Every day I hear Chinese students mistake using He and She. Even if the student has studied English for years and years, students (especially Chinese students) still will incorrectly use the wrong gender pronoun. This includes Him and Her as well. Sometimes I will correct the student five or six times consecutively, until I get totally worn out! Sometimes students will even read text from a book, and still read HE as SHE or SHE as HE! The student may even talk about his wife as a “HE”. I really can't figure it out. Sometimes I have to write HE / SHE on the blackboard in big letters to stress the difference. These gender pronouns are by far the most commonly misused. These mistakes can really make the speaker look foolish, so lets try to get it right!

#2 PAST TENSE
Example: Yesterday I go to the store.
Correct English: Yesterday I went to the store.

I know some languages, such as Chinese, don't have a Past Tense for verbs. But English does! So if something occurs in the past, you have to use the Past Tense of the Verb!
Otherwise the listener gets confused exactly what time you are talking about.

#3 TAKING TOO MUCH TIME TO SPEAK
Example: What's............your.............favorite..........(Mark falls asleep) .........kind............of...............music?
Correct Speech: What is your favorite kind of music? (normal speed)

Sometimes people talk too slowly and make me feel like falling asleep. I can't stay awake long enough to wait for them to finish. I understand for beginning students this may be unavoidable. However, students should make an effort to communicate at a normal speed and as efficiently as possible to avoid losing the listener's attention. Watching TV shows in English can help you know what normal speed should be like.

#4 There is NO such word as "Very Like"
Example: She very like that man.
Correct English: She likes that man very much.

Particularly in some Far East Asian languages, the grammer structure is different. They will put the emphatic "very" in front of the verb. But in English that is incorrect! Very wrong! In Asia, I frequently hear people use "very" in the wrong place. Such as "very enjoy", which is also WRONG. "Very" does not go in front of the verb. Rather it goes in front of the adverb or adjective such as "very fast", "very smart", or "very much", those are all correct.

#5 How many???
Example: Many people like to have drink after work.
Correct English #1: Many people like to have a drink after work.
Correct English #2: Many people like to have (a few, some, many, a lot of) drinks after work.

"Have drink" is NOT correct. One big problem for non-native speakers of English is using singular and plural nouns correctly. Nouns are singular or plural. It's like black or white, there is no gray!! For singular nouns, such as an apple, finger, TV etc, you must specify if it is one or more in English. Such as one, two, a few, many, whatever. So for singular nouns you must use "a/an" OR it must be plural and needs an "s" after the noun. For plural nouns such as "information" and "equipment", you CAN NOT use a/an. Both singular and plural can be proceeded by "the", but that is for a specific noun known to the speaker and listener.

#6 Ape Man!
Example: Student looks at Mark and yells "Ape Man!!!"
Correct English #1: Student looks at Mark and says "There is an Ape Man who lives in those mountains!"
Correct English #2: Student looks at Mark and says "Watch out! There is an Ape Man behind you!"

Looking at Mark and saying "Ape Man" will make Mark think he is an Ape Man, or you are calling him an Ape Man. But of course, this is not correct. One word answers or replies often make people confused about who and what are you talking about. Its always better if you can make a sentence to make clear what you mean.

#7 What are you sinking?
Example: I sink Chinese food is delicious.
Correct English #1: I think Chinese food is delicious.
Chinese lacks the following consonant sound: th. I often hear Chinese say "sink" when they mean to say "think". I heard that Chinese don't like to show their tongue, so "th" is hard for them to get used to. However, in order to say words with "th" correctly, you need to put your tongue on the edge of your upper teeth.

This list of words: think, thought, these, those, through, thumb, thick, three, and throw will be very good practice for you to distinguish between "th" and "s".

More mistakes to come!!!