|
 |
Annoying mistakes in your native language | ||
Tags: Native Language | Error | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| GREGORG4000 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5333 days ago 307 posts - 479 votes  Speaks: English*, Finnish Studies: Japanese, Korean, Amharic, French | Message 145 of 151 18 May 2010 at 8:14pm | IP Logged | |||||
"How are you?" "I'm a great person!" 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| egill Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5506 days ago 418 posts - 791 votes Speaks: Mandarin, English* Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 146 of 151 18 May 2010 at 9:53pm | IP Logged | |||||
I'm good doesn't have to mean I'm intrinsically a good person any more than I'm sick has to mean I'm intrinsically a sick person. I've never understood this prohibition against using I'm good. I think it must be a hypercorrection from the prohibition of using good as an adverb, cf. I'm doing well vs. I'm doing good. Even if one is a staunch believer in such prohibitions, good is not being used as an adverb here, but rather as a plain old vanilla adjective. When have predicative adjectives ever been disallowed in English? Some will argue that I'm well is somehow answering the question of how. But that is simply not true: well is functioning, not as an adverb, but a predicative adjective here (cf. well and sick)—just like good is. In my opinion this is simply a spillover from adverbial good prohibition, which people don't understand but from which they get a vague feeling of unease that good is somehow bad (paradoxically), and that well is somehow better. Edited by egill on 19 May 2010 at 2:19am 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| furrykef Senior Member United States furrykef.com/ Joined 6282 days ago 681 posts - 862 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese, Latin, Italian | Message 147 of 151 19 May 2010 at 9:56am | IP Logged | |||||
Any context? I've never heard this phrase standing by itself as far as I can recall. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| John Smith Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Australia Joined 5852 days ago 396 posts - 542 votes Speaks: English*, Czech*, Spanish Studies: German | Message 148 of 151 21 May 2010 at 7:50am | IP Logged | |||||
|
I'm not sure if this is a mistake
I often hear people say If I would have studied more I would have passed the exam instead of If I had studied more I would have passed the exam In fact I use the first one all the time. Have I got a case of the dreaded badgrammaritis? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ReneeMona Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 5145 days ago 864 posts - 1274 votes Speaks: Dutch*, EnglishC2 Studies: French | Message 149 of 151 22 May 2010 at 12:08am | IP Logged | |||||
That's so unfair. As an English student I get told all the time that the first sentence is wrong yet native speakers just say it anyway. ;-) This example could actually have been taken directly from one of my language acquisition exams. Edited by ReneeMona on 22 May 2010 at 12:10am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| boon Diglot Groupie Ireland Joined 5969 days ago 91 posts - 177 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Mandarin, Latin | Message 150 of 151 22 May 2010 at 8:53pm | IP Logged | |||||
I've certainly seen that a few times. I think it's more annoying when "tortuous" is misused. Here's an example in a language-related book, "Breaking out of Beginner's Spanish": "Thus as work became more tortuous, a new word was needed to emphasize the unpleasantness of the experience." Let's twist again.. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| John Smith Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Australia Joined 5852 days ago 396 posts - 542 votes Speaks: English*, Czech*, Spanish Studies: German | Message 151 of 151 26 May 2010 at 7:47am | IP Logged | |||||
^^ That's why foreigners speak the best English ;) The only downside to being perfect is that you sometimes sound like a book. Not a bad thing mind you. Edited by John Smith on 26 May 2010 at 7:48am 1 person has voted this message useful |
If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
