February 6th, 2010 in Common Mistakes
Pronouns used as complements of to be
Grammarians formerly recommended that a pronoun used as the complement of the verb to be should be in the nominative case. Today the use of the nominative case in such cases is considered extremely formal and over-correct. Instead, we use the objective case.
February 6th, 2010 in Common Mistakes
Countable and uncountable nouns
Words like flower, book, tree, chair and pen are countable nouns because they refer to objects that can be counted. Countable nouns can have plural forms. They can also be used with numbers and the articles a/an.
January 30th, 2010 in Common Mistakes
Correct the following sentences and state your reason for doing so.
January 30th, 2010 in Common Mistakes
Avoid the use of double negatives
Two negatives should not be used in the same sentence because they destroy each other.
We should say:
January 14th, 2010 in Common Mistakes
Incorrect: He loves with me.
Correct: He loves me.
Incorrect: We discussed about the matter.
Correct: We discussed the matter.
Incorrect: We reached at the airport at 9 pm.
January 12th, 2010 in Common Mistakes, Words
Amount and number
Use amount with uncountable nouns like rice, water, wheat etc. Use number with countable nouns.
He bought a large amount of rice. (Rice is uncountable.)
December 23rd, 2009 in Common Mistakes
Incorrect: Just I had finished the lesson.
Correct: I had just finished the lesson.
Explanation
The adverb just goes between the auxiliary verb and the main verb. When there are two auxiliary verbs, just goes after the first.