Common Errors & Fixes

What you'll learn: a consolidated catalog of the highest-frequency vocabulary errors across word form, word choice, collocation, register, and repetition, drawn together from every earlier lesson in this course, each with a before/after fix.

Why this lesson is a capstone, not a new topic

Lessons 1 through 11 each built one vocabulary skill in isolation. In a real timed response, though, errors don't announce which category they belong to — you just notice a sentence feels "off." This lesson trains that noticing instinct by walking through the ten errors examiners see most often, grouped by the categories you've already learned, so you can diagnose your own drafts quickly under time pressure.

Word form errors

Before: "The company made a announcement that was very important for employees."

Fix: No change needed here structurally — but a common variant is "The decision was very decisive," confusing the noun and adjective forms of the same root.

Corrected: "The decision was final." Use the noun decision as the subject, and reserve decisive for describing a person's manner of deciding. (See Lesson 2.)

False-friend / word-choice errors

Before: "I am very sensible to criticism, so the feedback affected me a lot."

Corrected: "I am very sensitive to criticism, so the feedback had a strong effect on me." Sensible means showing good judgment; sensitive means easily affected. Affect is the verb; effect is usually the noun. (See Lesson 4.)

Collocation errors

Before: "The heavy rain made a big problem for the event, so we did a decision to postpone it."

Corrected: "The heavy rain caused a significant problem for the event, so we made a decision to postpone it." Make a decision, not "do" a decision; a problem is usually "caused," not "made." (See Lesson 5.)

Register errors

Before (formal complaint email): "Hey, so basically the noise is driving me crazy and I need you to fix it ASAP."

Corrected: "I am writing to raise a concern about ongoing noise disturbances, and I would appreciate a prompt resolution." Formal writing drops contractions, slang, and casual connectors entirely. (See Lesson 3.)

Repetition errors

Before: "This problem is serious. This problem affects many people. We must solve this problem."

Corrected: "This problem is serious and affects many people, so it must be addressed soon." Combine sentences, use a pronoun, and swap in a synonym for the final mention. (See Lesson 11.)

Consolidated error-to-fix word bank

• do a mistake → make a mistake — collocation error (Lesson 5)
• discuss about the issue → discuss the issue — unnecessary preposition after a transitive verb
• very good economic car → economical car — economic/economical confusion (Lesson 4)
• I'm writing to inform you that... [in a formal email using contractions elsewhere] → keep contractions out entirely — register consistency (Lesson 3)
• a success project → a successful project — noun used where adjective is required (Lesson 2)
• I look forward to hear from you → I look forward to hearing from you — verb-form error after a fixed phrase

Common mistakes (meta-level)

• Fixing surface spelling but missing the underlying category — knowing a sentence "sounds wrong" isn't enough; identify whether it's a form, choice, collocation, register, or repetition problem, because each has a different fix.
• Correcting one error and introducing another — e.g., fixing "sensible" to "sensitive" but leaving "affected" when "effect" was intended; re-check the whole sentence, not just the flagged word.
• Treating this lesson as a substitute for Lessons 1–11 — this catalog works because it draws on skills already built earlier; revisit any category here that still feels shaky.
• Not timing the self-check — in a real test you won't have time for a full audit; practice spotting these ten patterns quickly so recognition becomes automatic.

Recap

This course started with a diagnostic to find your weak spots and ends with a working catalog of the errors those weak spots usually produce. Keep this lesson as a quick-reference: before your next timed practice response, skim it once, then check your own draft against each category — word form, word choice, collocation, register, repetition — in order. From here, the topic-based lessons in the Collocations Kit will build directly on this foundation.