Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by Rapmoney(m): 3:54am On Aug 05, 2016 |
Prince202020: OP no vex o, this correct grammatical expressions expecially from 8 down is it based on American or British? I don't know what you mean by that but I was talking about the English spoken in Great Britain. |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by hiwebstuff2: 4:57am On Aug 05, 2016 |
OP, pain can also be used as a verb sometimes. Check further. Good job! 1 Like |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by Lionofdjungle: 6:01am On Aug 05, 2016 |
The problem we have with English is that many people are not ready/willing to learn. Instead of taking to correction, they will be looking for ways to justify themselves. They will be saying: " who your English help? ", " I'm not an oyinbo man", "too much grammar no bring money " etc. Good spoken English starts with having a good/positive attitude towards the language. 1 Like |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by Rapmoney(m): 6:12am On Aug 05, 2016 |
Spainaman: No one ever wants to be corrected by his mate but if we really want to improve in life we must learn from one and other. Great work Man! My brother, that's the problem. Whenever you create a thread as a platform where others can learn, you will see people trying to discredit it without any meaningful proof to back up their positions. Many would simply say you are wrong in your points! Ask them to provide proofs why you are wrong and that's the end. They would immediately go silent!!! You won't see their comments again! |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by Rapmoney(m): 6:43am On Aug 05, 2016 |
Starxx: All so wrong! Op you can offer subjects!!! Hian Check your proof very well and see where you goofed! The context in which 'offer' is used means to present that particular subject, French, as a foreign language to fulfill the criteria. It's just like saying every student, whether in Sciences or Arts, must present/select one science subject to be taken when registering WAEC! Now, you see where you got it wrong? ![](/faces/huh.png) Pride will not allow many folks to learn ![cool](https://www.nairaland.com/faces/cool.png) |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by cindyrocks(f): 6:53am On Aug 05, 2016 |
What's the Correct Pronunciation of February? By Arika Okrent LIKE US ON FACEBOOK Image Credit: ThinkStock In the United States, the most common pronunciation is feb-yoo-air-ee. Both Merriam-Webster and American Heritage dictionaries consider the common pronunciation correct, along with the less common, more traditional standard feb-roo-air-ee. This gets fans of the traditional standard all worked up. But the loss of the first r in February is not some recent habit propagated by lazy teenagers. People have been avoiding that r for at least the last 150 years, and probably longer than that. Given certain conditions having to do with word stress and the other sounds in a word, we simply do not like to have two r's so close to each other. The name for the linguistic process where one sound drops out because another of the same sound is too close to it is dissimilation, and it affects lots of languages. - See more at: http://m.mentalfloss.com/article.php?id=54846#sthash.tnwt3NYu.dpufRapmoney: As humans, we learn new things everyday. Only a dead man that doesn't learn and the foolish man picks offence unnecessarily when he's corrected! I'm not perfect and you, yes, you over there, reading this, can't be too. We all learn but it's good you share the knowledge you have because there could be others out there who might need whatever you have to share. You can also learn from what others have to share. Below are 10 common grammatical blunders we make in Nigeria when speaking:
1) 'Who is that'? People often ask this question when they hear a knock on their door. The proper question to ask should be: 'Who is it'? This is because you don't know who's at your door. It's even preferable to ask: 'Who be that'? At least, we know you are speaking Pidgin English ![cheesy](https://www.nairaland.com/faces/cheesy.png)
2) Answering a question with just a simple YES or NO only. This is very wrong. Example1: 'Do you work on Sundays'? Instead of answering 'No', you should say 'No, I don't'. Example2: 'Do you know him'? Instead of saying just 'Yes' if you know who the first speaker is referring to, you should say 'Yes, I do'. That makes it a complete answer.
3) Using the word 'offer' in school subjects. Many teachers make this terrible mistake!!! You would hear statements like 'My students don't offer Literature' or 'If you know you are not offering Government, leave the class'. WRONG!!! Students don't OFFER subjects; they TAKE subjects! To offer means to give or present something to someone. Does it mean you are presenting something to Literature or Government? Naija teachers, una no go kill person!
4) Using a plural verb for collective pronouns: 'Everybody ARE coming'. EVERYBODY is a collective pronoun. Collective pronouns (Collective nouns inclusive), carry a singular verb which is 'IS' and not 'ARE'. Many people also make the mistake of adding 'S' to staff, when addressing a collection of workers in an organisation. Don't say 'All the staffs in this firm'. Instead, say 'All the staff in this firm'.
5) 'I want to buy COOK egg' (Lol, not even cooked egg! ). It's a common blunder when we go to the neighbourhood shop. Bros, it's either you are buying a boiled egg or one that is not cooked (raw) because even the one that's fried is cooked!
6) 'The shoes do not size me'. Wrong!!! 'SIZE', in this context, is a noun! It cannot function as a verb here. The correct way to say this is: 'The shoes do not fit me' or 'The shoes are not my size'. You can still say 'The shoes are over-sized or under-sized'.
7) 'My stomach or my head is paining me'. WRONG! It's not only a terrible mistake to make grammatically; it's also a useless statement!!! Why add ING to PAIN to create a verb that's not only useless but non-existent? You can say 'My stomach aches' or 'I feel pain in my stomach'.
The following are more of Oral English (correct pronunciation; that's speaking right).
Pronouncing FEBRUARY as 'FEBUARY'. When you pronounce this word, the 'U' and 'A' are to be silent. Pronounce it as if you are saying 'FEBRY'.
9) When you pronounce WEDNESDAY, the 'D' should be silent. It should come as 'WENSDAY'.
10) When you pronounce POLICE, the 'O' should be silent. It should come as 'Plice'.
Godbless! |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by Sike(m): 7:04am On Aug 05, 2016 |
Noted |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by placeofallure(f): 7:05am On Aug 05, 2016 |
Rapmoney: I saw it coming...before Moses, there was Jesus. What you saw up there is correct! There is no need for an apostrophe. Yep! Neighborhood within this context is an adjective modifying the noun 'Shop.' Kudos! nice write up. 1 Like |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by dynamix101(m): 7:11am On Aug 05, 2016 |
Rapmoney: Check your proof very well and see where you goofed! The context in which 'offer' is used means to present that particular subject, French, as a foreign language to fulfill the criteria. It's just like saying every student, whether in Sciences or Arts, must present/select one science subject to be taken when registering WAEC! Now, you see where you got it wrong? Pride will not allow many folks to learn ![cool](https://www.nairaland.com/faces/cool.png) Op u tried but u need to calm down. from ur opening sentence to ur last u sound brash, proud, insensitive and rude. if u are truly teachable, why ignore many sound corrections that have been given? instead u are callously declaring war on d corrections u feel are wrong whilst ignoring others. u cant survive in a real classroom; u need to learn to be humble and ready to learn. if u like kwarel me, i have spoken. 2 Likes |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by Rapmoney(m): 7:39am On Aug 05, 2016 |
dynamix101:
Op u tried but u need to calm down. from ur opening sentence to ur last u sound brash, proud, insensitive and rude. if u are truly teachable, why ignore many sound corrections that have been given? instead u are callously declaring war on d corrections u feel are wrong whilst ignoring others. u cant survive in a real classroom; u need to learn to be humble and ready to learn. if u like kwarel me, i have spoken. Thanks. Are you from Rivers State? ![](/faces/huh.png) I asked because of the 'kwarel' ![cheesy](https://www.nairaland.com/faces/cheesy.png) Now, I'm not proud or whatever you may feel. It seems you don't know me on Nairaland. I've always tried to be humble and to be of my best behaviour. The reason why I ignored many 'corrections' was the fact that I don't consider them as corrections. When you discredit someone's post, you should back it up with logical proofs. I saw comments on the thread where people just discredit my post without any fact to back it up! Do you call that corrections? ![](/faces/huh.png) Example: 'Op, you are not correct on so and so point' and that's the end! You won't see their comments again. |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by Taiwotasungo: 8:10am On Aug 05, 2016 |
It should be I got a missed call from you and I decided to call back!!! musicwriter:
You need to understand English is an illogical language, and sometimes there're no good or bad way to say something. English is a language invented by illiterates, but continuously being perfected by others. I'll prove it below.
Take for instance, we often say ''I saw your missed call and decided to call you back''.
How can you actually see someone else's missed call when you're not in possession of his/her phone? Yet, its the right way to say it!.
Shouldn't it be ''I saw my missed call and decided to call you back?''.
Please let me know Mr. English. |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by Dynamitehimself(m): 9:28am On Aug 05, 2016 |
Very informative 1 Like |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by musicwriter(m): 9:30am On Aug 05, 2016 |
Taiwotasungo: It should be I got a missed call from you and I decided to call back!!!
I hate to have to engage with someone trying to prove what English word or sentence is right or wrong, as I consider that the duties of a mentally enslaved person, but have to do it now to let you know how illogical English is. The example given wasn't dealing with all the options for that expresion, but the particular semantics dealing with ''see''. That is, if you want to use ''saw'', how do you say it? It doesn't matter whether it was a missed call or other scenarios. Just let me know how to express that with ''saw'' no matter the scenario. In case you still don't get it, consider the below examples about a lost phone. 1. I saw your lost phone and decided to bring it to you. 2. I found your lost phone and decided to bring it to you. 3. I got your lost phone and decided to bring it to you. How do you use ''see'' to express you found a missed call? That's the question. |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by blezynetym(f): 9:41am On Aug 05, 2016 |
Thanks 1 Like |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by latiana(f): 10:06am On Aug 05, 2016 |
Nice one there. |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by Originalsly: 10:14am On Aug 05, 2016 |
musicwriter:
How do you use ''see'' to express you found a missed call? That's the question. You don't find a missed call. " Hmmm.... I see I have missed your call." "Hmmm..... I see (on the missed call list of my phone that) I have missed your call." In normal usage not everything is spelled out. But in legal matters e,g.when writing a law.... everything is written in full. "From today July 5, 2016 selling boiled eggs would be illegal." "From today going forth, the fifth day of July of the year two thousand and fifteen , anyone who sells or exchanges the egg of the chicken cooked in water for the purpose of being exchanged for Naira or any other legal currency blah blah blah.." ....is this the way you want us to speak? |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by Nobody: 10:22am On Aug 05, 2016 |
Rapmoney: Pick up English Grammar books and see if you are not entirely wrong for saying the first and second points are wrong! You don't just sit somewhere and assume that what someone has posted is wrong without you doing any research to find out the facts! I challenge you today to do better than this. Are you trying to tell me that you know English more than the English man? Who introduced the language to you? Was it introduced to you by your ancestors? Or you think this is African tradition we are discussing? oh so u that English wasn't introduced to us by our ancestor ...so why carry English matter for head like this .. tru tru ..hu English epp? @op... nice post sha |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by knowhowk: 10:54am On Aug 05, 2016 |
babyfaceafrica:
There is more to language than picking up English grammar books? Even the English man himself is confused?why do we have various shades of English? ,the Briton has his own version(even within Britain the variant someone from newcastle(Toon) speak is different from the liverpool (scouse)),while the American(AME) has its own,likewise the Canadians and Aussies!!!...My friend even the English that you so much defend is an accumulation of different indo-germanic languages.English is crap!!!!!!....what do they have?...see different dictionaries with different phonetic transcriptions all by renowned linguist and English scholars!!!!.....Just go and sit down!!!!!....Speak and be understood...yeye @babyfaceafrica. you are just too good enh u nail it ,Gbam.... but u are very funny |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by Nobody: 11:39am On Aug 05, 2016 |
Nice one 1 Like |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by Nobody: 11:49am On Aug 05, 2016 |
Rapmoney: Pick up English Grammar books and see if you are not entirely wrong for saying the first and second points are wrong! You don't just sit somewhere and assume that what someone has posted is wrong without you doing any research to find out the facts! I challenge you today to do better than this. Are you trying to tell me that you know English more than the English man? Who introduced the language to you? Was it introduced to you by your ancestors? Or you think this is African tradition we are discussing? If "yes" or "no" is technically insufficient an answer to certain questions, what then is the definition of a polar question? |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by donsignature1(m): 12:17pm On Aug 05, 2016 |
much appreciated. |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by musicwriter(m): 1:12pm On Aug 05, 2016 |
Originalsly: You don't find a missed call. " Hmmm.... I see I have missed your call." "Hmmm..... I see (on the missed call list of my phone that) I have missed your call." In normal usage not everything is spelled out. But in legal matters e,g.when writing a law.... everything is written in full. "From today July 5, 2016 selling boiled eggs would be illegal." "From today going forth, the fifth day of July of the year two thousand and fifteen , anyone who sells or exchanges the egg of the chicken cooked in water for the purpose of being exchanged for Naira or any other legal currency blah blah blah.." ....is this the way you want us to speak? Really? I think a case like this is best discussed in person because what we're trying to say here loses it's meaning in the explanation itself. But, just in case you're still there, take the example below. ''Did you see my missed call?''. Are you saying its grammatically wrong? Assuming its wrong, as you would like to claim, and you opt for ''Did you get my missed call?'' Now, my question is; semantically speaking, who's call are we actually talking about here? The receiver or caller? |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by tosyne2much(m): 3:19pm On Aug 05, 2016 |
Oga Rapmoney, you have never for once disappointed me 1 Like |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by Originalsly: 4:22pm On Aug 05, 2016 |
musicwriter:
Really?
I think a case like this is best discussed in person because what we're trying to say here loses it's meaning in the explanation itself. But, just in case you're still there, take the example below.
''Did you see my missed call?''.
Are you saying its grammatically wrong? Assuming its wrong, as you would like to claim, and you opt for ''Did you get my missed call?''
Now, my question is; semantically speaking, who's call are we actually talking about here? The receiver or caller? "Did you see my missed call?"...."Did you get my missed call?"..... neither is correct. Semantically speaking... I'm not sure whose call is it... the receiver or caller! |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by Jmasoke(m): 4:33pm On Aug 05, 2016 |
Rapmoney: As humans, we learn new things everyday. Only a dead man that doesn't learn and the foolish man picks offence unnecessarily when he's corrected! I'm not perfect and you, yes, you over there, reading this, can't be too. We all learn but it's good you share the knowledge you have because there could be others out there who might need whatever you have to share. You can also learn from what others have to share. Below are 10 common grammatical blunders we make in Nigeria when speaking:
1) 'Who is that'? People often ask this question when they hear a knock on their door. The proper question to ask should be: 'Who is it'? This is because you don't know who's at your door. It's even preferable to ask: 'Who be that'? At least, we know you are speaking Pidgin English ![cheesy](https://www.nairaland.com/faces/cheesy.png)
2) Answering a question with just a simple YES or NO only. This is very wrong. Example1: 'Do you work on Sundays'? Instead of answering 'No', you should say 'No, I don't'. Example2: 'Do you know him'? Instead of saying just 'Yes' if you know who the first speaker is referring to, you should say 'Yes, I do'. That makes it a complete answer.
3) Using the word 'offer' in school subjects. Many teachers make this terrible mistake!!! You would hear statements like 'My students don't offer Literature' or 'If you know you are not offering Government, leave the class'. WRONG!!! Students don't OFFER subjects; they TAKE subjects! To offer means to give or present something to someone. Does it mean you are presenting something to Literature or Government? Naija teachers, una no go kill person!
4) Using a plural verb for collective pronouns: 'Everybody ARE coming'. EVERYBODY is a collective pronoun. Collective pronouns (Collective nouns inclusive), carry a singular verb which is 'IS' and not 'ARE'. Many people also make the mistake of adding 'S' to staff, when addressing a collection of workers in an organisation. Don't say 'All the staffs in this firm'. Instead, say 'All the staff in this firm'.
5) 'I want to buy COOK egg' (Lol, not even cooked egg! ). It's a common blunder when we go to the neighbourhood shop. Bros, it's either you are buying a boiled egg or one that is not cooked (raw) because even the one that's fried is cooked!
6) 'The shoes do not size me'. Wrong!!! 'SIZE', in this context, is a noun! It cannot function as a verb here. The correct way to say this is: 'The shoes do not fit me' or 'The shoes are not my size'. You can still say 'The shoes are over-sized or under-sized'.
7) 'My stomach or my head is paining me'. WRONG! It's not only a terrible mistake to make grammatically; it's also a useless statement!!! Why add ING to PAIN to create a verb that's not only useless but non-existent? You can say 'My stomach aches' or 'I feel pain in my stomach'.
The following are more of Oral English (correct pronunciation; that's speaking right).
Pronouncing FEBRUARY as 'FEBUARY'. When you pronounce this word, the 'U' and 'A' are to be silent. Pronounce it as if you are saying 'FEBRY'.
9) When you pronounce WEDNESDAY, the 'D' should be silent. It should come as 'WENSDAY'.
10) When you pronounce POLICE, the 'O' should be silent. It should come as 'Plice'.
Godbless! Thanks for sharing No 8 is missing! |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by musicwriter(m): 4:44pm On Aug 05, 2016 |
Originalsly:
"Did you see my missed call?"...."Did you get my missed call?"..... neither is correct. Semantically speaking... I'm not sure whose call is it... the receiver or caller! Either ways, you've just proved my point English is an illogical language. Still, I'll like you tell me the right way to express that in English. |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by Originalsly: 5:41pm On Aug 05, 2016 |
musicwriter:
Either ways, you've just proved my point English is an illogical language.
Still, I'll like you tell me the right way to express that in English. Caller speaking to receiver... Did you miss my call?Yes, I saw (in the miss call record that)you called at 6:38 pm. |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by musicwriter(m): 5:58pm On Aug 05, 2016 |
Originalsly:
Caller speaking to receiver... Did you miss my call? Yes, I saw (in the miss call record that)you called at 6:38 pm. Nobody asks a receiver ''did you miss my call?'' to represent that context. Actually, this's the first time I' am hearing this. I' am out. See you later. 1 Like |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by Originalsly: 7:20pm On Aug 05, 2016 |
musicwriter:
Nobody asks a receiver ''did you miss my call?'' to represent that context. Actually, this's the first time I' am hearing this.
I' am out. See you later. Hmmm....this is wayyy above my head...I'm out. 1 Like |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by Esdb3: 8:33pm On Aug 05, 2016 |
Rapmoney: Just like that? Without any proof? ![](/faces/huh.png) You need proof of something so smthng so straight-forward? Read Novels you'll see example + google is your friend. |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by kevweflex(m): 9:36pm On Aug 05, 2016 |
. |
Re: 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid by emmpire: 9:40pm On Aug 05, 2016 |
On point jare. I don't deal with people like that who thinks they are Mr. Perfect. He selects posts he responds to. The ones he knows he can comfortably challenge. dynamix101:
Op u tried but u need to calm down. from ur opening sentence to ur last u sound brash, proud, insensitive and rude. if u are truly teachable, why ignore many sound corrections that have been given? instead u are callously declaring war on d corrections u feel are wrong whilst ignoring others. u cant survive in a real classroom; u need to learn to be humble and ready to learn. if u like kwarel me, i have spoken. |