Minor but significant mistakes you may have made in speaking English

billzhao

Some friends, especially those who are just learning English, often make the following mistakes.

" N- d" u- T' Z& L( P0 `8 g7 P6 t1. My husband has a good job. She makes over 100,000 dollars a year.
3 V" P/ [4 ?6 P% |7 R2 F" }/ p    My girlfriend did not live with me, because he is still in China.
4 s0 F& ]4 y8 h- I
2 n. V1 Z8 o+ j0 VThe reason to make this mistake is not due to grammar knowledge. One reason might be she and he have the same pronunciation in Chinese.
% P/ ^( _* J4 K- v. H5 C
2. I do not like big rain, I like small rain.
2 z% Z3 j9 \: K4 H* f$ V- c/ c; a3. Please close your phone.
, B+ _7 ]$ j' W1 u6 l1 W( K( zThese mistakes are made because of direct translation. Another similar mistake is: I very like Canada. You really like Canada, or you like Canada very much.


4. How to say: heavy rain, light rain, and turn off your phone in English?
( A. O' }1 \4 I! h3 c0 F8 i) |The correct way to ask the question is like this: how do you say... in English?
# l' [5 m6 Q3 ^6 E( d
5. I am a Chinese.
0 r# K0 ~/ x+ m5 h3 V: c# N9 _0 dI am a Chinese person, or I am Chinese.
6. He is a gay.
) R6 u. T0 ], ~# v# N# HHe is gay.
+ T% j- h- R* m) e3 S
2 ]$ K5 c' ]/ G! J# l4 e7. Why? No why.
Not no why, no reason.
9 W2 N. v% \# S, s. a) I& v8. Thanks! No thanks!

  U. e8 C+ L( \