Common Mistakes - Non-Native Common Mistakes - Native Finding a Teacher Greetings
Business Greetings Inflection and Stress
Error #1: Using gender to describe objects.
In English inanimate objects have no gender. All nouns are a "person, place or thing," and any noun which is not a person is referred to as it, which is a neuter pronoun, meaning that it is neither masculine nor feminine. The plural pronoun they is also neuter.
Error #2: Failure to use irregularities.
The basic rule is that an adverb is an adjective with the suffix -ly. So, for example, the adjective beautiful would become the adverb beautifully. However, some of the more common adjectives are irregular. Good is an example of an irregular adjective. As an adverb, it becomes well. When describing levels of goodness, good becomes better, and then best. This violates the rule of adding the suffixes of -er and -est to the basic adjective.
Only regular adjectives follow this rule.
He was hungry, but I was hungrier and my sister was the hungriest of all of us.
This is correct, because hungry is a regular adjective. Notice that the y at the end of hungry has become an i. Some words cannot take the -er and -est endings. These words must be preceded with more. For example, futile cannot take the suffixes -er or -est (it can't take the -ly suffix either). Hence:
As time passed, it became more futile to argue with him.
Note that some people would regard more futile as an error, since it is attempting to modify an absolute (futile) with more. However, I dispute this, and state that it is merely ironic, possibly even pathetic or oxymoronic, rife with implications, or attempting to shift futile into a definition which is not so absolute. Always describing absolute modifiers as incorrect is simplistic thinking and does not lend itself to high prose. This sort of modification should be criticized only if it is clear that the writer or speaker is making a stupid mistake rather than trying to express a difficult concept.
Error #3: Errors with articles
Asian languages generally lack articles. Hence, there is a tendency for native Asian speakers to drop both definite and indefinite articles when learning English.
In English there is no such thing as a plural indefinite article. Plural indefinite articles are common in Romance languages (des pommes.) In English, the indefinite article is a or an. The basic rule here is that a must come before a word beginning in a consonant:
I have a box.
An always comes before a noun beginning in a vowel (note: this refers to the sound that begins the word, not the letter):
Do you want an apple?
When the word becomes plural, the indefinite article is dropped:
I like apples.
A common exception is any word which begins with the letter h, even when the h is pronounced.
I stayed in an hotel. (Note: I stayed in a hotel is considered equally correct.)
The singular definite article in English is the. The plural definite articles include these and those. However, the is also permissible as a plural definite article.
Did you find the papers?
Did you find those papers?
Error #4: Subject and object do not agree
In English, the plurality of subject and object must always agree when the verb to be is used. Thus They are very good actor is incorrect. The correct grammar would be, depending on the context:
They are very good actors.
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