Common mistakes that should not be so common:
- Modal and auxiliary verbs are followed by an infinitive ALWAYS. (e.g. *doesn’t goes, *must has are incorrect)
- “Hasn’t” is only possible when it is an auxiliary verb. That is, “He hasn’t got time” is possible, but “*He hasn’t a brother” is wrong. If you are using hasn’t make sure you write “got”.
- “He” is for males, “she” is for females, “it” is for animals and things. There are very few exceptions to this so stick to that rule.
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- As a general rule, “some” is for affirmative sentences. Same with “someone”, “somebody”, “something”, “somewhere”.
- “Any” is for negatives and interrogatives. Same with “anyone”, “anybody”, “anything” “anywhere”.
- “Nobody”, “no one”, “nothing” and “nowhere” appear in AFFIRMATIVE sentences, even though they have a negative meaning.
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- Much” and “a little” go with uncountable nouns (e.g. “I don’t have much time”, “We have a little money”).
- “Many” and “a few” go with countable plural nouns (e.g. “I don’t have many students”, “I have a few books”)
- “A lot of” goes with uncountable and plural nouns.
- “Very” goes with adjectives.
- “So”, with adjectives (1), means “tan” (that is, “he’s so handsome” means “es tan guapo” NOT “es muy guapo”)
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- “Say” only has one object, e.g. “ I said it was late”.
- “Tell” has two objects, one person and the thing you say. E.g. “I told Sally I was late
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(1) Do not confuse it with the connector “so”, which means “así que”.
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