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10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English - Education (3) - Nairaland

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Some Common English Mistakes And Their Corrections / 10 Common Words Nigerians Use Everyday That Don't Exist / 10 Common Grammatical Blunders You Should Endeavour To Avoid (2) (3) (4)

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Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by Nobody: 5:24pm On May 24, 2016
Nature129:


Have is used with plural (pro)nouns while has is used with singular (pro)nouns.
Eg: 1. Fashola and Ngige have been declared ministers.

2. We have dogged spirit

NB: Notice that Fashola and Ngige are 2 persons(plural noun) hence; the use of "have" and 'we' is a plural pronoun too.

ALSO,

For "has"

1. Fashola "has" been declared a minister.
2. He has given me the money

NB: Fashola is one person (singular noun) while "he" is a singular pronoun hence; the use of "has"

But this rule changes when it is used in bigger concepts like unaccountable noun, places, etc. Here, you can apply either of has or have.

Eg, Chelsea has/have signed a new manager
Lagos have/has the highest population in Nigeria.

ALSO, PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS RULE CHANGES WHEN YOU ARE CONSIDERING FIRST PERSON, SECOND PERSON SINGULAR/PLURAL.

Finally, whenever you use "did' in English, the next tense MUST be present tense.

Eg, Did you go (NOT went) to school yesterday?

Did you see your mom yesterday?

This is the best I can do; My fingers are hurting already.

Did you learn it? grin

Hope this helps...grin
thanks dear , you are such a darling.

1 Like

Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by Originalsly: 5:29pm On May 24, 2016
Pack and park
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by farouk0403(m): 5:31pm On May 24, 2016
khalids:
The only English words that confuses me are "as" and "has". I know what they mean and when they are suppose to be used, but my brain just gets it twisted. I actually have to pause before deciding which one to use...It just does not come naturally to me...

Does anyone have a simple trick to keep this in check


Yoruba? if yes, then is from your ascend
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by spicytayomic(m): 5:32pm On May 24, 2016
Nice post
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by Lightening: 5:33pm On May 24, 2016
Compliment is both noun and verb. Eg.

Noun:
Thanks for the compliment.
Verb:
She complimented her manager for exceeding their sales budget.
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by Shoelace1(f): 5:39pm On May 24, 2016
I concur.... #check your DP#
lekjons:
op, these ones're simple na..

i think you should start with "I'M" and "AM"..

the way people use them disgusts me..gringrin
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by amsoslim(m): 6:02pm On May 24, 2016
DANO1011:
Let's face it, English can be confusing. A lot of words are similar but with different meanings, as a result it is almost impossible to avoid making mistakes in English, but if you can get your head around these explanations, you might be able to avoid making these ones or at least recognise them when you see them.

1. MOURN vs MOAN :

Moan as a verb, means to make a complaint in an unhappy voice, usually about something which does not seem important to other people.
For example:-
The British always moan about the weather.
Mourn is a verb that means to feel or express great sadness, especially because of someone's death.
For example:
Many people in the UK mourned the death of Princess Diana.

2 CAPITAL vs CAPITOL:
- Capital is a noun used to describe the most important city or town of a country or region, usually its seat of government.
For example: London is the capital of England.
- Capitol is a noun used to describe a building in which a US state government meets.
For example: The Capitol is a public building.

3 COMPLEMENT vs COMPLIMENT :
- Complement is a verb, which means to make something seem better or more attractive when combined.
For example: "The colours blue and green complement each other perfectly."
- Compliment is a noun, which means a remark that expresses approval, admiration or respect.
For example: "It was the nicest
compliment anyone had ever paid me."

4 COUNCIL vs COUNSEL :
- Council is a group noun. It refers to a group of people elected or chosen to make decisions or give advice on a particular subject, to represent a particular group of people, or to run a particular organization.
For example: "The local council has decided not to allocate any more funds for the project."
- Counsel can be a verb, which means to give advice, especially on social or personal problems.
For example: "She counsels the long-term unemployed on how to get a job."
Counsel can also be a noun, which means advice.
For example: "I should have listened to my father's counsel, and saved some money instead of spending it all."

5 FEWER vs LESS :
most people gets this wrong - including native speakers. The general rule is to use fewer for things you can count (individually), and less for things you can only measure
For example:
There were fewer people in the class than usual. (People can be counted.)
There were fewer days below freezing last winter. (Days can be counted.)
I drink less coffee than she does. (Coffee cannot be counted individually it has to be measured).
It looks bad when there's less
information about your company on a site than there is for other companies.
!Note - The lines between less and fewer are getting blurred, i.e. a sign in a shop might say, "10 items or less," because "10 items or fewer," seems pompous to many people. Or maybe it's because less takes fewer letters.

6 HOLIDAY vs WEEKEND :
A holiday (noun), a time, often one or two weeks, when someone does not go to work or school but is free to do what they want, such as travel or relax. You usually have to book your holiday with your boss.
For example: "Where are you going on holiday this year? Somewhere nice I hope."
The weekend (noun) - In the UK, the weekend is Saturday and Sunday, or from Friday evening until Sunday night. It's the part of the week in which many workers living in the UK do not go to work. It is a time for leisure and recreation, and/or for religious activities. ...
For example: "What are you doing this weekend? Anything nice?"

7 LATER vs LATTER :
Later is an adverb. It's used to express time, either in the future or after the time you have mentioned.
For example: "I'll see you later on Second Life."
Latter is an adjectiv, which means near or towards the end of something
For example: "I got tired during the latter part of the walk."
!
Latter can also be used to describe the second thing of two things mentioned.

8 RAISE vs RISE :
When used as a verb they both have the same general meaning of "to move upwards", the main difference is that rise is an intransitive verb (it does not take an object), while raise is a transitive verb (it requires an object):
As you can see from the examples below; nobody pushes up the sun, whereas Lynne moved her hand upwards.
rise (v) Something rises by itself
For example:-
The sun rises in the east.
The chairman always rises to the occasion.
I will rise tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. to walk the dog.
Rise is an irregular verb: rise / rose / risen
raise (v) Something else is needed to raise something.
For example:-
Lynne raised her hand.
They can't raise the Titanic.
Raise is a regular verb: raise / raised / raised
As a noun rise describes an upward movement.
For example:-
There was a steep rise in drug-related crimes.
As a noun raise describes an increase in salary.
For example: When people ask for a
raise , they often go about it in an entirely wrong way.
!Note - you can raise children, which means to look after them as they grow up.
!Note - sometimes people ask for a pay rise.

9. MORAL vs MORALE :
Moral as a noun or an adjective, which is used to describe standards of good or bad character and behaviour. It can also be used to describe a kind of story that tells you how you should or should not behave.
For example:-
Wilde was condemned by his critics for writing an "immoral" book; he claimed it was a very moral work.
Morale is a noun that describes the amount of confidence felt by a person or group of people, especially when in a dangerous or difficult situation.
For example:
During the second world war lipstick was kept in production in the UK because of its effect on morale.

10 PRECEDE vs PROCEED :
Precede is a verb that means to be or to go before something or someone in time or space.
For example: Ecological extinction caused by overfishing precedes other human disturbance to coastal ecosystems.
Proceed is a verb that means to continue as planned.
For example: The government has decided not to proceed with the legislation.

How about "WHERE" and "WERE"
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by Olushow144: 6:12pm On May 24, 2016
Common mistakes in English not my problem, but we all speak blunders in Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa etc and no one raises alarm
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by taiwo05(m): 6:28pm On May 24, 2016
lekjons:
op, these ones're simple na..
i think you should start with "I'M" and "AM"..
the way people use them disgusts me..gringrin
OK teach me, leme learn from u
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by Apelex(m): 6:44pm On May 24, 2016
modath:



Seems you don't know the multitude of educated illiterates bumbling around...

The types that don't know the difference between we're and were, order and other or there and their, who don't know AM should never begin a sentence...

Lolzz.true talk...."educated illiterates" grin cheesy
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by Azeeztaophic(m): 7:07pm On May 24, 2016
Nice writer up, and educative.
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by Ibukun003(m): 7:38pm On May 24, 2016
...
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by Ibukun003(m): 7:45pm On May 24, 2016
MUCH and MANY

You use MANY for COUNTABLES

While you use MUCH for UNCOUNTABLES

Examples.
Correct: The students are MANY.
Incorrect: The students are much.
Because: Students are countable.

Correct: The water is MUCH
Incorrect: The water is many.
Because: Water is uncountable.


Question: “The water is plenty." Is it a correct statement?
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by IkpuMmadu: 8:13pm On May 24, 2016
This is simple English usage that the boy in secondary school in Anambra will assimilate.Maybe you need the Ogun students to understand this .


I know that I will make a prediction and who ever quotes me is on his way to perdition.
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by IkpuMmadu: 8:16pm On May 24, 2016
amsoslim:


How about "WHERE" and "WERE"


Where is place
Were is a verb and past tense for are


Where are you ?
They were here
We're going to school
The bus has a nice ware inside it


English Na monkey sha

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Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by DANO1011(m): 9:25pm On May 24, 2016
aalangel:
There's nothing confusing in your write-up. It's just a few people that can't use the words appropriately. There are harder ones
that's why I said COMMON .
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by Ice007(m): 9:31pm On May 24, 2016
Expected more; these aren't that confusing except for maybe number 3.
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by DANO1011(m): 9:33pm On May 24, 2016
Ice007:
Expected more; these aren't that confusing except for maybe number 3.
that's why I said common .
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by aalangel(f): 9:42pm On May 24, 2016
DANO1011:
that's why I said COMMON .
Okay.
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by Nobody: 9:59pm On May 24, 2016
OP, compliment and complement can both either be noun or verb depending on the context which they are used.
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by Ice007(m): 10:10pm On May 24, 2016
DANO1011:
that's why I said common .
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by Ice007(m): 10:14pm On May 24, 2016
Still have a lot more common ones out there; mybe you'd have done better using '10 of some...'
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by hausadreturn(m): 4:19am On May 25, 2016
aalangel:
There's nothing confusing in your write-up. It's just a few people that can't use the words appropriately. There are harder ones
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by hausadreturn(m): 4:23am On May 25, 2016
aalangel:
There's nothing confusing in your write-up. It's just a few people that can't use the words appropriately. There are harder ones
first person i've seen that registered as far back as 2007.
Na u o
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by hausadreturn(m): 4:32am On May 25, 2016
farouk0403:

Yoruba? if yes, then is from your ascend
u're right
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by aalangel(f): 8:33am On May 25, 2016
hausadreturn:
first person i've seen that registered as far back as 2007.
Na u o

First of all, "I don catch you"!! You went through my profile, sorry, no " pinshure". Yea, registered then because I was looking for a job. Stopped using it, till last year I came back again cos I've got little time on my hands. Will zoom off soon. Just here to read comments and comment once in a while. I post stories too.
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by hausadreturn(m): 9:56am On May 25, 2016
aalangel:


First of all, "I don catch you"!! You went through my profile, sorry, no " pinshure". Yea, registered then because I was looking for a job. Stopped using it, till last year I came back again cos I've got little time on my hands. Will zoom off soon. Just here to read comments and comment once in a while. I post stories too.
interesting. Nice one
Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by godash(m): 3:34pm On Sep 06, 2016
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Re: 10 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words In English by godash(m): 3:34pm On Sep 06, 2016
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