I have mentioned before in this blog that English is one of the easiest languages to learn, yet the hardest to master. Well, that is true in so many ways.
The mistakes made by ESL students are plenty, yet they are basic mistakes of sentence structure, pronunciation and tense-verb accordance. These errors are expected and easily corrected. However, listening to my friends and family speaking English, I have observed many common mistakes made by native English speakers; mistakes not as easily corrected because they are ingrained in their way of speaking and therefore harder to change.
Here are some common mistakes that native English speakers commit on the daily. As a grammar teacher and language lover, these mistakes make me cringe. Most of the time, I stop my friend mid-sentence to correct them and offer them the proper alternative (an interruption not-so-welcome).
Common offenses:
1. BOUGHTEN is not a word. It is BOUGHT.
Bought is the past and past participle of TO BUY.
The incorrect
boughten is usually used in the past perfect: I had
boughten that for a friend. I think the reason people make this mistake is because it is common to add the -en ending to the past participle, and since
bought is correct in the past, it only makes sense... well, it's wrong either way!
2. BRANG is not a word. I understand that a lot of kindergarten and elementary school kids use this word, but come on adults! The correct word is BROUGHT! Brought is the past and past participle of TO BRING.
Here it is also easy to see why English speakers would think that
brang is the natural past or past participle of
brought. First and foremost, they were never corrected as kids. Second and most importantly, there are many verbs in the English language that make the change from -in (root) to -an (past) to -un (past participle). For example, TO DRINK: drink, drank, drunk (not drunken, by the way). So, TO BRING is confused with a verb like
drink, but that's no excuse for this mistake.
3. The use of the conditional in English goes unnoticed by many native English speakers. We know what we mean to say and that it is hypothetical or that one thing depends on the other thing happening (hence, conditional), but we aren't aware of the tense change. And so, the common mistake of saying: "If I
was you, I
wouldn't do that," is made all too often.
The Second Conditional is used to talk about impossible or unlikely situations, or to give advice (note that the choice to use the first or second conditional depends on the speakers attitude toward whether or not the situation is likely to happen). I could never be you, but for the sake of the argument, I can say
If I
were you, then (here we use might, would, could) go to the park.
The use of the past
was is never used in the second conditional with I / HE / SHE / IT, however, there are few native speakers who know this. Interestingly enough, almost all ESL students learn and master this simple rule.
4. This next mistake is huge and is taking over the world! It's killing me slowly and I am trying my hardest to put a stop to it, but i am only one person at the end of the day. What am I talking about? Adverbs! Why doesn't anyone know how to properly use an adverb any more.
Here are a few examples of what I mean:
You cooked amazing tonight!
Oh I love that car, I want it real bad!
That test was real hard.
These are a few amongst many mistakes made daily when using an adverb. So, what is an adverb? An adverb in its simplest form is can be identified as the word in the sentence that modifies verbs, clauses and other adverbs. It is used to give us more information. Chiefly, adverbs can be identified by their -ly ending. Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't see any -ly endings in the examples above!
So how would we correct the sentences used in our examples. Well, first decide if you want to use an adjective or an adverb to elaborate on your feelings.
Your cooking was amazing tonight. (adjective). You cooked amazingly tonight (adverb).
Oh I love that car, I want it so (very) badly (adverb). Oh I love that car, it is a really bad car (this sentence doesn't make sense, but at least it is grammatically correct).
That test was really hard (adverb modifying the adjective).
Oh and last but not least, GOOD is not an adverb. So, when someone asks you how you are doing, you cannot reply that you are doing good. You are either well or fine, even great, but never are you ever good.
There are way more mistakes that I stop and correct on the daily. Like
stop to and
stopping to. Oh man, that one really confuses me when used improperly. But, for the sake of this blog, let's leave things as they are and yes, you guessed it, I'll be back with more corrections.
Sincerely,
Your PALS in Canada.
