₦airaland Forum

Few of the things OP corrected are of course right.

'Who is that' is right
February is not pronounced FEBRY, it's /ˈfɛb.ɹʊ.ə.ɹi/
Sorry, the sound spellings ain't fully supported by Nairaland

He said paining does not exist but it does

The O in Police is not silent, it's replaced with a quick /i/ sound
So it's never Plice as he claimed. Check dictionary




YOU TRY SHA

limitless777:
GREAT contribution my BIG BROS. kudos and 1 love.

You are welcome sir!!

Nice piece.

OfficialArinze:
"PAINING" is a correct word. Use your dictionary.

wow! I just confirmed 'paining' is also used. It sounds strange though. "ache" or "hurt" is conventionally used.

weblord1900:
OP no vex o.
is it neighbourhood shop or neighbourhood's shop

....And you where is your ? Mark to that question?...no be our mama language na
... but we carry ham put for head like say we be Shakespeare....the primary purpose of learning any language is to communicate, as long as the other person understands what you're saying or trying to say...lobatan!

francisbiz:
Even February has two forms of pronouciations

PRONUNCIATION(S)

Please correct your no 1, who is it? Is very wrong, the correct answer is who is there?

Who is it knocking at my door
Who is there knocking at my door??

Rapmone

y:
As humans, we learn new things everyday. Only a dead man that doesn't learn and the foolish man picks offence unnecessarily when he's corrected! I'm not perfect and you, yes, you over there, reading this, can't be too. We all learn but it's good you share the knowledge you have because there could be others out there who might need whatever you have to share. You can also learn from what others have to share. Below are 10 common grammatical blunders we make in Nigeria when speaking:

1) 'Who is that'? People often ask this question when they hear a knock on their door. The proper question to ask should be: 'Who is it'? This is because you don't know who's at your door. It's even preferable to ask: 'Who be that'? At least, we know you are speaking Pidgin English

2) Answering a question with just a simple YES or NO only. This is very wrong. Example1: 'Do you work on Sundays'? Instead of answering 'No', you should say 'No, I don't'. Example2: 'Do you know him'? Instead of saying just 'Yes' if you know who the first speaker is referring to, you should say 'Yes, I do'. That makes it a complete answer.

3) Using the word 'offer' in school subjects. Many teachers make this terrible mistake!!! You would hear statements like 'My students don't offer Literature' or 'If you know you are not offering Government, leave the class'. WRONG!!! Students don't OFFER subjects; they TAKE subjects! To offer means to give or present something to someone. Does it mean you are presenting something to Literature or Government? Naija teachers, una no go kill person!

4) Using a plural verb for collective pronouns: 'Everybody ARE coming'. EVERYBODY is a collective pronoun. Collective pronouns (Collective nouns inclusive), carry a singular verb which is 'IS' and not 'ARE'. Many people also make the mistake of adding 'S' to staff, when addressing a collection of workers in an organisation. Don't say 'All the staffs in this firm'. Instead, say 'All the staff in this firm'.

5) 'I want to buy COOK egg' (Lol, not even cooked egg! ). It's a common blunder when we go to the neighbourhood shop. Bros, it's either you are buying a boiled egg or one that is not cooked (raw) because even the one that's fried is cooked!

6) 'The shoes do not size me'. Wrong!!! 'SIZE', in this context, is a noun! It cannot function as a verb here. The correct way to say this is: 'The shoes do not fit me' or 'The shoes are not my size'. You can still say 'The shoes are over-sized or under-sized'.

7) 'My stomach or my head is paining me'. WRONG! It's not only a terrible mistake to make grammatically; it's also a useless statement!!! Why add ING to PAIN to create a verb that's not only useless but non-existent? You can say 'My stomach aches' or 'I feel pain in my stomach'.

The following are more of Oral English (correct pronunciation; that's speaking right).

Pronouncing FEBRUARY as 'FEBUARY'. When you pronounce this word, the 'U' and 'A' are to be silent. Pronounce it as if you are saying 'FEBRY'.

9) When you pronounce WEDNESDAY, the 'D' should be silent. It should come as 'WENSDAY'.

10) When you pronounce POLICE, the 'O' should be silent. It should come as 'Plice'.

Godbless!

Starxx:
All so wrong! Op you can offer subjects!!! Hian

.
You are so wrong ma'am. The 'offer' in your image means to present i.e, the students can present French as one of the prerequisite for the admission. It doesn't mean they are to take it as a subject. Offer in that context means to preset French not to take it as a subject.
Before you argue blindly, do your research well.
Nice work OP

Hawlahscho:
Few of the things OP corrected are of course right.

'Who is that' is right
February is not pronounced FEBRY, it's /ˈfɛb.ɹʊ.ə.ɹi/
Sorry, the sound spellings ain't fully supported by Nairaland

He said paining does not exist but it does

The O in Police is not silent, it's replaced with a quick /i/ sound
So it's never Plice as he claimed. Check dictionary




YOU TRY SHA

Lol, you sef.
Are you sure it's quick /i/ or /ɵ/ sound ?

So many english teachers here correcting one another.where is prof Wole soyinka? we need him here.

Rapmoney:
As humans, we learn new things everyday. Only a dead man that doesn't learn and the foolish man picks offence unnecessarily when he's corrected! I'm not perfect and you, yes, you over there, reading this, can't be too. We all learn but it's good you share the knowledge you have because there could be others out there who might need whatever you have to share. You can also learn from what others have to share. Below are 10 common grammatical blunders we make in Nigeria when speaking:

1) 'Who is that'? People often ask this question when they hear a knock on their door. The proper question to ask should be: 'Who is it'? This is because you don't know who's at your door. It's even preferable to ask: 'Who be that'? At least, we know you are speaking Pidgin English

2) Answering a question with just a simple YES or NO only. This is very wrong. Example1: 'Do you work on Sundays'? Instead of answering 'No', you should say 'No, I don't'. Example2: 'Do you know him'? Instead of saying just 'Yes' if you know who the first speaker is referring to, you should say 'Yes, I do'. That makes it a complete answer.

3) Using the word 'offer' in school subjects. Many teachers make this terrible mistake!!! You would hear statements like 'My students don't offer Literature' or 'If you know you are not offering Government, leave the class'. WRONG!!! Students don't OFFER subjects; they TAKE subjects! To offer means to give or present something to someone. Does it mean you are presenting something to Literature or Government? Naija teachers, una no go kill person!

4) Using a plural verb for collective pronouns: 'Everybody ARE coming'. EVERYBODY is a collective pronoun. Collective pronouns (Collective nouns inclusive), carry a singular verb which is 'IS' and not 'ARE'. Many people also make the mistake of adding 'S' to staff, when addressing a collection of workers in an organisation. Don't say 'All the staffs in this firm'. Instead, say 'All the staff in this firm'.

5) 'I want to buy COOK egg' (Lol, not even cooked egg! ). It's a common blunder when we go to the neighbourhood shop. Bros, it's either you are buying a boiled egg or one that is not cooked (raw) because even the one that's fried is cooked!

6) 'The shoes do not size me'. Wrong!!! 'SIZE', in this context, is a noun! It cannot function as a verb here. The correct way to say this is: 'The shoes do not fit me' or 'The shoes are not my size'. You can still say 'The shoes are over-sized or under-sized'.

7) 'My stomach or my head is paining me'. WRONG! It's not only a terrible mistake to make grammatically; it's also a useless statement!!! Why add ING to PAIN to create a verb that's not only useless but non-existent? You can say 'My stomach aches' or 'I feel pain in my stomach'.

The following are more of Oral English (correct pronunciation; that's speaking right).

Pronouncing FEBRUARY as 'FEBUARY'. When you pronounce this word, the 'U' and 'A' are to be silent. Pronounce it as if you are saying 'FEBRY'.

9) When you pronounce WEDNESDAY, the 'D' should be silent. It should come as 'WENSDAY'.

10) When you pronounce POLICE, the 'O' should be silent. It should come as 'Plice'.

Godbless!

You need to understand English is an illogical language, and sometimes there're no good or bad way to say something. English is a language invented by illiterates, but continuously being perfected by others. I'll prove it below.

Take for instance, we often say ''I saw your missed call and decided to call you back''.

How can you actually see someone else's missed call when you're not in possession of his/her phone? Yet, its the right way to say it!.

Shouldn't it be ''I saw my missed call and decided to call you back?''.

Please let me know Mr. English.

thanks really appreciate

Thanks.......

thanks OP...u 2 much!

OP, good job. But I will like to express my reservation on para 4. I don't think the word 'everybody' is actually a collective term. It is is more of an expression about individuality than being collective. E.g. everybody will be given his/her entitlement. You will agree with me that his/her is a third person singular. Also, the word, 'staff', when used with reference to the personnel serving in an organisation, it is more appropriate to say 'member(s) of staff. Meanwhile, I stand to be corrected.

Committing blunders in English is a thing I do overlook because: (1) English language, although is a world language, doesnt freak me. (2) when I was an amateur language interpreter in my church, I committed uncountable blunders and received different unpalatable responses which made me become thick-skinned. (3) My speaking and writing have developed a great deal over time.
Mind d.way u mock 'committers of blunders.' Rome wasn't built within 24hrs. Most speakers commit blunders due to nervousness and fear of being picked on. Pls, let us 'epp' one another! It shall be well with us!!

musicwriter:
You need to understand English is an illogical language, and sometimes there're no good or bad way to say something. English is a language invented by illiterates, but continuously being perfected by others. I'll prove it below.

Take for instance, we often say ''I saw your missed call and decided to call you back''.

How can you actually see someone else's missed call when you're not in possession of his/her phone? Yet, its the right way to say it!.

Shouldn't it be ''I saw my missed call and decided to call you back?''.

Please let me know Mr. English.

u get piint there...
oya where is the answer?

babyfaceafrica:
There is more to language than picking up English grammar books? Even the English man himself is confused?why do we have various shades of English? ,the Briton has his own version(even within Britain the variant someone from newcastle(scouse) speak is different from the liverpool (toon)),while the American(AME) has its own,likewise the Canadians and Aussies!!!...My friend even the English that you so much defend is an accumulation of different indo-germanic languages.English is crap!!!!!!....what do they have?...see different dictionaries with different phonetic transcriptions all by renowned linguist and English scholars!!!!.....Just go and sit down!!!!!....Speak and be understood...yeye

bro, u just proved some points. The guy tried though and just learnt something from u two. I like guys like you and rapmoney on nairaland but u guys should stop attacking one another

More

Both of you are wrong. Since neigbhourhood is not a human being, you can't say "neighbourhood's shop" nor "neighbourhood shop"
Instead you would say "shop in the neighbourhood". Just like saying "table's leg" or "table leg" are both wrong, instead you say "leg of table". But with humans you can make it possessive like, "David's leg".

weblord1900:
OP no vex o.
is it neighbourhood shop or neighbourhood's shop

OP, u said something about pluralizing collective nouns like "everybody", u used the example of "everybody are coming" which is wrong like u stated. But, u came down to No. 6, where u were talking about shoe sizes, u said "the shoes ARE not my size". So, my question now is, is shoes not a collective now?

Rapmoney:
As humans, we learn new things everyday. Only a dead man that doesn't learn and the foolish man picks offence unnecessarily when he's corrected! I'm not perfect and you, yes, you over there, reading this, can't be too. We all learn but it's good you share the knowledge you have because there could be others out there who might need whatever you have to share. You can also learn from what others have to share. Below are 10 common grammatical blunders we make in Nigeria when speaking:

1) 'Who is that'? People often ask this question when they hear a knock on their door. The proper question to ask should be: 'Who is it'? This is because you don't know who's at your door. It's even preferable to ask: 'Who be that'? At least, we know you are speaking Pidgin English

2) Answering a question with just a simple YES or NO only. This is very wrong. Example1: 'Do you work on Sundays'? Instead of answering 'No', you should say 'No, I don't'. Example2: 'Do you know him'? Instead of saying just 'Yes' if you know who the first speaker is referring to, you should say 'Yes, I do'. That makes it a complete answer.

3) Using the word 'offer' in school subjects. Many teachers make this terrible mistake!!! You would hear statements like 'My students don't offer Literature' or 'If you know you are not offering Government, leave the class'. WRONG!!! Students don't OFFER subjects; they TAKE subjects! To offer means to give or present something to someone. Does it mean you are presenting something to Literature or Government? Naija teachers, una no go kill person!

4) Using a plural verb for collective pronouns: 'Everybody ARE coming'. EVERYBODY is a collective pronoun. Collective pronouns (Collective nouns inclusive), carry a singular verb which is 'IS' and not 'ARE'. Many people also make the mistake of adding 'S' to staff, when addressing a collection of workers in an organisation. Don't say 'All the staffs in this firm'. Instead, say 'All the staff in this firm'.

5) 'I want to buy COOK egg' (Lol, not even cooked egg! ). It's a common blunder when we go to the neighbourhood shop. Bros, it's either you are buying a boiled egg or one that is not cooked (raw) because even the one that's fried is cooked!

6) 'The shoes do not size me'. Wrong!!! 'SIZE', in this context, is a noun! It cannot function as a verb here. The correct way to say this is: 'The shoes do not fit me' or 'The shoes are not my size'. You can still say 'The shoes are over-sized or under-sized'.

7) 'My stomach or my head is paining me'. WRONG! It's not only a terrible mistake to make grammatically; it's also a useless statement!!! Why add ING to PAIN to create a verb that's not only useless but non-existent? You can say 'My stomach aches' or 'I feel pain in my stomach'.

The following are more of Oral English (correct pronunciation; that's speaking right).

Pronouncing FEBRUARY as 'FEBUARY'. When you pronounce this word, the 'U' and 'A' are to be silent. Pronounce it as if you are saying 'FEBRY'.

9) When you pronounce WEDNESDAY, the 'D' should be silent. It should come as 'WENSDAY'.

10) When you pronounce POLICE, the 'O' should be silent. It should come as 'Plice'.

Godbless!

Good Job!

'S' can now be added to the word 'staff'. I mean in a plural form. It's now acceptable as 'staffs', though 'staff' is still accepted in a plural form. 'staffs' is among the current English words. Another example is: 'handsomer'.
You can research on that, please.
Thank you.

Rapmoney:
Pronouncing FEBRUARY as 'FEBUARY'. When you pronounce this word, the 'U' and 'A' are to be silent. Pronounce it as if you are saying 'FEBRY'.

9) When you pronounce WEDNESDAY, the 'D' should be silent. It should come as 'WENSDAY'.

10) When you pronounce POLICE, the 'O' should be silent. It should come as 'Plice'.

Godbless!

/
Language is a mode of communication. If you say febry, wensday,plice and nobody understands you, the effort goes to a waste.

February == feburuwari
Wednesday == wedinezdey
Police == polis or polishi. (depending on how many teeth you are missing)

China, the engineering and mathematics brain base of the world does not teach both courses in English. Go figure!
\

Potato = Ptato, Macaroni = Macroni, Mutherfhuker = Mofo etc.

op, u 4got to add grammatical brouhaha like "it is high time we go home"

Rapmoney:
As humans, we learn new things everyday. Only a dead man that doesn't learn and the foolish man picks offence unnecessarily when he's corrected! I'm not perfect and you, yes, you over there, reading this, can't be too. We all learn but it's good you share the knowledge you have because there could be others out there who might need whatever you have to share. You can also learn from what others have to share. Below are 10 common grammatical blunders we make in Nigeria when speaking:

1) 'Who is that'? People often ask this question when they hear a knock on their door. The proper question to ask should be: 'Who is it'? This is because you don't know who's at your door. It's even preferable to ask: 'Who be that'? At least, we know you are speaking Pidgin English

2) Answering a question with just a simple YES or NO only. This is very wrong. Example1: 'Do you work on Sundays'? Instead of answering 'No', you should say 'No, I don't'. Example2: 'Do you know him'? Instead of saying just 'Yes' if you know who the first speaker is referring to, you should say 'Yes, I do'. That makes it a complete answer.

3) Using the word 'offer' in school subjects. Many teachers make this terrible mistake!!! You would hear statements like 'My students don't offer Literature' or 'If you know you are not offering Government, leave the class'. WRONG!!! Students don't OFFER subjects; they TAKE subjects! To offer means to give or present something to someone. Does it mean you are presenting something to Literature or Government? Naija teachers, una no go kill person!

4) Using a plural verb for collective pronouns: 'Everybody ARE coming'. EVERYBODY is a collective pronoun. Collective pronouns (Collective nouns inclusive), carry a singular verb which is 'IS' and not 'ARE'. Many people also make the mistake of adding 'S' to staff, when addressing a collection of workers in an organisation. Don't say 'All the staffs in this firm'. Instead, say 'All the staff in this firm'.

5) 'I want to buy COOK egg' (Lol, not even cooked egg! ). It's a common blunder when we go to the neighbourhood shop. Bros, it's either you are buying a boiled egg or one that is not cooked (raw) because even the one that's fried is cooked!

6) 'The shoes do not size me'. Wrong!!! 'SIZE', in this context, is a noun! It cannot function as a verb here. The correct way to say this is: 'The shoes do not fit me' or 'The shoes are not my size'. You can still say 'The shoes are over-sized or under-sized'.

7) 'My stomach or my head is paining me'. WRONG! It's not only a terrible mistake to make grammatically; it's also a useless statement!!! Why add ING to PAIN to create a verb that's not only useless but non-existent? You can say 'My stomach aches' or 'I feel pain in my stomach'.

The following are more of Oral English (correct pronunciation; that's speaking right).

Pronouncing FEBRUARY as 'FEBUARY'. When you pronounce this word, the 'U' and 'A' are to be silent. Pronounce it as if you are saying 'FEBRY'.

9) When you pronounce WEDNESDAY, the 'D' should be silent. It should come as 'WENSDAY'.

10) When you pronounce POLICE, the 'O' should be silent. It should come as 'Plice'.

Godbless!

Bro nor vex the last one nor be so. Dia is indeed a sound between the "p" n d 'L'. It's called "shua" u got it in machine btwn d m nd c.

You did quite a good job op.
However, you are not on point on nos 2, 8 and 10.
You can answer a 'yes' or 'no' to any question and Stoll be perfectly correct.
The u and a in February are by no means silent. Do you know of the schwa sound? The inverted e? February is pronounced feb-roo-ə-ri with the schwa replacing the a and never febry
Also, the schwa sound comes in police,, it sounds more like pəli:s

You did quite a good job op.
However, you are not on point on nos 2, 8 and 10.
You can answer a 'yes' or 'no' to any question and Still be perfectly correct.
The u and a in February are by no means silent. Do you know of the schwa sound? The inverted e? February is pronounced feb-roo-ə-ri with the schwa replacing the a and never febry
Also, the schwa sound comes in police,, it sounds more like pəli:s

Opistorincos:
Thanks a lot @op, as a masscomm student my English needs to be near perfect and with this, I've learnt new stuffs and I'll keep my spoken English in check

There is nothing like 'stuffs' unless you are using it as a verb.

Rapmoney:
As humans, we learn new things everyday. Only a dead man that doesn't learn and the foolish man picks offence unnecessarily when he's corrected! I'm not perfect and you, yes, you over there, reading this, can't be too. We all learn but it's good you share the knowledge you have because there could be others out there who might need whatever you have to share. You can also learn from what others have to share. Below are 10 common grammatical blunders we make in Nigeria when speaking:

1) 'Who is that'? People often ask this question when they hear a knock on their door. The proper question to ask should be: 'Who is it'? This is because you don't know who's at your door. It's even preferable to ask: 'Who be that'? At least, we know you are speaking Pidgin English

2) Answering a question with just a simple YES or NO only. This is very wrong. Example1: 'Do you work on Sundays'? Instead of answering 'No', you should say 'No, I don't'. Example2: 'Do you know him'? Instead of saying just 'Yes' if you know who the first speaker is referring to, you should say 'Yes, I do'. That makes it a complete answer.

3) Using the word 'offer' in school subjects. Many teachers make this terrible mistake!!! You would hear statements like 'My students don't offer Literature' or 'If you know you are not offering Government, leave the class'. WRONG!!! Students don't OFFER subjects; they TAKE subjects! To offer means to give or present something to someone. Does it mean you are presenting something to Literature or Government? Naija teachers, una no go kill person!

4) Using a plural verb for collective pronouns: 'Everybody ARE coming'. EVERYBODY is a collective pronoun. Collective pronouns (Collective nouns inclusive), carry a singular verb which is 'IS' and not 'ARE'. Many people also make the mistake of adding 'S' to staff, when addressing a collection of workers in an organisation. Don't say 'All the staffs in this firm'. Instead, say 'All the staff in this firm'.

5) 'I want to buy COOK egg' (Lol, not even cooked egg! ). It's a common blunder when we go to the neighbourhood shop. Bros, it's either you are buying a boiled egg or one that is not cooked (raw) because even the one that's fried is cooked!

6) 'The shoes do not size me'. Wrong!!! 'SIZE', in this context, is a noun! It cannot function as a verb here. The correct way to say this is: 'The shoes do not fit me' or 'The shoes are not my size'. You can still say 'The shoes are over-sized or under-sized'.

7) 'My stomach or my head is paining me'. WRONG! It's not only a terrible mistake to make grammatically; it's also a useless statement!!! Why add ING to PAIN to create a verb that's not only useless but non-existent? You can say 'My stomach aches' or 'I feel pain in my stomach'.

The following are more of Oral English (correct pronunciation; that's speaking right).

Pronouncing FEBRUARY as 'FEBUARY'. When you pronounce this word, the 'U' and 'A' are to be silent. Pronounce it as if you are saying 'FEBRY'.

9) When you pronounce WEDNESDAY, the 'D' should be silent. It should come as 'WENSDAY'.

10) When you pronounce POLICE, the 'O' should be silent. It should come as 'Plice'.

Godbless!

I dont know if am d only one having doubt abt d no 1.
OP, Forgive my intuition, do animals knock? Do they? How can u say who is it wen u already know its a human. Beside THAT is used for both animate nd inanimate object. My submission.

Rapmoney:
People like you hardly learn! Why not move to the Celebrity Section if you don't have anything meaningful to say here? Busy body!!!

Bobo you harsh see finishing