Common grammatical mistakes made in English: present or present perfect?
Learning a language is a process of trial and error. Of course, as a non-native speaker, you will occasionally make mistakes; you can't avoid that.
But if you become aware of some common mistakes, you will be one step closer to professionalising your business English.
A common grammatical error made in English by non-native speakers is the use of the tenses: present or present perfect.
Present or Present Perfect?
Of course, there are always grammatical mistakes being made with the verb tenses, but there is one that is much more common, particularly amongst native speakers of Dutch and French.
To indicate how long a present state of affairs has been going on, Dutch and French use the present tense. But in English you have to use the Present Perfect or the Present Continuous.
For example, the English sentence 'I have known her for ten years', often becomes 'I know her for ten years' if someone's native language uses the present tense in this situation.
Examples
- Wrong: *I know her already for ten years.
Right: I have known her already for ten years. - Wrong: *I work for this company since 2015.
Right: I have been working for this company since 2015
More tips on English grammar and common mistakes in English? These articles might also interest you:
- English grammar: If versus when
- English grammar: Fewer versus less
- English grammar: For versus since
- English grammar: Much versus many
- English grammar: Which versus who
- English grammar: To lay versus to lie
- English grammar: Good, well or right
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