English in a job interview – common grammatical errors

English almost everyone knows. Unfortunately, without knowing him well, sometimes we can make grammatical mistakes that we are completely unaware of, and this in turn can lead to a catastrophic misunderstanding. You don’t even know how often someone says they haven’t snathed (saw) something instead of saying they haven’t seen something (see) – today about popular grammatical mistakes from daily work and recruitment interviews. I also encourage you to read the previous article in this series.

Verb form after did/didn’t

Let’s start with an example from the introduction. It’s quite a popular grammatical error and I’ve heard it many times before. It probably follows that in Polish, whenever we talk about past tense, we use the verb in the past tense. Simple? Simple
.In English to inform you that we have done something in the past (or that we did not do something) most often we need time Past Simple. an
d so writing:

I saw him.

 

We mean we’ve seen someone. However, when we want to deny it, we will say:

I didn’t see him.

I just – didn’t see it – and didn’t see it. We no longer change the proper verb. Therefore, remember not to change the verb after the auxiliary word did. This may seem trivial and obvious, but contrary to appearances, this mistake happens quite often.

When to use who, and when whom?

In a sense, highlighting who and whom is already a certain experience in English and is used rather only in official form. However, I think this can come in handy when a squirming man tries to correct you, and the rules are very simple:

• Who we use in conjunction with he/she,
• whom with him/her.

Below are examples of correct sentences:

Who is my best friend? He is.

Whom should I invite to the party? You should invite him.

Who ate my meal? She did it.

Whom should I talk to about the meal? You should talk to her.

It’s worth visiting/seeing sth

It’s also one of the popular mistakes, but i don’t think there’s any point in dwelling on it. When we want to tell someone that something is worth seeing very often we say It’s worth to see, while we should use a verb with the ending –ing. Here are some examples:

This movie is worth watching.

It’s worth visiting!

This book is worth reading.

 

Inversion in questions? Nope!

I know that you know that I know that you know that inversion in questions apply. And your friends know. Probably even your dog applies an inversion by barking a question in English. It turns out, however, that there are people in the world who, instead of using inversion, apply a change of intonation by asking a question. Let’s try to write down the affirmative sentence and the question. It is easy for us to imagine this, because this is what questions look like in Polish. However, using this method in English is a grammatical error that can lead to confusion. So let’s remember:

Do I have a rubber duck?

I do have a rubber duck!

Does he live in Wroclaw?

Yes, he lives in Wroclaw.

Do, does and tip in present simple

The last two sentences of the previous paragraph smoothly lead us to another common problem. Endings –s in verbs in the third person. You probably know they should be used in the third person, right? And did you know that sometimes you have to stop? So let’s take a look at the following:

He lives in Wrocaw.

She does live in Wroclaw

It doesn’t live in Wroclaw

Does he live in Wroclaw?

All of the above sentences are correct, but we used the ending -s only in the first one. Why? Because the ending -s in verbs do not apply when we change to the third person. Very often, however, we encounter sentences like „It doesn’t works„. This sentence, of course, is incorrect.

Bonus round – false friends

How many times in meetings do we hear that someone will eventually do something, or notice that the pension appeared on the account. For those who do not know what false friends are, these are words that look and sound similar in two different languages, but mean something completely different. Below is a list of some of the most frequently heard errors of thi

s type. As in previous articles in sharp brackets, I added a simplified pronunciation so that it was immediately known whether your pronunciation is similar or completely different. Each word contains a link with correct pronunciation and phonetic writing for advanced ones.

Actual <akczuul> – does not mean current, but correct.</akczuul> Although the line between these words has become increasingly blurred recently, the word meaning „current” is Current<karent>

Billion <bilien> – does not mean „trillion” but „billion”.</bilien> All because the British use a so-called short scale – in which the next numbers are a million, a trillion, and a trillion, every thousand times the size of the previous one, and in Poland there is a long scale, where the next numbers are a million, a billion, a trillion, a trillion, a trillion and so on – each also a thousand times larger than the previous one. Hence the mistakes – the only part common between these scales is a million.

Chef <szef> does not mean the boss from the office, but the chef.</szef> The word you’re looking for is Boss <bos>

The data <dejta> date does not mean „date” but „data”.</dejta> If you’re looking for a word for a date, it’s Date<dejt>

Fabric <fabrik> is a material.</fabrik> If you are looking for the word factory, it is it Factory <faktori>

Hazard <hazerd> does not mean the Polish word gambling.</hazerd> This word is Gambling <gemblin>

Pension <penszen> is retirement.</penszen> Monthly Salary is Salary <salri>

Now three very often confused words:

Receipt <resit> – bill
Prescription <preskripszyn> – prescription
Recipe <resypi> – recipe

Finally, just a quick reminder of the pronunciation of one very often misunderstood word.
Analysys <analisys>.Please read the correct pronunciation and avoid pronouncing the word as <anal-ajzis>

I make mistakes! What do I do? How to live?

If you are in this place, it means that you are on track to gently improve your English. Congratulates!

I described in this article only a few popular grammatical errors that we often hear in interviews and in everyday work. Remember, I wrote this as an ordinary mortal, not an English connoisseur, so I could make minor mistakes or forget about some other important use cases. If you’ve come to mind other grammatical errors that you often hear, please email us and we’ll add them to the next english-language article in the interview. Meanwhile, see you/ hear!