6 mistakes in English (that I keep making)
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- čas přidán 1. 08. 2024
- I've been studying English for a long time but I still make mistakes, of course, So, in this video I'm talking about six mistakes that I keep making although I know how to use those words correctly. These mistakes include 'too' and 'either' difference, prepositional verbs, pronounciation and just some random words and phrases.
Probably, you too have such 'sticky', 'recurring' mistakes. If you do, please let me know abou them in comments below!
When you said “My dog, Lucy”, my dog, Lucy perked up her ears 🤗❤️
I think you speak English better than a lot of Americans - meaning in the USA - sometimes myself included! Maybe one day I will speak another language as well as you do English
Your English is very good!
The reason it's "either" and not "too" is due to some weird legacy features of English being a Germanic language. When you say "I don't ____" you're negating the "I do _____". So when "I don't know either" is negating "Either you or I know" with the "either" moving to the end (like German does when modifying verbs). Since "too" can only be used after nouns it doesn't work grammatically. (What "I don't know too" might mean is negating "both you and I know" with the possibility of only one knowing, but it's never actually used that way)
The reason for no "how" can be explained two ways. First, in the modern English grammatical sense, "how" is an adverb, and since in "a way ___" the "___" has to be an adjective (since "way" is a noun) "how" can't go there, but an infinitive verb can be used to modify nouns like an adjective. Second, in the historical linguistic sense (since English is a Germanic language), "how" is a pronoun. "How do I ___" takes "I do ___" and puts the "how" in the subject, keeps the "do" in second position, and moves the rest to the end. "I know how to ____" uses "know" as a transitive verb and "how" as the direct object (with the infinitive as an adjective modifying "how"). So the reason "a way" can't be followed by "how" is because "a way" is already the noun with "to ___" being a subordinate clause or something (I'm not actually sure why infinitive verbs are adjectives, maybe it's a reflexive version of the present participle?). So "There is it that is how to be." is a grammatically correct English sentence, with a subject, verb, direct object, subordinate clause, verb (using "it" as a subject), a direct object in the clause, and an infinitive used as a predicate adjective.
The reason for "explained" being like that is that "explained" is a transitive verb affecting the thing you're explaining, with the "to ___" saying who the explanation is to. And yes, for some reason you can't use indirect objects with "explain" like you can with "give" for some bizarre reason. It has to be in a prepositional phrase, not an indirect object. So "I gave her the book" or "I gave the book to her" both work, but "I explained the book to her" has to become "I explained to her the book". I don't know why only some verbs can use indirect objects. Maybe only the verbs that always have them? But then why can "explain" be used without one ("I explained the book" is fine but "I gave the book" needs either an indirect object like "I gave her the book", a prepositional phrase like "I gave the book to her", or a direct object like "I gave the book four stars" which is basically the same as the first). It's not explaining can be done alone any more than giving can.
In "We went to the with my friend" the phrase "with my friend" is modifying the verb "went" which has the subject "we". Since "with" by definition means adding more things or people, the "my friend" can't be included in "we". A more interesting but separate issue is that English doesn't differentiate between the inclusive or exclusive 1st person plural, so when talking to someone and using "we" one has to tell from context whether the "we" includes the person you're talking to.
The last one is just kind of a weird thing that animals are grammatically objects, but it may have something to do with English having no gendered 3rd person singular for active things, all things without genders (and unlike many other languages the vast majority of nouns don't have inherent genders) just get "it" as their descriptor. So when describing a random rabbit you don't know the gender of, you would have to use "it" which makes it get grammatically treated like an object. But for a pet or person you don't use "it".
The pronunciation things (like "ough" having nine versions) are a product of two main things. First, English pulls its vocabulary from lots of languages (mainly German and French) which each come with their own pronunciation rules. Second, between about 1300 and 1700 the rules for English vowel pronunciation completely changed in "The Great Vowel Shift" which made everything even more arbitrary. These problems (adaptation and corruption) also explain the inconsistencies in English conjugation.
Not sure how helpful this was (probably made a lot more sense if you speak another Germanic language that hasn't been corrupted by a millenium of French influence).
Oh, thank you for such a detailed explanation. I don't speak another Germanic language, but my first language has been influenced by many languages. So, there are traces of French, German, English etc here and there.
I make the mistakes that I mentioned in the video mostly because of my 'Russian language habits'. And of course, the less practice I have, the more mistakes I make.
the last example you gave was really interesting because I think it is becoming more common for english speakers to use human pronouns with animals other than pets. I do that, as a native english speaker
Thank you for your comment! The language must be changing a little (they always do). Do you mean human pronouns including 'who'?
@@sergeysvids2756 yeah! for example, if i see a horse doing a cool trick, i might say “look he’s doing a trick!” or “i saw a horse who was doing a trick.” i notice this more among younger Americans
@@annasergienko5445 Probably, someone is writing a thesys now on "Humanification of pronouns in modern English" :)
I've started to say "I also don't remember it" instead of "I don't remember it either." In my case, speaking Chinese and hearing people speak Chinese has messed with my English a bit, even though I'm a native speaker.
I've heard it happens when you live in another country/language. A lot of Russian immigrants in the US speak with a lot of English words, but there's also some grammatical influence
How using also in the negative instead of either regarding the first one. Have something explained re 3. My friend and I went to the park. You don't need to add together it is implied. You are being to rigid with your interpretation of your English it is fine.
I also think we all went to the park. We all went to the park together. If is the same thing. It's also person 1, person two and I. Person 1 and I. You are always last. It is fine to say it me and him but it's not correct English and I wouldn't say it unless I'm in a lazy mood maybe idk. Japanese also uses together but I only use together in Japanese if I an explicitly required to say so.
Try using as little words as possible. In Japanese you don't even have state the You in "do you want to go to the park?" Because the You is implied by talking to them. Use as little words as possible it can make your life easier.
I went to the park with x and y. I'd rarely say x, y and I went to the park. I'd never say together unless for some reason I'd need to explicitly state together which I can't imagine any situation. This is another option. The way you are saying these things don't flow well even for native speakers. There are better ways to say it.
There is a better way to shell nuts.
She explained the funny proverb. I wouldn't add to me. It's implied. This is the direct link to you.
This is what I'm usually trying to do. One of the things I like about English, it can be quite brief but still precise.
Hi
Saluton