Three grammar mistakes with "leverage" account for most of the errors advanced learners make with this word, and they happen regardless of which sense — general or financial — is intended.
Mistake 1: adding "on" after the verb
The verb is directly transitive, with no preposition at all.
Wrong: "We should leverage on our data team's expertise." Right: "We should leverage our data team's expertise."
This is the single most common production error with this word — a habit likely imported from phrases like "rely on" or "capitalize on," which do take a preposition where "leverage" doesn't.
Mistake 2: assuming the noun has only one correct preposition
The noun, unlike the verb, does take a preposition — and more than one is natural.
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Start learning for free →Both natural, different framing: "This gives us leverage over the supplier" (adversarial) and "this gives us leverage with the supplier" (collaborative).
"Leverage over" a party foregrounds a power imbalance and can sound adversarial. "Leverage with" a counterparty fits a collaborative framing. "Leverage in" negotiations or talks is a third natural option. Only "on" and "to" are actually wrong — treating "over" as the sole correct answer is itself a common overcorrection, and it marks perfectly natural sentences as errors.
Mistake 3: pluralizing an uncountable noun
"Leverage" as a noun stays uncountable in both the general and financial senses, even when the amount clearly varies.
Wrong: "We have several leverages here that we haven't used yet." Right: "We have several sources of leverage here that we haven't used yet."
Practice scenarios
Practice the transitive-verb, noun-preposition, and countability rules in situations like:
- fixing a sentence that adds "on" after the verb
- choosing between "over," "with," and "in" for the noun sense
- rewriting a sentence that treats "leverage" as a countable plural
Useful practice phrases:
- "We should leverage [asset]," never "leverage on."
- "This gives us leverage over/with/in [party/talks]."
- "We have leverage here," never "several leverages."
Three small rules, and almost every advanced-learner error with this word traces back to one of them.
Get the object, the preposition, and the number right, and the rest of the sentence usually takes care of itself.
Lyra Practice helps advanced non-native English professionals learn the nuance of high-value workplace expressions and practice using them in realistic scenarios, so their English sounds natural, precise, and senior at work. Try Lyra Practice.