A collection of common issues faced by Russian speakers when learning English

Common Russian Speaker Issues

'Moreover' is incredibly outdated and only really used in formal or academic writing. Consider using 'furthermore', 'overall' or another conclusion word instead.

Deals is commonly used to describe errands, everyday things to do or jobs you need to complete at work. 'Deals' is used more when describing business agreements.

These nouns are always UNCOUNTABLE. The ones in brackets can be both. Use 'pieces of' before these to make them make sense!

Uncountable noun issues, such as advice, feedback, training, knowledge, research, information, (experience), )(accommodation)

"If I move to Georgia, I will need to find an apartment"
NOT
"If I will move to Georgia, I will need to find an apartment"

'If' already indicates a possible future situation.

Incorrect conditional sentences. The modal verb goes in the second clause!

Never put 'more' in front of comparison adjectives. 'Moscow is better than St P'.

'Perfect' is already an 'extreme superlative'. There cannot be degrees of perfectness. Something can only be perfect. The same is true for words like 'terrible', 'spectacular'. 'Very' doesn't add anything.

Ignore what people tell you. Using 'very' is perfectly ok in speaking. Something may be 'very big', but it's not 'enormous'. It can sound odd to use exaggerated vocab when 'very' is accurate!

It's common to mix these two up! It's not 'by my own'!

It's never 'should to' or 'could do'. It's always just the modal verb, except with 'ought to'. 'I ought to report this to the police'

Using 'to' after a modal verb. Incorrect! (except with 'ought to'!)

Mixing up 'say' and 'tell' is very common! Remember the rule displayed in the image and you can't go wrong!

You SAY something to someone.
You TELL someone something.