In India, we speak English as a second language and I often see my peers and students make some very common grammatical errors while communicating in English. There’s absolutely no harm in learning something new every once in a while and hence, here are 5 common grammatical errors that we Indians make and how to correct them.

1. Myself, Archit. Incorrect.
I am Archit Singh. Correct.

What could be a better way to start your conversations with an introduction, right?.

Myself is a reflexive pronoun which is used when the subject and the object of a verb are the same. Other reflexive pronouns are himself, herself, themselves, ourselves, yourselves, yourself, itself.

To learn more about the different types of pronouns, sign up for our General Communication English program today!

2. I’m having one sister. Incorrect.
I have one sister. Correct.

Here we’re talking about our siblings. We’re trying to share a fact and we use present tense in these situations not present continuous. Here’s a quick question for you to ponder over. What’s the difference between “I’m having second thoughts about the trip.” and “I’m having a cheesecake.” Know the answer? Comment below.

3. He have a habit of playing music loudly while working. Incorrect.
He has a habit of playing music loudly while working. Correct.

Have is the conjugation of to have, and the correct way of using it is as follows:

have

Have is used with some pronouns and plural nouns:

‘I have a black car.’

‘You have a bee on your hair.’

‘We have a problem.’

‘Doctors have a challenging job.’

has

Has is used with the third person singular. For example:

‘He has an amazing voice.’

‘She has a new phone.’

‘The washing machine has a leak in it’.

‘It has a black color sticker.’

4. I prefer coffee than tea. Incorrect.
I prefer coffee to/over tea. Correct.

I’m a coffee person. My mornings are incomplete without a cup of coffee!

Let’s talk about the use of ‘Prefer’. It is always followed by the proposition ‘to’. However “over” has become quite popular in connection with “prefer” in the passive voice.

Fun fact: “preferred to” is about twice as common as “preferred over” in English literature. 

5. In which year did you pass out? Incorrect.
In which year did you graduate? Correct. 

This is a very common mistake and you should know what ‘pass out’ really means. It means to become unconscious. I don’t think you meant to ask that, did you?