English mistakes - do you have something like that

IP: *.ticom.pl 23.02.08, 11:24
Hi! I want to know lots of about mistakes, that people in England
do. I of course think about spelling. Could You help me? Do you have
something like that teacher in school reads any text and the
students must write and then teacher correct the mistakes?
    • jonathan.oakley Re: English mistakes - do you have something like 23.02.08, 18:17
      Hi! There are so many coomon mistakes that are made in English...!
      This site is a perfect resource for your question:

      www.learnenglish.de/mistakes/CommonMistakes.htm
      A common mistake - also made by lots of native English speakers - is
      the pronunciation of 'the' before a word beginning with a vowel
      (think of 'he')...the orange...the egg... and 'the' (think
      of 'ur')...the book...the table...

      Most general English courses have writing modules where you can
      correct a set text with deliberate mistakes...advanced courses such
      as Cambridge First Certificate and so on also have writing sections
      where the teacher will correct written pieces from the the
      student. :)


      • jacinda Re: English mistakes - do you have something like 06.03.08, 11:10
        Yes, the English make tons of mistakes. Sometimes, I wonder know how
        they managed to finish school...

        The most common nowadays is saying 'I was sat ...' instead of 'I was
        sitting ...'
        Another one, is writing 'your' when it should be 'you're'.
        I'll add more later on.
        • jonathan.oakley Re: English mistakes - do you have something like 06.03.08, 11:18
          We wouldn't write 'you're' for any type of formal
          correspondance..though I guess it depends on if you managed to
          finish school!
          • jacinda Re: English mistakes - do you have something like 06.03.08, 11:19
            I have to disagree. And 'Your welcome' is the most common one.
            • jonathan.oakley Re: English mistakes - do you have something like 06.03.08, 11:27
              The APA style (which uses Harvard referencing for documentation
              formatting)guide indicates that contractions are used sparingly in
              formal written English. :)
              • jacinda Re: English mistakes - do you have something like 06.03.08, 12:26
                It has nothing to do with contactions. The long form is 'You are
                welcome'. NOT 'your'.
                Regards.
        • jaleo Re: English mistakes - do you have something like 06.03.08, 16:45
          jacinda napisała:

          > Yes, the English make tons of mistakes. Sometimes, I wonder know
          how
          > they managed to finish school...
          >
          > The most common nowadays is saying 'I was sat ...' instead of 'I
          was
          > sitting ...'

          It may sound like I'm splitting hairs, but I wouldn't class "I was
          sat" as a mistake - it's a colloquialism perhaps more commonly used
          in the North. It also has a slightly different connotations to "I
          was sitting". "I was sat" evokes a feeling of mock-resignation,
          more like being plonked somewhere like a small child - eg. "I was
          sat there a whole bloody day" :-)
      • aiczka Re: English mistakes - do you have something like 06.03.08, 15:58
        > A common mistake - also made by lots of native English speakers - is
        > the pronunciation of 'the' before a word beginning with a vowel
        > (think of 'he')...the orange...the egg... and 'the' (think
        > of 'ur')...the book...the table...

        If it is made by "lots of native English speakers" is it still considered a
        mistake? I have picked up this pronunciation from movies and tv. Perhaps it is
        characteristic for the lower class?

        This brings out a philosophical problem - should we learn to speak correctly or
        "as the natives do"? ^_^
        • jonathan.oakley Re: English mistakes - do you have something like 06.03.08, 17:33
          Ha! Exactly! All langauge is formed by common concensus but knowing
          this doesn't make it any easier. :)
          • jacinda The Apostrophe Protection Society 08.03.08, 18:40
            www.apostrophe.fsnet.co.uk/
            Check out the 'Examples' page (menu on thr left).
            • jacinda If you want more mistakes, 08.03.08, 18:48
              I highly recommend the 'If you can't differentiate between 'Your'
              and 'You're' you deserve to die' group on Facebook ;-)
              • jonathan.oakley Re: If you want more mistakes, 08.03.08, 23:14
                Sounds a bit severe! Whatever next..the double colon hit squad!
                • jacinda You can also download Grammar Girl Episodes 09.03.08, 20:43
                  grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/
                  On 'Your' and 'You're':
                  grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/neologisms.aspx
                  I download the podcasts from itunes, but I think you can also
                  download them directly from Grammar Girl's website.
                  • Gość: polishhamster Re: You can also download Grammar Girl Episodes IP: 62.69.217.* 28.03.08, 15:00
                    Hi Jacinda and Jonathan - I know what Jacinda's saying; many English speakers
                    have problems differentiating between (e.g.) they're, there and their, or you're
                    and your, or its and it's etc. etc., but remember that native speakers of many
                    languages have problems with spelling or grammar which non-native speakers would
                    never have. The reason is quite simple: native speakers of any language have
                    four or five years as babies and children with absolutely no contact with the
                    written word. During this time, they learn the spoken form to a very high level
                    and make their own assumptions about it which may or may not prove to be
                    'grammatically' correct. Typical mistakes by speakers of languages which use the
                    Latin alphabet are due to the sound of the word being 'writable' in several
                    forms. So, for an English speaker, they're, their and there all sound the same,
                    and many people never make the grammatical connection between the spelling and
                    the sound. Now a speaker of English as a second language is very unlikely to
                    make this error, generally because he or she will meet the written word at the
                    same time as the spoken form, and will have the distinction made explicit. This
                    problem is by no means confined to English speakers; French speakers have huge
                    problems with the past participle of a verb vs the infinitive vs the second
                    person plural in the present tense because they all sound very similar (is it
                    j'ai donné or j'ai donner or j'ai donnez) and it's only the spelling which
                    differs. And, come on Jacinda, what English speaker of Polish would EVER spell
                    'herbata' 'cherbata'? Or write 'przedszkole' as 'pszedszkole'? And don't say
                    'no-one', because that's rubbish. Someone wrote the latter on a CV to me!!!
                    (That's like writing 'nersery skool'.) Think of all your friends who were
                    useless at Polish!!
                    Sorry. I've written far too much. Good luck with the forum, Jonathan!
                    • jonathan.oakley Re: You can also download Grammar Girl Episodes 29.03.08, 20:44
                      Its so good that you write alot...fantastic practise for your
                      written English...and you write well too. :)
                      • Gość: polishhamster Re: You can also download Grammar Girl Episodes IP: *.chello.pl 30.03.08, 20:17
                        I should hope so...I studied in the UK
                        • jonathan.oakley Re: You can also download Grammar Girl Episodes 30.03.08, 20:33
                          LOL!!
    • Gość: RAPHAEL Re: English mistakes - do you have something like IP: *.neoplus.adsl.tpnet.pl 29.04.08, 21:13
      Dear Englishman
      I used to work as an inventory clerk in E14 and in my work I used commonly
      semicolons for the simple purpose of separating items in a list of items on a
      property. My boss insisted on his (false) opinion that in English commas are to
      be used commonly rather than semicolons. It was even at some point the bone of
      contention when he withheld my wages and said it was because of my _alleged_
      language blunders... which I think was not the case
      Whats your opinion about it>
      • jonathan.oakley Re: English mistakes - do you have something like 30.04.08, 09:07
        Semie Colons are used to allow the reader to pause when reading a
        long paragraph...double colons are used in a slightly longer
        paragrapgh for a longer pause. Commas are used in sentences rather
        than paragraphs...what was your boss' rationale out of interest? :)
        • jacinda Re: English mistakes - do you have something like 21.05.08, 09:22
          If it's a simple list, you use a comma to separate the items. If
          it's a list within a list, you separate the items with a comma, but
          you separate the two lists with a semicolon (i.e. semicolons are
          used in lists that already have commas). To round it up, semicolons
          mark separations stronger than a comma, but less strong than a full
          point.

          PS. Any handbook on punctuation or style for writers will define
          this.
          PS2. Your boss had no right not to pay you for such a trivial thing!

          • jaleo Re: English mistakes - do you have something like 21.05.08, 17:50
            jacinda napisała:

            > If it's a simple list, you use a comma to separate the items. If
            > it's a list within a list, you separate the items with a comma,
            but
            > you separate the two lists with a semicolon (i.e. semicolons are
            > used in lists that already have commas). To round it up,
            semicolons
            > mark separations stronger than a comma, but less strong than a
            full
            > point.

            That's us told :-))

            But seriously, isn't life too short for this?
            • jonathan.oakley Re: English mistakes - do you have something like 22.05.08, 00:28
              LOL!

              ~Me transmitte sursum, caledoni~
            • jacinda Re: English mistakes - do you have something like 22.05.08, 11:41
              "That's us told :-))

              But seriously, isn't life too short for this?"

              Just answered Raphael's question.

              And, by the way, this actually is my life (all the nuances of
              English grammar and punctuation, not this forum, of course :-)


              • jonathan.oakley Re: English mistakes - do you have something like 22.05.08, 12:38
                Are you a teacher, Jacinda?
                • jacinda Re: English mistakes - do you have something like 22.05.08, 13:14
                  Nope.
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