TMC Mistakes

➖Miscellaneous examples➖

872. Wrong repetition of subject after an adjectival clause.

✗ Don't say: David, who is a careless pupil, he lost his book.
✓ Say: David, who is a careless pupil, lost his book.

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Did English ever have a formal version of "you"?

871. Yes it did, and the formal version was (drumroll, please....) you.

🔹 In Early Modern English, thou was the singular and you was the plural. Plural you came to be used as a polite form of address (similar to the French vous, which is also used for the plural), but over time this polite form became more and more common, eventually displacing the singular thou altogether.

🔹 This explains a peculiarity of traditional Quaker speech, which one often hears in films set in the early Americas. The Quakers opposed making any distinctions of rank, so they insisted on addressing everyone as thou, not as you. The irony is that today we perceive thou to be archaic and formal, while the original intent is to be more informal.

📌 Update: we don't know if there was any politeness distinction in PIE (Proto-Indo-European). In any case, the distinctions that exist in the modern European languages are not inherited from PIE, since the oldest recorded IE (Indo-European) languages (Latin, Greek, Sanskrit) did not have separate polite pronouns. The current European system apparently began with the late Roman Emperors and became widespread in the Middle Ages.

🔹 Non-IE languages often have morethan two levels of distinctness. In Thai and Japanese (the only two languages about which I can speak with confidence), there are a variety of different pronouns that can be used depending on the exact nature of the social relations between the interlocutors, and the system often extends not just to the 2nd person pronoun but to the 1st and 3rd person pronouns as well.

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➖Use of the wrong tense➖

870. Wrong sequence of tenses.

✗ Don't say: Rachel asked me what I am doing.
✓ Say: Rachel asked me what I was doing.

▪️ When the verb in the main clause is in the past tense, use a past tense in subordinate clauses.

📌 Note: This rule doesn't apply
1) to verbs within quotations.
2) to facts that are true at all times.
We say:
1) She said, 'I am waiting for your answer'
2) He said that London is a great city

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➖Most common phrasal verbs➖

869. Bug out
✏️ Meaning:
Leave somewhere in a hurry
✏️ Example:
They BUGGED OUT when the police arrived.
#phrasal_verb

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➖Confusion of number➖

867. Advice.
✗ Don't say: Nick gave me some good advices.
✓ Say: Nick gave me some good advice.

📌 Note: When we mean only one thing we say a piece of advice: Let me give you a piece of advice.

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866. Correct Use of Nouns and Pronouns

Countable and uncountable nouns

🔹 Words like flower, book, tree, chair and pen are countable nouns because they refer to objects that can be counted. Countable nouns can have plural forms. They can also be used with numbers and the articles a/an.

• There is a book on the table.
• There are two books on the table.

• She sat in a chair.
• We need to buy some chairs.

🔹 Words like milk, water, knowledge and wisdom are uncountable nouns because they refer to objects or qualities that cannot be counted. Uncountable nouns do not normally have plural forms. They are also not used with the articles a/an.

• Milk is rich in nutrients. (NOT A milk/milks …)
• We subsist on rice. (NOT … a rice/rices.)
• Water is essential for the existence of life.

🔹 Some common uncountable nouns are: furniture, advice, news, information, business, work, weather, traffic, scenery and bread. Note that many of these nouns are countable in several other languages and therefore ESL students often wrongly use them with articles and in the plural.

✗ Wrong: He gave me an advice.
✓ Right: He gave me a piece of advice. OR He gave me some advice.

🔹 We normally use a phrase like a piece of/ a bottle of to talk about a unit of an uncountable thing.

✏️ Examples are given below:

• A bottle of water (NOT A water)
• A piece of work (NOT A work)
• A piece of/a bar of soap

Correct use of the possessive case

🔹 Possessive case should be used only with the following:

1. Names of living beings

• John’s house
• My father’s spectacles

🔹 Possessive case is also used with personified objects:

• The lion’s mane
• Fortune’s favorite
• Nature’s laws

2. A few stereotyped phrases

• Out of arm’s way
• The ship’s crew
• For conscience’ sake
• For goodness’ sake
• At one’s finger’s ends

3. Nouns of space and time

🔹 Nouns of space and time denoting an amount of something can also be used with the possessive case.

• In a year’s time
• A day’s work

🔹 When two nouns in the possessive case refer to the same person or object, the apostrophe with s is added to the last only.

• My brother John’s car (NOT My brother’s John’s car)
• This is my uncle, the doctor’s clinic (NOT This is my uncle’s, the doctor’s clinic)

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➖Most confusing prepositions➖

865. At vs In

People get very confused about these two prepositions, but there are a couple of simple tips you can use to help yourself remember how to use them.

🔹 In, as a preposition of place, is usually used to talk about the position of someone or something inside large places such as countries, continents, big cities etc.

✏️ Example:
She grew up in New Zealand.

🔹 At, as a preposition of place, is usually used to talk about the position of someone or something inside small and unimportant places such as villages, small towns etc.

✏️ Example:
I'lll meet you at the shop.

🔹 At is also commonly used with proper names such as buildings or organizations.

✏️ Example:
I first met her at Harrods.
She works at the bank.

🔹 In, as a preposition of time, is usually used when talking about parts of the day.

✏️ Example:
I'll see you in the morning, in the evening, in the afternoon.

🔹 At, as a preposition of time, is usually used with clock time.

✏️ Example:
My train leaves at 6.30 am.

📌 Note: As with most so called "rules" in English there are exceptions, so just to confuse you we always say "at" night.

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➖Adjectives often confused➖

864. Interesting and Interested.

(a) Interesting.
✗ Don't say: I've read an interested story.
✓ Say: I've read an interesting story.

(b) Interested.
✗ Don't say: Are you interesting in your work?
✓ Say: Are you interested in your work?

▪️ Interesting refers to the thing which arouses interest, while interested refers to the person who takes an interest in the thing.

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➖Uses of adverbs➖

863. Much too is followed by Unpleasant Adjective, whereas too much is followed by Noun.

🔹 Much too + Unpleasant Adjective.
✗ Incorrect - His failure is too much painful for me.
✓ Correct - His failure is much too painful for me.

🔹 Too much + Noun.
✗ Incorrect - His wife's rude behavior gives him much too pain.
✓ Correct - His wife's rude behavior gives him too much pain.

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862. Correct Use of Nouns and Pronouns

🔹 Pronouns used as complements of to be

✏️ Grammarians formerly recommended that a pronoun used as the complement of the verb to be should be in the nominative case. Today the use of the nominative case in such cases is considered extremely formal and over-correct. Instead, we use the objective case.

• It is me. (Formal: It is I.)
• It was him. (Formal: It was he.)

✏️ A pronoun used as the object of a verb or a preposition should be in the objective case.

• You can’t trust him. (NOT You can’t trust he.)
• We have invited them. (NOT We have invited they.)
• There is really no difference between you and him. (Here the pronouns you and him are used as the objects of the preposition between.)
• He has given great trouble to us. (Here we use the objective case because the pronoun us is the object of the verb to.)

✏️ A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number, person and gender.

• All students should bring their books. (Here the pronoun their agrees with its antecedent students in number and person.)
• John has brought his book. (Here the pronoun his agrees with its antecedent John in number, person and gender.)
• Each of the girls gave her own version of the story.
• I am not one of those who believe everything they hear. (Here the antecedent of the pronoun they is those and not I.)

✏️ Some grammarians recommend that the pronoun of the masculine gender should be used to refer back to anybody, everybody, anyone, each etc., when the sex is unknown.

• Everybody ran as fast as he could.
• Anybody can do it if he tries.

✏️ In modern English it is more common to use plural pronouns to refer back to anybody, everyone etc.

• Everybody should bring their books. (Less formal)
• Everybody should bring his books. (Very formal)
• Everybody ran as fast as they could.
• Each of them had their share. (Less formal)
• Each of them had his share. (Very formal)

🔹 Who and whom

✏️ Who is in the nominative case; whom is in the objective case.

• I don’t know who (not whom) they were.
The student, whom you thought so highly of, has failed to win the first prize.

✏️ In modern English whom is unusual except in a formal style.

• Who did you meet? (Less formal)
• Whom did you meet? (Very formal)

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861. couch potato
✏️ Meaning:
A person who watches a lot of television and does not have an active life.
✏️ Example:
My younger sister is a great couch potato; she can watch TV 24 hours a day.
✏️ Origin:
This idiomatic expression is supposed to be originated in 1970’s in America by a comic artist who drew two idle, inactive and lazy characters he named them “Couch Potatoes” since then this phrase became very popular to call names someone who spends lots of time watching television then being habitual of TV they put on weight and looks more like a potato.

Another idea of the origin of this idiom which made it more popular is that imagine a person sitting on a couch (sofa) watching television eating potato chips. Now shorten this description into two words, “couch potato.”
#idioms

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➖Adverbs often confused➖

860. No so for Not very.

✗ Don't say: I hear that he's not so rich.
✓ Say: I hear that he's not very rich.

▪️ We can't use not so in the sense of not very. The expression He's not so rich implies a comparison: He's nor so rich as you are.

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➖Most confusing words➖

859. Aim / Goal / Objective

🔹 Many people use these words interchangeably; there is really very little difference between them. In everyday spoken English, the most common word is goal. Aim and objective are usually used in more formal writing.

✏️ One small difference is that an objective is more specific than a goal, for example:

• Our goal is to improve health care for children.
general
• Our objective is to provide 10,000 children with vaccines.
specific

✏️ However, in casual conversation, most people would use goal for both general and specific things:

• My goal is to lose weight.
• My goal is to lose 20 pounds by the summer.

✏️ The words goal and objective are nouns, and the word aim can be a noun or a verb:

• The aim of this project is to increase our students' motivation.
aim = noun
• We're aiming to increase our students' motivation.
aim = verb

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858. Correct Use of Some Adjectives

🔹 Adjectives with verbs

An adjective can be used with a verb when some quality of the subject, rather than the action of the verb is to be expressed.
Read the sentences given below:

• Roses smell sweet. (NOT sweetly)
Here what we are talking about is a particular quality of the subject (roses).
• She looks smart. (NOT smartly)
• The milk turned sour. (NOT sourly)
• I feel sad. (NOT sadly)

🔹 Kind and Kinds

As a general rule the word kind is singular and should be used with that and this to modify a singular noun. Similarly, the word kinds is plural and should be used with these or those to modify a plural noun.

• This kind of thing
• These kinds of things
• These sorts of apples
• Those kinds of dogs

This rule, however, is not strictly followed. Expressions such as ‘this kind of things’ and ‘these kind of things’ are now used even by educated native speakers.

🔹 Comparison of Adjectives

When a comparison is made by means of a comparative followed by than, the thing that is compared must be excluded from the group of things with which it is compared. This is usually accomplished by using a word such as other.

• Solomon was wiser than any other man. OR Solomon was wiser than all other men.
(NOT Solomon was wiser than all men/any man.)

• The Taj Mahal is more beautiful than all other mausoleums. OR The Taj Mahal is more beautiful than any other mausoleum.

• The crocodile is larger than any other reptile. OR The crocodile is larger than all other reptiles.

📌 When a comparison is made by means of a superlative, the thing that is compared must be a part of the group of things with which it is compared.

• Solomon was the wisest of all men. (NOT … all other men.)
The crocodile is the largest of all reptiles. (NOT … all reptiles.)

✏️ Another very common error is exemplified in the following example:

✗ Wrong: The population of Tokyo is greater than any other city in US.

The above sentence is wrong because it makes a comparison between the population of Tokyo and cities in US whereas the comparison should have been made between the population of Tokyo and the population of the cities in US.

✏️ Therefore we should say:

✓ Right: The population of Tokyo is greater than that of any other city in US.

More examples are given below:

✗ Incorrect: The quality of education provided by our school is better than any other school.

✓ Correct: The quality of education provided by our school is better than that provided by any other school.

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857. When should end punctuation go inside quotes?

❗️ Marvin thought it was "awful."
or
Marvin thought it was "awful".

🔸 Firstly, this is only American convention — in Britain for instance you wouldn't use it (except for a few publishing houses).

🔸 Secondly, this is not logical but typographical: a convention arising out of early American printers' opinion that typesetting the punctuation inside quotes looked better. This convention is slowly eroding in some areas and being replaced by the "logical" one… but it is still the predominant American convention. English is made up of a great many mere conventions and you can't really demand that it be logical.

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➖Use of the wrong tense➖

856. Using the verb to use for the present habitual action.

❌ Don't say: I use to get up at six every morning.
✅ Say: I get up at six every morning.
Or: I'm accustomed to getting up at six, etc.

▪️ The verb to use doesn't express a habit in the present. / use means / employ: I use a pen to write with.

📌 Note: Used to expresses a past state or habit and it usually refers to some old situation which no longer exists: I used to see him every day; My father used to play football very well.

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➖Use of the wrong tense➖

855. Using the verb to use for the present habitual action.

✗ Don't say: I use to get up at six every morning.
✓ Say: I get up at six every morning.
Or: I'm accustomed to getting up at six, etc.

▪️ The verb to use doesn't express a habit in the present. / use means / employ: I use a pen to write with.

📌 Note: Used to expresses a past state or habit and it usually refers to some old situation which no longer exists: I used to see him every day; My father used to play football very well.

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