Uploaded February 2018 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Test yourself and find out if you make any of these mistakes in English! These are some of the worst mistakes people make in English -- but they are also very common. Both native speakers of English and English learners make them. I'll show you have to correct these writing and speaking errors quickly and easily. If you need more help with any of these issues, you can watch an entire lesson that focuses on it. Here are the individual lesson videos on each point:
1. YOUR & YOU'RE:
youtube.com/watch?v=KRxod7diTkU
2. WHO'S & WHOSE:
youtube.com/watch?v=04YAkWJw3Js
3. IT'S & ITS:
youtube.com/watch?v=f-_vU1WlKTA
4. THERE & THEIR:
youtube.com/watch?v=d3SAngtK4lg
5. LOSE & LOOSE:
youtube.com/watch?v=fWHikwIGTvs
6. GOOD OR WELL?:
youtube.com/watch?v=xS1Krim0TUo
7. DO & MAKE resource page:
engvid.com/english-resource/do-make-expressions
8. AT, ON, IN – PREPOSITIONS OF TIME:
youtube.com/watch?v=efuX_K-6ThY
9. I OR ME? SHE OR HER? THEY OR THEM?:
youtube.com/watch?v=RoHCUX5P0ow
10. PRESENT SIMPLE & PRESENT PROGRESSIVE:
youtube.com/watch?v=TDuZNqIeURA
QUIZ: engvid.com/10-worst-english-mistakes
TRANSCRIPT:
Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid. In the next few minutes you'll find out if you make any of the 10 worst mistakes in English. Now, even though it seems like I'm joking, it's actually quite serious. These mistakes could make you fail an exam or a job interview, they could make you lose a sale or a client, they could also ruin your presentation, or worse still, your reputation. You really don't want to be making these mistakes. And luckily, you found this lesson, so at the end of this lesson you will know exactly what to do to fix these mistakes in case you make them. And if you don't make them, then you can feel really good and confident about the English that you do speak. Okay? So, let's get started.
The first one... Now, I should say that the first five are all written mistakes, that is if you say these things, nobody will be able to tell what you're saying, but if you write them down then they will see your mistake. In other words, they are spelling mistakes, but the spelling mistake is based on a grammatical mistake that you have misunderstood something in English. Okay? But I'm here to explain it to you, so no worries. Here we go.
Number one: "Your late", "Y-o-u-r" or "You're late". Now you see, they sound the same, but this one is written "y-o-u-'-r-e". Have you seen this mistake on the internet? I see it all the time, but not by you I hope. So, what's the right answer here? The first one: "Your late", "Y-o-u-r" or the second one? Okay? So, the correct one is this. This is the correct one, this is wrong. Why? Okay? "You're late" like this is what? "You are", it's a contraction or short form of "You are", and the other one: "Y-o-u-r" is a possessive form of "You". It means this is your book, this is your brother, etc. Okay? So: "You are late." is what you wanted there.
Second one: "Who's that?", "W-h-o-'-s" or: "Whose that?", "W-h-o-s-e"? Which is correct? Well, this one is correct, and this is wrong because: "Who's that?" is short for: "Who is", "Who is that?" Again, it's a contraction or a short form. Right? And this one: "Whose" is a possessive word to ask: "Who does this belong to?" Okay? That's not what you want to say here.
Number three: "It's time to go." or "Its time to go." Again, remember they sound exactly the same, they are what are called homonyms, but don't worry about that. You need to know how to spell, so is it like this or like this? Well, this is correct, this is not. This is, again, a contraction for: "It is", right? "It is time to go. It's time to go." This: "Its" with no apostrophe is the possessive form of "It", it shows that something belongs to it. All right? That's not what you want to use here.
Next: "There here", "Their here", or "They're here". Again, they sound the same, but what's the correct spelling? Which word do you really want? So, we want this one. "They are here." Okay? It's a contraction. This one: "There" is the opposite of "Here", and "T-h-e-i-r", "Their" is the possessive form of "They", it means something belongs to them, and that's not what you want in this example.
The last one here is: "Did you lose this?" or "Did you loose this?" Now, some people don't pronounce it correctly so they end up sounding the same, they actually pronounce differently, and spell differently, and the meaning is completely different. Okay? So: "Did you lose this?" or "Did you loose this?" Which is the right one? This is correct, and this is wrong. The first one: "lose" is a verb because that's... It means... Okay, like something is lost, you lost it. You lose something. And "loose" means not tight, like: "His pants were very loose", not tight. […]
Test yourself and find out if you make any of these mistakes in English! These are some of the worst mistakes people make in English -- but they are also very common. Both native speakers of English and English learners make them. I'll show you have to correct these writing and speaking errors quickly and easily. If you need more help with any of these issues, you can watch an entire lesson that focuses on it. Here are the individual lesson videos on each point:
1. YOUR & YOU'RE:
youtube.com/watch?v=KRxod7diTkU
2. WHO'S & WHOSE:
youtube.com/watch?v=04YAkWJw3Js
3. IT'S & ITS:
youtube.com/watch?v=f-_vU1WlKTA
4. THERE & THEIR:
youtube.com/watch?v=d3SAngtK4lg
5. LOSE & LOOSE:
youtube.com/watch?v=fWHikwIGTvs
6. GOOD OR WELL?:
youtube.com/watch?v=xS1Krim0TUo
7. DO & MAKE resource page:
engvid.com/english-resource/do-make-expressions
8. AT, ON, IN – PREPOSITIONS OF TIME:
youtube.com/watch?v=efuX_K-6ThY
9. I OR ME? SHE OR HER? THEY OR THEM?:
youtube.com/watch?v=RoHCUX5P0ow
10. PRESENT SIMPLE & PRESENT PROGRESSIVE:
youtube.com/watch?v=TDuZNqIeURA
QUIZ: engvid.com/10-worst-english-mistakes
TRANSCRIPT:
Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid. In the next few minutes you'll find out if you make any of the 10 worst mistakes in English. Now, even though it seems like I'm joking, it's actually quite serious. These mistakes could make you fail an exam or a job interview, they could make you lose a sale or a client, they could also ruin your presentation, or worse still, your reputation. You really don't want to be making these mistakes. And luckily, you found this lesson, so at the end of this lesson you will know exactly what to do to fix these mistakes in case you make them. And if you don't make them, then you can feel really good and confident about the English that you do speak. Okay? So, let's get started.
The first one... Now, I should say that the first five are all written mistakes, that is if you say these things, nobody will be able to tell what you're saying, but if you write them down then they will see your mistake. In other words, they are spelling mistakes, but the spelling mistake is based on a grammatical mistake that you have misunderstood something in English. Okay? But I'm here to explain it to you, so no worries. Here we go.
Number one: "Your late", "Y-o-u-r" or "You're late". Now you see, they sound the same, but this one is written "y-o-u-'-r-e". Have you seen this mistake on the internet? I see it all the time, but not by you I hope. So, what's the right answer here? The first one: "Your late", "Y-o-u-r" or the second one? Okay? So, the correct one is this. This is the correct one, this is wrong. Why? Okay? "You're late" like this is what? "You are", it's a contraction or short form of "You are", and the other one: "Y-o-u-r" is a possessive form of "You". It means this is your book, this is your brother, etc. Okay? So: "You are late." is what you wanted there.
Second one: "Who's that?", "W-h-o-'-s" or: "Whose that?", "W-h-o-s-e"? Which is correct? Well, this one is correct, and this is wrong because: "Who's that?" is short for: "Who is", "Who is that?" Again, it's a contraction or a short form. Right? And this one: "Whose" is a possessive word to ask: "Who does this belong to?" Okay? That's not what you want to say here.
Number three: "It's time to go." or "Its time to go." Again, remember they sound exactly the same, they are what are called homonyms, but don't worry about that. You need to know how to spell, so is it like this or like this? Well, this is correct, this is not. This is, again, a contraction for: "It is", right? "It is time to go. It's time to go." This: "Its" with no apostrophe is the possessive form of "It", it shows that something belongs to it. All right? That's not what you want to use here.
Next: "There here", "Their here", or "They're here". Again, they sound the same, but what's the correct spelling? Which word do you really want? So, we want this one. "They are here." Okay? It's a contraction. This one: "There" is the opposite of "Here", and "T-h-e-i-r", "Their" is the possessive form of "They", it means something belongs to them, and that's not what you want in this example.
The last one here is: "Did you lose this?" or "Did you loose this?" Now, some people don't pronounce it correctly so they end up sounding the same, they actually pronounce differently, and spell differently, and the meaning is completely different. Okay? So: "Did you lose this?" or "Did you loose this?" Which is the right one? This is correct, and this is wrong. The first one: "lose" is a verb because that's... It means... Okay, like something is lost, you lost it. You lose something. And "loose" means not tight, like: "His pants were very loose", not tight. […]
