Common English Grammar Mistakes and How To Avoid Making Them

Are common grammar mistakes holding you back from speaking and writing English fluently? In this episode of The Fluent English Mindset, we dive into the most frequent grammar errors English learners make—and more importantly, how to fix them!Join me, Matt Pierce, as I break down:

✅ The difference between your vs. you’re and its vs. it’s
✅ How to avoid confusing there, their, and they’re
✅ Simple tricks for subject-verb agreement
✅ Why double negatives can make your sentences incorrect
✅ The right way to structure questions in English

With clear explanations, real-life examples, and easy-to-remember tips, this episode will help you speak and write more accurately and confidently. Whether you're studying for an exam, improving your professional English, or just looking to sound more natural, these grammar fixes will take your skills to the next level!

🎧 Listen now and take the first step toward mastering English grammar!

🔔 Subscribe to The Fluent English Mindset for more tips on fluency, pronunciation, and everyday English!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Well, good morning and hello from Texas and the United States.
This is the Fluent English Mindset, the podcast that helps
you master English with confidence. I'm your host, Matt Pierce,
and I'm so glad that you've joined me today because
we're going to be tackling a topic that affects every
single English learner. These are common grammar mistakes. Now, let's

(00:29):
be honest. English grammar can be very tricky, even for
a native speaker like myself. Now, there are little mistakes
that are going to pop up all the time, and
sometimes these mistakes can change the meaning of what we're
trying to say. But hold on, there's good news. Most
grammar mistakes are easy to fix once you know what

(00:52):
to look for. In this episode, we're going to go
over some of the most common grammar mistakes that learners make,
and more importantly, how to fix them. I'm going to
give you some examples, clear explanations, and simple tricks to
help you remember the rules. That's the point here. I
want you to remember the rules. So look, get comfortable,

(01:16):
grab a notepad, grab a coffee or tea, and let's
work on improving your English together. Let's dive into it.
So misusing your yoh you are and why oh you
apostrophe are These are really common mistakes. So we're going

(01:42):
to start with this classic mixing up yoh you are
and y oh you apostrophe are e. Now these words
may sound exactly the same, but they have completely different meanings.
Y Oh you are art with that. Y oh you
are is a possessive adjective. It shows that something belongs

(02:08):
to you or it's in your possession. An example of
this is this your phone. Y oh you are? Is
this your phone? Now let's talk about why oh you
apostrophe are e. Now, this is a contraction of two
words you and R. We're bringing these two words together.

(02:33):
We're connecting them like cars on a train. An example
of this is your y oh you apostrophe are e
doing a great job? You are doing a great job.
Now here's a little quick trick that you can use
to help you remember the differences between your yoh you

(02:56):
are and your y oh you apostrophe are e. Now,
if you're unsure which one to use, try replacing the
word with you are. If it makes sense, then use
y oh you apostrophe are e. If it doesn't make sense,

(03:18):
use y oh you are now some common mistakes. Your
y oh you are going to love this movie? You're
going to love this movie? Y oh you are that's
the mistake. Correctly, it should be why oh you apostrophe?

(03:38):
Are e going to love this movie? Your y oh
you apostrophe are e going to love this movie? Now
that's a small change, but it makes a really big difference. Okay,

(04:01):
So the second one that we're going to look at
is mixing up their t h e r e there
t h e i r and they are there t
h e y apostrophe r e. Now this is a
common mistake, and there's a lot of confusion around these

(04:21):
three words. These three words sound exactly the same, but
they have very different meanings. There t h e r
E refers to a place or existence. An example of
this the book is over there t h e r e.

(04:43):
Another example is there t h e r e is
a new restaurant in my neighborhood. That's there t h
e r e. But now let's look at their t
h e I are. T h e I are there

(05:04):
is a possessive noun, meaning it shows some sort of ownership.
An example of this would be that is there thh
e i r car. That is their car t h
e i R. Now what about their th e y

(05:26):
apostrophe are e. Now this is a contraction of they are.
Remember we're putting two words together, connecting them with an apostrophe.
They are coming to the party tonight. Th h e
y apostrophe are e. They're coming to the party tonight. Now,

(05:50):
just like we did above, if you get confused, try
replacing the word with they are. If it still makes sense,
use their t h e y apostrophe r e. If
it doesn't. Think about whether you're talking about a location
there t h e r e or a possession t

(06:14):
h e i r. Now here's a couple of common
mistakes that people always make. There t h e i
r going to the park. That's incorrect. It should be
there thh e y apostrophe are e going to the park.

(06:36):
They're going to the park. They are going to the park. Now,
now that I've explained that, you know the difference. All right,
So we're gonna dive into subject verb agreement errors. And

(06:56):
this is a big one. Okay, So subject vers verb
agreement is a basic English rule, but it's easy to
forget the subject and verb must always agree in number.
That's right, the subject and the verb must always agree
in numbers. That means that singular objects need singular verbs.

(07:22):
Plural objects more than one object needs plural verbs. Let's
look at some common mistakes. She go to the store
every day. That's a mistake. She go to the store
every day. Correctly, we would say she goes to the

(07:45):
store every day, goes. Another common mistake is the dogs
barks loudly. That is incorrect. It should be the dogs
bark loudly. The dogs bark loudly. Now, let's talk about

(08:09):
a quick, quick trick to fix this. If the subject
matter is singular he, she, or it, the verb usually
takes an S, and that's in the present tense. For instance,
he runs, she sings, or it works. If the subject

(08:34):
of your sentence is plural, meaning multiple, they, we, you,
the verb does not take an s. For example, they run,
we sing, you work. So I want you to remember this,
and by remembering this, your grammar will improve almost instantly. Okay,

(09:07):
so let's get into mistake number four, confusing its it
S and it apostrophe s, it apostrophe s. So we're
gonna talk about this. I T S this is a
possessive pronoun. It s a possessive pronoun. It means that

(09:33):
something belongs to it. The dog wagged its tail. Now
it apostrophe s is a contraction of it is or
it has. An example, it's raining outside. It is raining outside.

(09:56):
It's raining outside. So again let's look at the quick
trip to fix this. Try replacing it with it is.
If it makes sense, use it apostrophe s. If it
doesn't make sense, use its. It's Now some common mistakes,

(10:20):
let's go over a couple of them here. The company
increased its revenue. It apostrophe s. That is incorrect. It
should be the company increased its its revenue, not an apostrophe.
So remember the correct way the company increased its its revenue.

(10:48):
That's the correct way of saying this. All right, So
now we're going to get into another very common mistake.
Me instead of I or vice versa backwards flipped around.

(11:10):
Should you say John and me or John and I. Well,
here's the technical rule. When using I, you are the
subject doing the action. An example, John and I went
to the store. Now use me. When you are the subject,

(11:32):
you're the person receiving the action. She gave the book
to John and me. Now, what's the quick trick to this.
Remove the other person and see if it still sounds right.
Me and me went to the store. That's incorrect. It

(11:52):
would be I went to the store. Sounds pretty simple,
right it is? So just remember, use I when you
are the subject doing the action, use me when you're
the object receiving the action. It's really not as difficult

(12:13):
as a lot of people make it out to be.
So keep that little trick in mind. Now. Mistake number
six are double negatives. In English, Using two negatives makes
a sentence incorrect. For example, I don't know nothing. That's incorrect. Correctly,

(12:38):
it should be I don't know anything. I don't know
nothing is incorrect. I don't know anything. She doesn't have
no money. That's incorrect. It should be she doesn't have
any money. Now, if you use not the words don't,

(13:03):
doesn't and isn't, don't add another negative like nothing or no.
This is a common mistake, and this happens a lot.
So I want to repeat this here. In English, using
two negatives, we call this a double negative makes an
incorrect sentence. The example again, I don't know anything. That

(13:28):
is incorrect. I don't know nothing is incorrect. I'm sorry,
I don't know anything is correct. She doesn't have no money,
that's incorrect. But the correct way of saying this is
she doesn't have any money. So just remember using double

(13:50):
negatives is incorrect. So what about the incorrect word order
in questions? And this is the seventh mistake that I
want to talk about here. So question plus auxiliary verb

(14:12):
plus subject plus main verb. That sounds pretty complicated, right,
it's really not think about this a question word why
an auxiliary verb? Are you subject? Late? Now? Why are
you late? Is? Why you are late is incorrect? Why

(14:37):
are you late is correct. Let's look at another example,
where she is going. I hear this a lot from
my Indian speakers, where she is going. The correct way
to say this is where is she going? So remember
the way that we order the words in our questions

(14:59):
can make things very different, and it can present correctly
or incorrectly what we're trying to say. So just remember
the way that the words go in order. That's really important.

(15:20):
All right, So let's get into some final thoughts and
give you a quick recap here. That's kind of a
rap for today's episode, really, but we're going to kind
of go over this really quickly. We talked about your
yoh you are versus you apostrophe are e. We also
talked about their their t h e I R and

(15:42):
their t h e y apostrophe are e. Now, we
also talked about something very important subject verb agreement. It's
it s versus it, apostrophe s I versus me, double
negatives in word order in our question. So here's a

(16:02):
challenge for you. Try writing a few sentences by using
these tricky words correctly. Just a few simple corrections could
make all the difference in the world. This will help
your grammar almost instantly. If you need to go back

(16:23):
and re listen to this episode, take your time, be
slow about it, and always think about which words you're
going to use. There's some good references here. I hope
they've really helped you. By the way, thanks for tuning
in to the fluent English mindset. Don't forget to subscribe,
share and leave a comment and review. I want you

(16:46):
to keep practicing and until next time, get on point
with your grammar. It can mean an awful lot. We'll
see in the next episode.