Article

Top 30 Common English Mistakes (A2–B2) and How to Fix Them

Dec 11, 2025 Updated Dec 11, 2025 8 min read

If you’re A2–B2, you probably understand a lot, but the same mistakes keep appearing when you speak or write:

“She work hard.”
“I have 25 years.”
“It depends of the situation.”

These errors are normal and predictable nwmoon teachers see them every day in lessons with new students after their placement test at nwmoon.com.

The goal of this guide:
Show you 30 high-frequency mistakes + simple fixes, so you can correct what matters most and sound clearer, more natural, and more confident.

How to Use This Guide

Don’t try to memorise all 30 at once.

Instead:

Scan the list and mark the ones you actually make.
Choose your Top 5 mistakes.
Focus on those 5 for the next 2–3 weeks in your speaking and writing.

Improving 5 real mistakes beats “knowing” 30 in theory.

Part 1 – Grammar & Sentence Structure (1–10)

1. Using Present Simple for “Now”

❌ I go now.
✅ I’m going now.

Use present continuous for things happening right now or around now.

Fix practice:
Make 5 sentences about what you’re doing today:
I’m working… / I’m studying… / I’m meeting…

2. Using Continuous with State Verbs

❌ I’m knowing the answer.
✅ I know the answer.

Some verbs usually don’t use -ing (think, know, like, love, hate, want, believe, remember…).

Fix practice:
Turn these into correct forms:
I’m liking it → I like it
I’m wanting a coffee → I want a coffee

3. Forgetting the “-s” in 3rd Person Singular

❌ She work hard. He go to the gym.
✅ She works hard. He goes to the gym.

For he / she / it in the present simple, the verb takes -s/-es.

Fix practice:
Say 5 sentences about a friend using he/she and check every verb:
She studies, he plays, she watches…

4. Confusing “Was/Were”

❌ Yesterday I were tired. You was angry.
✅ Yesterday I was tired. You were angry.

I / he / she / it → was
you / we / they → were

5. Mixing Past Simple and Present Perfect

❌ I have seen him yesterday.
✅ I saw him yesterday.

Use:

Past simple with a finished time: yesterday, last week, in 2022.
Present perfect with no exact time: I’ve seen that movie (in my life).

Fix practice:
Change the time expression or the tense so they match.

6. Dropping “Do/Does/Did” in Questions

❌ You like coffee?
✅ Do you like coffee?

In standard English questions (not casual speech), use do/does/did:

Do you…?
Does she…?
Did they…?

7. Wrong Word Order in Questions

❌ Why you are late?
✅ Why are you late?

In most questions:

Question word + auxiliary (do/does/is/are/have) + subject + main verb

Where do you live?
What are you doing?
Why have they left?

8. Dropping the Subject

❌ Is difficult.
✅ It is difficult.

Every sentence needs a subject in English, even “dummy” it:

It’s raining.
It’s important.

9. Overusing “Will” for Plans

❌ Tomorrow I will go to the dentist at 4.
✅ Tomorrow I’m going to the dentist at 4. or I’m going to go…

Use:

“I’m going to…” or present continuous for planned future.
“I’ll…” for decisions at the moment, offers, promises:
- I’ll help you.
- I think I’ll stay home.

10. Articles: “a/an”, “the”, or Nothing

❌ I have the car. (when you mean any car)
✅ I have a car.

❌ She is teacher.
✅ She is a teacher.

General rules:

a/an → singular, not specific: a book, a teacher
the → specific/known: the book on the table
no article → plural or uncountable in general: I like books. I like coffee.

Part 2 – Vocabulary & Collocations (11–20)

11. “Do a Mistake”

❌ I did a mistake.
✅ I made a mistake.

Use make a mistake (not do).

12. “Say Me / Say Her”

❌ She said me the truth.
✅ She told me the truth.
✅ She said the truth to me.

tell + person: tell me, tell him, tell us
say + words: say something, say hello

13. “Explain Me”

❌ Can you explain me this?
✅ Can you explain this to me?

Explain takes “to me/you/him” after the object.

14. “Discuss About”

❌ We discussed about the problem.
✅ We discussed the problem.

Discuss already includes the idea of “about”.
Use: discuss something.

15. “It Depends Of…”

❌ It depends of the situation.
✅ It depends on the situation.

Correct collocation: depend on.

16. “I Am Agree”

❌ I am agree with you.
✅ I agree with you.

I agree / I disagree
NOT I am agree

17. “I Have 25 Years”

❌ I have 25 years.
✅ I’m 25 (years old).

In English:

I am 25.
She is 10.

Use “be” for age, not have.

18. “Very Delicious / Very Fantastic” (Overusing “Very”)

Grammatically OK but often unnatural:

✅ The food is delicious. (no very needed)
✅ The view is amazing.

Use strong adjectives instead of very + basic adjective:

very good → great, excellent, amazing
very bad → terrible, awful
very hungry → starving

19. Using “People Is” (Wrong Plural)

❌ People is friendly here.
✅ People are friendly here.

People is already plural.
Singular: a person / one person.

20. Plural of “Information / Advice / Homework”

❌ I need some informations / advices / homeworks.
✅ I need some information / some advice / some homework.

These are uncountable in English. Use:

a piece of information
a piece of advice
a piece of homework

Part 3 – Prepositions & Small Words (21–25)

21. “In the Weekend”

❌ I’ll see you in the weekend.
✅ I’ll see you at the weekend. (UK)
✅ I’ll see you on the weekend. (US/Aus)

Choose “at the weekend” or “on the weekend” depending on your target variety.

22. “Married With”

❌ She is married with a doctor.
✅ She is married to a doctor.

Collocation: married to (someone).

23. “Interested On / About”

❌ I’m interested on history.
❌ I’m interested about history.
✅ I’m interested in history.

Collocation: interested in.

24. “In the Bus / In the Train”

❌ I’m in the bus.
✅ I’m on the bus.

Use:

on the bus / train / plane / boat
in the car / taxi

25. “According to Me” (When You Mean “In My Opinion”)

❌ According to me, this is difficult.
✅ In my opinion, this is difficult.
✅ I think this is difficult.

According to… is usually for other sources:

According to the news…
According to the report…

Part 4 – Sentence Style & Word Order (26–28)

26. Adjective Order

❌ I bought a red big car.
✅ I bought a big red car.

Typical order (simplified):

Opinion → Size → Age → Shape → Colour → Origin → Material → Noun

You don’t need to memorise the full list, but opinion and size usually come before colour.

27. Double Negatives

❌ I don’t know nothing.
✅ I don’t know anything.
✅ I know nothing.

In standard English, avoid double negatives in one clause.

28. Overusing “Because” at the Start

❌ Because I was tired, so I stayed home.
✅ Because I was tired, I stayed home.
✅ I was tired, so I stayed home.

Use either “because” or “so”, not both together in one sentence.

Part 5 – Pronunciation & Speaking Habits (29–30)

29. Pronouncing Every Letter

Words often don’t sound like the spelling:

comfortable → /ˈkʌmftəbl/ (sounds like “COMF-tə-bəl”)
vegetable → /ˈvedʒtəbl/ (like “VEJ-tə-bəl”)
Wednesday → sounds like “WENS-day”

Fix:
Listen to a good model (dictionary audio, teacher, or high-quality AI voice) and shadow the word and sentence, not the letters.

30. Flat Sentence Stress

Many learners speak like this:

I WOULD LIKE TO GO TO THE CINEMA WITH YOU.

All words equal, no rhythm.

Natural English has strong and weak words:

I’d LIKE to GO to the CINEMA with you.

Fix:
When you practise, mark and emphasise the important words (usually content words: verbs, nouns, adjectives).

Quick Reference Table

Area	Example Mistake	Better Version
Tense / aspect	I go now.	I’m going now.
3rd person “-s”	She work hard.	She works hard.
Present perfect / past	I have seen him yesterday.	I saw him yesterday.
Articles	She is teacher.	She is a teacher.
Collocation	I did a mistake.	I made a mistake.
Tell / say	She said me…	She told me…
Preposition	It depends of…	It depends on…
Age	I have 25 years.	I’m 25 (years old).
Uncountable nouns	many informations	a lot of information
Bus/train preposition	in the bus	on the bus

Practice Exercises (Try These Today)

Exercise 1 – Personal Error Checklist

Go through the 30 mistakes again.
Mark every one you actually use.
Choose your Top 5.
Write them on a paper or in your notes as:
- ❌ old version
- ✅ new version

Keep this list visible for the next 2–3 weeks.

Exercise 2 – Correction Diary

For one week:

At the end of the day, write 5–8 sentences about your day.
Re-read and mark any of the 30 mistakes you see.
Rewrite the sentences with corrections.

If you have a teacher (or want one at nwmoon.com), ask them to check your diary and highlight your most frequent mistakes.

Exercise 3 – Speaking with Targeted Fix

Choose 2 of your Top 5 mistakes.
Set a timer for 3–5 minutes.
Speak about any topic (your job, hobbies, weekend).
After speaking, ask:
- Did I forget 3rd person -s?
- Did I use “make a mistake” correctly?

Your goal is not “perfect English”.
Your goal is fewer repetitions of the same mistakes.

Conclusion

All learners at A2–B2 make mistakes, it’s part of the process.
What matters is which mistakes you keep and which ones you decide to upgrade.

When you:

focus on high-frequency errors
choose 5 at a time
get regular correction
use short daily writing and speaking practice

your English starts to sound clearer, more natural, and more confident.

If you’d like a teacher to identify your personal Top 5 mistakes, correct them live, and give you homework that reuses the right forms again and again, visit nwmoon.com. Take the placement test, see your level, and start a program that turns these 30 “typical mistakes” into 30 strengths.

Every corrected mistake is one permanent upgrade in your English.

Last modified: 30 Mar 2026