20 Most Common Speaking Mistakes: Advanced English Lesson

have you ever made an embarrassing mistake let's imagine that your co-workers tell you that you're in charge of calling the bakery to get a birthday cake made for your boss's birthday party well you call the bakery and you tell them that you want the cake to say this happy birthday to the best boss in the world but when you get the cake back oh no it's a disaster it says have a big day to the best bus in the wheel what in the world is this nonsense uh and then you realize I didn't speak clear enough on the phone and now my mistake is written in icing for everyone to see of course no good Baker would write some kind of nonsense on a cake but mistakes can be embarrassing especially when they're made in front of other people hi I'm Vanessa from speak English with vanessa.com and I have some good news today I'm here to help you fix the top 20 most common mistakes in English so that you don't get embarrassed when you're using English out in the real world or in the workplace of course making mistakes is an essential part of learning anything new but I imagine that you want to avoid mistakes and try to level up your skills don't we all so that's what you're going to do today and like always I've created a free pdf worksheet with all 20 of these mistakes how to fix them some common problems and some easy solutions so I recommend clicking the link in the description to download that free pdf worksheet today and finally do away with all of these most common mistakes alright let's get started fixing the first Common mistake that you might make in English and then we'll go on to the other 19. this is a lesson you're not going to want to miss mistake number one lose or loose and believe it or not even native English speakers make this mistake too loose loose that shirt is too loose it doesn't fit lose lose don't lose your phone when you're at the baseball game can you say these two challenge sentences with me my son has a loose tooth I hope he doesn't lose it while he's eating if your shoe is loose you might lose it now I have a little quiz before we go to Common mistake number two what should be the best word for this sentence I'll let you borrow my favorite shirt but don't it don't hmm which one's correct three two one I'll let you borrow my favorite shirt but don't lose it don't lose it common speaking mistake number two yesterday night last night only one of these is correct can you guess which one it is I stayed up too late last night and now I'm exhausted yes people will understand you if you say I stayed up too late yesterday night but it's not correct and if you want to level up your speaking skills you should say last night so can you fill in the end of this question what did you do three two one well as you know there's only one correct answer what did you do last night let me know in the comments remember remind these words are so similar but there is one grammatical difference between these words that you need to know so that you can use them correctly remember Vanessa's English lesson last week uh no will you remind me what it was let's take a look at both of these sentences the first one is remember Vanessa's lesson last week we just have the word remember and it's not attached to anything but take a look at the second one remind me what it was when we used the word remind we always use a pronoun afterwards remind me will you remind him about his homework will you remind them not to be late oh can you please remind me what the homework is we almost always use the word remind when we're trying to help someone out so it is incorrect to say can you remember me what the homework is that is not correct let's do a little test can you choose the correct words in these sentences do you when the project is due think about it for three seconds three two one do you remember when the project is due do you see any other word after that there's no pronoun after that instead it's just the project do you remember when the project is due what about this sentence me to buy milk when I go to the store later hmm you're asking someone to help you with something three two one remind me to buy milk when I go to the store later I might forget common speaking mistake number four tell and say oh these are also two very tricky words but I have a little key way that you can remember which one to use at which time let's take a look at these two sentences what did he tell me what did he say to me oh do you notice something here after each of these words we have a little phrase what did he tell me Well we only have that pronoun me what about the next question what did he say to me aha here we have it with the word say we always need to if there is a pronoun what did he say to me you cannot say what did he say me this is incorrect instead you should say what did he say to me or you can say what did he tell me let's take a little quiz what did your boss to you when you asked for a raise I'll give you three seconds to think is it say or tell what did your boss to you when you asked for a raise three two one what did your boss say to you when you asked for a raise did you see the word two after this yes that's your key that it should be say all right let's look at another one me the truth does this outfit look okay it's a trick question let's go over it one more time and I'll give you three seconds to think of the correct answer hmm me the truth does this outfit look okay three two one tell me the truth does this outfit look okay after the word tell there is not the word to so you know we need to use tell tell me the truth does this outfit look okay all right let's go to our final common speaking mistake that might be a little trick there is there are there's three birds outside my window right now oh this is technically a mistake there is three birds birds is plural there is an S there are three of them so why did I say there is three birds well in common spoken English we often make this a contraction theirs and it doesn't matter what comes next we could say there's a bird outside my window or there's three birds outside my window and even though the verb is singular this is a mistake that really it doesn't matter native English speakers make this mistake all the time and no one cares no one even really knows that it's a mistake technically it is but if you hear this and you think wait that's not right why did they say that you know what sometimes native English speakers allow mistakes and this is one of them but just a little note if you are writing formally if you're writing academically you can say there are three birds outside my window you can use the correct version if you're taking an exam don't put the conversational incorrect phrase don't blame me for that instead you should use the technical grammatically correct expression but to let you know you can forget about this mistake and in fact you can even use it when you speak mumbling hi my name is Vanessa and I teach English online you want to learn English with me what I did not speak clearly at all I was mumbling it means my mouth is closed I'm my name is Vanessa and I'm gonna teach you English today um the English teacher but it's also not good when you're speaking a language that's not your native language you absolutely want other people to understand you if you have not perfect grammar if you have not perfect vocabulary you know what it is not the end of the world but if you're mumbling no one's going to be able to understand what you're saying what's the solution for mumbling it is enunciating enunciating means that you speak clearly this might mean that you speak a little slower than you normally would or maybe than you would like to but you know what as an English learner this is perfectly fine when you speak clearly you avoid embarrassing mistakes like we saw at the beginning of this video your cake if you speak clearly would say happy birthday to the best boss in the world it would say it's so beautifully and clearly and your boss would be really excited and happy that you put in such beautiful effort for him speaking mistake number two that I often see my English students make is not speaking up when you have an idea it doesn't even need to be an amazing idea this idea of speaking up means that you are telling other people your ideas or telling other people your opinions so the mistake I see my English students make is if they have an idea they don't say it they just keep it in and they let other people speak their mind but they don't share their ideas there might be two reasons for this the first one might be that you just don't feel comfortable speaking in English you don't feel confident enough that you'll be able to express yourself in the right way or use the right words but you know what saying something is absolutely better than saying nothing so the solution to not speaking up is to say something it doesn't need to be perfect and I think that perfectionism is often the thing that holds English Learners back in fact it can hold all of us back in a lot of ways in life but just saying something and realizing even if my English is not perfect it's okay another reason that you might not speak up is if you doubt your ideas maybe you feel like it's not a great idea other people's ideas are probably better this is not a language issue this is something that's in your head and those are the hardest things to overcome so instead of overthinking maybe this isn't a good idea oh maybe their idea is better maybe they won't like my idea instead practice speaking up for yourself say ah actually I think this would be a good idea too or what do you think about this idea I'd like to share something that I was thinking these are all wonderful things to say and they help you to speak up the third speaking mistake I often see my English students make is that they use offensive language or even profanity when it's not appropriate so what's the solution for this well I know that a lot of English movies and TV shows use bad words we call that profanity casually easily they use it in daily life but really especially as an English learner you want other people to feel comfortable speaking with you and using bad words just isn't really a good idea if you feel like you might accidentally be saying some bad words I recommend checking out this video that I made about some common words that are often said incorrectly as a bad word so you don't want to accidentally say a bad word instead but I recommend overall avoiding using a bad word instead you could say something like this hey uh I don't really agree how about if we do this instead oh that's so much better than confronting them and saying you no why are you beep beep no instead you can use softer language and that's perfectly all right other people will feel more comfortable talking with you the fourth mistake that I often see my English students make and that I make myself is to rely too much on filler words um like you know well yes it's true that American English speakers often use filler words but if you use these too much it could make it difficult to understand what you're saying and it might not really be pleasant to have a conversation with someone who's constantly saying ah well like you know when you stall like that stall means to wait between words or to wait between events even then it doesn't really flow well as a conversation so yes you can use filler words but don't overuse them instead don't be afraid of a little silence it's perfectly all right if you're telling someone about your day and you say yeah I walked into the office and I couldn't believe it but there was a what's that word there was a printer on my desk okay if you can't remember the word printer you don't need to constantly fill that space with something to say there was a like you know um there was a thing what was it um a printer you could talk like that but you know what if you did that too much it would be a little bit stressful to have a conversation like that so instead don't be afraid to use some Blank Space we all need a little bit of Silence in our lives and it's totally okay feel free to use a filler word here and there but just not too much the fifth and final mistake that I often see my English students make when they're speaking is that they either speak too quietly or they speak too loudly usually it's the first one they speak too and this might be because they're feeling shy they're worried about speaking up like we talked about before but really this might just be because you don't want to offend other people possibly from your native culture it's not polite to speak at a normal tone like this instead it's more common to speak softly and quietly but often in the U.S this as is seen as a lack of confidence it's seen as somebody who doesn't really feel comfortable being in that situation and even if that's true as they say fake it till you make it try to speak at a normal tone as for speaking too loud this might be because of your native culture or this could be because you maybe feel like you need to speak extra loud in order for other people to understand you but I would like to suggest for you to moderate your tone notice the volume him that other people are speaking at and try to match that this is especially true of course when you're out in public but I've really noticed this Stark difference between cultures when we're sitting at a coffee shop in the U.S it's pretty common to talk normally and usually you can hear other people's conversations but you don't want to hear them too loudly so if you're talking to your friend about the date that she went on and you said oh how was your date oh really he kissed you oh he had bad breath oh boy if you say that too loudly everyone's gonna kind of stop and say oh I'm gonna talk a little quieter this is not meant for the whole Cafe but you don't need to whisper it either you can just talk in a normal voice and that is perfectly acceptable and the same goes for the workplace if you're giving a presentation for example you need to have a presentation voice and that's kind of what I do when I make videos for you is I make sure that I speak up I speak clearly and I enunciate so that you can understand but I'm also using the appropriate words I'm not using swear words I'm speaking in daily life English and I'm using the correct volume I'm making sure that you can hear me accurately and clearly through the camera through the internet to the other side of the world can you hear me I want to make sure that you can hear me so if you're giving a presentation at work make sure that you speak up and you use a good office voice what time is it it's 7 20 or it's 7 20 o'clock which one is the mistake can you guess it's the second one it's 7 20 o'clock and when you are saying a time that has specific minutes you do not need to say o'clock it's 7 20 is perfectly fine so when should you use a clock that's only when you're saying the hour for example what time is it it's seven o'clock it's three o'clock it's eleven o'clock beautiful let's take a look at a sample sentence if you have to be at work at eight o'clock you better leave the house by 7 30. notice that when I said only the hour eight o'clock I added a clock sometimes in conversation we even drop a clock if you have to be at work at eight you better leave the house by 7 30 but just make sure that you do not add a clock in the wrong spot don't add it after 7 30. are you ready for a little test take a look at this sentence where should we put a clock our flight leaves at six so I want to be at the airport by 4 30. where should we put a clock you have three seconds to guess three two one our flight leaves at 6 a clock so I want to be at the airport by 4 30. great don't be late for your flight let's go on to mistake number two have you ever heard this phrase would you mind would you mind helping me would you mind carrying this bag for me would you mind this is extremely polite and you're likely to hear this in Daily conversation and in the workplace but a common mistake is how to answer this so if I asked you would you mind carrying that heavy box for me and you said yeah certainly oh no this is not the correct answer I would say oh okay it's okay it's okay I'll carry it so what should you say instead and why is yes incorrect let's see take a look at the original question would you mind carrying this heavy box for me I'm really asking you is it a problem to carry this heavy box for me so if I ask you is it a problem and you say yes well it means that you're not going to do it you don't want to do it so how can you answer this correctly instead you can say would you mind carrying this heavy box for me no it's not a problem Oh beautiful answer and you pick up the heavy box and I feel so loved let's take a look at a couple sample sentences because this is a tricky one you want to answer correctly you want the other person to understand you as well what about this question would you mind giving me a ride to the office tomorrow my car is at the mechanic shop well if you can do it if you can help me should you say yes or no would you mind giving me a ride no not a problem this is a great answer isn't it a little bit strange you're telling them yes I can help you but your answer is really no it's not a problem problem sometimes English is a little bit strange well I have a little quiz for you I want to see if you can guess the correct answer here take a look would you mind paying for my coffee I'm sorry I forgot my wallet I can't believe it well if you want to help me I'm your English teacher and you want to do something kind for me thank you what could you say yes certainly or no it's not a problem what should you say if you want to help me I'll give you three seconds to decide would you help me buy this coffee I'm sorry I forgot my wallet three two one you can say no it's not a problem Oh What a Beautiful answer all right let's go to Common speaking mistake number three all right common speaking mistake number three this shirt is broken or this shirt is torn huh both of these words mean that there's some damage there's something wrong but there's only one that's correct you know what this shirt is torn this is the irregular past tense of the verb to tear something and we almost always use the verb to tear for cloth or clothing so you might say uh I stepped on the bottom of my dress and now it's torn that means it's damaged maybe you're gonna have to sew it to fix it so what about that other word broken this is also an irregular past tense verb of to break when can we use break well we use it in a lot of other situations but it's usually for hard things you can break a wine glass when you drop it you can break your phone if you drop it if you drop it in water well sorry your phone is broken these things the wine glass your phone they are hard they're metal they're plastic they're wooden it's something that that's hard and it's broken so I have a little quiz for you can you guess which word is the best for this sentence the child cried when he discovered that his favorite toy was broken or torn hmm I'll give you three seconds three two one ah the child cried when he discovered that his favorite toy was broken the toy is something hard so we use to break his toy was broken what about this challenge sentence my sister borrowed my shirt and when she gave it back it was broken or torn three two one ah when she gave it back it was torn what did she do to it I guess she'll have to fix it now because this is a shirt it's a piece of cloth it's something soft we use to tear or that past tense verb torn all right let's go to the next common speaking mistake common speaking mistake number four sorry it's a mistake sorry it's a fault hmm only one of these is correct which one do you think it is sorry it's a mistake we often use the word mistake in the full phrase I made a mistake sorry I made a mistake I washed your white shirt with my red socks and now you have a pink shirt it's my fault oh here's our second word so these two words mistake and fault have a very similar meaning but they're used grammatically differently so let's take a look at that like I mentioned the word mistake is often used in the full phrase to make a mistake sorry I made a mistake and the word fault is often used with a possessive pronoun that's my fault I'm sorry you know what that's his fault children often say it's not my fault I didn't do it so here we always have the possessive pronoun in front of the word false it was my fault I made a mistake this is a beautiful way to use this grammatically look get this quiz you on the project but it's not your no one told you the guidelines which one should we use you made a mistake but it's not your fault no one told you the guidelines beautiful grammar beautiful way to speak and also a very kind sentence all right let's go to our final and fifth common speaking mistake this fifth common speaking mistake is often said in relationships where you live with someone have you ever heard someone say yes I heard what you said to me and then someone else says but were you listening oh to hear to listen they both mean that sound is going in your ears but they have an important difference so let's break it down the verb to hear is more General it just means that sound is going in your ears and you can perceive some sounds yeah I I hear my classmates talking on the side of the classroom I hear them but are you you listening to them the verb to listen means that you're paying attention I heard my classmates talking but I wasn't listening to them ooh so you heard some sounds coming in your ears but you weren't paying attention to it you weren't listening parents often tell children this Yes you heard me but were you listening you might even hear this in movies and TV shows if a couple is having an argument one might say yeah I heard you and the other might say yeah but you weren't listening to me that means you heard the sounds going in your ears but you were not paying attention this is a subtle difference let's see if you can get it correct in this little quiz sentence I was trying to to the lecture but all I could was the squeaky chair of my neighbor I was trying to I'll give you three seconds three I was trying to listen to the lecture but all I could hear was the squeaky chair of my neighbor that was so annoying so this means you're trying to pay attention to the lecture but instead that sound that was coming in your ears would just squeeze maybe you need to tell your neighbor stop rocking on your chair I'm trying to listen to the lecture and you should too boring versus bored it's understandable that these words are a common mistake because they both have a similar meaning they talk about something or someone that's not interesting but the difference comes in how we use them grammatically the word boring is for something or someone that's not interesting that movie was boring ugh I went on a date with him and he was so boring he just talked about sports the whole time it's not a compliment but the word board refers to the feeling you have when you watch that boring movie or when you go on that boring date you feel bored so at the beginning of this lesson when I said oh man you look so boring oh no that's not nice it means you're not interesting instead I should have said oh man you look so bored it means you you're not doing anything fun you feel like you need some more fun in your life I feel bored let's look at a couple sample sentences this documentary about sand is boring I feel so bored can we please watch something else I was so bored during that lecture to me physics is just boring sorry people who like physics so now I have a little quiz for you I want you to choose is the word boring or bored the best fit for this sentence Vanessa's lessons are not I never feel what's the correct answer here I'll give you three seconds three two one Vanessa's lessons are not boring I never feel bored oh I hope that's true comment speaking mistake number two is one that native English speakers make too It is Well versus good have you ever heard someone say uh I don't feel good you know what that's a mistake instead it should be I don't feel well what's the difference let me tell you the word well is an adverb that means it adds something to the verb So when you say I don't feel well well is talking about how you feel I don't feel well I have a headache I have a stomach ache I need to go lie down if you said I don't feel good this means that my sense of touch is not good maybe you burned your fingers oh yeah I just don't feel good anymore it's a very unusual thing to say so instead when you're talking about your health you can use this correctly and say I don't feel well what about the word good well the word good is an adjective so it needs to describe a noun you might say wow Vanessa this is a really good lesson good is describing lesson or you could say uh I really need a good grade in this class or I'm gonna fail I do want to tell you of an exception in spoken English I mentioned that sometimes native English speakers use this incorrectly but there is one case when we use it incorrectly and I actually recommend using it like that so you don't seem too snobby let me tell you about it if someone asks you the common greeting question how are you doing and you want to answer with grammatical correctness you would need to say I'm doing well and you you know what if you said this someone might think oh did you come from the 16th century are you an English Professor maybe you are but in this case it's grammatically correct but it is not commonly used and it feels a little bit weird in just daily conversation so what should you say instead well here you have it your English teacher telling you to make a mistake on purpose and that is if someone says how are you doing you could say pretty good and you good is actually the most common response even though it's not technically grammatically correct who knew you should make mistakes so now it's time for a little test can you choose which word fits in which blank good or well I need to do on that test because I need a grade hmm I'll give you three seconds three two one I need to do well on that test because I need a good grade great work common speaking mistake number three is another pair of similar words and that is job versus work these both mean your career something that you do generally to make money but they function differently grammatically in a sentence the word work can be both a verb I work or it can be a noun my work is as a teacher and the word job can only be a noun so let's take a look at a couple sentences my job is to manage my team this is a noun and it's talking about your career my job is to manage my team or you could say I work on the marketing team this is as a verb what if we put these together in a sentence you could say I work with a lot of interesting people at my new job I do want to teach you two things to be careful of with these two phrases one is a fixed phrase that you will use often and that is at work this is talking about the place where you work where were you at six o'clock tonight we were waiting for you at dinner you might say sorry I was at work I had to do something extra before I left or you could say I was so busy at work today yes it's talking about the place but this is a fixed phrase that you can use to talk about where you were I was at work I was busy at work today earlier I mentioned that the word work can be used as a verb or a noun and the word job can be used as a noun so can they be used interchangeably at all take a look at this you could say I love my job or you could say I love my work but be careful there is a nuanced difference between these two if you say I love my job cool it just means what you said I like what I do to make money but when you say I love my work this feels like there's a deeper significance to what you do at your job for example maybe you help homeless people to find a home or you're helping people who are in a domestic violence situation get a better life you are really changing people's lives kind of with a deeper significance so if you say I love my work this has the underlying idea that you are changing the world or at least changing someone's world it's a very deep feeling all right now it's time for a little test can you choose which blank needs the word job and which blank needs the word work for my I need to late hours I'll give you three seconds for my job I need to work late hours great work the next common speaking mistake are two similar words again in and at oh my I receive many questions from English students asking Vanessa how can I remember when to use in and when to use at well let me give you some ideas this is tricky because we use both at and in when we're talking about time but we use the word at specifically for specific times for example at midnight at five o'clock at noon this is at specifically that time but the word in is used more generally take a look at this in the morning in the evening in five minutes in six hours you didn't say at 3 30. you said no we'll have a meeting in in the morning in the evening in five minutes in six days let's take a look at some sentences can you meet me at noon I know that that's only in 30 minutes but can you make it so I'm asking you hey I know this is last minute notice but can you make it can you meet me at noon this specific time in the duration of time in 30 minutes let's take a look at another one you're invited to my birthday party the party is in 10 days and it starts at seven o'clock wonderful are you ready for a little test I want you to decide which blank needs the word in and which blank needs the word at take a look three days when my vacation starts I won't need to wake up 6 a.m anymore I can sleep in all right I'll give you three seconds to decide in three days when my vacation starts I won't need to wake up at 6am anymore ah it's so nice on vacation to sleep in if you would like to dive deeper into this topic I made another video comparing in on and at an over half a million people have found Clarity with this video you can click on the link up here to watch that in more detail our fifth and final common speaking mistake is to talk with someone or to talk to someone I want to show you two sentences and I want you to guess which one is the best I'm talking with my friend or I'm talking to my friend which one do you think is better I'll give you three seconds let's do our quiz now three two one well you know what this is a trick question because both of these are equally acceptable in spoken in English conversations I have heard that some people say when you use talk to someone it has the sense that there's an authority I'm talking to someone who's has less Authority than me I talked to my employees I talked to my child but really in Daily spoken English in the U.S we use both of these phrases interchangeably you could say I talked to my boss about the important meeting next week I talked to my child I talk to my friend or you could say I talked with my friend I talked with my boss you could use these interchangeably in spoken English and it's not a problem so if you are one of those English Learners that has ever wondered should I say talk to or talk with you know what you can just take that concern and throw it out of your brain it doesn't matter congratulations on leveling up your English and doing away with these common 20 mistakes in English now I have a question for you which one of these mistakes do you make in English let me know in the comments and don't forget to download the free pdf worksheet this is an important one because it will help you to fix all of these problems you can review them go over the solutions and the next time that you are in an English environment speaking in English writing in English you can avoid these mistakes yourself you can click on the link in the description to download the free pdf today well thank you so much for learning English with me and I'll see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel bye but wait do you want more I recommend watching this video next where you will be able to use what you've learned in today's lesson and practice speaking with me we will have eight conversations together about common conversation top topics make sure that you don't make these 20 speaking mistakes during this lesson well I'll see you in that lesson bye

Channel: Speak English With Vanessa

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Keywords: learn english, english conversation, speak english, english pronunciation, speak english with vanessa, Speak English With Vanessa, english with vanessa, native english teacher, american english, phrasal verbs, fast english, how to speak english, real english conversation

Id: aQQbtwnJUtg

Length: 41min 17sec (2477 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 24 2023