The Sunday News
NOTE errors made by some learners: ‘‘reply a letter’’ instead of ‘‘reply to a letter’’. “By foot’’ instead of ‘‘on foot’’.
‘‘Last week but one’’ instead of ‘‘the week before last’’ or “two weeks ago’’. ‘‘I wish if they would come’’ instead of ‘‘I wish they would come’’. ‘‘Far much better’’ instead of ‘‘far better’’ or ‘‘much better’’. “Hot soup’’ instead of ‘‘hot water’’ or ‘‘in soup’’. “Felt asleep’’ instead of ‘‘fell asleep’’. “Wake up (from the ground) instead of ‘‘get up’’.
There are cases of literal translation where learners translate words from their mother tongue directly into English.
For example, you find such statements: She rang a phone. The bus fell down. They slept without supper. I heard a funny smell. In our area buses start walking at four o’clock in the morning. The money was eaten by the headmaster.
She said we had the answers in our heads. Work out the correct answers from the cited examples.
Other errors to note are: ‘‘emphasise on a point’’ instead of ‘‘emphasise a point.” They discussed about it instead of they discussed it. ‘‘Request for permission’’ instead of request permission. “I prefer samp than rice’’ instead of ‘‘I prefer samp to rice’’. “The building comprises several rooms’’ instead of ‘‘the building comprises of several rooms’’.
The words ‘‘emphasise’’, ‘‘request’’, and ‘‘comprise’’ when used as verbs are never followed by a preposition. Use them as transitive verbs as shown in the given examples. A transitive verb is followed by a direct object.
Did you know that some words in English should always be used in the singular form and it is incorrect to use them in the plural? Examples of such words are ‘‘equipment’’, ‘‘information’’, ‘‘luggage’’, ‘‘advice’’, ‘‘furniture’’, ‘‘beard’’ (belonging to one man), ‘‘news’’ and others.
In writing especially compositions that is where many learners display gross language errors. You find a number of awkward and ridiculous expressions. Here are some examples of such errors made by examination candidates: She was nearly to die instead of She nearly died or ‘‘She was almost dead’’. I rang him up at 12 o’clock in the afternoon’ instead of “I rang him up at noon’’.
The accident occurred at ‘‘two o’clock noon’’ instead of ‘‘the accident occurred at two o’clock in the afternoon.’’ ‘‘I and Mandla rushed in to help’’ instead of ‘‘Mandla and I rushed in to help’’.
Do you remember what the following terms mean? Identify — name. Define — what is meant by. Outline — give brief details without explanation. Describe — give a detailed account without explanation. Correctly complete — fill in the missing information. Select — choose the correct options. Analyse — examine in detail. Give — show awareness of.
Explain — give clear account of why and how something is so. Evaluate — assess the value or effectiveness.
Discuss — give a reasoned balanced account. Apply — explain how something can be used. Outline — give brief details without explanation. Write — compose your own example.
The other day chatting with colleagues we noted some common mistakes which we always make unawares in English grammar.
These have been highlighted numerous times but continue to be repeated. These range from saying; He returned back home yesterday. Raise up your hand. People struggle to differentiate between send and sent. The same applies to extend and extent. Send is a verb in the present tense while sent is the past tense of the same verb.
Extend among a plethora of other meanings is to expand, enlarge, develop, build up, broaden, spread, prolong, lengthen, continue, protract, draw out, offer, proffer, advance, and bestow addition to a building. For example it is incorrect to say: “To what an extend do you think this will go?” But is correct to say: “To what an extent do you think this will go?” You can extend your house. You can extend your answer with an additional paragraph. You can prolong the discussion by a further thirty minutes. It is incorrect to say, “Raise up your hand” because the moment you raise your hand it is already up. No need to repeat yourself.
Extend your knowledge: For example what is euphemism? This is a word or phrase that is used instead of a more direct, but distasteful or offensive, word or phrase. It can also be described as a common word or phrase intended to soften the harshness of a literal meaning.
For example, a euphemism like “crossing over” might be used instead of dying. In answer to a question which reads: List as many euphemisms as you can for the words death and dying you cannot run short of choice as there are many such words.
For example; passed, passed on, passed away, resting in peace, eternal rest, asleep, demise, deceased, departed, gone, lost, slipped away, lost her battle, lost her life, succumbed, gave up the ghost, and kicked the bucket. Further on this will be the pattern of ending our discussion giving new words to develop our vocabulary base.
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