Mistakes we make while

speaking English part-1..

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."

************ *********
********
Mistakes we make while
speaking English Part-
2...... .

English is considered one of the most difficult

languages to learn. After all, you have to keep in
mind all the exceptions, rules, irregular tenses and
other oddities.

Don't abandon hope if you're having trouble. Keep

reading our reader-driven, English bloopers series,
and before long you'll be an expert!

Today, we look at contributions from Karan Shah

and Shihari BN.

Karan, a 21-year-old English student in New Delhi,

says that many people make mistakes with
irregular nouns, especially when changing them
into plural form. He provided the following list:

~ I bought new furnitures for the bedroom.

~ Please bring along the film equipments!

~ Display the datas in a graph.

~ Did you see the deers in the forest?

~ There were many pretty womans at the party!

~ What were the different criterias for joining?

~ I'm interested in misunderstood phenomenas.

The common problem linking these bloopers is

using the incorrect plural form of the noun. All of
them have 's' added on to the end when it is
unnecessary. The correct version would be:

~ I bought new furniture for the bedroom.

(Furniture is plural as well as singular.)

~ Please bring along the film equipment!

(Equipment is plural as well as singular.)

~ Display the data in a graph. (Datum is singular;

data is plural.)

~ Did you see the deer in the forest? (Deer is

singular and plural.)

~ There were many pretty women at the party!

(Woman is singular; women is plural.)

~ What were the different criteria for joining?

(Criterion is singular; criteria is plural.)

~ I'm interested in misunderstood phenomena.

(Phenomenon is singular; phenomena is plural.)
Srihari, a 36-year-old from Bangalore working in
IT enabled services, sent a few bloopers he
commonly hears in office.

Blooper no 1:
~ Every Sunday, I take headbath.

The correct version should be:

~ Every Sunday, I wash my hair.

Blooper no 2:
~ I sended that parcel.
This is common mistake. English has many
irregular verbs in the past tense. Sent is the past
form of send.

~ I sent that parcel.

Blooper no 3:
~ I will call you today night.

Just dissecting the word, to-day, shows the origin.

It means during the day. Therefore, you should
use to-night.

~ I will call you tonight

Blooper no 4:
~ 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?

We thank our readers for the witty emails

detailing common English bloopers they've come
across! Keep them coming in, and
we'll keep publishing. This is the 2nd 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 englishbloopers@
rediffmail. com --

we'll highlight them right here as a helpful guide

to those trying to improve their English.

Also make sure you include your FULL NAME, AGE,

OCCUPATION and the CITY you are based in.

************ *********
********
Mistakes we make while
speaking English Part-3..

Terrible grammar and error-riddled speech is

frequently a problem for young adults.

Poor English makes you sound unprofessional and

can lead to laughs at your expense! If you need to
touch up on your English, or just want a few
giggles, read on!

Continuing our user-driven series on common

English bloopers, let's highlight a few mistakes
overhead by Rediff.com users.

Shilpa Archaya sent several bloopers she

encounters frequently.

~ Please return my book back.

~ Could you repeat that last line again?

In both cases, the final word is redundant. When

you return a book, you give it back to the owner.
When you repeat a line, you're saying it again.
They should read:

~ Please return my book.

~ Could you repeat that last line?

Shilpa also noted the following common mistake.

~ I, my sister and Deepa went to the mall

'I' and 'me' are always placed at the end of a list

of names/ pronouns. The correct usage is:

~ My sister, Deepa and I went to the mall.

SM Hussein from Andhra Pradesh notes the

prevalence of other redundancies:

~ The fish aquarium is very large.

~ The dance ballet was lovely.

In both cases, the descriptive word is

unnecessary. An aquarium houses fish and a ballet
is always a dance! The correct usage is simply:
~ The aquarium is very large.

~ The ballet was lovely.

Another mistake Hussein hears frequently:

~ I could not able to do it, sir.

In this case, either able should be removed or

could should be replaced with was. Here are the
two correct possibilities:

~ I could not do it, sir.

~ I was not able to do it, sir.

Later this week, we'll provide gut-busting

bloopers arising from errant Hindi-English
translations!

************ *********
********
English bloopers.. Part-4 of
Mistakes we make while
speaking English

Praveen Madhukar Naik, Gurmeet Singh Mehtab

T he most humorous and head-scratching bloopers

occur when many of us attempt to translate from
our mother-tongue directly into English. The
results can be hard on the ears and embarrassing
for the speaker.

Our reader-driven series on English bloopers

reaches its fourth instalment; today we look at
erroneous translations overhead by our readers.

Praveen Madhukar Naik, 26 from Bangalore,

repeatedly hears these three mistakes.

~ "He said me to go."

This is the result of a direct translation. In English,

direct commands and directions are given using
the verb 'tell'. In this case, we use the past tense
of 'tell' -- told

~ "He told me to go"

~ "Please on the fan!"

Praveen finds this is the most irritating blooper,

because he hears it every day! In English 'on' is
not an action verb in the traditional sense; the 'on'
must be qualified with a verb!

~ "Please turn on the fan" or "Please switch on

the fan"

~ "He is my cousin brother."

This is another mistake caused by a direct

translation; it can be heard in all strata of society.
English does not contain a separation/
qualification for female or male cousins, so the
correct way to use it would be:

~ "He is my cousin."

Gurmeet Singh Mehtab, a corporate language

trainer in Mumbai, teaches English everyday. In
Gurmeet's experience, people normally make
mistakes with words which cannot be visualised
independently.

These include helping verbs, prepositions, modals,

conjunctions and articles. Here are a few recurring
bloopers heard frequently by Gurmeet.

"He has eaten a mango yesterday."

When speaking of the past, helping verbs like

have and has should not be used. Instead, the
correct conjugation of the verb, in this case 'ate',
is required.

~ He ate a mango yesterday

Then, there's this:

~ "He is loving Sangita!"

The 'is' is unnecessary in these cases. When

showing sustained or continuous action from a
verb, the verb alone suffices. This kind of error
is the result of a direct translation from the
mother tongue into English.

~ "He loves Sangita!"

Here's another common one:

~ "I am standing on the bus stop."

In English, the preposition 'on' signals being

above, or literally on top of, something; it is rarely
used as an indicator of location. Instead, use the
preposition 'at'.
~ "I am standing at the bus stop."

That's all for today! Please check later this week

for more reader-submitted English bloopers.

DON'T MISS!

part-1 ,2 and 3 of the series... if you have not

received you can mail and request for the same
hope you can improve your mistakes in English by
our series....

We thank our readers for the witty emails

detailing common English bloopers they've come
across! Keep them coming in, and
we'll keep publishing. This is the fourth in a series
of articles featuring your response.

************ *********
********
More English bloopers..
Part-5 of Mistakes we make
while speaking English
Most of us are fairly comfortable speaking English
informally, even if it is our second
language. However, when we have to put down
something in writing, we panic!

Continuing our English-bloopers series, let's look

at a few more reader submissions. This time, they
all deal with English as a written language.

Mohammed Irfan, from Brook Software Systems,

sent these spelling mistakes he comes across in
written documents:

Wrong spelling Correct

spelling
Pronounciation Pronunciation
Ballon Balloon
Grammer Grammar
Truly Truly
Recieved Received
Occassion Occasion
Rajiv Raghunath, with Conversant Info Solutions
in New Delhi, finds other common errors while
editing business letters and other forms of
writing.

~ I am quiet certain that I paid the fee.

~ I could hear quite music in the distance.

While you may be certain that you paid the fee, no

one will know if you remain 'quiet'. Likewise,
'quite' music makes no sense. The authors mixed
up the spellings of 'quite' (very) and 'quiet' (a soft
sound).

The correct version would be:

~ I am quite certain that I paid the fee.

~ I could hear quiet music in the distance.

Here's another common error

~ Did you go their as well?

~ I gave you they're contact details in my last e-

mail.

~ There going to the office tomorrow.

There/ they're/ their are used mistakenly all the
time. Their is a possessive pronoun; while they're
is a contraction of 'they are.'

So, if you were using the correct words, you would

write:

~ Did you go there as well?

~ I gave you their contact details in my last e-

mail.

~ They're going to the office tomorrow.

Here are some more common mistakes people

make:

~ There are meetings at 2 pm and at 5 pm, with a

brake in between.

~ Will changing jobs hurt my carrier?

Again, here, the wrong spelling has been used for

similar sounding words. A 'brake' is a restraint
used to stop a vehicle. A carrier is someone or
something that carries objects, like a carrier ship.

The correct words to use here would be:

~ There are meetings at 2 pm and at 5 pm, with a

break in between.

~ Will changing jobs hurt my career?

That's all for today, but remember, writing

in English can sometimes be especially tricky! You
need to be careful; mistakes like these can make
your letters seem unprofessional.
DON'T MISS!

part-1 ,2 and 3 of the series... if you have not

received you can mail and request for the same
hope you can improve your mistakes in English by
our series....

We thank our readers for the witty emails

detailing common English bloopers they've come
across! Keep them coming in, and
we'll keep publishing. This is the fifth in a series of
articles featuring your response.

************ *********
********
More English bloopers..
Part-6 of Mistakes we make
while speaking
English..... .......
English is considered one of the most difficult languages to
learn. After all, you have to keep in mind all the exceptions,
rules, irregular tenses and other oddities.

Don't abandon hope if you're having trouble. Keep

reading our reader-driven, English bloopers series,
and before long you'll be an expert!

Today, we look at contributions from Karan Shah

and Shihari BN.

Karan, a 21-year-old English student in New Delhi,

says that many people make mistakes with
irregular nouns, especially when changing them
into plural form. He provided the following list:

~ I bought new furnitures for the bedroom.

~ Please bring along the film equipments!

~ Display the datas in a graph.

~ Did you see the deers in the forest?

~ There were many pretty womans at the party!

~ What were the different criterias for joining?

~ I'm interested in misunderstood phenomenas.

The common problem linking these bloopers is

using the incorrect plural form of the noun. All of
them have 's' added on to the end when it is
unnecessary. The correct version would be:

~ I bought new furniture for the bedroom.

(Furniture is plural as well as singular.)

~ Please bring along the film equipment!

(Equipment is plural as well as singular.)

~ Display the data in a graph. (Datum is singular;

data is plural.)

~ Did you see the deer in the forest? (Deer is

singular and plural.)

~ There were many pretty women at the party!

(Woman is singular; women is plural.)

~ What were the different criteria for joining?

(Criterion is singular; criteria is plural.)
~ I'm interested in misunderstood phenomena.
(Phenomenon is singular; phenomena is plural.)

Srihari, a 36-year-old from Bangalore working in

IT enabled services, sent a few bloopers he
commonly hears in office.

Blooper no 1:

~ Every Sunday, I take headbath.

The correct version should be:

~ Every Sunday, I wash my hair.

Blooper no 2:

~ I sended that parcel.

This is common mistake. English has many

irregular verbs in the past tense. Sent is the past
form of send.

The correct version should be:

~ I sent that parcel.

Blooper no 3:

~ I will call you today night.

Just dissecting the word, to-day, shows the origin.

It means during the day. Therefore, you should
use to-night.

The correct version should be:

~ I will call you tonight

Blooper no 4:

~ 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.

The correct version should be:

~ May I have your name?

~ May I go to the toilet?

~ May I hold your hand?

We thank our readers for the witty emails

detailing common English bloopers they've come
across! Keep them coming in, and
we'll keep publishing.

This is the sixth 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

we'll highlight them right here as a helpful guide

to those trying to improve their English.

Also make sure you include your FULL NAME, AGE,

OCCUPATION and the CITY you are based in

************ *********
********
Mistakes we make while
speaking English part-
7...... .

We asked for your help, and the result has been

overwhelming! The mail from readers continues to
pour in, containing some of the funniest gut-
busters and gaffes we've ever heard.

It's not all about the laughs, though. Teens and young
adults must have a firm grasp of English as they enter
college and the work force. Today, we focus on some of the
more mundane rules of grammar, and other oddities of the
English language.

First, let's highlight the bloopers sent by Sri

Madhuri Vardhinedi, a 29-year-old technical
recruiter in Hyderabad. He sent these gems:

1. The concerned person is not there

Read literally, this means the worried person is

not present. What the speaker actually meant to
say is that the person who is involved is not
present. The correct way to say this would be:

~ The person concerned is not there.

2. We discussed about the project.

This is a blunder. Discussed is an action verb;

therefore, it must be followed by the object.
Adding 'about' is unnecessary and improper. So it
would be:

~ We discussed the project.

3. Anyways, afterwards we went to the party.

Here, the word anyway has an 's' attached

improperly. In US English, afterward is acceptable,
but 'anyways' is NEVER acceptable. The correct
way to say this would be:

~ Anyway, afterwards we went to the party.

Not to be outdone, Ashok Seshadri, a 26 year old

software engineer from Chicago , USA, sent us
some common errors he's encountered in both
America and India.

1. I practice cricket every morning.

2. Practise makes perfect.

Practice is a noun and practise is a verb. This also

happens with advise/ advice. Here's the correct
version.
~ I practise cricket every morning.

~ Practice makes perfect.

Here's another one:

3. There was a tough contest among Australia and

South Africa.

4. The prize will be divided between the three

groups.

'Between' is used when there are two objects.

'Among' is used when there are more than two
objects. Therefore, it should be:

~ There was a tough contest between Australia

and South Africa.
~ The prize will be divided among the three
groups.

5. I haven't found it nowhere.

6. He didn't do nothing at office!

In both cases, the speaker uses the dreaded

'double-negative'. The second negative in English,
unlike most languages, cancels the effect of the
first negative. The result is that the speaker is
saying the exact opposite of what her or she
intends! It should be:

~ I haven't found it anywhere.

~ He didn't do anything at office.

We thank our readers for the witty emails

detailing common English bloopers they've come
across! Keep them coming in, and
we'll keep publishing. This is the seventh in a
series of articles featuring your response.

************ *********
********
Mistakes we make while
speaking English part-
8...... .

English errors are common at the office, home,

school and even in the movies!

So, with everyone else making mistakes, why

should you worry about it?

Well, speaking and writing proper English is one

way to make you stand above the crowd. If a job
opening comes down to you and another
applicant, wouldn't you want your interview and
resume free of mistakes?

On that note, let's begin another series of English

Bloopers, provided by rediff.com users. Today, we
look at mistakes from both written and spoken
English, all noticed by observant readers and e-
mailed to the Get Ahead team.
Vasantha Balsubramanian, from Chennai, hears
mistakes in the classroom everyday. She sent
these gaffes along:

1. One of my student wanted a book.

Even though you are talking about an individual

student, you are still mentioning them as part of a
larger group. Therefore, it should be students
instead of student.

~ One of my students wanted a book.

2. She do not know the answer.

This is one of those tricky parts of English, verb

conjugations. The verb 'do' stays as 'do' for first-
person singular/ plural, second-person singular/
plural and third-person plural. For third-person
singular, however, it changes to 'does'. It should
be:
~ She does not know the answer.

3. The examinations are preponed.

We've received countless e-mails identifying this

mistake. Preponed is supposed to be the opposite
of postponed, only there's a problem -- preponed
isn't in the English dictionary! Instead, use
advanced.

~ The examinations are advanced.

Manas Joshi, a 19 year old student from St

Xavier's College, Mumbai, hears English mistakes
all across the metropolis. Most of them are the
result of a direct translations of Hindi/ Marthi to
English.

1. Have you removed tickets?

This is an exact translation from the Hindi/

Marathi version: 'Ticket nikala kya?'/ 'Ticket
kaadhle kaa?' It should be:

~ Have you bought the tickets?

2. You are a doctor, no?

This is another common mistake, probably arising
as a result of a direct translation from Hindi. We
always add 'na' on to the end of each sentence.! It
should be:

~ Aren't you a doctor? OR Are you a doctor?

3. He is very heighted.

There is no such word as 'heighted' in the English

language. You could say, 'he has height' but this
would be awkward. Instead, try:

~ He is very tall.

4. I went there, only.

Again, this is another common mistake. One hears

it so frequently that it doesn't even sound like a
mistake! It also arises from literal translations of
Hindi. Most of the time, 'only' can be cut from your
speech.

~ I went there.

DON'T MISS! part-8,9,10, 11,12,13, 14 and Part-

15 coming in next mail if you miss any of the
above parts please request me i will send them to
you personal emails.

We thank our readers for the witty emails

detailing common English bloopers they've come
across! Keep them coming in, and
we'll keep publishing.

This is the eighth in a series of articles featuring

your response.

************ *********
*******
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