English is a global language, thus knowing how to speak English correctly can help you in various aspects of your life. Since we’re not the native speakers, there are some common mistakes that we make whenever conversing in English. We’ve listed down 8 common mistakes made by us while we speak.
Mistake # 1
Use of double negative. Since most of the us try to
translate a sentence to English from our native language,
thus, we end up adding double negative while speaking out.
This is wrong.
For example:
We say - “I don’t know nothing.”, this means
that we know something, but the correct one is
Correct - “I don’t know anything.”
Mistake # 2
Use of the wrong tense. Many of us have the tendency
to use the wrong tense.
For example:
We say - “I didn’t cried when I saw the movie.” Here
the word didn’t is never followed by a past tense verb. So, the correct one is
Correct - “I didn’t cry when I saw the movie.”
Mistake # 3
Use of two comparatives/superlatives together. A
sentence must not have two superlatives or comparatives together.
For example:
We say - “This could never have turned out to be
more better.” Here, better is the comparative of the adjective good
and more is the comparative to the adjective much. Thus, the correct one is
Correct - “This could never have turned out to be
better.”
Mistake # 4
Me v/s I. Clear it in your mind that “I” is the subject and “me” is the object. We usually confule between the two.We say - “They are going to send my wife and I a package.” Here, if we remove the the person and preceding the I. It would sound; “They are going to send I a package.” This is wrong!
Correct - “They are going to send me a package.”
Similarly, if we say “Jim and me are going to the gym.” what’s wrong here? When we remove Jim and. The sentence becomes “Me am going to the gym”. This is also wrong. The correct one is
Correct - “Jim and I are going to the gym.”
Mistake #5
Say v/s tell. While we speak in English, most of use make mistake differentiating between say and tell.For example:
First with “Say”
We say - “Say me your name.” Here, “say” is not the appropriate word because it is basically used to express something in words. Whereas, the sentence demands to say something. The correction done is as follows:
Correct - “Tell me your name.”
Now, with “Tell”
We say - “So I told what a good idea.” Told is the inappropriate word, because here, the sentence wants to express the phrase “what a good idea”. So, the correct one here is:
Correct - “So I said what a good idea.”
Mistake #6
Fewer v/s less. The word fewer is only used for items that can be counted, whereas less is used for the uncountable.For example:
We say - “Today, the market has less people.”
Correct - “Today, the market has fewer people.”
Mistake #7
Using ‘s’ unnecessarily after every word. This is a
very common mistake we usually make.
For example:
We say - “Unless you gets your act right.” This
is wrong! Only if you is replaced by he/she and your is replaced by his/her.
The correct sentence is:
Correct - “Unless you get your act right.”
Mistake #8
Does v/s do. “Does” is used for the singular form of
the subject, while “do” is used to indicate the plural form of the subject.
We say - “Why does they bother you a lot.”
Correct - “Why do they bother you a lot.”
Mistake #9
Blunder and mistake. Another common mistake we make
while speaking is mixing blunder and mistake. Blunder is the synonym for
mistake, thus it cannot be used together. For example:
We say - “It was a blunder mistake”
Correct - “It was a blunder”, or “it
was a mistake.”
Mistake #10
Cope up v/s cope with. It is a common mistake that people make while speaking. This is a common mistake that we usually make. We generally use both cope up and with together.We say- “let’s cope up with the classmates.”
Correct- “Cope with the classmates”
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Tags:
Communication Skills