23 short videos · subtitles on
Common English mistakes Indians make.
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“Cousin brother”, “do the needful”, “revert back”… Each video fixes one. In class, your trainer finds and fixes the ones you make — give us a WhatsApp call to start.
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“Cousin brother”
✗ He is my cousin brother.
✓ He is my cousin.
In English, cousin already means the child of your uncle or aunt — male or female. There is no cousin brother and no cousin sister.
Fix mistakes like this — WhatsApp call"Share me the file"
✗ Can you share me the file?
✓ Can you share the file with me?
You share something with someone. The verb is right — it is the object that is wrong. Share me makes you the thing being shared.
Fix mistakes like this — WhatsApp call"Sleep is coming"
✗ Sleep is coming.
✓ I'm feeling sleepy.
In English, sleep is not something that arrives. You are the one who feels it: I'm feeling sleepy, or I'm so sleepy, I'm going to bed.
Fix mistakes like this — WhatsApp call"I am working since"
✗ I am working here since 2020.
✓ I have been working here since 2020.
Since fixes a starting point, so the sentence needs a perfect tense: I have been working here since 2020. Never I am working since.
Fix mistakes like this — WhatsApp call"Good name"
✗ What is your good name?
✓ What's your name?
There is no good name in English — there is just a name. The phrase is a word-for-word translation of शुभ नाम, and outside India it sounds odd rather than polite.
Fix mistakes like this — WhatsApp call"Updation"
✗ I'll send you the updation by evening.
✓ I'll send you the update.
There is no such word as updation in English. The verb is update, and the noun is also update — nothing is added to it.
Fix mistakes like this — WhatsApp call"Going to native"
✗ I'm going to native tomorrow.
✓ I'm going to my hometown.
Native is not a place in English — it is an adjective, or a word for a person. The place you come from is your hometown.
Fix mistakes like this — WhatsApp call"Having a headache"
✗ I'm having a headache.
✓ I have a headache.
Have is a state, not an action. You have a headache, a cold, a doubt, a car, a brother — none of them can be having.
Fix mistakes like this — WhatsApp call"I have a doubt"
✗ Sorry, I have a doubt.
✓ Can I ask you a question?
In English a doubt is uncertainty about whether something is true — it is close to not trusting. What you have in a meeting or a class is a question.
Fix mistakes like this — WhatsApp call"Giving my exam"
✗ I'm giving my exam tomorrow.
✓ I'm taking my exam tomorrow.
A student takes an exam. The person who sets it — the teacher, the board, the university — gives it.
Fix mistakes like this — WhatsApp call“Borrow me your pen”
✗ Can you borrow me your pen?
✓ Can you lend me your pen?
You lend, I borrow. The pen moves from you to me — so you lend it, and I borrow it.
Fix mistakes like this — WhatsApp call“When I will reach”
✗ I'll call you when I will reach home.
✓ I'll call you when I reach home.
After when, there's no need to add “will”. The “I'll” at the start already tells us it's the future.
Fix mistakes like this — WhatsApp call“I am agree”
✗ Yes, I am agree with you.
✓ Yes, I agree with you.
Agree is already the verb, so there's no need to add “am”. Just say “I agree”.
Fix mistakes like this — WhatsApp call“Where you are going?”
✗ Where you are going?
✓ Where are you going?
In a question, are comes before you. “You are going” is a statement; “are you going?” is a question.
Fix mistakes like this — WhatsApp call“Informations”
✗ Please send me all the informations.
✓ Please send me all the information.
Information has no plural. However much of it there is, it stays “information”.
Fix mistakes like this — WhatsApp call“Tomorrow itself”
✗ I'll come tomorrow itself.
✓ I'll come tomorrow.
The word itself is doing no work here. “I'll come tomorrow” already says exactly when.
Fix mistakes like this — WhatsApp call“Discuss about”
✗ Let's discuss about the budget.
✓ Let's discuss the budget.
Discuss already means “talk about”. Adding “about” says the same thing twice.
Fix mistakes like this — WhatsApp call“Out of station”
✗ I am out of station this week.
✓ I'm out of town this week.
“Out of station” is Indian English. Outside India, most people simply won’t understand it.
Fix mistakes like this — WhatsApp call“Passed out of college”
✗ I passed out of college in 2020.
✓ I graduated in 2020.
Outside India, passed out means you fainted. Say it to a foreign interview panel and you have just told them you collapsed.
Fix mistakes like this — WhatsApp call“Close the light”
✗ Close the light.
✓ Turn off the light.
You close a door and a window. You turn off a light and a fan.
Fix mistakes like this — WhatsApp call“Today morning”
✗ Today morning I woke up late.
✓ This morning I woke up late.
There is no “today morning” in English. It is this morning.
Fix mistakes like this — WhatsApp call“Revert back”
✗ Please revert back to me.
✓ Please get back to me.
Revert means to return to a previous state. It does not mean reply.
Fix mistakes like this — WhatsApp call“Do the needful”
✗ Kindly do the needful.
✓ Please approve this by Friday.
It is the most common sign-off in Indian office mail, and it tells the reader nothing.
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