Unforgivable Errors
Grammar Mistakes Native English Speakers Make — and Why They Matter
As a philosopher, a social scientist, and an English professor, I find some of the errors in English that native speakers make appalling. My research produced an astounding result: native speakers of English make these errors far more frequently than non-native speakers. This is not a paradox — it is a consequence of complacency. Non-native speakers study the rules; native speakers assume they already know them.
Americans are destroying the English language. With the influence of social media, casual speech, and the erosion of rigorous language education, we will most certainly end up not understanding one another. These errors are not minor stylistic choices — they are signs of a deeper failure in how we teach and value language. This page will be updated regularly with new examples.
A Note on the Research
In my years of teaching English at the university level, I conducted informal but systematic observations of language use among native and non-native English speakers. The finding was consistent and striking: non-native speakers, who learned English as a second language through formal instruction, demonstrated greater accuracy in grammar than many native speakers who had never been required to study the rules explicitly. Fluency, it turns out, is not the same as correctness.
The Errors — Explained
"I Have Went" — The Unforgivable Error
UnforgivableWrong
"I have went to the store."
Correct
"I have gone to the store."
"Went" is the simple past tense of "go." After the auxiliary verb "have," you must use the past participle "gone" — not the simple past "went." This is one of the most common and most unforgivable errors in American English. No educated speaker should ever say "I have went." The rule is simple: have/has/had must always be followed by a past participle.
Past Participle After "Have"
UnforgivableWrong
"I have ate." / "I have drove."
Correct
"I have eaten." / "I have driven."
After the verb "to have," you must always use the past participle, not the simple past tense. Many native speakers confuse these forms because they sound similar in casual speech. The past participle is a distinct grammatical form — eaten, driven, written, spoken — and it cannot be replaced by the simple past.
The Reason Is Because
SeriousWrong
"The reason is because…"
Correct
"The reason is that…"
"Reason" and "because" express the same idea. Using both together is redundant — the speaker essentially says the same thing twice. The correct construction is "The reason is that." This error is so widespread that many people no longer notice it, which makes it all the more dangerous to clear communication.
Double Negative
SeriousWrong
"I do not know nothing."
Correct
"I do not know anything."
In standard English, two negatives cancel each other out and create an unintended positive meaning. "I do not know nothing" logically means "I know something." While double negatives exist in some dialects and in other languages, they are not acceptable in formal or educated English speech and writing.
Reported Speech — Backshifting
SeriousWrong
"He said his name is Sabri."
Correct
"He said his name was Sabri."
Once we use a past reporting verb such as "said," the verb in the reported clause must shift back in time — from present to past. This is called backshifting in reported speech. Failing to backshift is one of the most common errors in both spoken and written English, and it signals a lack of grammatical awareness.
Fewer vs. Less
Very CommonWrong
"There are less people here today."
Correct
"There are fewer people here today."
Use "fewer" with countable nouns — things you can count individually, such as people, cars, or books. Use "less" with uncountable nouns — things measured in bulk, such as water, time, or money. This distinction is simple, logical, and consistently ignored. Even major retailers post signs that read "10 items or less" — a grammatical error displayed to millions of shoppers every day.
Misuse of "Literally"
Very CommonWrong
"I literally died laughing."
Correct
"I nearly died laughing." / "I laughed so hard."
"Literally" means actually, in fact, without exaggeration. Using it for hyperbole or dramatic emphasis is a misuse that has unfortunately become so widespread that dictionaries have begun to acknowledge the informal usage. This does not make it correct. When everything is "literally" something, the word loses all meaning — and so does the speaker's credibility.
A True Story
I was watching a television reporter — as I often do, paying close attention to language — and, as nearly every American broadcaster does, she said it: "The reason is because…" Again and again. Without the slightest awareness that the words reason and because mean the same thing. She was, in effect, saying: the reason is the reason.
I sent her a polite comment pointing this out. A young lady responded on her behalf — not with curiosity, not with an open mind, but with complete certainty: "No, the reason is because. We have always been saying it that way."
And there it is. We have always been saying it. As though repetition confers correctness. As though habit is the same as grammar. I replied simply: one cannot argue with those who have already decided they are right. And I stopped.
I have served on university grading committees. I have evaluated TOEFL essays. I have sat on panels assessing written English at the highest academic levels. In every one of those settings, the phrase "the reason is because" would be marked as an error — without hesitation, without debate. Every serious educator knows this. The television reporter and her young defender, unfortunately, do not.
— Dr. Sabri Bebawi
Featured Lecture
Grammar Errors in the English Language
A companion lecture to this article — exploring the grammar mistakes that educated native speakers make most often, and why they matter.
"Language is not merely a tool for communication — it is the medium of thought itself. When we allow our language to deteriorate, we allow our thinking to deteriorate with it. These errors are correctable. The first step is awareness."
— Dr. Sabri Bebawi