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DoyoumakecommonmistakesliketheseinEnglish?
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Summary
Lucy teaches five highly common English mistakes learners make: incorrect pluralisation of adjectives in compound forms, confusing "despite" and "despite of", mixing "say" and "tell", distinguishing "win" and "earn", and misusing "meet", "know" and "get to know".
Compound adjectives with numbers — singular, not plural — "It's a two-hour drive" not "two hours drive" — When a number and a noun together describe another noun (forming a compound adjective), the noun stays singular and is joined by a hyphen. "That's a five-minute walk away" (not "five minutes").
"Despite" takes no "of" — "despite the rain" not "despite of the rain" — Many learners add "of" because they confuse it with "in spite of" (which requires "of"). Only one form is correct: either "despite" alone or "in spite of" with "of". "Despite being afraid of heights, Ravi still went skydiving."
"Say" vs "tell" — different structures — "Say something" or "say something to somebody", but "tell somebody something" (the person comes directly after the verb). "She said she was tired" (no person) versus "She told me she was tired" (person after verb). "We said goodbye to everyone before we left."
About this video
This lesson from English with Lucy focuses on five mistakes that intermediate English learners make repeatedly. The video opens with concrete, relatable examples like "It's a two hours drive" and "He said me he was coming", then systematically corrects each one. What makes this video excellent for shadowing is Lucy's clear, measured delivery with natural intonation patterns — especially noticeable in how she stresses words like "deSPITE" (emphasising the second syllable) and explains the reasoning behind each rule. Her pace is conversational but unhurried, and she uses frequent pauses to let information settle, making it ideal for repeating after her.
The material suits confident B1 learners who have moved beyond basic grammar and want to sound more natural and accurate. Lucy addresses learner-specific confusions (like why "win" is used so often instead of "earn", possibly because learners' native languages have one word for both concepts) and provides multiple example sentences showing correct usage in context. By shadowing this lesson, learners develop awareness of British English conventions, practise natural stress and rhythm, and reinforce collocations and verb patterns through repetition — all critical for reaching B2 fluency.
Idioms & expressions
win someone's support — to gain someone's backing or approval through effort or persuasion: "Kelly won a lot of support by promising lower taxes."
win a contract — to succeed in obtaining a business agreement, typically in competition: "We won the contract despite stiff competition."
earn a rest — to deserve a period of relaxation or break: "After running 20km, she'd definitely earned a rest."
get to know — to gradually become familiar with someone or something over time: "I got to know him over the next few months."
stiff competition — strong, challenging opposition: "We won the contract despite stiff competition."
sound like my idea of heaven — to seem perfect or ideal: "That sounds like my idea of heaven."
