who grammar don help? Na money man they find now. After all no be my mama language!

Nfora:
Thanks for listening

Thank you for listening

I thank you for listening

Thanking you for listening

Thanks

Thank you.

I thank you.

Will you thank me?

Will you be thanking me?

Won't you thank me?

Thank God

Give thanks to God

Help me to thank him

Help me thank him

OP Which of the above is/are correct?

All the sentences are correct depending on how you use them. But some are awkward, for example, saying "I thank you." is grammatically correct, but it's not common to say it.

I'd like to throw more light on the last two sentences.

"Help me thank him." and "Help me to thank him." are correct. Using "to" is not necessary at all. To me, it sounds more natural without it.

Seebrian:
OP, I need help on the use of might and may. Thanks.

Both can be used interchangeably in some contexts.

It has been explained here:

https://writingexplained.org/may-vs-might-difference

gr8tone:
I am not confortable with this sentence , "I am having a headache" The use of the article "a" shows that headache is a countable noun. How will it sound if I say I am having headaches? Very weird to me. Though it may be correct, I wouldn't know. Just a local man

Right, really sounds weird, though.

Aches are countable, BUT you can't have more than one at a time.

A headache; a stomach ache, an ache (singular)

He had "several" excruciating headaches yesterday.

He experiences two aches everyday: one in the head and the other in the stomach.

Peace with you.

Veebliz:


Do you think every native English speaker is perfect at grammar?

I've interacted with some of them on WhatsApp and Facebook, so I know what I'm talking about.

It wouldn't make sense to always take a screenshot of every grammatical mistake I see. But I've attached a screenshot below, say "hi" when you see it.

Ninety-five percent of the people on that Screen Shot you attached are not indigenous people of Britian and America.

And I can tell you why John used that "Am" he assumed it's a social media thing and such seems like a buzz word on social media. Although, it isn't a cogent reason for him to have used it.

Phccareers:
Good one OP. The correct way to have written your title is "Some grammatical mistakes you make and things you say WRONGLY". Pls take note of this for future purposes.

I left there ANGRILY not I left there angry.
He acted RIGHTLY not he acted right.
They did it GOOD.

The above are all adverbs describing the verbs that come before them.

Okay, let me explain it to you.

Wrong or Wrongly.

In informal language, which is often the natural thing, wrong can be used instead of wrongly, when it means "incorrectly" and comes after a verb or its object.


My name was spelt wrong.

What did I do wrong?

You pronounced it wrong.

You guessed wrong.


Wrongly is usually used before a past participle.

My name was wrongly spelt.

Phccareers:
See why you should always drop your Ego and seek to learn always. The lessons of OP are already lost on you!

Otherwise, you won't have written " My primary concern is to make my listener TO understand what I mean.

The second "to" isn't needed and you'd have seen that in OP's lessons if only you had patience to learn.

As long as you don't speak your local dialect everyday, you are responsible for improving your English language.

Which ego?
You can't even speak your own language without grammatical error and you are here talking about another man's language

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.

You left out the most popular grammatical error expressed by Nigerians: "I Appreciate".

TuFab:
You said you've interacted with Brits and Americans and noticed their blunders? Like seriously?
Are u sure you're normal at all?
So you want to be more English than a British?
You should be ashamed of yourself that u can't speak ur indigenous language fluently, yet u carry another man's own on ur head.
You reek of inferiority complex.
You need a cure fast!!!

I swear I laughed hard while reading this.



Very funny...

RichardKajola:
slang and jargon;[/b]

nice post sir
what's the difference between what and which. for instance, am I to say which day of the week is your favourite or what day of the week is your favourite

Both are fine in this context, but generally, the choice of "what" and "which" depends on the number of possible answers.

https://www.quora.com/Which-is-correct-what-day-or-which-day

MzTunechi:
Thanks OP for the educative post. Please, when do you use "which" and "what" in a sentence? I get confused all the time.

Generally, the choice of "what" and "which" depends on the number of possible answers.


Here's more information: https://www.learnenglish.de/mistakes/whichvswhat.html

Poloyanabo1:
is there any word like staffs?
or it should always be put as staff, no matter how many they're?

Yeah, it's usually "staff".


"Staffs" is used to refer to more than one group of people.

The senator and his staff. (Singular)
The senators and their staffs. (Plural)

But some people do not agree with this, plus it's less frequent.
I'd say: "The senators and their staff members." instead.

Veebliz:



Oops! You're wrong. I'm sorry.

Here is the correct thing to say:

The teacher replied to the student.

if u claimed that "reply" can only be used intransitively then, you are wrong too. reply is an ambitransitive verb hence, preposition is not necessary when it is used transitively.

gr8tone:
I am not confortable with this sentence , "I am having a headache" The use of the article "a" shows that headache is a countable noun. How will it sound if I say I am having headaches? Very weird to me. Though it may be correct, I wouldn't know. Just a local man

It's wrong to say: "I'm having a headache". It is: "I have a headache".

The verb "to have" is a stative verb in this context, not an action verb.


You can't say: I have headaches, but you can say something like:
"I had two bad headaches last week."

"I've had three headaches this week."

lonikit:


if u claimed that "reply" can only be used intransitively then, you are wrong too. reply is an ambitransitive verb hence, preposition is not necessary when it is used transitively.

Why are you confusing yourself?


You can say:
The teacher replied. -- Of course, this sentence is okay.

But "The teacher replied him" is wrong.

The teacher replied TO him. / The teacher responded TO him.

Veebliz:


Why are you confusing yourself?


You can say:
The teacher replied. -- Of course, this sentence is okay.

But "The teacher replied him" is wrong.

The teacher replied TO him. / The teacher responded TO him.

u are more confused here oga. read your first post and check ur explanation of "reply"
maybe u copied and pasted the whole thing.

Kenmatt:


Ninety-five percent of the people on that Screen Shot you attached are not indigenous people of Britian and America.

And I can tell you why John used that "Am" he assumed it's a social media thing and such seems like a buzz word on social media. Although, it isn't a cogent reason for him to have used it.

What if he didn't assume it was internet language? What if he does think that "Am" and "I'm" sound the same?

Most of these people know that we Africans make this mistake a lot. I don't want to start talking about the instances I've seen. But there are some of them who make mistakes. Like I stated, it wouldn't be okay to always take a screenshot of every grammatical mistake I see.

lonikit:

u are more confused here oga. read your first post and check ur explanation of "reply"
maybe u copied and pasted the whole thing.

You didn't understand everything.

Read everything again. The verb "to reply" is intransitive.

The. Verb. "To. Reply." Is. Intransitive.

Here's more information:

https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/7178/reply-him-or-reply-to-him/7179

Veebliz:



You didn't understand everything.

Read everything again. The verb "to reply" is intransitive.

The. Verb. "To. Reply." Is. Intransitive.

Here's more information:

https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/7178/reply-him-or-reply-to-him/7179

oga, u lied. the verb "to reply" is ambitransitive. do more research.

what's the pointer to identifier countable and uncountable nouns.?

lonikit:


oga, u lied. the verb "to reply" is ambitransitive. so more research.

You said it was transitive, now it's ambitransitive.

I know I've done enough for you.

Just make sure you always reply TO somebody or TO something.

Tohsynetita1:
what's the pointer to identifier countable and uncountable nouns.?

Many countable nouns are concrete: table(s), car(s), shoe(s). But some are abstract:
situation(s), idea(s).
Many uncountable nouns are abstract: beauty, love,
psychology, advice. But some are concrete: butter, plastic, furniture.

Some nouns can be either countable or uncountable, depending on the context.
Peel an onion/a pizza with onion.

Apparently, there are some nouns that you can easily tell whether they are countable or not, but sadly, there are some you just have to know by intuition or by learning them.

Veebliz:


You said it was transitive, now it's ambitransitive.

I know I've done enough for you.

Just make sure you always reply TO somebody or TO something.

kindly point to where i typed that it was transitive.
you don't need to lie to defend anytin.

one thing you should know is that no linguist has come out to condemn any, but one is used than the other. it is just like the issue of possessive nouns that end with "s." some linguists said such nouns should not be followed by another "S" after the apostrophe sign. e.g Jesus' ball. But others insist that "s" must still come after the sign Jesus's ball. if you follow any one, you are correct. there are other debating issues in grammar.

stop acting like u know it all uncle. English Professors do not know all.

Veebliz:



You didn't understand everything.

Read everything again. The verb "to reply" is intransitive.

The. Verb. "To. Reply." Is. Intransitive.

Here's more information:

https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/7178/reply-him-or-reply-to-him/7179

lexicographers wrote this. check the usage when used transitively and intransitively.

lonikit:


lexicographers wrote this. check the usage when used transitively and intransitively.

Don't tell me you still don't get it.

Veebliz:



Don't tell me you still don't get it.

check the usage. "to reply" is not intransitive verb as you claimed. did u see preposition when it is used transitively

i am done with u jare, Mr "know it all"

peace!

Wow. Very helpful. Thanks. A lot of Nigerians speak rubbish English and they don't just care.

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

You and half of Nigeria get stuck with this.

Been is an ongoing activity that happened in the past.
Examples: He had been sick for a week before he saw the doctor. She had been a pilot before she retired. I had already been thinking of buying a phone, when I saw this one advertised at a low price.

Being is an ongoing activity happening in the present.
Examples: The church is being painted. The children are being very good. You are being sarcastic.
Just because been is easier to say, does not make it correct to use in place of being.

lonikit:

check the usage. "to reply" is not intransitive verb as you claimed. did u see preposition when it is used transitively

i am done with u jare, Mr "know it all"

peace!

You didn't get it.

lonikit:


the explanation of "reply" is wrong. "reply" can be used both transitively and intransitively. so, preposition is not needed when it is transitive. it is correct to say: the teacher replied the student.

Sorry, not quite.
When it is transitive, it needs a preposition.
The teacher replied to the student. "The teacher replied the student" is incorrect.

When it is intransitive, it does not need a preposition.
The student asked a question. The teacher replied.

Chukwudi4naija:
I hope this 'helps' is wrong. It's rather, I hope this help. See subjunctive mood.

Sorry, but I hope this helps is both correct and standard. Your example "I hope this help" is not using the subjunctive, and is not actually correct English, though you would be understood.

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.

Sorry, don't try using those "words" outside of Nigeria.