Here is a list of common miscellaneous grammar mistakes. They do not belong to any particular category. They are the sort of mistakes that only ESL learners can make.
Study the following dialogue between two people.
‘How do you do?’ ‘Very well, thank you.’
Here the first speaker asks ‘How do you do?’ and the second speaker replies ‘Very well’. This is not correct. ‘How do you do?’ is not a question and the correct response is to repeat ‘How do you do?’
Now study the following sentence.
She is running seventeen.
This sentence doesn’t mean that she has celebrated her sixteenth birthday and is waiting for the seventeenth. If that is the idea you want to convey, then you have to use the following sentence.
She is in her seventeenth year.
Now study another example.
He is fifteen complete. (Incorrect)
It should be rewritten as ‘He is over fifteen.’
In my opinion
Study the following sentences. They are all wrong.
According to me, it is wrong.
In my opinion I think it is wrong.
According to me is always wrong. We use ‘according to’ to give other people’s opinions. To give our own opinions we can say ‘in my opinion’ or ‘I think’. Note that you have to use just one of these two expressions. If you use them both, your sentences will be wrong.
In my opinion it is wrong. OR I think it is wrong.
No mention
When somebody thank you for something you have done for them, you can say ‘Please do not mention it’. Some people merely say ‘No mention’ which is not correct.
