Mistakes that Native Speakers Make
Have you ever heard a native English speaker make a mistake in their English? Of course no one is perfect and this includes native speakers. There really is no such thing as perfect language and the fact that native speakers will make mistakes can be quite confusing for someone perhaps like you who is trying to learn English, and it’s very difficult when you want to fix your own mistakes as a learner, but the native speakers you are trying to copy do not speak perfectly.
That is quite the problem. So if you’ve ever been confused by something a native speaker has said before, including me perhaps, and you’ve wondered whether this was actually correct, this is the episode for you.
So in today’s episode, I will be talking about common mistakes that native speakers make and discussing perhaps why they make this mistake and whether it’s okay for you to do the same.
Episode Summary
Here’s a summary of what I spoke about today.
🔤 TH Fronting
Some native speakers swap the TH sound for something else entirely. It's common in certain accents, and you might not even notice it happening in natural conversation.
🐢 Go Slow / Slowly
Should you "go slow" or "go slowly"? One is technically correct, but you'll hear both constantly. Find out which is which and whether the difference actually matters.
➕ Didn't Do Nothing
Two negatives in one sentence is a grammar no-no in standard English, yet native speakers use this structure all the time. What does it actually mean, and how bad does it sound?
✍️ Could Of
This mistake is almost invisible in speech but stands out immediately in writing. It's surprisingly common among native speakers, and it comes down to how we pronounce things quickly.
📍 There, Their, They're
Three words, one pronunciation, three completely different meanings. This is one of Michael's biggest pet peeves, and it's almost entirely a native speaker problem.
🔢 Less / Fewer
Most people use one of these words for everything, but English actually has two for a reason. Is "fewer" on its way out of the language for good?
👤 Me and John
Adding a second person to a sentence seems to confuse even fluent speakers. Should it be "me and John" or "John and I"? The answer depends on where it sits in the sentence.
👥 There Is Bananas
Using "there's" before a plural noun is something Michael admits he does himself. It's technically wrong, but there's a very natural reason it keeps happening.
🔁 And Yourself?
This one is a case of trying to sound polite and overshooting. The "correct" version can actually come across as ruder, which makes this a surprisingly tricky mistake to fix.
⭐️ Transcript & Bonus Lesson
Can you think of another common mistake?
Share your ideas in the comments.