10 Most Common Grammar Mistakes that you Should Know | Common Grammar Errors

Do you make a lot of grammatical mistakes in your writings? 
Do you want to fix grammatical errors?

Well,

Everybody makes mistakes. 

Many students cannot score good marks in exams sometime because of their erroneous writings.

In corporate culture too, workers' grammar and spelling mistakes are embarrassing. 

Isn't it?

In the words of Ian Siegel, Co-founder and CEO of ZipRecruiter,

Spelling and grammar mistakes are among the top reasons a job applicant's résumé lands in the trash.

After a thorough research, I've come across 10 of the most Common Grammar Mistakes that people unknowingly make while writing and speaking. 

What are the 10 most common grammar mistakes? 

Let’s see...

Sentences with Common Grammar Mistakes:

1. Rihanna is taller than me.
2. You, I and my brother have visited the book-fair.
3. We shall make an alternate plan if you don’t like it.
4. Muhammed Ali was one of the greatest boxer in the world.
5. Neither of the bikes are worth the money.
6. Nobody loves you except I.
7. The train arrived exactly in time.
8. I love Indian food because it’s too spicy.
9. We have received many informations...
10. They enjoyed at the park.

1. Rihanna is taller than me.

The sentence contains a pronoun error. This is one of the most common grammar mistakes the students frequently make.

Here, the comparative degree of the adjective is used (i.e. “taller”) which is followed by 'than'. Everything is okay till now.

Where is the error then? – there is an error of using the pronoun ‘me’ after ‘than’.

But how is using ‘me’ after ‘than’ incorrect?

When you are making a sentence with the comparative degree of adjective, then the pronoun used after “than” must be in subjective case.

Actually the complete sentence is – “Rihanna is taller than I am.”

In this case, the subjective case of ‘me’ is ‘I’. Hence, use I in place of me.

Correct sentence – Rihanna is taller than I.

Similarly, I am more intelligent than her sounds nonsense. I am more intelligent than she, however, is grammatically correct. 

You can read our article on Degrees of Comparison for better understanding.

Here is a list of Subject form an Object form of Pronouns:

Subject form (Subjective Case)	Object form (Objective Case)
I	me
We	us
You	you
He	him
She	her
They	them

Read more about Subjective Case & Objective Case of  nouns and pronouns.

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2. You, I and my brother have visited the book-fair yesterday.

Can you spot the error? 

In this sentence, there is an error of pronoun order or person order (person = 1st / 2nd / 3rd person). Actually when you use some pronouns of different persons as the subject, you’ll have to arrange them in proper order. 

The correct order is – 

2nd person, 3rd person, 1st person + verb +... 

So the correct order would be –

You, my brother and I have visited the book-fair yesterday. (As, visiting book-fair is a positive action)

Pronoun Order in Case of a Negative Action:

Now, what is the pronoun order in case of a negative action, for example committing a crime, cheating or murdering etc.?

Then the word order will be like:

1st, 2nd, 3rd person + verb + object...

You, my brother and I have murdered her. (Incorrect) 

I, you and my brother have murdered her. (correct).

You can check out this YouTube video for details.

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3. We shall make an alternate plan if you don’t like it.

This is another common grammar mistake.

Isn't it?

 Alternate vs Alternative: 

Alternate:

Alternate means “every second (2nd)” or “in turn”.

For example, Mr. Roy comes to work on alternate days. 

It means that Mr. Roy comes to work on every second day. One day he comes, the next day he takes leave. And the next day he again attends.

Alternative:

On the other hand, alternative means “different” or “instead”.

We shall make an alternative plan if it doesn't work. It means, We shall make a different plan if you don’t like it. 

Therefore, use alternative in place of alternate to make the sentence error-free. We shall make an alternative plan if it doesn't work is correct. 

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4. Muhammed Ali was one of the greatest boxer in the world.

Most of the students non-natives learners make this sort of incorrect sentences. The noun used after “one of” must be plural. 

Why?

Because, when we use one of, we select one from a group (one of many things)

So, the correct sentence is – Muhammed Ali was one of the greatest boxers of all time. Meaning, Muhammad Ali was one from a group of the greatest boxers. 

Other example – Harry soon became one of the boys.

Click here for more examples.

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5. Neither of the bikes are worth the money.

Here the subject doesn't agree with the verb. Neither of the bikes means neither one of the bikes. Neither is a singular pronoun. Hence the verb should also be singular (= is) and not plural (= are).

And the correct sentence is – Neither of the bikes is worth the money.

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6. Nobody loves you except I.

Another grammatically incorrect sentence. 

You may think that the complete sentence must be “Nobody loves you except I do.” 

But no.

The modern-day grammarians prefer to stick to the preposition + object rule. A preposition, in a sentence, is generally followed by the object. Except is a preposition here. 

So, the correct sentence is – Nobody loves you except me.

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7. The train arrived exactly in time.

This is one of those common grammar mistakes that students often unknowingly make.

There is a difference between in time and on time.

 In time vs On time: 

In time: before the scheduled or planned time.

On time: exactly at the scheduled time, neither late nor early.

So the correct sentence is – The train arrived exactly on time.

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8. I love Indian food because it’s too spicy.

Can you spot the error?

When you know the difference between ‘too’ and ‘very’ you can spot the error.

 Too vs Very: 

        Too means more than it should be. It bears a negative meaning. 

E.g. – It is too hot to go outside. Meaning, It is unbearably hot to go outside.

Or, we can express it in an alternative way – It is so hot that we cannot go outside.

        Very is used in a sentence with positive sense. It means a higher degree of some quality. 

E.g. – Joker is a very good movie. 

Here, the adverb very intensifies the degree of quality of the movie Joker.

Well, the correct sentence should either be 

I do not love Indian food because it’s too spicy.

Or,

I love Indian food because it’s very spicy.

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9. We have received many informations regarding the activities of our enemy.

This is another common grammar mistake.

In this sentence the noun “information” is wrongly used. You may think that “information” is singular and “informations” is plural. 

But no my dear.

Information is an uncountable noun and so it has no plural form. 

And correct sentence is – We have received information regarding the activities of our enemy. 

Uncountability of the word “information” also implies that you cannot use an article before it – you cannot say “an information”. If you want to talk about “one information”, say “a piece of information”.

We have received a piece of information about their activities.

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10. They enjoyed at the park.

They enjoyed at the park is again an incorrect statement. For, enjoyed is a transitive verb, it requires an object to give a complete sense. 

In this sentence, 

Subject = They,  

Verb = enjoyed, 

Object = ???  

What should be the object?

No object is there. But we need an object to make the sentence meaningful.

We'll put the subject itself as the object. We’ll use the reflexive pronoun* of the subject in the object's place.

Then we'll get – They enjoyed themselves at the park.
[Meaning: They had a good time with themselves at the park]

Subject	Verb	Object	Others
They	enjoyed	themselves	at the park

Here is a list of Reflexive Pronouns:

Personal pronoun	Reflexive pronoun
I	Myself
We	Ourselves
You	Yourselves
He	Himself
She	Herself
It	Itself
They	Themselves
One	Oneself

Alright.

That's all about 10 most common grammar mistakes that we often ignore. Hope you found it helpful. 

Keep learning.

Thank you...