Food for Thought. Everyday situations are a minefield of common English errors. Let’s rectify...
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Transcript of Food for Thought. Everyday situations are a minefield of common English errors. Let’s rectify...
Everyday situations are a minefield of common English errors.
Let’s rectify some of them to avoid making the same mistakes.
Let’s share the common errors we may have as teachers.
WRONG: “Please excuse me. I have to leave now to put my children TO SLEEP.”RIGHT: “… I have to leave now to put my children TO BED.”(EXPLANATION: It is a criminal offence to put a person “to sleep”. In Singapore it carries the death penalty.)
WRONG: “I SEND our son Joey to school everyday.”RIGHT: “I DRIVE/TAKE our son Joey to school….”(EXPLANATION: To “send” someone means that you are not accompanying that person on the journey.)
WRONG: “It may rain this afternoon. You GOT bring umbrella OR NOT?”RIGHT: ” … DID YOU bring an umbrella!”
WRONG: “You ONLY JUST found out about the sale? Today is the last day.”RIGHT: “You found out ONLY NOW about the sale? …”
WRONG: “I used to love durians, but NOT SO MUCH nowadays.”RIGHT: ” … but LESS SO nowadays,
WRONG: “Children, please OFF the lights when you leave the room.”RIGHT: ” … Please SWITCH OFF the lights …”
WRONG: “He is late. MUST BE he overslept or missed the bus.”RIGHT: “… IT MUST BE THAT he overslept or missed the bus.” or “… He MUST HAVE overslept or missed the bus.”
WRONG: “Sorry, I am really busy with work right now. Can we discuss tomorrow?”RIGHT: ” … Can we discuss IT tomorrow?”