What mistakes are common among natives?

Arguably, if enough native speakers say it for it to be common and not misunderstood, it's not an error. I would argue that none of the things I've seen so far in this thread are descriptively errors, at least in casual or spoken language. (As much as it pains me to say as someone who despises "I could care less"). Formal written language is generally subject to stricter rules. You'll find that many written errors made by native speakers are rooted in homophones, or near-homophones. This is because as native speakers we learn the spoken language first and the written language is applied as a layer on top of that. The spoken language forms the basis for our understanding, so if something *sounds* correct (ie if it were to be read aloud), we're less likely to notice it because in the spoken language there is no discernable error.

Doubling up on *is*, in speech, as in: "The thing is is," or "My point is is." Never seen this in print but I hear it spoken every day. Speaking of which, *everyday* does not mean each 24 hours, it's an adjective it meaning common, routine, ordinary. *Every day*, 2 words, is each 24 hours. Also: compound nouns like workout, slowdown and checkup. As verbs they are **two** words. *I work_out every day.* (It would be *she works_out,* not *she workouts,* and "I checked_up on my friend" not "I checkupped."

The big ones are common homonyms having their spellings mixed up: their-there-they’re, theirs-there’s, your-you’re, to-too-two, its-it’s, and who’s-whose are all very commonly made mistakes. There’s also the who-whom differentiation, which has by and large been merged due to “whom” falling out of use in informal English. For first person plural subjects, mistakes involving using object pronouns in place of subject pronouns (i.e. “Me and Joe are going to the store” instead of “Joe and I are going to the store”) are very common. For verb conjugations, there’s a few major regional mannerisms. “I have” in American English is oftentimes substituted for “I’ve got” or “I got” and many British dialects contract it to “I’ve”. “Ain’t” is also a common informal contraction of “am not” in the US, although it can be used for any present tense negative conjugation of “be”. African American Vernacular English also notably merges all present tense conjugations for most words into one. And none of these are variations are ever reflected in academic English, but I should add that they’re not really incorrect, just very informal. It’s also not uncommon to just completely mix up verb conjugations when using more complicated sentence structures. Noun-pronoun plurality agreements are oftentimes also mixed up in spoken English and nobody really cares. Sentence structure issues are also extremely common. It’s generally frowned upon in academic writing to have sentences containing more than two independent clauses and one dependent clause in a single sentence, but most native speakers do not give a crap and can and will write and speak out very long run-on sentences. Formal punctuation for splitting clauses in sentences is also routinely not used or incorrectly used in informal English, and adjective phrases/prepositional phrases aren’t adequately denoted in terms of punctuation.

Using "I" as an object instead of "me". For example: "It was a tough time for my wife and I." Or, using "me" as a subject instead of "I". For example: "Me and my friends like to go to the corner bar on Fridays."

Confusing the homonyms: it’s its their they’re there too to two ——- There are many others.

saying "should of" instead of "should have"

Ending sentences with prepositions. Examples: Where are you at? I’m not telling you who its for. Who are you going with?

Correct: "**John and I** are going to the store." "Great, can you get some things for **Mark and me**?" Incorrect, but frequently seen: "**Me and John** are going to the store." "Great, can you get some things for **Mark and I**?"

Using "less" for both countable and uncountable nouns, when you should be using "fewer" with the countable ones (usually).

The word "inflammable" has largely been phased out of use because some people thought it meant "not liable to catch on fire" instead of "highly likely to catch on fire". Warning signs today typically use "FLAMMABLE" instead: it's less confusing and two letters shorter.

Using apostrophes when pluralizing nouns is almost never correct. I don't really understand why so many people do it instinctively.

Online, you see a lot of "then" vs "than" confusion. I don't know if it comes from a lack of understanding or just from not proofreading. Obviously, it won't get caught by a simple spell check, since both are valid words.

There are many, many more, but I'll add using apostrophes for plurals. I even see it on lovingly (but carelessly) made signs at homes, eg: The Cambell's 🤯

Writing Lose as loose. They are pronounced completely differently. Lose has a Z sound and loose has an S

I think it’s more typical in American English where they pronounce them similar/the same: “THEN” vs “THAN”

You’re imagining a lot of “mistakes” where they don’t actually exist. The standard or standards of a given language are not the only “correct” ways to say and write things. All the dialects that are not standard are not inherently “incorrect”. Double negatives are not inherently “incorrect” in all forms of English. Informal language is not inherently riddled with “mistakes”.

In my part of the US people often form the present perfect with have + simple past

I hear people saying things like "I should have went."

"I've not done nothing".

Lots of native speakers confuse homonyms. There, they’re, and their. Too, to, and two. Our and are. Aloud and allowed. Basically anything that sounds similar (or can be spelled similarly like lose and loose, chose and choose)

Not using the subjunctive. "I wish I was" instead of "I wish I were" for example

Using simple past tense instead of a past participle: “I had went” instead of “I had gone.”

There they’re their, a mistake that you practically have to be native to make. Two to too there’s another one. Double negatives aren’t exactly wrong per se, they’re just not always used right(by grammar rules technically anything a native says is “correct” because if it wasn’t what is). A correct usage of the double negative is one where the intended meaning aligns with the flip-flopping positive negative in a sentence. You didn’t not do that did you? Isn’t technically incorrect it’s just a strange wording. The reason is that it’s not saying you didn’t do it it’s saying you specifically chose to do it and claimed you didn’t. Yes it is that specific. But it’s important to point out that not every use is wrong. AAVE uses it as a super negative which is strange but again not technically incorrect.

We all need a refresher on irreg past participles: -This is good! Don’t think I’ve drank this before! (nope, drunk) -Have you ever went there before? (nope, gone or been) -have you ever swam at that pool? (nope, swum) Also I keep seeing more and more confusion with apart and a part: Be apart of our group! (nope, a part)

Further vs farther (farther is when the distance is physically separated, further is when it's more conceptual) 5 miles is farther than 3. My politics are further to the left than yours. Fewer vs less, fewer is when you're talking about things you can count: less sand but fewer grains of sand.

The difference between lay and lie

Natives are terrible at the subjunctive, especially. And I don’t mean substituting “was” for “were”, which is acceptable informal English.

I thought about writing an answer but much of what I have to add had already been said.  So here's the fun version: https://youtu.be/8Gv0H-vPoDc?si=I31VZVjivFB3ZR8Z

People confusing:  *advise & advice* *breathe & breath* *effect & affect* *practise & practice* *enquiry & inquiry*  Mind you, I still confuse when to use *which* and *that*

Superfluous "of" following an adverb, eg. outside of, inside of, off of.

Using the transitive verb "to lay" instead of the intransitive "to lie".

Using "sat" as the past participle of the verb "to sit" instead of "sitting".

Textbooks probably won’t teach you that some natives say ‘try and [verb]’ instead of ‘try to [verb]’

The most common mistakes I see from my high school students are: 1. Mixing up “your” and “you’re” Wrong: Your welcome. Right: You’re welcome. 2. Mixing up “their,” “there,” and “they’re” Their = belongs to them There = a place They’re = they are 3. Using “less” instead of “fewer” Wrong: I have less friends. Right: I have fewer friends. 4. Double negatives Wrong: I don’t need no help. Right: I don’t need any help. 5. Saying “me and my friend” at the start of a sentence Wrong: Me and my friend went to the store. Right: My friend and I went to the store. 6. (Rarely, but I hear/see it) Using “ain’t” in formal settings 7. Wrong past tense verbs Wrong: I seen that movie. Right: I saw that movie. 8. (Sadly) Not capitalizing the pronoun "I"

https://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html

People will mix up is/are occasionally, it’s kind of a brain fart thing but no one corrects you unless they’re being an asshole

Double superlatives like more dumber, more richer, etc.

Lie/lay, who/whom.

A few times today I heard "on accident" instead of "by accident" or "accidentally" Also had a friend growing up who always said "seen" instead of "saw". "I seen a guy slip on accident."

"Could of" when they mean "Could've" Mixing up their/there/they're Mixing up lose/loose

I often hear conjugation errors, such as: “The Subaru and the Audi goes up the street.” It’s a plural. “The Subaru and the Audi GO up the street.”

'Could of/should of/would of'. It's a mangling of the contractions 'could've/should've/would've' and makes me wince every time. It's not really considered 'totally normal' in everyday speech, but it is depressingly common.

"I could care less"

saying something as "very good" when it should be "very well" like "he speaks English very good" but most of the mistakes are so common that people don't really care about them.

Using the incorrect first-person pronoun: Me Myself I

Good as an adverb

Eaten instead of ate. Eaten isn't strictly speaking a word, but it is following the common rule and not the exception.

“it’s/its” - lack of apostrophe in the wrong places “They’re/their/there”- more like the occasional slip of those since they’re homophones (pairs of similar-sounding words) “then/than” are very similarly sounding words with a single vowel differentiating them. Native speakers learn the spoken language before they write out their first letters, and so this is where many trip up and keep making these mistakes if never corrected. “more + adjective” - that is, double comparatives. Typically in spoken language when retreading back a thought. Grammatical lapse due to rephrasing. “too/two” - identically sounding homophones “lose/loose” - indeed a lose-lose by all accounts. Happens because they sound the same and it’s a huge pet peeve of mine Most of these happen because of how similar sounding they are to other words, which can be partially explained if you’re thinking through the sounds of the language first and written form later.

Lately, as an American, I’ve noticed lots of other Americans saying “whenever” when they mean to say “when” in places that it is not interchangeable. There are certain mistakes like this that I’ve suddenly noticed a LOT, and I’m not sure why it started or where it came from. Same with lose vs loose

Saying I seen it and I done it.

I jamped instead of jumped (is this just a Scottish thing?)

In America they say ‘bring’ when we (in English) say ‘take’ eg I’ll bring you to the shops and we’d say I’ll take you to the shops.

I was confused initially when people spoke about 'open hair'. Actually they were speaking about leaving the hair loose/untied- not putting it up.

I remember correcting my high school boyfriend because he always said “I seen” instead of “I saw.”

Subjunctive…. “if I was” instead of “ if I were” 

It used to be “they” used as a singular but APA accepted its use a singular 3rd person in 2020.  I still switch gendered nouns to plural.  Ex: A teacher should consider the needs of ____ students. —> Teachers should consider the needs of THEIR students. 

"All of **the** sudden". I think this is common enough where it's accepted again now, but it still sounds innately *wrong* to me and plenty of other people, who always say/write "all of **a** sudden". (For anyone curious: "sudden" as a noun commonly meant something like "something unexpected", so the phrase basically means "as if <the action> were unexpected"... probably.)

[ALOT] is not a word, has never been a word, and in a fair and just universe will never become a word. A "lot" is a "generic quantity of something." In everyday spoken conversation, the average person is likeliest to hear of a "lot" of land, to mean a "parcel." Thus: "a lot," "several lots," "a massive lot." There is no word [ALOT]. Added confusion, there is a verb, "to allot," which means to divide into portions, to assign, to distribute. An individual portion would be "an allotment." I will allot / we allotted / they had allotted / etc. See also: "a part of" and "apart FROM" are absolutely in NO way similar. They are literally 180° *exact opposites.*

Can the way natives commonly talk really be a “mistake”? Like, say you’re in charge of a training center for spies. You want to send spies who’ll pass as Americans and not get caught. Since a lot of these are really about education and social class, let’s say the cover story is that they’re working-class, born in the USA. You were warned, if your spies make mistakes and give themselves away as foreign, you’ll be involuntarily terminated. Does that mean you teach them to avoid the kind of “mistakes” we’re talking about here, or to make some of them?

Misusing “myself,” ie- “My mom invited my husband and myself to dinner,” “If you need any help, ask Steve or myself,” “My daughter and myself went to the mall,” “Who was there?- Jen, Steve and myself,” etc. This is so common, and I don’t know why. It drives me crazy.

"Try and \_\_\_" instead of "try to \_\_\_" is definitely not accepted in formal writing, but it's arguably more common in casual speech in at least some dialects. I think if I recorded myself I'd find that I use it more. I suspect that it comes from the fact that "try" is a verb that often stands on its own, so there are plenty of instances where "try and" (possibly with a comma) would be correct, as in "I'm going to try, and maybe it will work."

You was lying.

Native speakers don't make mistakes, we have the innate flexibility to manipulate the words, the syntax, the phrasing. Anyone who writes 'more calmer' is not a native speaker, maybe have parents who do not speak English in the home. I hear this particular mistake from Spanish speakers at home, and how many Chinese speakers at home, lose 'the' and final 's'? Indians use the present continuous ...'ing' too often. BUT we do mis-spell. The 'traditional orthography' of English is a horrible mess. Due to the fact the Brits were incredibly literate much earlier that most of Europe. (It is generally believed that in Shakespeare's time 1564 to 1616, more than 50% of the English could read...not talking about the wild Scots, and the Welsh speaking Welsh) The Finns have a language unlike any other, but it was first written in 1912, and remains phonetic and clear, I learnt to read it in an hour on a plane. No idea what I'm reading.