Speaking English is a lot trickier than writing it! When you're speaking you naturally end up pursing far greater number of mistakes than you'd have ended up making while writing. Speaking mistakes are quite inevitable owing to the fact that while conversing, you don't have a moment to pause, think and play! There are numerous common mistakes that we all make every day while we speak English.
Here is a list of some of the most common and frequently encountered mistakes of English language that might save you from being embarrassed somewhere due to the lack of fluency or the use of wrong grammar!
"·Singulars and plurals:
DO/DOES
Incorrect: Why don't she get married?"
The term 'don't' applies to a plural subject. For example in this case, "Why don't they get married?" The right way to phrase that sentence would be: Correct: "Why doesn't she get married?"
"·Countable Nouns:
Countable nouns are frequently confused with adjectives such as more, less etc. It is better to use them with proportionate words which fit into the flow of fluency, thereby not marring the grammar.
Incorrect: There was less cars.
Correct: There were fewer cars.
"·The overused as well as neglected 'ly':
Another mistake that most of the people make while speaking is adding the suffix 'ly' to a number of words not realising that they lose their meaning hence after. Sometimes we end up forgetting the use of 'ly' when it is apt making the words sound abrupt!
Incorrect: He responded her quiet.
Correct: He responded to her quietly.
Incorrect: This food smells very badly.
Correct: This food smells very bad.
"·Circumlocution: A number of phrases can be easily shortened into small words to reduce the 'round-about' feeling of what you're speaking.
A number of them are accounted below for reference-
Long phrase/Short Word
made a statement saying/stated or said, made an escape/escaped, owing to the fact that/because, put in an appearance/appeared, take action on the issue/acted, the reason why is that/because, this is a topic that/topic, was of the opinion that/thought, was witness to/saw, ahead of schedule/early, am in possession/have, at an early date/soon, at this point in time/now, best of health/well, caused injuries to/injured, draw attention to/point out, during the time that/while, give rise to/cause, in advance of/before, in the event that/if, in this day and age/today, render assistance to/help, succumbed to injuries/died
"·Wrong use of articles:
Although people use them correctly while writing A and An are commonly mistaken while speaking. Articles should be absolutely clear and correct because they form the very basics of error-free English speaking.
Incorrect: Can we alternative playing the mobile game? The salad can be a much better alternate for your health.
Correct: Can we alternate playing the mobile game? The salad can be a much better alternative for your health.
Use of s:
People often end up adding or eliminating s from certain nouns very easily without even noticing in the spur of speaking.
Incorrect: "One of my friend lives in Delhi."
Correct: "One of my friends lives in Delhi."
Tags:
English
Mistakes
English Speaking
Usage
Errors
