Veebliz:
Some grammatical mistakes you make and things you say wrong.


Hello, everyone. Before I shoot, I’d like you to read this:

After learning some Spanish and having to correct a lot of English in WhatsApp groups, I’ve discovered that some of us say some things wrong. Some like saying things like “English is not our language”, “Who English epp? (Who does English help?)” “Does it add money to my account?” especially when you correct them. But most of these are said out of ignorance. English is not your language, but why do you use it? English has helped a lot of people, YES! It has. Why else do we use English to teach at school? In fact, more research has been done in English than in any other language, 98% of scientific materials published today are in English, I’m not saying that other languages are inferior, but the truth is that, some people do need to stop being ignorant and face it – English really DOES matter…and YES – it can add money to your account in so many ways; you think about it.

Yeah, I feel like it’s important for me to add this: I’ve come across some Nigerians who speak English as their first tongue; I do as well, so the idea of saying English is not our language doesn’t make any sense at all. I have no problem with anybody speaking any indigenous language.

The English language is not a foreign language to Nigeria, it has mixed with our cultures in a unique way, and therefore has become ours – one of our languages, even though I don’t speak the language of my indigenous tribe, I still have some of their cultural values instilled in me, I cherish and respect them.

Aha! I must not skip this; I've interacted with Brits and Americans on the internet, so I see them make silly mistakes as well, but the ones I've written here are some of the mistakes I see my country people make often. Let’s see some of the grammatical mistakes people make and things they say wrong.

1) The verb – to make;

Of course, you would have definitely seen some people make mistakes with this verb, it’s common to hear people say things like:
“This picture makes me TO remember my past.”
“Eating all the time will make you TO be fat.”
“If you use this medicine, it will make you TO sleep.”
I am sure you’ve already spotted the mistake, right? – Yeah, I made it obvious. The verb – to make doesn’t take “to” after it, so the correct thing to say in each sentence above is: “This picture makes me remember my past.”
“Eating all the time will make you (be) fat” – in this kind of sentence, it’s more common and therefore more natural to skip the verb – “be”.
“If you use this medicine, it will make you sleep.”
The only time it’s fine to use “TO” after the verb – to make is when it is in the passive; for example, “I was made TO kneel down yesterday at school.” NOT I was made kneel down yesterday at school.”


2) The verb – to enable;

This verb requires “to” after it, but it is so amusing that some people would leave out “to” using this verb but would use it with the verb “to make”.
Here is an example: “This software will enable you TO work on your computer efficiently.” NOT “This software will enable you work on your computer efficiently.”


3) The verb – to allow;

This verb also requires “to” after it.
Here is an example: “My parents will not allow me TO go out today.” NOT “My parents will not allow me go out today.”


4) The verb – to reply;

The mistakes made with this verb are pretty common, this verb is intransitive, which means it cannot go with a direct object, therefore, it needs a preposition for it to make sense, and therefore, you reply TO somebody or TO something. NOT reply somebody or something.
“Why didn’t you reply my messages?” is WRONG. The correct thing is: “Why didn’t you reply TO my messages?”


5) The idiom – to be about to do something;

Hahahaha , I remember hearing someone say: “I was just about asking same thing.” Well, the correct thing is: “I was just about TO ask you THE same thing.”


6) The noun – stuff;

Yeah! This particular noun is such a pain in the ass for some people, it is uncountable, so, it cannot take an S after it and an indefinite article can’t be used with it either.
“Please give me five minutes – I want to get my STUFF” NOT “Please give me five minutes – I want to get my stuffs”.
“Where did you get all this stuff?” NOT “Where did you get all these stuffs?”
“Where IS all my stuff?” NOT “Where are all my stuffs?”
“This is good stuff.” NOT “This is a good stuff.”
The only context where stuff can take an S is if it’s used as a verb: “Ade always stuffs himself with so much junk food.”


7) The nouns – slang and jargon;

English is weird, yeah…but it’s not hard. So many people make mistakes with these nouns - These nouns are uncountable – yeah you read it right; UNCOUNTABLE.
I remember reading an article sometime ago, it had: “20 slangs you will hear in Nigeria” as its title: If you’ve been reading this article carefully, you will have known what is wrong with the sentence.
Numbers can’t be used with uncountable nouns, so the correct thing is: “20 SLANG WORDS/EXPRESSIONS/TERMS you will hear in Nigeria”. Or simply put: “Some slang you will hear in Nigeria.” – So you can use “some” with uncountable nouns and countable nouns as well.
“That is internet slang.” NOT “That is an internet slang.”
“Too much slang was used in the movie.” NOT “Too many slangs were used in the movie.”
“His messages were full of jargon.” NOT “His messages were full of jargons.”


8 ) The noun – information;

I don’t need to explain this, just keep it in mind that it is UNCOUNTABLE.
“Thank you for that information.” NOT “Thank you for those informations”
“What a wonderful piece of information!” NOT “What a wonderful information!”
“I want to share some information with you.” NOT “I want to share you an information.”


9) The noun – advice;

This is uncountable as well: make sure you do not mistake it for the verb: advise. The noun is spelt with a C and the verb with an S.
“I need (some) advice from you.” NOT “I need some advices from you.” NOT “I need an advice from you.”


10) All what;

If you’ve been saying this, then you need to STOP saying it! This is WRONG! It should be either: “All (that)” or “All OF what”.
“All (that) I’ve been saying is that….” NOT “All what I’ve been saying is that…”


11) The noun – headache;

Just as people make mistakes with uncountable nouns, they also do the same thing with countable nouns – it’s very common to hear “I am having headache”. This sentence is wrong. It should be: “I have a headache.”


12) The noun – news;

This is an uncountable noun.
“This is good news!” NOT “This is a good news!”


13) The expression – in the twinkling of an eye;

I’ve heard and seen people say: “In the twinkle of an eye.” – This is wrong of course: it should be: “In the twinkling of an eye.”


14) The famous – “I don’t get”.

Okay, I don’t want to be too annoying because I KNOW that some will get angry reading this article, but guess what? Learning never ends. We are used to saying this, but you should know that the verb – to get in this case is transitive, so it needs an object to sound okay.
So I recommend that you start saying: “I don’t get IT.”
Saying “I don’t get” has always sounded weird to me, I’ve asked some foreigners just to be sure it's not just me but they said it sounded weird to them as well.


15) The noun – furniture;

I usually see furniture makers put up a sign like “ABC furnitures.”
This doesn’t work in English; it’s an uncountable noun, so you already know the drill.
“They like playing with furniture.” NOT “They like playing with furnitures.”


I am Nigerian, so I speak more Nigerian English, I don’t hate it, I just like when people make good use of it because I know what it feels like when you murder someone's language. When I was in junior secondary school, I remember saying something wrong in Yoruba while I was playing with my friends, you needed to have seen how three of them were throwing corrections at me. (
There are so many people who care about mistakes – especially in English.
These are just a few of the mistakes. I could keep on writing and writing, but I will leave it here.
So, I hope this helps your English if you’ve been saying it wrong.




Ermmmm, one last thing before the final full stop: This is for people who can’t do without starting a sentence with or using “Am”; What exactly is wrong? Please stop making this horrible mistake, if you can’t use the contraction: “I’m…” then use: “I am…”
It’s not hard work. The pronoun I is just one letter.

Thanks for reading.

Veebliz.

Are these your opinions or is it from an Executive order signed by Queen Elizabeth?

On what authority do you make these pronouncements?
Anyway better for me to concentrate on improving my Yoruba.
No one in England is correcting their brother's Yoruba

By the way

Advices
Furnitures

Are both legitimate English words,they may grate on the ears when used incongruously but they are what they are.

Will this make me pass IELTs or OET

airminem:
Ex president Wife patience Jonathan comes to mind

I hate some nairalanders


Meanwhile order for facemask folks

If the army catches you ehn. The kind flogging you go chop no be here.

mattbass:


Sorry bro... When do we use "Advise" in a sentence since it is a verb??

I advised her on how to go about her life.
verb usage right there 'advised'

she said she needed some advice on how to go about her life...
noun

---

mattbass:


Sorry bro... When do we use "Advise" in a sentence since it is a verb??

I advised her on how to go about her life.
verb usage right there 'advised'

she said she needed some advice on how to go about her life...
noun usage.
advise can only come after the subject in a sentence, while advice can be used anywhere in a sentence.

Thanks for this bro. You have taught something good this morning.

Olayinka8793:
My biggest grammatical headache in English remains the correct use of the words : "being" and "been".
Still yet t master those two bastards.

Been is used in the past tense. Eg. I have been sick.
It's been a long time we spoke
Being is used in the present tense. Example: pls help, I am being persecuted by my family
I have told you to stop being foolish.

Veebliz:


I knew someone like this would comment. I'm afraid you might need to read everything again. Shakespeare spoke older English, there's a huge difference between that and modern English. What you hear nowadays is pretty much modern English, so saying he used incorrect grammar in his time is wrong, get it? The language has evolved over the years but much of its grammar hasn't changed, so what you've stated doesn't make any sense at all.

I don't get?
LOL �

Salmom:

Been is used in the past tense. Eg. I have been sick.
It's been a long time we spoke
Being is used in the present tense. Example: pls help, I am being persecuted by my family
I have told you to stop being foolish.

Pls can u help me with.

I am
I'm
Am i

SoNature:
Thanks, OP

Someone should tell Nigerians to stop saying "I appreciate"

That NONSENSE irritates my delicate ears.

Humans are not currency that appreciates and depreciates

The right thing to say is: "I appreciate it."

I appreciate

Understanding matters..last time i checked lionel messi can't speak good English.

Olayinka8793:
My biggest grammatical headache in English remains the correct use of the words : "being" and "been".
Still yet t master those two bastards.

being and been
you can only use has and have with been in English language and the next verb or word should be in past tense.
boko haram has been defeated.

I have been working tirelessly this past fee days.


being...act of existence or in a particular situation or state.
being happy all day is what I have always been craving for.

do you get it now?

lol

Like my comment...... so that I can get back to it easily..... thanks

Olayinka8793:
My biggest grammatical headache in English remains the correct use of the words : "being" and "been".
Still yet t master those two bastards.

That one sank in my brain.......I just read in confusion to my head with "I'm and am".....I know I will scale through....
You don't use still and yet together

Offpoint:
The beauty of this post is.... I'll forget 98% of everything before i leave the post and go back to my normal errors and eat plenty fufu To Make me Sleep Well Well

This guy is fuqing good off point.

adeiza4u:
Thank you for this piece. Though apparently, you wrote this from a prescriptive perspective of Grammar, not descriptive perspective of Grammar. If you apply structural syntax to parsing your submissions in number 1 to 4, you'll realize your observations as regard To infinitive phrase are invalid. To infinitive phrase is one that has many functionalities; it could function as an object to transitive verbs, compliments to intransitive verbs, and adverbial, and even object compliment. Secondly sir, I'll suggest you check the differences between Nigerian English (NE), and Standard British English(SBE)and importantly note their different grammatical nuances. Speaking from a linguistic and syntactical perspective though.

sir,you must be a lecturer of English language or probably a student.
right or wrong?

Alzirida:


Pls can u help me with.

I am
I'm
Am i

I'm is the contraction of I am. Example; "I am sick" and "I'm sick" are the are the same
When "am" is used to begin a sentence, the sentence must be a question. Example: am I to go up?
Am I dead?
Am I?

If the sentence isn't a question then it would be incorrect to begin with "am". Example; am doing great. This is wrong. It should be "I am/I'm doing great".

THANKS

Palliative and Stimulus

used wrongly by the press and government officials.

Another is using 'his' indiscriminately regardless of whom you are referring to . The amount of times I have read an article speaking of a female that has been littered with his instead of hers and vice versa

StrikeBack:
I appreciate

Coconut head

Veebliz lovely post.
Thanks.

Alzirida:


Pls can u help me with.

I am
I'm
Am i

I am a boy.formal way of writing

I'm,it just like writing it's which of course we all know it should be it is.so I'm and I am are same thing.in an official letter, it is advisable you use I am,in stead of I'm.

and am I.....used basically for asking questions.
am I your mate?

do you get it now?

LordOfTheWeed:
You're posting in the rubbish, you're posting in the nonsense, you're posting in the thing that does not even have single experience, you're posting in the nonsense!!!!

Veebliz:
Some grammatical mistakes you make and things you say wrong.


Hello, everyone. Before I shoot, I’d like you to read this:

After learning some Spanish and having to correct a lot of English in WhatsApp groups, I’ve discovered that some of us say some things wrong. Some like saying things like “English is not our language”, “Who English epp? (Who does English help?)” “Does it add money to my account?” especially when you correct them. But most of these are said out of ignorance. English is not your language, but why do you use it? English has helped a lot of people, YES! It has. Why else do we use English to teach at school? In fact, more research has been done in English than in any other language, 98% of scientific materials published today are in English, I’m not saying that other languages are inferior, but the truth is that, some people do need to stop being ignorant and face it – English really DOES matter…and YES – it can add money to your account in so many ways; you think about it.

Yeah, I feel like it’s important for me to add this: I’ve come across some Nigerians who speak English as their first tongue; I do as well, so the idea of saying English is not our language doesn’t make any sense at all. I have no problem with anybody speaking any indigenous language.

The English language is not a foreign language to Nigeria, it has mixed with our cultures in a unique way, and therefore has become ours – one of our languages, even though I don’t speak the language of my indigenous tribe, I still have some of their cultural values instilled in me, I cherish and respect them.

Aha! I must not skip this; I've interacted with Brits and Americans on the internet, so I see them make silly mistakes as well, but the ones I've written here are some of the mistakes I see my country people make often. Let’s see some of the grammatical mistakes people make and things they say wrong.

1) The verb – to make;

Of course, you would have definitely seen some people make mistakes with this verb, it’s common to hear people say things like:
“This picture makes me TO remember my past.”
“Eating all the time will make you TO be fat.”
“If you use this medicine, it will make you TO sleep.”
I am sure you’ve already spotted the mistake, right? – Yeah, I made it obvious. The verb – to make doesn’t take “to” after it, so the correct thing to say in each sentence above is: “This picture makes me remember my past.”
“Eating all the time will make you (be) fat” – in this kind of sentence, it’s more common and therefore more natural to skip the verb – “be”.
“If you use this medicine, it will make you sleep.”
The only time it’s fine to use “TO” after the verb – to make is when it is in the passive; for example, “I was made TO kneel down yesterday at school.” NOT I was made kneel down yesterday at school.”


2) The verb – to enable;

This verb requires “to” after it, but it is so amusing that some people would leave out “to” using this verb but would use it with the verb “to make”.
Here is an example: “This software will enable you TO work on your computer efficiently.” NOT “This software will enable you work on your computer efficiently.”


3) The verb – to allow;

This verb also requires “to” after it.
Here is an example: “My parents will not allow me TO go out today.” NOT “My parents will not allow me go out today.”


4) The verb – to reply;

The mistakes made with this verb are pretty common, this verb is intransitive, which means it cannot go with a direct object, therefore, it needs a preposition for it to make sense, and therefore, you reply TO somebody or TO something. NOT reply somebody or something.
“Why didn’t you reply my messages?” is WRONG. The correct thing is: “Why didn’t you reply TO my messages?”


5) The idiom – to be about to do something;

Hahahaha , I remember hearing someone say: “I was just about asking same thing.” Well, the correct thing is: “I was just about TO ask you THE same thing.”


6) The noun – stuff;

Yeah! This particular noun is such a pain in the ass for some people, it is uncountable, so, it cannot take an S after it and an indefinite article can’t be used with it either.
“Please give me five minutes – I want to get my STUFF” NOT “Please give me five minutes – I want to get my stuffs”.
“Where did you get all this stuff?” NOT “Where did you get all these stuffs?”
“Where IS all my stuff?” NOT “Where are all my stuffs?”
“This is good stuff.” NOT “This is a good stuff.”
The only context where stuff can take an S is if it’s used as a verb: “Ade always stuffs himself with so much junk food.”


7) The nouns – slang and jargon;

English is weird, yeah…but it’s not hard. So many people make mistakes with these nouns - These nouns are uncountable – yeah you read it right; UNCOUNTABLE.
I remember reading an article sometime ago, it had: “20 slangs you will hear in Nigeria” as its title: If you’ve been reading this article carefully, you will have known what is wrong with the sentence.
Numbers can’t be used with uncountable nouns, so the correct thing is: “20 SLANG WORDS/EXPRESSIONS/TERMS you will hear in Nigeria”. Or simply put: “Some slang you will hear in Nigeria.” – So you can use “some” with uncountable nouns and countable nouns as well.
“That is internet slang.” NOT “That is an internet slang.”
“Too much slang was used in the movie.” NOT “Too many slangs were used in the movie.”
“His messages were full of jargon.” NOT “His messages were full of jargons.”


8 ) The noun – information;

I don’t need to explain this, just keep it in mind that it is UNCOUNTABLE.
“Thank you for that information.” NOT “Thank you for those informations”
“What a wonderful piece of information!” NOT “What a wonderful information!”
“I want to share some information with you.” NOT “I want to share you an information.”


9) The noun – advice;

This is uncountable as well: make sure you do not mistake it for the verb: advise. The noun is spelt with a C and the verb with an S.
“I need (some) advice from you.” NOT “I need some advices from you.” NOT “I need an advice from you.”


10) All what;

If you’ve been saying this, then you need to STOP saying it! This is WRONG! It should be either: “All (that)” or “All OF what”.
“All (that) I’ve been saying is that….” NOT “All what I’ve been saying is that…”


11) The noun – headache;

Just as people make mistakes with uncountable nouns, they also do the same thing with countable nouns – it’s very common to hear “I am having headache”. This sentence is wrong. It should be: “I have a headache.”


12) The noun – news;

This is an uncountable noun.
“This is good news!” NOT “This is a good news!”


13) The expression – in the twinkling of an eye;

I’ve heard and seen people say: “In the twinkle of an eye.” – This is wrong of course: it should be: “In the twinkling of an eye.”


14) The famous – “I don’t get”.

Okay, I don’t want to be too annoying because I KNOW that some will get angry reading this article, but guess what? Learning never ends. We are used to saying this, but you should know that the verb – to get in this case is transitive, so it needs an object to sound okay.
So I recommend that you start saying: “I don’t get IT.”
Saying “I don’t get” has always sounded weird to me, I’ve asked some foreigners just to be sure it's not just me but they said it sounded weird to them as well.


15) The noun – furniture;

I usually see furniture makers put up a sign like “ABC furnitures.”
This doesn’t work in English; it’s an uncountable noun, so you already know the drill.
“They like playing with furniture.” NOT “They like playing with furnitures.”


I am Nigerian, so I speak more Nigerian English, I don’t hate it, I just like when people make good use of it because I know what it feels like when you murder someone's language. When I was in junior secondary school, I remember saying something wrong in Yoruba while I was playing with my friends, you needed to have seen how three of them were throwing corrections at me. (
There are so many people who care about mistakes – especially in English.
These are just a few of the mistakes. I could keep on writing and writing, but I will leave it here.
So, I hope this helps your English if you’ve been saying it wrong.




Ermmmm, one last thing before the final full stop: This is for people who can’t do without starting a sentence with or using “Am”; What exactly is wrong? Please stop making this horrible mistake, if you can’t use the contraction: “I’m…” then use: “I am…”
It’s not hard work. The pronoun I is just one letter.

Thanks for reading.

Veebliz.

Beautiful thread, I personally feel the same way as you do...

Oftentimes our kinsmen are of the opinion that we do not need to give too much attention to our use of English language as it is not "our language"... It's always hard to convince them that the otherwise is the case... I've always had it in mind that a good command of English language (written and spoken) attracts respect, and I tell you, you have just earned my respect...

N.B: we all make mistakes; I make mistakes too (before dem shoot me for wetin I write )

Cheers

The writer used a lot of "we are used to..." I think this is wrong. Instead use "we do" or "we did,".

Thank u

the verb - to make
The verb – to allow etc.

whenever "to" comes before a verb in a sentence,
the verbal word goes together with the "to" before it.
Such phrase is known as ADJUNCT in English. So in the sentence
This picture makes me TO remember my past.
the verb is "Make" while "TO remember" is an adjunct.
The sentence is also CORRECT.

13) The expression – in the twinkling of an eye;



I’ve heard and seen people say: “In the twinkle of an eye.” – This is wrong of course: it should be: “In the twinkling of an eye.”

In the wink of an eye
in the blink of an eye
In the twinkling of an eye

Votukpa:


Just thought I should make some corrections.
I didn't do all of it but I'm sure you get the message.

Thanks for the painstaking effort. Thanks too for not overlooking the errors. At first it almost turned me off.
.

airminem:
Ex president Wife patience Jonathan comes to mind

I hate some nairalanders


Meanwhile order for facemask folks

so na army color facemask u sabi do. I hope you get person for dodan barracks to help me if sojo hold me sha

Mikaeltomz:
Understanding matters..last time i checked lionel messi can't speak good English.

Na leg him dey use chop no be with mouth.

StrikeBack:
I appreciate

Strike back you Don dey find wahala abi