English Grammar (Common Mistakes)

[Yoshitsune]

Okay, guys I don't know about you, but these forums are very international, meaning not everyone here speaks English and if they do, they may be learning it. Also, some people just make simple mistakes when it comes to grammar, verbs, conjugating etc. Especially in school, grammar books have sections about these common mistakes. So hopefully, this helps out a bit.

1. Common Mistakes: Homonyms
Words that sound alike can make people confuse them.

Group 1
Their - possessive "of them"
ie: Their headbands.

There - adv. location
ie: Go over there.

They're - contraction of "They are"
ie: They're from the village of the sand.

Theirs - plossessive plural "of them"
ie: Ours books are here, but theirs are at their house.

There's - contraction of "There is"
ie: There is someone coming.

Group 2

Your - possessive "of you"
ie: Your house is on the hill.

You're - contraction of "you are"
ie: You're pretty good.

Yours - pronoun, things belonging to you
ie: The presents here are yours.

[The Black Knight]

ちょべりぐ一案よ、ヨシツネさんは！

Also, It could help the native speakers here who have been speaking it incorrectly.

僕は後てつだいましょうよ。

[Yoshitsune]

sure you can help,
I just hope it's a good idea though, not everyone is perfect at speaking or typing, especially on an internet forum where ppl shorten stuff, but it's always good to know some tricky stuff

ところで、「ちょべりグー」っては、ちょ古いエクスプレッションだよ！

[Run.The.Animal]

Thank you! I get so aggrivated when people who "know" English talk like they have no tongue... or brain stem.

Please, you gotta let me help. I am very eager to help people fix these types of things, and I know what I'm talking about. I don't claim to know everything about English grammar, but I do pride myself upon it.

[Yoshitsune]

You're very brand new, and it's nice you posted here first!

Sure, I was going to just give more examples here, but sure.
Just don't get too agitated though. I don't want to tease people for not speaking right, since that may be their style online.

[The Black Knight]

ところで、「ちょべりグー」っては、ちょ古いエクスプレッションだよ！

そうか？。。。だよね。　決して知らなかった！

....ところで、「チョベリグ」だ。

Sorry you guys for the Japanese conversation...I'll stop spamming now.

[sonnie_skies]

Poor spelling bothers me more than poor grammar, but both are rather pathetic on any forum, period, regardless of whether or not it's international.

I've concluded that the ones responsible for the worst butchering are native English speakers themselves.

[ecelipse]

i love englishsmile-big although my spelling is a bit scrued but i know more english than my friendssmile-big smile-big coz i feel like more special than themsmile-big

[Dionysus]

OK. Here's a couple of submissions from me.

Could've - contraction of "could have," but often mistakenly expanded into "could of."

We could have attended the dinner. Sasuke could have stayed in Konoha.

---
The subjunctive case. I think this is the last use of this case in English. It used to be more prevalent back in the days of Old English. (And people who have studied German know what a pain in the ass it is, especially as a native English speaker.)

Anyway, the subjunctive mood in English is used to indicate a hypothetical (or contingent) situation presupposed to be false.

If I were over 65 million years old, I would (or perhaps should) be about to tell you how the dinosaurs died. If I were 16, I would do things differently. I wish I were a trillionaire.

Now, if the situation isn't presupposed to be false (ie. may be true), then use an indicative verb (was).

If Jimmy was out all day, how could he have known about the murder? If Jesus really was the son of a god, perhaps he had superpowers like Hercules.

The subjunctive case requires the use of a modal verb. Mostly "would," but sometimes "should." The indicative case does not require "would" or "should" (since the indicative case is used way more often and it would be stupid).

Capisce?

[Bubbles]

I don't think it matters so much on these forums as i am English and make many mistakes in my posts. However, if anyone needs some help i will try and help as well :thumbs.

XX

[The Black Knight]

Well it's mainly for those who are using English as a 2nd tongue; they may have never been taught certain things, or they haven't had enough practice and they make a few common elementary mistakes.

[jkingler]

Nice thread. :thumbs

Here are a few other submissions (pertaining to the mistakes I see most often here):

Its or It's? Its: The possessive form of the pronoun it is never written with an apostrophe, e.g., . . . read the book. "Its title is . . ." or, "What is its value?" It's: contractions of it is and it has. It's time to go. It's been great.

Apostrophes should be used only for contractions ("It's OK to use one here") or possessive form ("Bob's use of apostrophes is correct"). It is common and incorrect to use an apostrophe to indicate a plural ("Error's like this are annoying").

I hope this helps. :nod

[furious styles]

English Grammar? dont maek me laugh,

[Shogun]

i may as well add my two pence:

When you type, "it's" that is a shortned version of: it is.

When you type, "its" you are referring to a thing, essentially.

[Run.The.Animal]

You're very brand new, and it's nice you posted here first!

Sure, I was going to just give more examples here, but sure.
Just don't get too agitated though. I don't want to tease people for not speaking right, since that may be their style online.

Cool, thank you. I would love to help plenty of people's lazy tongues.

One thing I don't particularly like, though not an attempt to insult anyone, is how the "north" talk "wierd" and how the "south" talk "wierd". I technilcally live in the south, and I friggin' hate it when people say "winder" instead of "window". While, the north has its "you's guys". This should actually be "you all" or "you guys".

I'd also like to start a bit of comma training in this post, but it's a big problem, commas, so it will be a series of posts before I get to finish all of the comma problems.

Today, let's learn about a personal favorite bit of grammar of mine: appositives. An appositive is a bit of information the interupts a sentence to give additional, yet unneccessary, information. Appositives can also include titles. An appositive is ALWAYS started and finished with a comma, unless, ofcourse, they are at the end of a sentence. This wouldn't be the case with the beginning of a sentecne since this would make it an introductory clause, not an appositive.

Example 1) The big dog, with small ears and a blue collar, chased the postal carrier for a mile.

^^ Here, the appositive is "with small ears and a blue collar". This statement has nothing to do with the actual sentence, but simply gives additional information on the dog.

[Yoshitsune]

Another one is confusing verb tenses when speaking:

Using the verb: to eat
principle parts, eat, eaten, ate

I ate yesterday - Past tense (past action)
I have eaten already - Perfect tense (finished action)
I had eaten already - Pluperfect (past action at a point in time)

I often hear people mix up their tenses...
These are wrong:
I drunk all of it. ---> drank
I swum with some friends. ---> swam
I've already rode in the car. ---> ridden

So when you hear someone talk like this...help them out.

[snydfd83]

Here are some common misused words in the English language. This will probably benefit native speakers and people who are learning it as a second language.

* Accept and except. While they both sound similar, except is a preposition that means "apart from", while accept is a verb that means "agree with", "take in" or "receive". Except is also rarely used as a verb, meaning to leave out.
o Standard: We accept all major credit cards, except Diners Club.
o Standard: Men are fools... present company excepted! (Which means "present company excluded")
o Non-standard: I had trouble making friends with them; I never felt excepted.
o Non-standard: We all went swimming, accept for Jack.

* Acute and chronic. Acute means "sharp", as an acute illness is one that rapidly worsens and reaches a crisis. A chronic illness may also be a severe one, but it is long-lasting or lingering.
o Standard: She was treated with epinephrine during an acute asthma attack.
o Standard: It is not a terminal illness, but it does cause chronic pain.
o Non-standard: I have suffered from acute asthma for twenty years.

* Affect and effect. The verb affect means "to influence something," and the noun effect means "the result of." Effect can also be a somewhat formal verb that means "to cause [something] to be," while affect as a noun has a technical meaning in psychology: an emotion or subjectively experienced feeling.
o Standard. This poem affected me so much that I cried.
o Standard. Temperature has an effect on reaction spontaneity.
o Standard. The dynamite effected the wall's collapse.
o Standard. He seemed completely devoid of affect.
o Non-standard. The rain effected our plans for the day.
o Non-standard. We tried appeasing the rain gods, but without affect.

* Assume: to suppose to be true, especially without proof, and presume: to take for granted as being true in the absence of proof to the contrary.

* Brought and bought. Brought is the past tense and past participle of the verb to bring, and bought is the past tense and past participle of the verb to buy. Confusion of the two occurs particularly in speech.

* Cache and cachet. A cache (pronounced kash) is a storage place from which items may be quickly retrieved. A cachet (pronounced kash-AY) is a seal or mark, like a wax seal on an envelope or a mark of authenticity on a product. Note that cachet is almost always used figuratively to mean "marked by excellence, distiction or superiority".
o Standard: The pirates buried a cache of jewels near the coast.
o Standard: Living in New York City definitely has a certain cachet.
o Non-standard: If your web browser is running slowly, try emptying the cachet.

* Cant and can't. There are several meanings for the word cant (without an apostrophe); however, none of them is "unable to". One meaning of cant is "a kind of slang or jargon spoken by a particular group of people". Can't is a contraction of cannot.
o Standard: I can't understand the dialogue in this book because it's written in cant.
o Non-standard: I cant swim; I've never taken lessons.

* Diffuse and Defuse. Diffusion refers to the dispersal of fluidic or solid wastes or otherwise into a medium, whereas defusion refers to the disengagement of an electromagnetic field, generally by dissolving the harmony of the magnetic field and allowing the surrounding medium to reclaim the energy released from the field.

* Flesh and Flush. To flesh out is to put flesh to a skeleton, or to add substance to an incomplete rendering. To flush out is to cause game fowl to take to flight, or to frighten any quarry from a place of concealment.
o Standard: The forensic pathologist will flesh out the skull with clay.
o Standard: The beaters flushed out the game with drums and torches.
o Non-standard: This outline is incomplete and must be flushed out.

* Flounder and Founder. To flounder is to be clumsy, confused, indecisive or to flop around like a fish out of water. A flounder is also a type of flatfish. To founder is to fill with water and sink.
o Standard: The ship is damaged and may founder.
o Standard: She was floundering on the balance beam.
o Non-standard: The ship is damaged and may flounder.

* Flout and flaunt. One flouts a rule or law by flagrantly ignoring it. One flaunts something by showing it off.
o Correct: If you've got it, flaunt it.
o Correct: He continually flouted the speed limit.
o Incorrect: If you've got it, flout it.
o Incorrect: He continually flaunted the speed limit.

* Hay and Straw

* Historic and historical. In strict usage, historic describes an event of importance – one that shaped history or is likely to do so. Historical merely describes something that happened in the past.
o Standard: The president made a(n) historic announcement. (The announcement was of historical importance.)
o Non-standard: The office kept an archive of historic records. (The records are not necessarily of historical importance – they are simply records from the past.)

* Hoard and horde. A hoard is a store or accumulation of things. A horde is a large group of people.
o Correct: A horde of shoppers lined up to be the first to buy the new gizmo.
o Correct: He has a hoard of discontinued rare cards.
o Incorrect: Don't horde the candy, share it.
o Incorrect: The hoard charged when the horns sounded.

* Imply and infer. Something is implied if it is a suggestion intended by the person speaking, whereas a conclusion is inferred if it is reached by the person listening.
o Correct: When Tony told me he had no money, he was implying that I should give him some.
o Correct: When Tony told me he had no money, I inferred that I should give him some.
o Incorrect: When Tony told me he had no money, he was inferring that I should give him some.
o Incorrect: When Tony told me he had no money, I implied that I should give him some.

* Infamous and Famous. To be famous is to be widely-known. Infamous is to be of exceedingly ill repute (it derives not from fame, but from infamy).
o Standard: Adolf Hitler was an infamous dictator.
o Standard: John Wayne was a famous actor.
o Non-standard: John Wayne was an infamous actor.

* Inherent and inherit. A part inherent in X is logically inseparable from X. To inherit is a verb, meaning "pass down a generation".
o Standard: Risk is inherent in the stock market.
o Standard: The next president inherits a legacy of mistrust and fear.
o Non-standard: There is violence inherit in the system.

[snydfd83]

Second post

* It's and its. It's is a contraction that replaces it is or it has (see apostrophe). Its is the possessive pronoun corresponding to it, in the same way that his corresponds to he. In standard written English, possessive nouns take an apostrophe, but possessive pronouns do not.
o Standard: It's time to eat!
o Standard: My cell phone has poor reception because its antenna is broken.
o Standard: It's been nice getting to meet you.
o Non-standard: Its good to be the king.
o Non-standard: The bicycle tire had lost all it's pressure.

* Lay (lay, laid, laid, laying) and lie (lie, lay, lain, lying) are often used synonymously. Lay is a transitive verb, meaning that it takes an object. "To lay something" means to place something. Lie, on the other hand, is intransitive and means to recline (and also to tell untruths, but in this case the verb is regular and causes no confusion). The distinction between these related verbs is further blurred by the fact that past tense of lie is lay. A quick test is to see if the word in question could be replaced with recline; if it can, Standard English requires lie.
o Standard: I lay my husband's work clothes out for him every morning. Yesterday I decided to see if he paid attention to what I was doing, so I laid out one white sock and one black. He didn't notice!
o Standard: You should not lie down right after eating a large meal. Yesterday I lay on my bed for half an hour after dinner, and suffered indigestion as a result. My wife saw me lying there and made me get up; she told me that if I had waited for a couple of hours I could have lain down in perfect comfort.
o Non-standard: Is this bed comfortable when you lay on it? (Should be lie)
o Non-standard: Yesterday I lied down in my office during the lunch hour. (Should be lay)
o Non-standard: There was no reason for him to have laid down in the middle of the path, it unnerved me to see him laying there saying nothing. (Should be "have lain down" and "him lying there")

* Levee and levy. A levee is a structure built along a river to raise the height of its banks, thereby preventing nearby land from flooding (see: dike). To levy is to impose (1) a tax, fine or other assement, or (2) a military draft; as a noun, a levy is an assessment or army thus gathered. The two words share a common root, but they are not considered interchangeable in Standard English. Because they are homophones, misuse is usually only apparent when observed in writing.
o Standard: The Netherlands is well known for its elaborate system of levees.
o Standard: This statute allows the state to levy a 3 % tax.
o Non-standard: Recent storms have weakened the levy.

* Loathe: Often used for loth or loath in phrases such as "She was loathe to accept." Loathe is used only as a verb in Standard English.

* Me, myself and I. In a traditional prescriptive grammar, I is used only as a subject, me is used only as an object, and myself is used only as a reflexive object, that is to say when the subject is I and the object would otherwise be me.
o Standard: Jim and I took the train.
o Standard: He lent the books to Jim and me.
o Standard: That is I in the picture.
o Non-standard: Me and Jim went into town.
o Non-standard: It was clear to Jim and I that the shop was shut.
o Non-standard: That is me in the picture.

* Myself is often used in a way that makes usage writers bristle, particularly when someone is trying to be "extra correct". Like the other reflexive pronouns, in prescriptive usage, myself should be used only when both the subject and object of the verb are the speaker, or as an emphatic pronoun (intensifier).
o Standard (intensifying): I myself have seen instances of that type.
o Standard (reflexive): I hurt myself. I did it to myself. I played by myself. I want to enjoy myself.
o Non-standard: As for myself, I prefer the red. (Just use me here)
o Non-standard: He is an American like myself. (Just use me)
o Non-standard: He gave the paper to Jim and myself. (Just use me)
o Non-standard: My wife and myself are not happy with all the development going on in town. (Just use I)

* Of and have. In some dialects spoken English, of and the contracted form of have, 've, sound somewhat alike. However, in standard written English, they aren't interchangeable.
o Standard: Susan would have stopped to eat, but she was running late.
o Standard: You could've warned me!
o Non-standard: I should of known that the store would be closed. (Should be "I should've known")

* Redundant does not mean useless or unable to perform its function. It means that there is an excess of something, that something is "surplus to requirements" and no longer needed, or that it is obsolete.
o Standard: A new pill that will instantly cure any illness has made antibiotics redundant. (Antibiotics could still be used to cure illnesses, but they are no longer needed because a better pill has been invented)
o Standard: The week before Christmas, the company made 75 workers redundant.
o Non-standard: Over-use of antibiotics risks making them redundant. (This should read: over-use of antibiotics risks making them worthless)

* Shrink and shirk. To shirk means "to consistently avoid", "to neglect", "to be too afraid to engage". To shrink means "to contract", "to become physically smaller in size"; also to shrink away means "to suddenly jerk away from something in horror". However, to shrink from may also mean "to hesitate or show reluctance toward".
o Standard: I won't shirk discussion.
o Standard: I won't shrink from discussion.
o Standard: She shrank away from me.
o Incorrect: I won't shrink discussion.
o Incorrect: I won't shirk from discussion.

* Sight and site and cite. A site is a place; a sight is something seen. To cite is to quote or list as a source.
o Standard: You're a sight for sore eyes.
o Standard: I literally found lots of sites on the internet---I was looking at a tourist site for Rome.
o Standard: Please cite the sources you used in your essay.
o Non-standard: I found lots of sights on the internet.
o Non-standard: I will site the book I saw the statistics in.

* Than and then. Than is a grammatical particle and preposition associated with comparatives, whereas then is an adverb and a noun. When spoken, the two words are usually homophones because they are function words with reduced vowels, and this may cause speakers to confuse them.
o Standard: I like pizza more than lasagne.
o Standard: We ate dinner, then went to the movies.
o Non-standard: You're a better person then me.

* There, their and they're. While they can all sound the same in some dialects, in standard written English they all have separate, definite meanings, and are not interchangeable. There refers to the location of something. Their means "belonging to them". They're is a contraction of "They are".
o Standard: Since they're all coming to the restaurant for their dinner, we'll meet them there.

* There's, where's, etc. A common spoken mistake is using a singular contraction when it should be plural in words like "there's" and "where's."
o Standard: Where's the car?
o Non-standard: There's many types of cars. (Should be There're)

* You're, your, yore and ewer. While they sound the same in many dialects, in standard written English they all have separate meanings. You're is a contraction for "you are", and your is a possessive pronoun meaning "belonging to you". When in doubt, just see whether you can logically expand it to "you are". The third homonym, yore, is an archaism meaning in the distant past, and is almost always used in the phrase "in days of yore". The fourth is the name of a once common piece of household equipment made obsolete by indoor plumbing: the large jug holding washing water.
o Standard: When driving, always wear your seatbelt.
o Standard: If you're going out, please be home by ten o'clock.
o Non-standard: You're mother called this morning.
o Non-standard: Your the first person to notice my new haircut today!

* Won't and wont (usually pronounced like want, though in British English the two words are usually pronounced the same). Won't is a contraction for "will not", while wont is a less frequently used and completely different word: as an adjective it means accustomed or inclined to.
o Standard: He won't let me drive his car.
o Standard: He spent the morning reading, as he was wont to do.
o Non-standard: I wont need to go to the supermarket after all.

[snydfd83]

These are commonly confused words in the English language

* accept: tolerate
except: everything but

* add: put together with
ad: short for "advertisement"

* allowed: permitted
aloud: audibly

* allot: to distribute, allocate
a lot: much; many (a lot of)

* allusion: indirect reference
elusion: evasion
elution: separation by washing
illusion: a distortion of sensory perception

* bare: naked, exposed; very little (bare necessities)
bear: as a noun, a large mammal (e.g. American Black Bear); as a verb, to carry something ("to bear arms"), to endure ("I can't bear it"), or to give birth to (bear fruit)

* boy: a male adolescent or child; an exclamation "oh boy"
buoy: (noun) a floating marker in the sea; (verb, often "buoy up") to keep afloat, to sustain or encourage (the soldiers were buoyed up by letters from home) (pronounced boy in the UK, but in the US is either homophonous with "boy" or pronounced with two syllables to rhyme with "chewy")
bhoy: a house servant for families in India (borrowed from the English word "boy")

* bow: (rhymes with 'cow'): The front section of a ship or boat; a gesture made by bending forward at the waist
bough: (rhymes with 'cow') A tree branch, especially a large or main branch.
bow: (rhymes with 'go'): A weapon made of a curved stick whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows; a type of knot with two loops

* bridal: pertaining to a bride (bridal gown, bridal suite)
bridle: (noun) part of a horse's tack around its neck and head; (verb) to appear offended or proud

* capital: punishable by death (capital crime); upper-case letter; the principal town or city (Paris is the capital of France); wealth, money (capital gains tax), as an exclamation: "excellent"
Capitol: the home of the Congress of the United States and some other legislatures

* carry: to move while supporting
Carrie: a woman's name, pet form of Caroline, French feminine form of Carolus, Charles, from the Germanic name Karl, which was derived from a Germanic word which meant "man". Also, name of first published Stephen King novel.
Kerry: a surname, from the name of the Irish county County Kerry, which means "Ciar's people" in Gaelic.

* caught: past tense of "catch"
cot: a small, collapsible bed. Predominantly in North America, see cot-caught merger.

* chord: group of musical notes; anything that can be "struck" (It struck a sensitive chord)
cord: rope; long electrical line; vertebral column
cored: having the inside cut out, like an apple
cawed: past tense of "to caw" - to make a raucous noise

* choux (pronounced as shoe): plural of chou, as used in choux pastry
shoe: footwear
shoo: exclamation used for scaring things away

* content: noun. something contained in a package
content: noun. or adj. satisfied, happy

* compliment: a praising or flattering remark given to someone; to give such a remark
complement: something that completes something else; to complete (something)

* cue: a rod or stick used to play the game billiards or pool
queue: a line of people waiting

* descent: a downwards path
dissent: disagreement

* discreet: means tactful or diplomatic
discrete: means separate or distinct

* do: conduct or carry out something
do (to rhyme with doe) / doh: the first note of the solfege scale
doe: a female deer; also female of various other species (by extension)
d'oh!: an annoyed grunt
dough: a moistened mass of flour used to make bread; slang term for money

* dyeing: artificially coloring
dying: passing away

* effect: ramification: cause and effect; sound effect (as a noun); bring about (effect change) (as a verb)
affect: have an effect on; pretentiously display (affect a British accent); emotion (in psychology and psychiatry).

* ensure: to make certain, to guarantee
insure: to purchase financial protection, as in an insurance policy.
assure: to assuage the concern of another person.

* fa / fah: the fourth note of the solfege scale
far: distant (In non-rhotic dialects, these are homonyms.)

* fairy: imaginary small person with special powers (often homophonous with "ferry" in the US)
ferry: boat for carrying people or vehicles short distances on water

* faze: to temporarily stop or shock (It didn't even faze them)
phase: a stage through which one goes

* flaw: defect (homonymous with floor in non-rhotic dialects)
floor: a level; lower surface of a room; the area of a legilsative building members speak from, so "to take/hold the floor"; to knock to the ground; to confound someone
flor: a yeasty growth that forms on sherry after fermentation.

* formerly
formally (These are not homonyms to most speakers of English, but are homonyms in some non-rhotic dialects, including "Received Pronunciation".)

* gnaw: to bite or chew on persistently
nor: negates the last member of a series of negated items

* gorilla: the largest of the great apes.
guerrilla: a small combat group.

* hair: an outgrowth of the epidermis in mammals (e.g. human facial hair); similar structures on plants
hare: (noun) a swift, long-eared mammal which, along with rabbits, forms the family Leporidae; (verb) to dash or sprint ("I hared around the kitchen")
Herr: the title meaning "Mr." for a man from Germany or Austria

* hay: grass cut and dried for animal feed
hay: the choke of an artichoke
hey: an exclamation used to draw attention, "Hey! Over here!"; a greeting
hey or hay: a kind of country dance
heigh: in the phrase "heigh-ho" expressing weariness or disappointment

* heir: one who inherits
air: the mixture of gases present in a planet's atmosphere

* here: this place (opposed to there)
hear: sense with the ears; also in the phrase "Hear! Hear!" for strong agreement

* high: opposite of low; elevated, far above the ground; under the influence of drugs
hi: a greeting; shortened from "high" as part of hi-fi or el-hi
hie: to speed or hurry somewhere, "hie thee to France"
hi or heigh: part of the phrase "hi-ho" in the song "Hi Ho Silver Lining", or "heigh-ho" in the movie lyric "heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work we go"
jai: as in jai alai

* hoard: to accumulate and store up as much of something as one can
horde: large group of warriors, mob
hoared: old, mouldy, fusty
whored: past tense of "to whore" - to act as a prostitute
hawed: past tense of haw - equivocate

* imminent
imanent (Some speakers (perhaps 10%) of USA-English also pronounce eminent like these two.)

* its: belonging to it (analogous to my, your, his, her, our, their)
it's: contraction for "it is" (analogous to I'm, you're, he's, she's, we're, they're) or "it has" (analogous to I've, you've, he's, she's, we've, they've)

* key: instrument used to open locks; a guide to symbols, especially on maps; the essential element "the key to his success"; a range of musical notes "try it in a lower key"; a button or lever on piano or computer keyboards
key: a low island or sandbank, the Florida Keys
quay: pronounced as key in the UK, as key, kay or kway in the US; a wharf, a structure built out into water for the ease of loading and unloading vessels
cay: a West Indian word for an island, as in the novel The Cay
ki: another name for the Hawai'ian plant ti

* lam: US slang: "on the lam" means "on the run"
lamb: a young sheep

* lama: priest (for example the Dalai Lama)
llama: camelid mammal

* law: legal rule
lore: old story often not written down
la: the sixth note of the solfege scale

* lead: pronounced to rhyme with "seed", to guide or serve as the head of
lead: pronounced to rhyme with "head", a heavy metal
led: the past tense of "lead"
leed: a copper kettle; a cauldron

* leek: a vegetable of the onion family which is the national emblem of Wales
leak: a hole which allows a gas or liquid to escape; confidential information sent to journalists to expose some issue (the leak came from within the White House itself); slang for urination
Leek: places in England and the Netherlands

* lock: a mechanical device for securing doors or canals; also the act of using such a device (verb); a tuft of human hair
Lok: alternative name for Loki, the Norse god of mischief
Locke: the surname of early liberal philosopher John Locke

[snydfd83]

Second post (sorry if these annoy some people because of their length)

* mail: items sent through the postal service; armor
male: opposite of female

* mantle (disambiguation): one of the layers of the Earth; a cloak (by metaphorical extension, special position or role held)
mantel: over the fireplace

* marry: to wed
merry: happy
Mary: a woman's name, from Maria, probably a variation of the Hebrew name Miriam, meaning "sea of bitterness"

* medal: an award to be strung around the neck
meddle: stick one's nose into others' affairs
metal: shiny, malleable element or alloy like silver, gold, iron, zinc, tin, copper, bronze or brass
mettle: toughness, guts
Note that the first two of these are only homonyms of the second two in North American English.

* me: personal pronoun
me: a concept in Sumerian mythology
me / mi: the third note of the solfege scale

* morning: the time between midnight and midday
mourning: period of grieving after the death of a relative, friend or public figure, clothing worn at this time (e.g. mourning dove)

* muscle: one of the parts of the body used to move
mussel: a bivalve popular as seafood

* past: time before now (past, present and future); beyond; after the hour (three past nine = 9:03); former (in her past life)
passed: past tense of "to pass"

* parse: to break down into component parts (e.g. for analysis)
pars: the acts of scoring a par in golf; also plural of "par"
parrs: plural of "parr" - a young salmonid fish

* piece: portion
peace: opposite of war; quietness (peace of mind) or silence (speak now or forever keep your peace)

* peak: tip, height, to reach its highest point, a mountain
peke: a breed of dog
peek: to take a brief look, usually through a thin aperture (sneak peek)
pique: fit of anger; to incite (pique one's interest)

* paw: a mammal's foot
poor: impoverished; also, to be pitied (Poor Peter!), also bad (poor quality)
pore: a hole in the skin; to go over with great focus (pore over)
pour: to run out (said of liquid); to rain heavily
par: common level; equality

* principal: can be a noun or an adjective, a person of primary importance
principle: a noun: it cannot be an adjective, a fundamental rule or law

* rack: a long, open container with a rectangular frame (spice rack); one's upper body; to torture (verb) or an instrument of torture (noun)
wrack: to destroy, a shipwreck, commonly found in the phrase "to go to wrack and ruin"
Note: In British English, only the first spelling should be used in the phrase "to rack one's brains"; in American English the second spelling is also acceptable in this context; the meaning of "rack" in this phrase is related to the rack as an instrument of torture

* rain: water falling from the sky
reign: to rule; hold the position as monarch
rein: the strip used to control a horse; anything that restrains; to restrain anything by pulling in its irrational exuberance (pull the reins in on)
Rayne: a city in Louisiana

* raise: to increase
raze: to destroy, to obliterate: "the town was razed to the ground by the fire"
rays: beams of light or energy (sun's rays, X-rays, gamma rays, etc.); cartilaginous fishes
Reyes: as in Point Reyes

* ray: a beam of light
ray: a type of fish
ray / re: the second note of the solfege scale
Re / Ra(h): an Egyptian god.
rah: a short form of "hurrah"

* reek: to stink
wreak: to bring about (wreak havoc)
reak: a rush (plant), or a prank

* rest: sit down without doing anything active; the remainder
wrest: to struggle to extricate something (wrest it out of his hands)

* retch: to vomit
wretch: a person in a miserable condition; a person of bad character

* right: the direction opposite to left; correct; something a person must have his/her choice to do respected (the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness); straight or directly (went right to his heart)
write: to put down in letters; send a letter to (Write me soon!)
rite: ritual, ceremony (rites of passage)
wright: connected with other words to mean someone who constructs (playwright, scenewright, wheelwright)

* ring: piece of jewelry; make a sound like a bell or telephone, or tinnitus in the ears; anything shaped like a circle or torus (like the rings in a bathtub); sound familiarly like (that rings of fascism)
wring: strangle (wring his neck), squeeze and twist (wring the water out of laundry)

* row (rhymes with "go"): to pull a boat through the water with oars
row (rhymes with "cow"): a fuss or a fight
roe: fish eggs (such as caviar); a deer (the roebuck)
Roe: pseudonym used in court cases for women having or seeking abortions (most famously in Roe v. Wade)
rho: letter of the Greek alphabet equivalent to R
Ro: a constructed language based on categorization

* seem: appear to
seam: a join; a line of stitches that holds two pieces together

* shear: trim, remove; strain
sheer: absolute, very steep; swerve

* sight: vision
site: place, grounds; place in cyberspace
cite: quote or make a reference to; write a ticket

* so: likewise; therefore; to such a degree
so or soh: the fifth note of the solfege scale
sow (pronounced as so): to scatter seeds
sew (pronounced as so): join together or stitch
sew (pronounced as sue): to drain (as the root of sewage)
Sioux (pronounced as sue): Native American tribe
sou (pronounced as sue): a French five-centime coin; any small amount of money
sous (pronounced as sue): French for under, as in sous-chef - a subordinate chef
sue: to prosecute or petition for
xu (pronounced as sue): a Vietnamese monetary unit, 1/100 of a dong
sow (to rhyme with cow): a female pig

* some: a few
sum: what you get when you add numbers; short for summarize (sum up)

* soul: spirit; mellow African-American music style
sole: single and only; the surface of the bottom of the foot; flat fish like flounder, petrale or halibut
Seoul: the capital of South Korea
Sol: the solar system we live in

* stationery: office supplies
stationary: as not mobile

* tail: appendage of most mammals
tale: a story

* tea: a tree and the drink produced from its leaves
tee: a support for the ball in golf
ti / te: the seventh note of the solfege scale
ti: a Polynesian tree similar to the taro
see also the disambiguation page TI

* tear (rhymes with fear): a drop of fluid which falls from the eyes when weeping or crying
tear (rhymes with fare): rip; to run extremely fast, jolt, bolt, dart
tare: dry measure of grains; payment in wheat; adjustment to a weighing device
tier: layer or level

* their: belonging to them
there: that place (opposed to here); denotes existence of something
they're: contraction for "they are"

* theirs: belonging to them
there's: contraction for "there is" or "there has"

* therefore: thus, ergo (I think therefore I am)
therefor: for the aforementioned thing or purpose; for that (similar to thereof, thereby, therefrom, thereagainst, etc.)

* to: towards or headed for; in order to; used before the infinitive of verbs
too: also; excessively
two: the number 2
tui: the parson bird
tout: French word meaning "all", as in mange-tout

* vary: make a change in; undergo change
very: adverbial intensifier

* waste: to use up for something pointless; sewage (toxic waste)
waist: the line that goes across the middle of your body

* weather: the meteorological conditions; to survive some wear and tear
whether: if something is so or not
wether: a male sheep (The bellwether was the ram who led the herd, and carried a bell around his neck to signal the front of the herd coming.)

* wet: to dampen; damp
whet: to sharpen (a knife, one's appetite)

* which
witch

* while: during a period of time
wile: deceitful cunning

* whose: belonging to whom
who's: contraction for "who is" or "who has"
hoos: plural of hoo, a small hill or promontory (as in Sutton Hoo)

* your: belonging to you (analogous to my, his, her, its, our, their)
you're: contraction for "you are" (analogous to I'm, he's, she's, it's, we're, they're)
yore: time long ago, a bygone age ("the days of yore")

[Yoshitsune]

Wow, that's a lot of good stuff!
Did you find them from someplace or did you write all that up??

thumbs up

[sperish]

My English used to be a big fat mess. And I'm still a mess with the words "effect," and "affect." Thanks a lot for that snyd...

[snydfd83]

I didn't write it up, I got it off of wikipedia, I know they're not the most reliable source but it seemed like some good stuff to me. I wasn't thinking last night and I completely forgot I could post links >_>

[KWGoDのbrucelee]

grate thread dude. I could of made a thread like this as their are some many frikkin misakte on this bored. You're thread roxs!

[Yoshitsune]

hehe, iie iie,

I wanted to point out these mistakes, but I didn't want to just say "Hey your grammar sucks", cuz that'd be too rude, so just having this small thread here might help...

[The Black Knight]

Double Negatives:
Double negatives are incorrect, such as...
can't hardly
couldn't hardly
didn't barely

....they are all wrong. As they both imply a double negative.



-Dashes-
Dashes are used to b r e a k up a sentence where the train of thought is interupted. Parenthesis tends to de-emphasize the enclosed sentence, while dashes generally draw the reader's attention. Dashes are also used for extra information that if punctuated with commas, then it could cause misinterpretation.

Example:
Back in those days--these were the days before television--we all used to be producers and directors of the imagination.
(when writing this it should be one long dash-- I just don't know the font to use for the dash)



Subject-Verb Agreement:
Subjects must agree with the verb:
Singular subject--singular verb;
Plural subject--plural verb.

Examples:
He reads. - singular
They read - plural

Usually, plural verbs end in -s; but there are a few exceptions.
Has - Have
Is - Are
Was - Were

As for past tense, there really is not a difference between plural and singular.

Determining singularity of subject...
If the subject is plural, meaning more than one, then it takes a plural verb.
If talking about a group as a whole, use singular. Whe talking about individuals, use plural.
Subjects & Prepositional Phrases:
Many people commonly confuse the object of the prepositional phrase as the subject.

Example
The store by Wal-Mart is next to Bojangles. - Store is your subject
-Since store is singular, we used the singular verb is.



I can't think of anything else to cover. I'm sure I left out something, so anyone can fill in the gaps if they'd like to.

And people in your posts please use the periods, commas, and semicolons. It becomes hard to read long sentences with hardly any form of punctuation.:amuse

[MiNoRu088]

may I help? my aunt's an English teacher here so most of our family members speak fluent English.

[Leen]

Pronoun
How many types of pronoun do we have actually?
Oxford dictionary provided 6.
Wikipedia indicates 5.
Some sites offer 7
One book describes 9.

How many do we have actually and what are they and what are their usage?

[The Black Knight]

Well, there's dialects, and slang, and all sorts of crap...so I really don't know.
Types of pronouns? You mean like personal, possesive, etc.?

[Leen]

Yeah. When I looked into wikipedia, there are 5 kinds of pronoun
Demonstrative
Interrogative
Personal
Relative
Reflexive

However, I managed to find more and more types of pronouns in books and other sites. Some of them are
Indefinite
Repirocal??(spelling?)

and a lot more.
My question is : How many types of pronoun do we have actually and what are they? It is possible that one type of pronoun might just be subset of a main pronoun so I'm a bit ambiguous about the whole thing. Can someone clarify it?

[myle]

Very good job! I need these tutorials because my speech isn't so good. I can understand english when I read but I have problem when I write or I speak. I lack practice. But I hope I will get over this.

[The Black Knight]

Έχετε διασκέδαση μαθαίνοντας τα αγγλικά

.....eh, is that right.....I took 6 weeks of greek in middle school. I'm not very good at Greek, Latin, or Russian (but I am in Japanese). Anyway, I don't remember much from that class so I'm not sure if I spelled anything right.

Oh yeah, you can talk to Yoshitsune. He can speak Greek, as well as write it. I'm not sure about his skill level but he knows many languages. He knows English, Spanish, Greek, Japanese, Chinese, and Latin. So PM him sometime...

As for me,
I, of course, speak English fluenty.
I can speak Japanese semi-fluently.
I can speak on a child's level in Spanish.
And I know some Greek, Russian, and German....but not enough to hold a conversation

[myle]

Έχετε διασκέδαση μαθαίνοντας τα αγγλικά

I am surprised! Very nice try! This sentence is right but not common in Greece. We prefer:
Διασκεδάστε μαθαίνοντας αγγλικά (Have fun learning english) (imperative form)

Thank you for the help! You are very nice guys. I'll try hard to improve my english.

...You know so many things! I am glad of this! :)