There are mistakes that native speakers make that ESL people pick up -- and "ESL" is "English as a Second Language."

People learning English, they pick up because native speakers don't even know they're making this mistake.

So I want to teach you six common ones that come regularly or happen regularly in conversation.

And I want you to learn them and make your English perfect. Let's go to the board.

Now, let's start with No. 1, one of my favorite ones: "amount" and "number".

"Amount" is, sort of, like, "how much". A "number" is, you know, "thing."

When we look at "amount", you can think of you can't count it, all right?

A lot of times, when we say "amount" -- like, "I have a large amount of water in my house"

-- you can't count water. But you can count a number, so: "The number of people who come to the city is in the thousands",

so you can count them. Here's an example. Tell me if this is right or wrong.

"The amount of students who are late is growing every day" or "the number of students who are late is growing every day."

You should say "number" because you can count students. You can't count amount.

That rhymes. Maybe that'll help, right? You can't count amount. You can't count amount.

So when we want to talk about a number of something or a body of something,

"amount" is for things you cannot count, and "number" is for things you can count.

English people make this mistake a lot. Next: "among" and "between".

When I used to teach "among" and "between", I would say, "'Among' is 'with'. So there's five chairs, and you're 'with' another.

And 'between' is you're in the middle." That's it. Because I was so smart.

And then I found out it's just this: two. More than two. That's it. Nothing special.

When you talk about "between", except -- and this is a major exception -- when you're talking about differences.

Differences, you have to use "between".

But generally speaking, "among" is more than two. "I was sitting among my friends at the bar."

You can know there's probably four or five, not two. But "let's keep this between you and me"?

A lot of times, Canadians say, "Let's keep this among us." And it's like, "Among who?"

"The rest of those guys, you know. The Americans. They don't need to know this." Okay.

So "between us" -- usually two, right? It could be two groups.

"There was a fight between this country and that country." Right? Because it's two groups.

But "among" is for more than two, cool? All right. So "among" -- more than two; "between" -- two.

What about "bring" and "take"? This is something that a lot of students make a mistake on.

So you say, "Bring this to me" or "take this to him."

It's very easy. "Bring" is "to the speaker", okay? And "take" is "away from the speaker".

Now, if you're born in England, that's easy because they always talk about "I want takeaway."

I'll take away. Because they take the food away from the restaurant, right?

So one of my favorite sayings that we say in England -- not England -- that we say here is, like --

watch every space movie: "Take me to your leader." You'll never see a space movie, unless it's made by me --

and it would say, "Bring me to your leader." We don't do that.

You say, "Take them to the leader" because you're taking them away from this spot where the speaker is

to a new location or spot. So "take" and "bring" are easy because it's "bring -- come towards".

Here's a mistake -- not Canadians -- English speakers make that you should be aware of. They'll say

something like, "Don't forget to bring your bag with you" instead of, "Don't forget to take your bag."

Do you know what the difference is?

Well, you're leaving, right? So you need to take it away. Remember I said "away from"?

Take the bag away from you. When you say, "Bring the bag with you", the speaker's speaking,

you're still moving away from the speaker, right? So you've got to use this.

But Canadians and Americans and Brits say it a lot. They'll say, "Bring it with you." I say "No." "Take" it with you.

You know the difference now because you're smart.

And you're studying from the Book of Bad English. Good for you. There's a worm in that book. Watch it.

Okay. "Fewer" or "less". I'm going to make a statement, and think which one is correct.

"'Fewer' than a million people have watched the videos on EngVid.

'Less' than a million people have watched the videos on EngVid." Which one would be correct?

Yeah. If you said "less than", no. "Less" is similar to "amount". You say "fewer" for things you can count.

"Fewer than five people did the job or worked on the job", not "less than".

"Fewer" is for numbers you can count. "Less" is like "amount". It's uncountable, right?

"There is less water here than there." Try and say, "There is fewer water here than there." There "what?"

That's right, son. That's why you don't say it. Proper grammar. "There is less this than that."

We commonly -- this is such a common mistake it's not even funny, right? But, once again,

you're reading from The Book of Bad English. So you know lesson No. 4. Don't do it. All right?

Mr. E is smiling because he's, like, "Damn! I didn't know that." It's like, "Nor did I until about five hours ago."

But now you and I both know. All right? Because I used to make this mistake until now.

So you won't -- I'll be making this mistake fewer times than before but less and less.

See? That's different. I'm saying it differently there. Less and less.

So I'm reducing, and that's what we're talking about. What about "further" and "farther"?

I feel really bad because anyone who I taught over the past eight years, these are the mistakes I made,

and I'm teaching them now, and they're, like, "But James, you told me this!"

And I went, "I didn't know it at the time. I went by standard grammar or standard speak."

And standard speak, which, you know, we all do, doesn't mean it's correct.

So I'm giving you something that's, you know, the correct grammar.

Now, colloquial is what we call -- "colloquial" is the common people speak. We didn't care.

People say it; no one's going to correct you because most of them don't know. All right?

But then, you're here to learn, so I'm here to teach.

How about, "further" and "farther"? Well, this one's easy to think of, all right?

Because they sound almost the same, and that's part of the problem, right? It's a major part of the problem.

So what we want to look at is the word "distance". When somebody says, "We need to investigate this further"

or "we need to investigate farther"? It's because they really don't know. They sound the same.

They almost look the same, except one sounds like something from Star Wars.

"Luke. I am your father." "Father", get it? Because there's a distance between us. The mother and -- you don't？

Forget it. Anyway. Distance. This is an E by the way because I know there're some of you guys who are, like, just

-- it's a small E, but it's an E. I just fixed it, okay?

So "farther" -- you know how you say "far away", "The house is far away" or

"my house is five miles farther" -- sorry. "My house is five kilometers further -- farther than yours."

See? I almost said "further" because we, in English, do that a lot.

But you say, "I live farther than you do." That means far -- more far away, right?

"Further" means "more" or "longer". So "We need to discuss this further", which means

we need a longer time to speak or more time to speak. So this is more about "more" or "longer",

but not distance longer, all right? So if you want to study further,

you might have to travel farther to another library to do so. You like that? I don't.

My head is spinning. But we're learning bad English. It should be, like -- it's gonna come up here

-- the "affect" this is happening to (on) me, not the "effect". I mean it is "affecting" me and

changing the way I look at things, but the "effects" it is actually had on changing or

influencing my thoughts since I've learned the six, and I did all that production to introduce to you No. 6.

I have notes on the board for a reason because I would be a liar to say I've never made these mistakes.

Most Canadians and -- I say "Canadians", sorry -- English. Because I was born in England,

been to America -- just English-speaking people make this mistake incredibly.

The only time we ever get it right is "special effects, effects, effects, effects!"

Because we know this, the result of the special effect in a movie is [boom] Superman flies.

Other than that, when we talk about it, a lot of times we get confused

because "affect", "effect" -- so similar in sound. Nobody notices. So today,

you will make that mistake. Usually, when we talk about "effects", we talk about results.

"What was the net effect? What happened? What was the change?" Keyword here because the

verb means "to cause a change". The noun is "What was the final change. What was the net effect

or what was the final effect?" The next one is easy to remember because think about influence and emotion.

This could be for things, you might say; this one would be for people. It's not exact. It's not a science.

It's 80 percent. But I'm trying to make it easy for you to remember these.

"Affect" is almost about being human. When I say to you, you know, the affect --

"How did it affect you?" -- we're talking about emotional, the emotional feeling that you have, right?

And then we talk about "influence". We "influence" by "changing" -- but this is different --

it's changing the way you think, how were you influenced.

"How is that affecting the people in your family?" Not "effecting". That would be different.

"How is it changing? Why was it influenced? How were you influenced by it?"

So if you could remember this one -- this is more of a human emotion thing,

and this is more of an action thing -- you'll be okay. And you won't make the mistake.

I'm probably going go to make in about five seconds when I explain it again to you, okay?

That's the effect it's having on me. Did I say "affect" or "effect"? I'm not sure.

Okay, so let's go back over this quickly because I don't know how much time I've got left,

but I don't want to affect the lesson, right? So when we look at "amount" or "number",

you can't count amounts. Sugar, salt, water. Numbers, you can. People, all right? Next "among"

and "between". If you have two, you'd say "between". If you have more than two, say "among".

"Bring" and "take": If it's moving away, if it's coming to the speaker, say "bring". If it's moving

away from the speaker, say "take". Okay? "Fewer" or "less": If you have something you can count,

say "fewer" -- "fewer than five". "Less than" is for uncountables, and it follows the similar words

here, these words. "Further" and "farther" -- don't forget, "Luke, I am your father"

-- talk about distance and relationships, all right? But this is just for distance -- kilometers,

inches, centimeters -- while the other one means "more" or "longer". And finally,

let's look at the "affect" or the "effect" if we're talking about emotion or result. Good?

Got to go, so let's go to www.(where?) eng (where "eng" stands for "English"), vid (where "vid"

stands for "video").com, where "me and the worm" will be studying from the Book of English.

Have a good one. I hope that gets to more than just a few people.