20 common English mistakes.
Quick answer: most English errors made by learners worldwide come from a small, predictable set — using have for age, dropping the -s on he/she/it, doubling comparatives, and mixing up the present perfect with the past simple. Fix the twenty below and you remove the majority of the mistakes people actually notice.
The list
| instead of | write | why |
| ✗ I have 25 years. | ✓ I am 25 (years old). | Age uses be, not have. |
| ✗ She don’t like it. | ✓ She doesn’t like it. | He/she/it takes doesn’t. |
| ✗ I am agree. | ✓ I agree. | Agree is a verb — it doesn’t need be. |
| ✗ He is more taller. | ✓ He is taller. | Never use more with an -er comparative. |
| ✗ I have a information. | ✓ I have some information. | Information is uncountable — no a, no plural. |
| ✗ I didn’t went. | ✓ I didn’t go. | After did/didn’t, use the base form. |
| ✗ I have seen him yesterday. | ✓ I saw him yesterday. | Finished time → past simple. |
| ✗ Explain me this. | ✓ Explain this to me. | Explain needs to before the person. |
| ✗ I am living here since 2019. | ✓ I have lived here since 2019. | Since + a start point → present perfect. |
| ✗ Every people is here. | ✓ Everyone is here. / All the people are here. | People is already plural. |
| ✗ I look forward to hear from you. | ✓ I look forward to hearing from you. | to here is a preposition → -ing. |
| ✗ She said me that. | ✓ She told me that. | Tell takes a person; say doesn’t. |
| ✗ How it looks like? | ✓ What does it look like? | Look like pairs with what, not how. |
| ✗ I am boring. | ✓ I am bored. | -ing describes the thing; -ed describes you. |
| ✗ I go to home. | ✓ I go home. | Home takes no preposition here. |
| ✗ Most of people. | ✓ Most people. | No of without the. |
| ✗ I did a mistake. | ✓ I made a mistake. | Collocation: make a mistake. |
| ✗ He has 3 childrens. | ✓ He has 3 children. | Children is already plural. |
| ✗ I am here since Monday. | ✓ I have been here since Monday. | Since → present perfect. |
| ✗ Can you borrow me a pen? | ✓ Can you lend me a pen? | You lend to others; you borrow from them. |
Why these keep happening
Almost every error above is a transfer error — your first language does it one way, and English does it another. That’s not carelessness; it’s the most natural thing in the world. The fix isn’t more grammar rules, it’s noticing the same mistake three or four times until the correct form starts to feel wrong when you get it wrong.
Open My Desk (left drawer) and log any mistake as ✗ wrong → ✓ correct. It goes straight into Review and comes back on a spaced schedule until it sticks. That’s the whole trick.
Frequently asked
What is the most common mistake English learners make? Forgetting the third-person -s (she go instead of she goes) and using the present perfect with a finished time (I have seen him yesterday).
How do I stop repeating the same mistake? Record it, then review it on a spaced schedule. Re-reading a rule doesn’t change habits; being tested right before you’d forget does.