Sunday, April 16, 2017

Mistakes to avoid in English while forming sentences

I lost the precious opportunity of mastering English in both school and college days. I had to compensate for that during my professional life. Thanks to Toastmasters, I inherited a number of good habits, including the habit of regularly reading good books. I am able to speak without (many!) grammatical errors today because of the habit of reading good books and newspapers.

Even today, I don't understand the dictionary definition of "past participle", "past continuous tense", "adverb" etc., because I haven't studied grammar properly during school days. However, I manage to speak good English. There is a famous quote "Small things make perfection, but perfection isn't a small thing". A few simple grammar corrections to your sentences will make you appear like a good speaker.

1. After "did" there should not be a past tense verb

Wrong usage: Where did he went for lunch?

Right usage: Where did he go for lunch?

2. Use of "Can able to" 

Wrong usage: I can able to complete by Friday

Right usage: "I can complete by Friday" or "I'll be able to complete by Friday"

3. "I and my friend" 

Wrong usage: I and my friend went to a restaurant for dinner on Friday

Right usage: My friend and I went to a restaurant for dinner on Friday

4. Use of "One of my"

Wrong usage: One of my friend work for Cisco Systems

Right usage: One of my friends works for Cisco Systems

5. Use of  "People vs. Peoples" "Children vs. Childrens"

Wrong usage: I met a number of peoples in Coimbatore

Right usage: I met a number of people in Coimbatore

Wrong usage: I enjoy playing with Childrens

Right usage: I enjoy playing with Children

6. Use of "struck" vs. "stuck" 

Wrong usage: I got struck at work

Right usage: I got stuck at work

7. Literal translation of "native language" to English

Wrong usage: You going-ah for the wedding?

Right usage: Are you going to attend the wedding?

8. Use of "simple present" tense

Wrong usage: Anitha work really hard in this project

Right usage: Anitha works really hard in this project

Wrong usage: Anitha and Sam really works hard in this project

Right usage: Anitha and Sam really work hard in this project

Wrong usage: I works really hard in this project

Right usage: I work really hard in this project

If you want to increase your proficiency in sentence formation in English, I would strongly recommend you to read good English novels. Though you may be reading a lot of self-help books or technical books, your English fluency may not improve. Because, they don't teach you how to form sentences like "Hey! Shall we quickly go to cafeteria and grab some lunch?" However, in novels there will be stories; in stories there will be characters and characters speak through dialogues. If you don't know which novel to pick, you can start with Chetan Bhagat's novels. They are simple enough for all of us to read and understand. If you are reading novels with an "intent to learn" as opposed to reading with an "intent to kill time", you'll be able to develop your proficiency in sentence formation.

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