₦airaland Forum

Thank you.

Who is that?(...knocking at my door?) or should it be Who is there?... ( knocking at my door?)
Do you work on Sundays? ..... No (I don't work on Sundays)/No I don't (work on Sundays).

"I am coming down from the car/ bus." (..were you on the roof?) " I am coming out of the car."

"I called you severally but you never answered."...I called you several times but you never answered.

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

No vex, we are all learners...
It's either mass communicator undergraduate or in the making.

delerx:
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

noted..thanks!!!

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 done miss am OP. Mr Grammar .

I can already sight several errors before even analysing things in detail

alaye ! English no be our papa language go teach oyinbo pikin yoruba or igbo na.. Nigerians too dey copy copy, we go copy their language plus accent join and we never even sabi our own language finish... smh

"Hey..my first job ever... I got my dream job... I would be resuming on Monday!"

To resume a job means you were already doing that job.... took a break from it... and have now returned to it.
".....I would be resuming starting on Monday."

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.

Which kind rubbish grammar be this one again, nothing peson no go hear.

@OP not bad at all.. But you see that Plice own ehn, bros just leave that matter... popo, 5/0, eke,oga officer, skele, Just leave that 'o' for them, those guys no get joy. Plice, plice ke? Bros you don pass oshodi under bridge for night?

Just goofing

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!

OP....I appreciate ur effort on such a good topic. You need to be corrected in some aspects of ur write-up, not to mislead readers. I'd also help to enlighten the thread readers on other parts.
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1. When respondin to a knock on ur door, "who is it?" is grammatically wrong!
"Who is that?" is actually correct.
"It" is a personal pronoun used for inanimate subjects or objects.
"Who" is an interrogative 'subject' pronoun used for animate subjects only.
"Is" is a linking verb that connects the subject(who) to its subject complement(It).
Now, u can't complement an animate subject(who) with an inanimate object(It)...it's wrong coz u've contradicted the nature of the subject(animate) with the subject complement(inanimate).
U can only use an inanimate "subject complement" for an "inanimate subject" pronoun.
E.g What is it? - "what", here, tells us that the subject(what) is inanimate, hence, complemented with an inanimate term "it".
Using "who" means u've acknowledged the person at ur door as bein animate, so, u cud use "that" as it's subject complement.
"That" is a demonstrative pronoun that applies to animate or inanimate subjects or objects, which is why it can complement "who"
However, thr r many phrases u cud use to answer som1 knocking on ur door.
Who is that?, who is at the door?, who's knocking at the door?, who is there? etc

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2. Agreed.
3. Wrong. Refer to starxx comment for evidence.
4. Agreed, but "all the staff in this firm" aint correct. Simply use "the staff in this firm OR of this firm".
REASON: "the staff" in itself already covers "all"...if u must use "all", then I'd advice u put it dis way: "all members of staff". This is just to emphasize that none is left out. We can also say "some members of staff" or "a member of staff" to indicate that not all the members of staff are involved.
5. Agreed.
6 Agreed.
7. Agreed. The reason why "paining" is wrong is coz it's a STATIVE VERB. These types of verbs can't be used in the progressive sense by the usual addition of '-ing'. Stative verbs can't be easily imagined in a finite or infinite sense. Azzin, dem juz dey.
Now, let's examine "pain". Give it a tot. Is the word short term or long term?..Is it gonna end soon or gonna be continuous?..
We can't even say...that's why it's stative, so, adding '-ing' sef no gel. It's the way u use it in a sentence that tells the reader what to imagine.
E.g it pains me, it pained me, I'm in pain.

All the examples above tells us more about the pain due to the addition of other words for clarity.
Other popular examples of stative verbs are: see, hear, adore, hope etc
U can't add the '-ing' suffix to dem to construct a correct sentence.
E.g "I am hearing u" is wrong; as well as "I'm hoping for a change" OR "I'll be seeing u tonite"
NOTE: "seeing" in some very rare but distinctive cases, however, might defy this rule.

-----------------------

I have no addition or objection whatsoever to the rest. Thanks.

The "plice" pronunciation is for BrE speakers. AmE speakers pronounce the 'o' in police.

OP's so frigging wrong-- not on all the points. Read wide mate.

Rapmoney:
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

Thank you; I appreciate

I expected you to make a correction to "Stuff".

I hear people say "All my stuffs...". Is the word "stuff" not like "staff"? In that it has no plural form?

psalmsjob:
....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!

Everything you wrote is quite confusing. How can you start a sentence with a full stop.
You used full stop instead of space which will cause a confusion to the reader.


It's not done that way bro.

Op,that "yes" or "No" is not wrong at all.You can confirm this from "English Lexis and Structure by Ayo Bamgbose" page 104.It's the jamb recommended text for some years now. Thanks

Nice. But, I somehow disagree with number 10

And someone somewhere will say "skiboroboskibo skiboroboskibo yeeba oosheyy baddest!!!" and people go still understand
Who english don epp
Communication ni koko !!!

Another common mistake is the use of the word "severally" instead of several times, eg I told him "severally" to stop poking me, the correct statement is I told him several times to stop poking me. Another one is please "borrow" me your pen, the right statement is please "lend" your pen.

weblord1900:
Everything you wrote is quite confusing. How can you start a sentence with a full stop.
You used full stop instead of space which will cause a confusion to the reader.


It's not done that way bro.

Ok o...and you there's too much space between your first sentence and the next paragraph...is that how it's done or can't I ask a question beginning with "is"?....my point is we burden ourselves with other people's language and ignore ours....the Asian out smart us in this regard and they're better for it.

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

I don't usually like comments but when I do....... million likes!

psalmsjob:
Ok o...and you there's too much space between your first sentence and the next paragraph...is that how it's done or can't I ask a question beginning with "is"?....my point is we burden ourselves with other people's language and ignore ours....the Asian out smart us in this regard and they're better for it.

How many full stop and many sentence?

OP no vex o, this correct grammatical expressions expecially from 8 down is it based on American or British?

weblord1900:
How many full stop and many sentence?

You be typical 9ja pesin, you dey take questions answer question abi? The "....." mean say Tori still dey in-between but I leave the mata for Mathias, so no be full stop atal atal..... if I hear say you no overstand ham so, I go.....

You said "Grammar" yet you are focused on Semantics.

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, uhmmmm, Liverpool is Scouse while Newcastle is Toon.

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

Chei. C hw u don kill ursef

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

You made a very big point which people that claim English profs failed to understand.I wonder what is different between favour and favor.
sexxkillz come and correct him since na ur job to correct everyone.

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!

Ehm Oga Soyinka hold am small. You can answer a question with just No or Yes. Thank you.

Descartes:
He is partially right on February

He is completely wrong.

February is either pronounced as "februri" or "februeri". The authority is the OALD.

Everybody in Nigeria claims to be a guru/proficient in English language...

Descartes:
I appreciate your effort but the oral pronunciation on the word POLICE is wrong

Oga, I only said it's pronounced with the 'O' being silent. Thanks.

Esdb3:
Ehm Oga Soyinka hold am small. You can answer a question with just No or Yes. Thank you.

Just like that? Without any proof?