TOP 278: 9 Common Mistakes You Can Eliminate TODAY

Hey there! This is TOP episode 278. 9 Common Mistakes You Can Eliminate TODAY

Are you tired of lacking confidence when speaking English? Does it block you from achieving your true goals? This podcast is the place for you. This is Teacher Ola Podcast. My name’s Ola Mierniczak and I empower English learners to become confident speakers. The key to fluency is in your pocket. You’ll boost your vocabulary, brush up your grammar and improve your pronunciation. Enjoy your journey to fluency!

Hey there, and welcome back! Today, we’re looking into one of those sneaky areas of English that can trip you up if you’re not careful—verbs and their prepositions. Yep, those little words can make a big difference.

So, in this episode, we’re going to go through some of the most common ones, break them down, and—most importantly—make sure you’re using them correctly. No more accused for, no more arrived to, and definitely no more afraid from. We’ll fix all of that today.

Let’s get started!

9 Common Mistakes You Can Eliminate TODAY.

One. Absorbed. Absorbed means ‘very much interested’. The mistake that people make here quite commonly is: absorbed at. Forget about ‘at’, use ‘in’ instead. Absorbed in. Absorbed in. Listen:

She was absorbed in her work.

Two. Another verb that starts with the letter ‘a’: accuse. What preposition do you use with the word ‘accuse’? I hope it’s not ‘for’? It should be: of. To accuse of. To accuse of. Listen to this sentence:

She accused the man of stealing.

Three. Accustomed. Don’t say ‘accustomed with’, say: ‘accustomed to’. You can always use “to be used to something” the meaning is the same. Accustomed to, used to. For example:

I’m accustomed to hot weather.

I’m used to hot weather.

Four. Afraid of. Afraid of, scared of. So a common mistake here is to use ‘from’, ‘I’m afraid from’, forget it. Definitely don’t say it out loud. Listen to this: Afraid of, afraid of. Let me give you a whole sentence:

Ana is afraid of my dog.

Five. Aim at. You don’t aim on, you don’t aim against. You aim at. Notice that we use the preposition ‘at’ to show the direction. You throw at, shout at, fire at and also: aim at. For instance:

She aimed at the target.

Six. Angry with. Not ‘angry against’ or ‘angry on’, but you’re always angry with someone or angry at something. Example sentence:

The teacher was angry with her.

Seven. Anxious about. You’re not anxious for things or people, but you are anxious about something. But be careful here because the word ‘anxious’ has a positive meaning as well. It can mean ‘wishing very much’, for example:

I’m anxious for my son’s success’

But in a negative context use ‘anxious about’, like in this sentence:

They’re anxious about his health.

Eight. Arrive at. It’s a big one. Don’t say ‘arrve to’, say ‘arrive at’, or ‘arrive in’ if you arrive in a city or a country or a continent. Like:

I have arrived in London.

And one more example this time with ‘arrive at’:

We arrived at the airport quite late.

Nine. Ashamed of. Don’t say ‘ashamed from’, but ‘ashamed of’. ‘Ashamed’ doesn’t mean ‘shy’. Ashamed means feeling guilt or feeling shame. ‘Shy’ means feeling nervous with someone. So instead of saying ‘I’m ashamed of my teacher’ say ‘I’m shy of my teacher’. One more sentence example:

He’s now ashamed of his actions.

Let’s practise. Listen and repeat out loud. But before we do just that. Please do the worksheet. There are 10 sentences you need to translate from Polish into English. That will help you memorise these sentences. Go to teacherola.com/278 and download it. It’s free! Now, listen and repeat, let’s go!