Common English Mistakes (Specific Languages) Language Learning Forum

Common English Mistakes
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Chung
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Message 9 of 61

05 May 2010 at 6:09am | IP Logged

robsolete wrote:

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.

Not I! I still make an active distinction between who and whom.

robsolete wrote:

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 But "his or her" is just too bulky (and what about the transfolk?), and the assumed masculine gender just sounds outdated.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"!

I've actually never found "his or her", "(s)he" to be bulky. Using "they" and "their" (or even forms such as "themself") as gender neutral singular pronouns seems even more odd to me. Although I am quite accustomed to what is done in Estonian or Hungarian where one pronoun is used for "he/she/it" and another for "they".
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Teango
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Message 10 of 61

05 May 2010 at 6:12am | IP Logged

robsolete wrote:

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.

There are so many different ways to say these things, and all so far sound good to me. Just as a little side note here though, "well" can also refer to a person in the form of an adjective in terms of them being "in good health".

Edited by Teango on 05 May 2010 at 6:15am
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robsolete
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Message 11 of 61

05 May 2010 at 6:48am | IP Logged

Good point, Teango. I had forgotten about that one. Tricksy little language!

"His or her" works fine if it's a one-sentence statement. But imagine you're reading some sort of "how-to" manual and they decide to use the third-person for instruction: "He or she should make sure that his or her bicycle is well-fitted to his or her body. If his or her bicycle is too short for his or her legs, his or her knees could cause him or her a great deal of pain."

Obviously an exaggeration, but it can become unwieldy clutter IMO.
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ellasevia
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Message 12 of 61

05 May 2010 at 7:45am | IP Logged

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/good wrote:

Good is common as an adverb in informal speech, especially after forms of do: He did good on the test. She sees good with her new glasses. This use does not occur in formal speech or edited writing, where the adverb well is used instead: He did well on the test. She sees well with her new glasses.
The adjective good is standard after linking verbs like taste, smell, look, feel, be, and seem: Everything tastes good. The biscuits smell good. You're looking good today. When used after look or feel, good may refer to spirits as well as health: I'm feeling pretty good this morning, ready to take on the world. Well is both an adjective and an adverb. As an adjective used after look, feel, or other linking verbs, it often refers to good health: You're looking well; we missed you while you were in the hospital.

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furrykef
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Message 13 of 61

05 May 2010 at 9:11am | IP Logged

Rather than "I'm good" or "I'm well", I would suggest that the most common response to "How are you?" is "I'm fine." "I'm well" can seem oddly formal, and "I'm good" can seem too colloquial; I rarely hear either one. Usually when I hear (or say) "I'm good", it's to decline an offer: "Want some more root beer?" "Nah, I'm good." It still wouldn't surprise me to hear it in response to "How are you?" though.

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Frieza
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Message 14 of 61

06 May 2010 at 5:53pm | IP Logged

In this regard, I have always heard and used the following pattern to establish comparisons:

taller than me (him/her/us/them)
more intelligent than me (him/her/us/them)

However, I've recently read that the correct form would actually be:

taller than I (he/she/we/they)
more intelligent than I (he/she/we/they)

This last pattern just doesn't sound as natural to me. But is it the correct one indeed?
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furrykef
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Message 15 of 61

06 May 2010 at 6:18pm | IP Logged

No, it's not as natural, because people generally don't speak that way. It is, however, traditionally the "correct" form, and I remember we were taught to use this rule in school (which, of course, we always ignored everywhere else).

The idea here is there is actually an omitted verb -- "He is taller than I [am]" -- so you would use the pronoun you would use as the subject of "be". Likewise, "She runs faster than he [does]".

There is something to watch out for, though: sometimes the object form, "better than me", is required. For example, compare these two sentences:

* She likes him better than I.
* She likes him better than me.

The first one means "She likes him better than I do"; the second one means "She likes him better than she likes me". Since the second sentence uses the objective case in the long form, it uses it in the short form as well.

What about informal English, though, where "better than me" can have either meaning? In that case I would think the second sentence would likely be interpreted the same way (unless the context suggests otherwise); to express the meaning of the first sentence, I would prefer "She likes him better than I do" to remove the ambiguity.

- Kef
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Frieza
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Message 16 of 61

06 May 2010 at 6:33pm | IP Logged

That second group when there are three people in the mix makes sense to me to have a distinction.

I think I'd normally use 'She likes him better than I do.' for the first sense and 'She likes him better than me.' for the second sense.

It was the first group when only two people are being compared that didn't sound natural to me because I honestly don't recall having ever heard that pattern before.
After your explanation I get it now. Thank you.

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