Grammar

Common English grammar mistakes children make

Most children make the same handful of mistakes, and several of them are evidence that learning is going well rather than badly.

Mistakes that are actually good signs

"I goed to school." This looks like a step backwards and is the opposite. The child has worked out that English past tense adds -ed and is applying the rule to a verb that breaks it. A child who says went may have memorised it; a child who says goed has understood the system. The irregular forms come with exposure.

"He hurted me." Same thing — the rule applied where the language is inconsistent. Supply the correct form in your reply and move on.

Mistakes that need real practice

Articles: a, an, the

Genuinely difficult, especially if your first language has no articles. Rules exist but are riddled with exceptions, so this improves through volume of exposure rather than explanation.

He go / He goes

The third-person -s carries almost no meaning, so the brain drops it under pressure. Children often know this rule perfectly and still get it wrong while speaking.

Question word order

"Why you are late?" Inversion needs explicit practice — it rarely corrects itself through listening alone.

Prepositions

in, on, at are largely arbitrary. Best learned as whole phrases: "on Monday", "at night". Do not look for logic that is not there.

Present perfect

"I have seen him yesterday." Hard for secondary learners, especially where the first language has no equivalent tense.

Plural agreement

"Three book." Straightforward to fix, but persists because it rarely blocks understanding.

Which mistakes to correct

Not all of them, and certainly not all at once. A useful filter: correct what blocks understanding, and leave what does not for now.

"Why you are late?" is perfectly understandable and can wait. A wrong preposition that changes the meaning cannot. Children can absorb one or two corrections in a conversation; beyond that they stop talking, which costs more than the errors do.

How to correct without discouraging

Recast rather than interrupt. The child says "She don't like it"; you reply "She doesn't like it? Why not?" The correct form is supplied, the conversation continues, and nobody has been told they are wrong.

This is slower than direct correction and works considerably better, because the child stays willing to speak — which is the thing that actually drives improvement.

When grammar should become explicit

Around age ten or eleven. Younger children learn grammar best implicitly, through use. Older learners benefit from naming structures, partly because it makes writing easier to fix and partly because school exams expect the terminology.

Questions parents ask

Why does my child say "goed" instead of "went"?

Because they have internalised the rule that past tense adds -ed and are applying it to an irregular verb. It is a sign of understanding, not a problem, and resolves with exposure.

What are the most common English grammar mistakes children make?

Articles, third-person -s, question word order, prepositions, the present perfect and plural agreement. Most are predictable and respond to focused practice.

Should I correct every grammar mistake?

No. Correct what blocks understanding and let the rest wait. Children absorb one or two corrections in a conversation before they stop speaking altogether.

At what age should children learn grammar rules explicitly?

Around ten or eleven. Younger children learn grammar better through use than through rules.

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Last reviewed: 22 September 2026