When Verbs Get It Wrong: Discussing Common Mistakes in the Use of Verbs

June 14, 2025 Post a Comment

He stood there in front of the whole class. His palms were sweating, but his voice was steady.

“Yesterday, I go to the museum with my cousin.”

A few heads turned. Some classmates smiled politely. One girl even raised her eyebrows.

The sentence wasn’t a disaster. The message got across.
But that one word—“go”—in the wrong tense, was like a piece of spinach stuck in his teeth.

Small mistake. Big distraction.

Why Verbs Matter More Than You Think

You and I? We’ve both done it.
Used the wrong tense. Picked the wrong verb. Forgotten the “s” in the third person. Maybe even said “he do” instead of “he does”.

It’s part of the journey.

Verbs are the heartbeat of every sentence. Without them, thoughts don’t move, actions don’t exist, and time makes no sense.

And yet, verbs are also the most commonly misused part of English.

So let’s take a walk through the mistakes that almost all learners (and even native speakers) make when it comes to verbs—through real stories, gentle laughs, and useful lessons.

Me, My First Job Interview, and the Verb That Betrayed Me

I remember walking into my very first English-language job interview.

I was nervous, of course, but excited.

The interviewer smiled and asked,

“Can you tell me about a time you handled a difficult situation?”

I said,

“Yes, I handle a complaint last month…”

And just like that, the smile faded. Not because I was wrong—but because I wasn’t quite right.

That one verb—handle—needed to be in the past tense: handled.

It didn’t destroy the interview, but it definitely pulled the curtain on my fluency illusion.

Common Mistakes in the Use of Verbs

1. Wrong Verb Tense

This one’s everywhere.

❌ “Last week I see a great movie.”
✅ “Last week I saw a great movie.”

Why it happens: You’re thinking in present tense and forget to shift. Or you translate directly from your native language.

💡 Fix it: Match your verb tense to the time signal. If it’s yesterday, last night, in 2020 — go with past tense.

2. Forgetting the Third-Person “s”

Rani, a student of mine, once said:

“My brother play football every Saturday.”

It sounded almost correct. But not quite.

In English, when using the present simple tense for he, she, it, you need to add “-s”:

✅ “My brother plays football every Saturday.”

💡 Quick reminder:
I play
You play
He/She/It plays
We play
They play

That one “s” might feel tiny, but it shows you know your grammar.

3. Confusing Regular and Irregular Verbs

This one trips everyone at some point.

“I goed to the shop.”
“I buyed a new phone.”
“I runned yesterday.”

It’s funny… until it’s you saying it.

Irregular verbs don’t follow the normal pattern. You just have to memorize them.

A few tricky ones:

Go → went
Buy → bought
Run → ran
Catch → caught

💡 Tip: Make a habit of writing 3 forms of irregular verbs daily:
Eat – ate – eaten.
Think – thought – thought.
Swim – swam – swum.

They’ll start sticking.

4. Overusing “Be” Verbs

Sometimes we get lazy and lean too hard on “be” verbs like is, am, are, was, were:

❌ “He is go to school.”
✅ “He is going to school.”
✅ “He goes to school.” (if it’s a habit)

“Be” verbs are useful, but they’re not superheroes. Don’t use them to replace every action verb. Be bold—use strong, specific verbs.

5. Mixing Up Continuous and Simple Tense

One day, my friend Diego said:

“I am know the answer.”

It made sense in his head. But the sentence was a mix of tenses.

“Know” is a stative verb—it’s not used in continuous form.

✅ Correct version: “I know the answer.”

Use the present continuous for actions happening now:

“I am eating.”
“She is reading.”
Not for states like:
believe, know, love, understand, hate.

Closing: Verbs Are Your Storytellers

When verbs go wrong, the sentence stumbles.
When verbs are strong, the sentence flies.

Think of verbs as your actors—they bring your words to life.
Give them the right role, and they’ll give your message power, precision, and clarity.

We all make mistakes. But the more we notice, the more we fix. And every fix brings us closer to mastery.

Spot and Share Your Mistake

Here’s your challenge:

👉 Go back to a message, journal entry, or email you wrote in English.

🔍 Find one verb mistake you made.

✏️ Rewrite it correctly.

Then, if you’re feeling brave—drop it in the comments.
Tell us the original sentence and your fixed version.
Let’s learn from each other. Let’s laugh a little too.

Because every learner makes mistakes.
But not every learner fixes them.

You can. You just did. Now let’s keep going—one verb at a time. 💬👇

SIRHARI