arriving in London tomorrow." Now, this particular verb, arrive, is actually
used so often that I have a special lesson which is just about this verb. And it's about sometimes we say "arrived at",
like if we say arrived at a specific place, right? Arrived at the airport. But we say "arrived in" a city, arrived in
a country, arrived in a continent. Okay? So, if you want to know more about that particular
one, watch that other lesson, okay? That will help you to really get that right,
because we use this word and this verb a lot, okay? Next, number eight: Have you answered to their
question? That's also wrong. So, what should it be? Have you answered their question? Okay? So, we're taking it out there. Have you answered their question? Have you answered their email? Okay? So, say it after me: Have you answered their
question? Okay? And again, we've used different verb tenses
here, sometimes we've used present simple, I think, or present continuous. Past simple, present perfect, doesn't matter
which verb tense we use. We're still going to have verbs and we're
going to have prepositions or no prepositions, right? Okay. So, repeat this one after me: Have you answered
their question? Okay? Now, when you're saying this also, please
remember to say the ending, okay? Especially in certain languages, a lot of
my Spanish students have a little difficulty saying the endings of the words, so make sure
you're paying attention to that. Because otherwise, it will sound like, "Have
you answer your question?" And that would then make somebody think that
you're not speaking English correctly, and maybe you actually know that it's "Have you
answered", but you need to hear it, you need to say it, okay? Next, number nine: Did he tell to you something? That's wrong. Very common mistake. A lot of my Indian students make this mistake,
and several others. So, what's wrong with that? How can we fix it? It should be this way: Did he tell you something? You tell someone something, okay? We don't need the "to", so we're taking out
the "to". Did he tell you something, okay? Say it after me: Did he tell you something? Did he tell you something? Good, okay? And the last one: We went in bus. That's wrong. How can we fix it? We went - we use a different preposition here
- we went by bus, okay? So here, we're going to change the preposition. We went by bus. In fact, we use "by" for various modes of
transportation. We went by bus. We went by train. We went by plane, okay? We went by subway, okay? There is only one exception. If you walked, then we say, "We went on foot." Not by foot, but on foot. We went on foot. By bus, by train, by plane, and so on, okay? So, these are ten very common mistakes with
verbs and prepositions. Now, here we just corrected them. Now, let's really make sure that you know
them by reviewing them and using them correctly, okay? Looking at what their correct forms are. Let's do that next. Okay, now let's really lock these down, okay? These verbs and prepositions, or verbs and
no prepositions, okay? But on this board, there will be verbs and
the correct prepositions. Everything here is correct, okay? So, what can you do? Well, repeat it after me, okay? Repeat it with me, that will be even better,
okay? So, let's go with number one: I listened to
the teacher. Next: I listened to the lecture. Get used to saying "I listened to", okay? I listened to the song. Good. Alright? So, always put to after listen, alright. Next, number two: I waited for her response. The next sentence, let's say it together:
I waited for Mary. I waited for the call. Okay? So, as you can see here, you can wait for
something like a response, a call, or you can wait for someone, alright? Like Mary. The same here, right? You can listen to someone, like the teacher,
the professor and so on. Or, you can listen to something, like a lecture
or a song, alright? So, pay attention to the different ways in
which we can use these verbs as well. Next, say it with me: I arrived at the airport. I arrived at the café, okay? So, as I mentioned, "arrived at" is for a
specific place. But here, we say, "I arrived in Paris." I arrived in Brazil. Okay? Good. And again, there's that special lesson just
on arrived, okay? So, because there are more examples with arrived
than just the ones I've shown you here. So, if you really want to lock that one down,
watch that other lesson as well. Number four: I went by train. I went by taxi. Do you remember the one which was an exception,
where we don't say "by"? I went on foot. Okay, good. Alright? So, with these, we use prepositions. Now, let's look at the six that we learned
before. Let's review them and really learn them very
well. Those are the ones without any prepositions
at all in English. Let's look at those. Alright, so this time, we have six verbs with
no prepositions, okay? So, in case you're adding prepositions or
your brain feels like putting in that preposition, resist, don't do it, okay? And repeat and read with me, okay? So, let's go with the first one: I called
my colleague. Who is a colleague? A colleague is somebody who works with you,
okay? I called my colleague. I called the office. I called room service. Okay? If you're in a hotel and you want something
to eat or drink and you have a little bit of money, then you can call room service and
they will bring it up to you, alright? Next, number six: I reached home safely. Or, I reached the security guard. So, you see here that the meaning is a little
bit different, right? So here, you reached somewhere. You reached a place, right? I reached the office. I reached home. Whatever. But here, you reached someone. When you say I reached someone, it means I
managed to connect with them. I managed to call them. I managed to contact them, okay? So, I reached the security guard, okay? So remember that we can use reached in these
different ways. And the same up here, you can see that you
called someone, like your colleague, but you called some place, like the office or room
service. Okay? Number seven: I discussed the proposal. I discussed their offer. I discussed politics. Okay? Alright. So, these are ways that you can use discuss,
the most important thing is don't use any preposition after the word discuss. Okay? Next, number eight: I contacted the client. Or, I contacted the police. Okay? So again, no preposition, okay? That's basically it. That's it for all of them here. No preposition after these very common verbs,
alright? Next, number nine: I answered the enquiry. Enquiry is like a formal word for question
- that somebody is asking for information about something, okay? That's an enquiry. It can be spelled with an E or can be spelled
with an I, depending on British or American English, alright? Or, I answered the student. I answered the professor, okay? I answered my boss, okay? I answered the email. So, you can answer someone or you can answer
something, as we can see here. Alright? And number ten, the last one for now: I told
him to call me later. Okay? So again, you tell someone something, okay,
with no preposition. Or, another example, read it with me: I told
them to come over sometime. I told them to come over sometime. Usually when we say "to come over", it means
to come to my house, okay? So, come over, we're talking about my place,
my house, my home, okay? To come over and come over and visit me. Come and visit me. Alright? So, this is a very common one also. Be careful of how you're using "to tell" someone,
not tell to, tell someone directly, okay? So here, we have sort of reviewed and hopefully,
you know, consolidated in your mind these ten common verbs and the prepositions that
do or do not follow them, okay? So, what do you do next to make sure that
you know these? So, you can watch the video again, alright? You're welcome to do that, it helps. Watch after a couple of days, see how you
do. Watch again at the end of the week, that can
help. That's one way, that's something that some
students do. The other thing is you can go to our website,
www.engvid.com and right away, you can do a quiz on that, on these, on these ten specifically,
just to make sure that you've really got them, okay? Because you don't want to keep on learning
these lessons and watching them forever. You want to watch these lessons with a purpose,
right? To master these things and to move forward
and to take your English higher with each lesson that you watch, okay? That's the idea. That's the goal. The other thing you can do, as I mentioned
earlier, is these are just some of the common errors. And I've put together all of them in a course,
and if you wish, you can improve a little bit every single day. That's why my course is called "Correct Your
English Errors in 10 Minutes a Day". So, every day, by correcting one error, just
imagine how far you can go, okay? So, the other thing, subscribe if you haven't
already. Please do that, and that way you will keep
getting new lessons when you ring the bell, so that whenever there is a new lesson, you
will be informed, alright? Thanks very much for watching. Clearly, you're one of those serious students
who is going to make progress, because you watched all the way to the end. Congratulations, okay? I'm sure you're going to go far, and you already
are, because you've learned all of this lesson, and not just, "Yeah yeah, I know that", okay? I know people do that sometimes, but not you. You're serious and you're making progress. Good for you. Bye for now.
