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Common English Mistakes | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5586 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 1 of 61 05 May 2010 at 3:46am | IP Logged | ||
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If any one here is an English major (or studying it) would you be kind enough to correct some common English blunders?
"How are you?" I'm good, you? (I've heard it should be "I'm well.") They were running extremely quickly (should it just be quick?) what's the difference between grey and gray? If you have any others, post them here! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Honest Diglot Groupie United States Joined 5319 days ago 89 posts - 92 votes Speaks: Arabic (Gulf)*, English | Message 2 of 61 05 May 2010 at 4:23am | IP Logged | ||
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For the first one: well is the correct one, but in spoken language you could use good, too.
For the second one: they are the same, gray is more common and has more other meanings :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Honest Diglot Groupie United States Joined 5319 days ago 89 posts - 92 votes Speaks: Arabic (Gulf)*, English | Message 3 of 61 05 May 2010 at 4:25am | IP Logged | ||
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Oh, I forgot there is another one; the one in the middle.
I believe "quickly" is the correct one here because it is an adverb which modifies the verb "running" 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hypersport Senior Member United States Joined 5882 days ago 216 posts - 307 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 61 05 May 2010 at 4:32am | IP Logged | ||
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Whenever I hear someone say "I'm well" after being asked "how's it going" etc. I get the impression that they're trying to impress. It's forced, not real. We don't talk like that so what's grammatically correct or not doesn't matter.
Now the amount of times that I've heard someone respond with "I'm well" have been few, only adding to the spectacle of it. It grabs your attention, you know when you hear it that we don't say it. Grammatical mistakes in everyday spoken language don't mean anything if that's the way the language is commonly spoken. Languages change, we adapt. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5586 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 5 of 61 05 May 2010 at 4:40am | IP Logged | ||
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I agree with you. There are a couple smarta** kids in school that LOVE telling people they are wrong. Not that anyone seems to care :P
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| Honest Diglot Groupie United States Joined 5319 days ago 89 posts - 92 votes Speaks: Arabic (Gulf)*, English | Message 6 of 61 05 May 2010 at 4:51am | IP Logged | ||
1- Mike (who- whom) I met. 2- A student should do (his or her - their) homework. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5557 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 7 of 61 05 May 2010 at 5:52am | IP Logged | ||
This type of thing also often depends on dialect, register and even regional differences. In England "How are you?" would sound a little wooden just by itself really; softer phrases such as "So how's everything going?" would be more the norm. Of course, this varies considerably from county to county, just as I imagine it does between English-speaking countries too. My Irish folks would say something more along the lines of "And how's yerself?", for example, which more accurately reflects the original Irish "Agus conas atá tú fein?" I guess. Likewise, "Oh fine, thanks!" is a common everyday response in UK, just like "great" or "ok" which is used fairly often too. I've never heard of anyone regarding "fine" used in this way as anything special before though, certainly nothing clever - it's interesting that other cultures may consider this an irritating comment, which just goes to show how misunderstandings can arise sometimes. Incidentally, as regards to "grey" and "gray", the first is the British English spelling and the second is the American English version. You can always spot the British version, as it's the one with the original bizarre spelling in most cases...night, colour, etc. ;) Edited by Teango on 05 May 2010 at 5:54am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| robsolete Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5386 days ago 191 posts - 428 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 8 of 61 05 May 2010 at 5:59am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm reticent to call a lot of these "mistakes." They're really just natural changes to the language over time, and most of them rather sensible changes.
1) "I'm good" vs. "I'm well." The implied word that makes "I'm well" correct is *doing*, as in "I'm doing well," thus making the adverb necessary. But since we use "I'm good" to describe ourselves (ourself being a noun) and not necessarily our doings, I think it's more intuitive to use the adjective form. Thus the shift. 2) "quickly" is definitely correct here. But, well, people are lazy in common speech so it gets shortened. 3) "grey" and "gray" is really just a matter of a person's habit and opinion--basically you'll use whatever your first grade teacher taught you. 4) "who" vs "whom" is a really needless complication of a simple concept, and I hope I live to see the day that the MLA banishes "whom" for good. 5) Yay civil rights movement! If you read older literature, the male pronoun is usually assumed unless the task at hand is decidedly "women's work." The increasing use of "their" is just a further, if clunky, development of English towards gender neutrality. It would be nice if we could come up with another word as to avoid confusion with the plural possessive, but it's stuck as it is, so we'll have to make do. But "his or her" is just too bulky (and what about the transfolk?), and the assumed masculine gender just sounds outdated. You could say "one's" but that's kind of awkward and stuffy. So "their"! Edited by robsolete on 05 May 2010 at 6:00am 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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