There is a saying , “To err is to human, to err twice is accident, to err thrice is co-incidence, to err the fourth time is well - Dumb!!!”
English is no doubt a foreign language but if we put in a little effort and understand some basic rules of grammatical system, verb patterns and tenses ; we can avoid making some very common mistakes and stop making fool out of ourselves.
Some might consider this blasphemous, but I have seen so many people, including working professionals, making such silly grammatical errors, not once, not twice but all the time. So through this post of mine, I hope readers get to improve their conversational skills.
Few days back I had some problem with my PC and I called up a computer engineer. After I explained him the problem, I asked him “By when can you come and fix it?”
To which he replied “By today night madam”.
Today night??? The correct usage is “Tonight”!!
“Yesterday night” is wrong! The correct form is “last night”.
Day and night cannot be used together!!!
I often notice people saying "I did not knew about it" -Another blunder!!
People!! 'did' and 'knew' are two past tenses. One sentence cannot have two past tenses,
The correct way to put it is - "I did not know about it".
However, the usage of Past perfect tense, i.e., 'had' or 'hadn't' is different :
When TWO actions happened in the past, and one of the actions came first...then we use the Past perfect and the simple past. The 'past perfect' action comes first.
Normally, there are two actions in a sentence with 'the past perfect'.
I HAD SPOKEN to him, before he accepted the job.
When I arrived, he had already left.
When we use the simple past TWICE in a sentence, the two actions happened almost simultaneously.
I lost my wallet when I left the cinema theatre.
I phoned him yesterday and he answered immediately.
I saw a bird and it flew away.
Some other common errors are as follows:
~"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."
~Can I have your name?
~ Can I go to the toilet?
~ Can I hold your hand?
This is one of the most common misuses of a word in the English language. Of course you *can* have someone's name, just as easily as you *can* go the toilet or hold someone's hand. Can means whether or not you are able to do it. May means whether or not you have permission to do it.
~ May I have your name?
~ May I go to the toilet?
~ May I hold your hand?
Other blunder most people make is they say “Sorry if I hurted you”
There is so such word in the English dictionary!! The past tense of “hurt” is “hurt” and not “hurted”.
“He took Mother and I for a ride in the car.”-- This is wrong. This should be "He took mother and me for a ride in the car".
"Me and wife went to picture" is wrong. Correct one is "My wife and I went to picture"
"Your hairs are looking silky today."
This is one of the most common Indian bloopers! The plural of 'hair' is 'hair'! Thus:
We use 'hairs' when we want to refer to hair strands as individual objects in a group, as opposed to the whole of someone's hair.
As in 'I have split hairs' is correct. But when we refer to the whole of someone's hair
we say ~ "Your hair is looking silky today."
The same is with the word 'work'. The plural of work is 'work' and not 'works'
"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."
“I have sent him a SMS”
“I just received a SMS from her”
Typically, these are the standard set of statements that we use when we exchange text messages.
SMS is an acronym which means -Short Messaging Service
“I have sent him a SMS (Short Messaging Service)”
Weird rite? So ideally, we should use the word “text” instead of “SMS”.
"that" and "which"
Which is correct?
"Here is the pen that you asked for."
"Here is the pen which you asked for."
The difference between "that" and "which" (in this context) is the difference between identifying an object and describing that object. "That" is used for identification, as in "Here is the pen that you asked for." "Which" is used for description (as is "who") as in:
"Here is the pen that you asked for and which we spent an hour looking for."
Side dishes :
Sides dishes are something u order in addition to ur meal
Eg, If I ask you u what did u have for dinner?? U should say "I had parathas with pickle and curd", not paratha and side dishes
– u can’t eat plates/dishes in restaurant !
Cooking/Preparing and Making
Cooking involves heating. Getting all the ingredients, cutting it or slicing it and getting it ready to cook is preparing. Wen you make a huge quantity and you are going to serve it at a dinner, for abt lets say 10 people; u will prepare n then wait to serve the soup.
So normally when you just assemble things or use instant mix ,
you should say “I made soup” or “I made sandwhich”
The sentence “It has been raining since two hours” is incorrect.
We should use for, not since. Since is used with a point of time (from the time mentioned until the present) and for with a period of time.
She graduated four years ago and is married since then.
Other blunder most people make is they say “Sorry if I hurted you”
There is no such word in the English dictionary!! The past tense of “hurt” is “hurt” and not “hurted”.
There are a lot of points like these to learn. Please note that you can’t master grammar by merely reading the rules and examples. All it requires is PRACTISE.
