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Some

common

mistakes

in

ENGLISH

usage.

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Questions which come in our

mind!Does only non-native speakers make

mistakes/errors?

What sort of errors?What are the effects of making errors?

How to overcome this problem?

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Does only non-native speakers make

mistakes/errors?

Wrong school of thought.

Natives do have an edge over non-natives

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What sort of errors?

Commonly grammatical, pronunciation,

spelling mistakes, and homophone

words etc.

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What are the effects of making errors?

Embarrassment.

Difficulties in expressing your views.

Problems in getting a job or might loose yourjob.

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How to overcome this problem?

Stop depending on office suites.

Consult dictionary.

Improve your vocabulary. Read more and more.

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Few areas of common error in

English usage.

Grammatical errors.

Pronunciation errors.Punctuation mistakes.

Confusion in homophones.

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Grammatical errors.

Irregular verbs

PRESENT PAST PAST-PARTICPLE

Come Came (Have) come

Go Went (Have) gone

Drink Drank (Have) drunk

Ride Rode (Have) ridden

Cont

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Examples of incorrect usage :

I have came too early. (Have come)

She has went to work. (Has gone)

They have drank too much water. (Have

drunk)

I have rode a bike since I was 10 (Have

ridden)

Cont

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Less/fewer

Similar meanings.

Less (mass-noun)/ fewer (count-noun)

Examples of incorrect usage :

There are less people in the class today.

There are fewer people in the class today.

Because, less is used for Mass-noun, and people in theclass are countable. So fewer is the correct word.

Cont

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Real/really :

Real is an adjective.

Really is an adverb

Examples of incorrect usage :

I am real tired today

I am really tired today.

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Pronunciation errors.

Examples :

Pronunciation, pronounced Pronouncaition.

Cricket, pronounced Circket or Cri-ket.

February, pronounced Feb-uary.

Nuclear, pronounced Nucul-ar.

Asterisk (*), pronounced Asterick orIsterick.

********

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Punctuation mistakes

Misplaced or omitted commas :

Commas in direct address :

Always use a comma when directly addressingsomeone/something. Regardless of whether thedirect address is at the beginning or at the end of the

sentence.

Cont

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Examples :

Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attentionplease? (Direct address at the beginning).

It was a pleasure to meet you, Sir. (Direct address atthe end of the sentence).

Cont

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Misplaced or omitted commas :

Commas with conjunctive adverbs (however,

furthermore etc..)

When combining two sentences into one compound sentence, a

comma and a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, so) are

used.

Example :

The match was to be played today, but it was canceled due torain.

Cont

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Sometimes writers use conjunctive adverbs such as

however, furthermore etc, in place of coordinating

conjunctions to combine two sentences, and this iswhere the confusion starts. They place a comma in place

of semicolon before conjunctive adverbs.

Example : The match was to be played today, however, it was

canceled due to rain. (Incorrect)

The match was to be played today; however, it wascanceled due to rain. (Correct).

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Confusion in Homophones

What are homophones?

Examples :Accept/Except.Accept (verb), which means to receive, andExcept (preposition/verb at times) means

make an exception of.

Cont

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I shall except the gift when she brings it. (wrong)

I shall accept the gift when she brings it.

Everyone is here, accept Jimmy. (wrong)

Everyone is here, except Jimmy.

The lawyers excepted certain clauses for the

agreement.

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All ready/Already.

The words all ready means that everythingis in readiness, whereas the word already is

an adverb, which gives an idea that an action is

complete.

He is all ready five pounds overweight. (wrong)

He is already five pounds overweight.

We are already for dance. (wrong).

We are all ready for dance.

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Desert/Dessert.

Desert is a noun, which means waterlessland, but Dessert which is Sweet food, servedafter the meal is incorrectly written Desert.

Weather/Whether.Weather means the atmospheric conditionin areas. Whereas word whether is used forindirect questions involving alternativepossibilites.

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The end