IELTS

15 Common Grammar Mistakes Bangladeshi Students Make in English

The recurring grammar errors that cost Bangladeshi students marks in IELTS, university essays, and job applications — and exactly how to fix them.

By Study KoroApril 20269 min read

English grammar mistakes don't usually come from a lack of knowledge — they come from habits transferred directly from Bengali. The two languages structure ideas differently, and unless you actively unlearn those patterns, the same errors will surface in your IELTS writing, your university essays, and your job-application emails.

This guide lists the most common grammar mistakes Bangladeshi students make, why they happen, and exactly how to fix them.

1. Missing articles (a, an, the)

Bengali doesn't have direct equivalents for English articles, so they get dropped:

Wrong: I want to be doctor.
Right: I want to be a doctor.
Wrong: She is best student in class.
Right: She is the best student in the class.

Rule of thumb: singular countable nouns almost always need an article. "The" for specific things, "a/an" for general or first-mention.

2. Subject-verb agreement

Wrong: The students is studying.
Right: The students are studying.
Wrong: Everyone are happy.
Right: Everyone is happy. (Everyone is singular.)

3. Wrong preposition

Prepositions are memorised in chunks, not translated. Common errors:

Wrong: I am married with her.
Right: I am married to her.
Wrong: Discuss about the topic.
Right: Discuss the topic. (No preposition needed.)
Wrong: Different than English.
Right: Different from English.

4. Verb tense confusion

Wrong: I am living in Dhaka since 2018.
Right: I have been living in Dhaka since 2018.
Wrong: Yesterday I have visited my uncle.
Right: Yesterday I visited my uncle. (Specific past time → simple past.)

5. "He/she" mix-ups

Bengali uses one gender-neutral pronoun ("সে"), so under pressure Bangladeshi speakers slip between "he" and "she" mid-sentence:

Wrong: My sister came home, then he went out.
Right: My sister came home, then she went out.

6. Singular/plural noun mistakes

Wrong: I have two informations.
Right: I have two pieces of information. (Information is uncountable.)
Wrong: My all friends came.
Right: All my friends came.

Other uncountable nouns: advice, equipment, furniture, luggage, news, research, traffic, work.

7. Word order in questions

Wrong: Can you tell me where is the library?
Right: Can you tell me where the library is?

In indirect questions, the subject comes before the verb.

8. "Open/close the light"

Direct translation from Bengali "লাইট জ্বালাও":

Wrong: Please open the light.
Right: Please turn on the light.

Same with TV, fan, AC, computer — turn on/off, not open/close.

9. Double negatives

Wrong: I don't know nothing.
Right: I don't know anything.

10. "Cope up with"

Wrong: I can't cope up with the pressure.
Right: I can't cope with the pressure.

11. "Discussion" vs "discuss"

Wrong: Let us discuss about this matter.
Right: Let us discuss this matter. OR have a discussion about this matter.

12. Wrong use of "till" and "until"

They are interchangeable in meaning, but "till" is informal — avoid it in formal writing.

13. "Myself" overuse

Wrong: Myself Rahim, I am from Dhaka.
Right: My name is Rahim, and I am from Dhaka.

"Myself" is reflexive — it must refer back to "I": I did it myself.

14. Overusing "very" and "much"

Wrong: Thanks much.
Right: Thanks very much.
Wrong: She is very much intelligent.
Right: She is very intelligent.

15. "Doing job" vs "having a job"

Wrong: I am doing job in a bank.
Right: I work at a bank. / I have a job at a bank.

How to actually fix these

Read aloud. Most of these errors sound wrong once spoken in full sentences.
Read native English daily. 30 minutes a day of BBC, The Guardian, or The Daily Star (English edition) trains your ear for natural patterns.
Write and get feedback. Self-correction has limits; have a fluent speaker or teacher mark your writing.
Keep an error log. Every time you catch yourself making one of these, write it down. After a month, the list shrinks fast.
Use grammar tools cautiously. Grammarly and similar tools catch surface errors, but they don't fix tense logic or article use reliably.

FAQ

Will grammar mistakes hurt my IELTS Writing score?
Yes. Grammatical Range & Accuracy is 25% of your writing score. Even one or two of these errors per paragraph can drop you from Band 7 to 6.5.

Is my accent a grammar issue?
No. Accent and grammar are separate. You can have a strong Bangladeshi accent and still score Band 8 if your grammar is solid.