Mistakes we make while speaking English
Sunita R Kamath, Nasreen Haque
April 26, 2007
The girl next door is as cute as a button, but when she opens her mouth, her English is bad enough to get her sent back to kindergarten! Well, it's a common enough problem today -- almost everyone is mourning the lack of fluency in English among our school and college-going generation, as well as in the new entrants into the work force.
Presented here are a few English bloopers sent in by our readers -- they are good lesson in the English language!
Let's start off with a few common blunders that reader Sunita R Kamath comes across frequently:
1. ~ "It was a blunder mistake."
Correction, people! The word 'blunder' means mistake, so you could say:
~ "It was a blunder," or
~ "It was a big mistake."
2. ~ "It would have been more better."
The word 'better' itself implies that the option in question is superior -- the use of the word 'more' in the sentence is, therefore both inappropriate and unnecessary. Thus the correct sentence would go as follows:
~ "It would have been better."
3. ~ "Why don't he get married?"
The term 'don't' applies when discussing a plural subject. For instance, "Why don't they get married?" The right way to phrase that sentence would be:
~ "Why doesn't he get married?"
4. ~ "I want two Xeroxes of this card."
The term 'Xerox' is used in North American English as a verb. Actually, 'Xerox' is the name of a company that supplies photocopiers! The correct thing to say, therefore, would be:
~ "I want two photocopies of this card."
5. ~ "Your hairs are looking silky today."
This is one of the most common Indian bloopers! The plural of 'hair' is 'hair'! Thus:
~ "Your hair is looking silky today."
Get Ahead reader Nasreen Haque says, "We must realise that English is not the native language of Indians. Having said that, we should tell ourselves, 'Yeah, I could go wrong and I could make innumerable mistakes, but of course there is always room for improvement.'"
Here are a few bloopers Nasreen has across often:
1. ~ Loose vs lose
Many people make this mistake. They inevitably interchange the words 'loose' and 'lose' while writing. 'Lose' means to 'suffer a loss or defeat'. Thus, you would write:
~ 'I don't want to lose you," and not ' don't want to loose you.'
'Loose', on the other hand, means 'not firm' or 'not fitting.' In this context, you would write,
~ "My shirt is loose," not "My shirt is lose."
2. ~ "One of my friend lives in Kolkata."
This is one of the most common Indian English bloopers ever! The correct way of putting that is:
"One of my friends lives in Kolkata."
Why? Because the sentence implies that you have many friends who live in Kolkata, but you are referring to only one of these friends.
3. ~ Tension-inducing tenses.
People often use the wrong tense in their sentences. For instance, someone might say:
~ "I didn't cried when I saw the movie."
Unfortunately, the word 'didn't' is never followed by a past tense verb, in this case 'cried'. The correct way of putting it would be:
~ "I didn't cry when I saw the movie."
We invited readers to share common English bloopers with us. This is the first in a series of articles featuring your response.
If you'd like to share common bloopers you come across when people speak/ write in English, do mail your list of common bloopers, along with their correct alternative to
. We'll highlight them right here as a helpful guide to those trying to improve their English.
From India, Coimbatore
733Sunita R Kamath, Nasreen Haque
April 26, 2007
The girl next door is as cute as a button, but when she opens her mouth, her English is bad enough to get her sent back to kindergarten! Well, it's a common enough problem today -- almost everyone is mourning the lack of fluency in English among our school and college-going generation, as well as in the new entrants into the work force.
Presented here are a few English bloopers sent in by our readers -- they are good lesson in the English language!
Let's start off with a few common blunders that reader Sunita R Kamath comes across frequently:
1. ~ "It was a blunder mistake."
Correction, people! The word 'blunder' means mistake, so you could say:
~ "It was a blunder," or
~ "It was a big mistake."
2. ~ "It would have been more better."
The word 'better' itself implies that the option in question is superior -- the use of the word 'more' in the sentence is, therefore both inappropriate and unnecessary. Thus the correct sentence would go as follows:
~ "It would have been better."
3. ~ "Why don't he get married?"
The term 'don't' applies when discussing a plural subject. For instance, "Why don't they get married?" The right way to phrase that sentence would be:
~ "Why doesn't he get married?"
4. ~ "I want two Xeroxes of this card."
The term 'Xerox' is used in North American English as a verb. Actually, 'Xerox' is the name of a company that supplies photocopiers! The correct thing to say, therefore, would be:
~ "I want two photocopies of this card."
5. ~ "Your hairs are looking silky today."
This is one of the most common Indian bloopers! The plural of 'hair' is 'hair'! Thus:
~ "Your hair is looking silky today."
Get Ahead reader Nasreen Haque says, "We must realise that English is not the native language of Indians. Having said that, we should tell ourselves, 'Yeah, I could go wrong and I could make innumerable mistakes, but of course there is always room for improvement.'"
Here are a few bloopers Nasreen has across often:
1. ~ Loose vs lose
Many people make this mistake. They inevitably interchange the words 'loose' and 'lose' while writing. 'Lose' means to 'suffer a loss or defeat'. Thus, you would write:
~ 'I don't want to lose you," and not ' don't want to loose you.'
'Loose', on the other hand, means 'not firm' or 'not fitting.' In this context, you would write,
~ "My shirt is loose," not "My shirt is lose."
2. ~ "One of my friend lives in Kolkata."
This is one of the most common Indian English bloopers ever! The correct way of putting that is:
"One of my friends lives in Kolkata."
Why? Because the sentence implies that you have many friends who live in Kolkata, but you are referring to only one of these friends.
3. ~ Tension-inducing tenses.
People often use the wrong tense in their sentences. For instance, someone might say:
~ "I didn't cried when I saw the movie."
Unfortunately, the word 'didn't' is never followed by a past tense verb, in this case 'cried'. The correct way of putting it would be:
~ "I didn't cry when I saw the movie."
We invited readers to share common English bloopers with us. This is the first in a series of articles featuring your response.
If you'd like to share common bloopers you come across when people speak/ write in English, do mail your list of common bloopers, along with their correct alternative to
From India, Coimbatore
Hilarious!
But I would like to point out that misspellings and grammatical errors are not the domain of the Indian Public. Any nationality unfamiliar with English make similar errors. Hey, even the British & Americans don't agree on the english language completely, and with the Aussies creating their own style... it's definitely open season on the english language.
Have you read the book "Anguished English" by Richard Lederer. He has collected errors of such gargantuan proportions that it is possible to sprain a muscle laughing.
Have fun!
Ryan
From India, Mumbai
But I would like to point out that misspellings and grammatical errors are not the domain of the Indian Public. Any nationality unfamiliar with English make similar errors. Hey, even the British & Americans don't agree on the english language completely, and with the Aussies creating their own style... it's definitely open season on the english language.
Have you read the book "Anguished English" by Richard Lederer. He has collected errors of such gargantuan proportions that it is possible to sprain a muscle laughing.
Have fun!
Ryan
From India, Mumbai
Hi
This is very true,I could see lots of people even managers having gud fluency but the spelling errors are there when they come to write.
Also not sure but have read in a book about the proper usuage of 'PRESENTLY'.We usually use this word in day-to-day conversation but read in a CAT book that it should never be used for present but its exact meaning is VERY SOON (about to happen)so should be used as a future reference not the present one. But when i see the meaning it shows present.
Others idea welcome..........
From India, Gurgaon
This is very true,I could see lots of people even managers having gud fluency but the spelling errors are there when they come to write.
Also not sure but have read in a book about the proper usuage of 'PRESENTLY'.We usually use this word in day-to-day conversation but read in a CAT book that it should never be used for present but its exact meaning is VERY SOON (about to happen)so should be used as a future reference not the present one. But when i see the meaning it shows present.
Others idea welcome..........
From India, Gurgaon
Hi
That is indeed a good point that you have made. Eitherwise I just would like to initiate the discussion to another related direction: Importance of Spoken English in Recruitment. Often have I seen good candidates being refused for their inability to speak fluent English. Though it is a primary need of the hour for a corporate I feel that this should not be the single corner-stone for acceptance in the corporate. Yes we will all debate on it that we do not bias our selection singularly on this aspect but remind your self the adage when you were selected in an interview and the reason cited was for our 'good communication skills'. I believe 'communication' is a state of mind and to crack into that state language is not a very formidable tool. I will love to hear from fellow members about their viewpoints and feedbacks.
nevertheless, your point of view in the above is amazing.
That is indeed a good point that you have made. Eitherwise I just would like to initiate the discussion to another related direction: Importance of Spoken English in Recruitment. Often have I seen good candidates being refused for their inability to speak fluent English. Though it is a primary need of the hour for a corporate I feel that this should not be the single corner-stone for acceptance in the corporate. Yes we will all debate on it that we do not bias our selection singularly on this aspect but remind your self the adage when you were selected in an interview and the reason cited was for our 'good communication skills'. I believe 'communication' is a state of mind and to crack into that state language is not a very formidable tool. I will love to hear from fellow members about their viewpoints and feedbacks.
nevertheless, your point of view in the above is amazing.
This one was really good fwd. Keep sending such good stuff. Can we get more mails on the same topic. Rgds, Rajni
Hi,
I have seen people mispronouncing words,eg-:
Divorce Wrong - Die-vorce Right Dee-vorce
Parents Wrong - Paa-rents Right Pay-rents
Care Wrong - Car--e Right Kare
People say,"I removed ticket"
whereas they should say " I bought ticket"
Regards,
Sheetal
From India, Mumbai
I have seen people mispronouncing words,eg-:
Divorce Wrong - Die-vorce Right Dee-vorce
Parents Wrong - Paa-rents Right Pay-rents
Care Wrong - Car--e Right Kare
People say,"I removed ticket"
whereas they should say " I bought ticket"
Regards,
Sheetal
From India, Mumbai
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