Common English Speaking Mistakes at B1-B2 (And How to Fix Each One)

After analysing thousands of VivaLingua conversation sessions, certain error patterns emerge with remarkable consistency at B1-B2 level. These are not random mistakes — they are systematic errors that reflect predictable misunderstandings of English grammar and pronunciation. The good news: because they are systematic, they are fixable. Here are the 10 most common, with the rule and the fix for each.

1. Present Perfect vs Simple Past

Error: 'I have seen this film last week.' Correct: 'I saw this film last week.' The rule: use simple past with a specific time reference in the past (last week, yesterday, in 2020). Use present perfect when there is no specific time reference, or when the past experience has present relevance. This is one of the most persistent errors for speakers of languages without a similar distinction (Spanish, Italian, many others). Fix: every time you mention a past experience, ask yourself: do I know exactly when? If yes, use simple past.

2. Confusing Make and Do

Error: 'Can you do me a favour?' (actually correct) vs 'I need to make my homework' (wrong — should be 'do my homework'). The make/do distinction is idiomatic and must be memorised, not derived from a rule. Key patterns: make + something you create (make a plan, make a mistake, make an effort), do + an activity or task (do homework, do business, do a favour). Fix: learn the 20 most common collocations for each and practise them in sentences.

3. Articles (A, An, The)

Error: 'I went to supermarket' (missing 'the'). 'The life is complicated' (incorrect use of 'the'). Article errors are extremely common for speakers of languages without articles (Russian, Japanese, Turkish, Polish). The rule in brief: use 'the' when both you and the listener know which specific thing you mean (either because it was mentioned before, or because there is only one of it). Use 'a/an' for first mention or non-specific reference. Use no article with abstract concepts in general. Fix: focus on the definite article ('the') — it has the clearest rule. Practise with a native speaker or AI and ask for article corrections specifically.

4. Subject-Verb Agreement in Complex Sentences

Error: 'The list of requirements are long' (should be 'is'). The verb agrees with the subject ('list'), not the nearest noun ('requirements'). This error increases in frequency in longer, more complex sentences — exactly the sentences you produce more of as your English improves. Fix: identify the true subject of every sentence before choosing the verb form. The head noun of the subject phrase — not any prepositional phrase following it — determines the verb.

5. Conditionals (First, Second, Third)

Error: 'If I would have the money, I buy it' (mixing forms). Correct: 'If I had the money, I would buy it' (second conditional — hypothetical present/future). The three main conditionals: First (real possibility): 'If I have time, I will come.' Second (hypothetical present): 'If I had time, I would come.' Third (hypothetical past): 'If I had had time, I would have come.' Mixing these is very common at B1-B2 level. Fix: learn each conditional as a complete formula and practise completing sentences with each.

6. Prepositions After Verbs

Error: 'I am interested about cooking' (should be 'interested in'). 'She depends of him' (should be 'depends on'). Verb + preposition collocations are largely idiomatic in English and do not follow logical rules. Common errors: interested in (not about), good at (not in), listen to (not listen), married to (not married with), afraid of (not afraid from). Fix: learn verb + preposition combinations as fixed units, not as separate words. Create sentences with each.

7. Pronunciation of Final Consonants

Error: dropping or weakening final consonants — 'frien' instead of 'friend', 'lis' instead of 'list', 'wor' instead of 'word'. This is one of the most common pronunciation patterns among speakers of languages where words typically end in vowels (Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese). English regularly ends words with consonant clusters and these must be articulated clearly. Fix: practise pairs of words that differ only in final consonants (bed/bet, send/sent, find/fine) until the distinction is automatic.

8. Overuse of Will for Future

Error: 'Tomorrow I will meet my friend' (sounds over-formal for casual speech). More natural: 'Tomorrow I am meeting my friend' or 'Tomorrow I am going to meet my friend.' English uses the present continuous for arrangements, 'going to' for plans, and 'will' for predictions and spontaneous decisions. Overusing 'will' for all future reference is a textbook pattern that marks you as a non-native speaker in casual contexts. Fix: default to 'going to' for plans, present continuous for arrangements, and save 'will' for predictions and decisions made in the moment.

9. Word Stress in Multi-Syllable Words

Error: stressing the wrong syllable — 'de-VELOP' instead of 'DEvelop', 'PHOtograph' and 'phoTOGraphy' (stress shifts). English word stress is not predictable from spelling, and misplaced stress often makes a word unintelligible even if every sound is correct. This is one of the most significant pronunciation barriers to being understood. Fix: when you learn a new multi-syllable word, always learn it with stress marked. Use VivaLingua or a dictionary to check stress on any word you are not certain about.

10. Overlong Pauses and Filler Patterns

Error: very long silences while searching for words, or repetition of the same filler in ways that break communication. Fluency is partially measured by speech rate and pause frequency. Excessive pausing and filler is interpreted as low fluency even if accuracy is high. Fix: practise building bridging phrases — 'What I mean is...', 'The thing is...', 'Let me think about that...', 'That is a good point' — that give you thinking time while maintaining the flow of speech. These are exactly what native speakers use.