10 Grammar Mistakes Mongolian English Learners Make

After teaching at Tokalot, our instructors have identified patterns in the grammar mistakes that Mongolian English learners make most often. Here are the top 10, with corrections.

**1. Articles: a / an / the**
Mongolian does not have articles, so this is often the hardest habit to build.
❌ "I went to hospital." (British) vs ✓ "I went to the hospital." (specific)

**2. Prepositions: in / on / at**
❌ "I am in home." ✓ "I am at home."

**3. Tense inconsistency in narratives**
❌ "I walked in and he is sitting there." ✓ "I walked in and he was sitting there."

**4. Subject-verb agreement with third person singular**
❌ "She go to work every day." ✓ "She goes to work every day."

**5. Overusing "actually"**
❌ "Actually I am going home." (random sentence opener) ✓ "Actually, I changed my mind." (contrast)

**6. "Very" with ungradable adjectives**
❌ "It was very perfect." ✓ "It was absolutely perfect."

**7. Double negatives**
❌ "I don't know nothing." ✓ "I don't know anything."

**8. "Open" vs "turn on"**
❌ "Please open the lights." ✓ "Please turn on the lights."

**9. Forgetting progressive aspect**
❌ "I study English for two years." ✓ "I have been studying English for two years."

**10. "Make" vs "do" confusion**
Practice these in context — there is no simple rule. Come to sessions to hear them used naturally!

Recognising your patterns is the first step. Come to a Tokalot session to practise!