Here are some of the most common mistakes that Russian students make when learning English.

Common Mistakes By Russians

Here are some more common errors at C1 Advanced (the solutions are below)

Mistakes

The people who is working for me

What I loved to do in my youthness

I was telling to you

We are friends since university

He found a good work in Turin

I watched to them

Yesterday we broken the system for watering

I losed the train

I get home at 9 last night

It has been a long day yesterday

When I was student I was in Bologna

I sleeped outside Bologna

A lot of time ago

I did just a few work with my hands

I say things more complicated with you in English than with people in Italian

 

Solutions

The people who work for me or the people who are working for me

What I loved to do in my youth

I was telling you

We have been friends since university

Use the present perfect to connect the past with the present

He (has) found good work in Turin or he found a good job in Turin

Work = uncountable. Job = countable.

I watched them

Yesterday the watering system broke or yesterday the watering system was broken or Yesterday we broke the watering system = we broke the system.

Break, broke, broken

I missed the train

I got home at 9 last night

It was a long day yesterday - if you say when, e.g. ‘yesterday, last week, two days ago’ = use the past simple

When I was a student I was in Bologna

I used to sleep outside Bologna or I slept outside Bologna

A long time ago

I did just a little work with my hands

I say more complicated things with you in English than with people in Italian

 

Mistakes

Maggie sent a couple of days ago the agenda

Into the agenda there were arguments that I didn't think...

They are composed by scientists...

They seems very friendly but they not are very friendly

I don't like the people in the tv that speaks Roman

 

Solutions

A couple of days ago Maggie sent the agenda

In the agenda there were arguments that I didn't think...

They are composed of scientists…

Composed by + musician

They seem very friendly but they aren’t very friendly

I don't like the people on tv that/who speak Roman

 

Mistakes

Some people is not so stressed the situation

They have to go home because some problem with children

There were fog

I prefer to avoid a lot of people into the house

I was really impressed - positive

The animals breeded

It’s a sauce really spicy

They stole me my sunglasses into the car

It takes 40 minutes to get Paris.

The most known of the beach in this coast

A lot of people is still on holidays

They grow into the Adriatic sea. This is supposed to be a passive sentence.

 

Solutions

Some people are not so stressed about/in this situation. Here's an old video I made about this topic:

They have to go home because of some problems with their children

There was fog. Fog is an uncountable noun.

I prefer to avoid a lot of people in the house.

Bred. 'Bred' is the past simple and past participle of the word 'breed'.

It’s a really spicy sauce. We put the adjective before the noun in English, this is a very common mistake, especially for Latin based languages. 

They stole my sunglasses from the car. We normally say 'to steal something from somewhere/someone' in English. Another example could be, 'the cat stole the bird from the cage'.

It takes 40 minutes to get to Paris.

The most well-known/notorious city with a beach on/along this coast. 'Most well-known' is a common expression in English.

A lot of people are still on holiday.

Mussels are grown in the Adriatic sea. 

 

Mistakes

To prevent the light go inside

19:30 in the afternoon

They start beaking each other and someone died

The wound increase and the animal die

This is the new from Italy

The imagin of my friends was not clear

We were 7 people

 

Solutions

To prevent the light (from) going inside
We normally say 'Prevent + someone/something from + verbing'…

18:00-21:59 is normally classified as 'evening' in English
7:30 in the evening

They start to peck each other and someone die

'Beak' is a noun. The verb that you want to use is 'peck' /pek/

The wound increases and the animal dies

This is the news from Italy
'News' is uncountable and finishes with an 's'.

The image of my friends was not clear

There were We were 7 of us people
In English, we normally say ‘there were 7 of us’

Mistakes

I have been refunded for a travel I booked on...

Less cases of people that is ill

I call her a couple of days ago

The certification covers animals and into the lab

He mixed with the hands the bread

 

Solutions

I have been refunded for a trip I booked on…

In English ‘travel’ is a verb and ‘trip’ is a noun.

Fewer cases of people that are ill

‘People’ is plural, so it should conjugate with the verb ‘are’.

The next problem, even English people get confused with. When we say a smaller quantity of a plural word, we use ‘fewer’ and not ‘less’ in English.

I called her a couple of days ago

The certification covers animals and the lab

He mixed the bread by hand

Say what he mixes before how he mixes.

Mistakes

In the next future

For me was really stress

The sponsor usually come to see some activity

It’s also an help

I’m just arrived home

Modena is not famous as Florence

Always there are visitor

It was before I graduate

I ever used the bus

 

Solutions

In the next near future

For me it was really stressful

The sponsor usually comes to see some activity

It’s also of/a help

The word before ‘help’ depends on the meaning, but if you use an article, use ‘a’ because the ‘h’ in ‘help’ is not silent.

- I have just arrived home

Modena is not as famous as Florence

There are always visitors

Adverbs of frequency, if they are 1 word, normally go before the main verb, but after ‘be’ or an auxiliary verb.

It was before I graduated

I always took the bus

'Keys Corner' provides some really useful information when preparing for this exam. There is a useful web page with some more common mistakes students make in the exam.