Can You Catch These Native Speaker Mistakes?

 

From VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar.

This week, we will learn a few English words and phrases that are commonly misused² in English.

Even well-educated native English speakers make the mistakes you will read and hear about today, including reporters and English teachers!

After today’s program, you can have fun finding these mistakes when other people use them.

Let’s start with a very common written mistake that native English speakers make.

"could of" or could’ve

If you spend time on social media, such as Facebook, you may see that native English speakers often use the word of after the words could, would or should. For example, in the sentence:

I could of gone to New York last weekend.

However, the word of is a preposition. The sentence needs a verb instead. The confusion is caused by the shortened, or abbreviated³, version of “could have.” It takes an apostrophe followed by the letters ve. The spelling then is could've.

The preposition of sounds just like the shortened version of the verb have, which is pronounced ’ve.

In speaking, this is not a problem, since both phrases sound the same.

In writing, an easy way to remember the correct form is that could, would and should are helping⁴ verbs. So another verb must always follow them.

In the example, “I could’ve gone to New York last weekend,” have and gone are forms of verbs. Of is a preposition and would never appear after a helping verb.

Every day or Everyday

Another writing error happens every day in America. Native English speakers often misspell “every day!” They will write it as one word instead of two.

When every and day are put together as one word, they become an adjective that means “common” or “used or seen each day.” When you use this adjective, you must usually put it before a noun. For example, you can say:

He didn’t let the problems of everyday life worry him.

But, if you wanted to tell someone that something happens each day, you must separate the words every and day in writing. For example, you could write:?

I practice my grammar every day.

When every and day are separate words, they are an adverb phrase that describes when, or how often, something happens.

So, how can you easily remember which one to use? Think of the title Everyday Grammar. Remember, if you are writing the single word everyday, it is an adjective that most often comes before a noun. But the two words every and day express how often something happens. And they are an adverb phrase, and must modify a verb.

The other mistakes we are looking at today can happen in either speech or writing.

Different than or different from

Many native English speakers use the phrase different than to show contrast between things or people. For example:

Children are different than adults.

Technically⁵, that is incorrect. Standard English usage requires from instead of than, in this case. The correct sentence would be:

Children are different from adults.

But grammar experts do not always agree. Some of them say the phrase different than is acceptable. It has existed for centuries, they argue, and famous writers have used it in their works. For instance, 19th century writer F. Scott Fitzgerald used different than in his short story “The Rich Boy.” Listen:

Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different than you and me.

Some grammar experts say that both than and from are acceptable. However, no one objects to from, so it would be your safest choice, especially in academic writing.

“15 items or less”

The less grammar you understand, the more mistakes you probably will make. And the fewer grammar mistakes you make, the better.

Which brings us to another common grammar mistake: the use and misuse¹ of fewer and less. Fewer is used with countable⁶ nouns; Less, with non-countable.

This mistake is found at food stores throughout the U.S. where signs at checkout⁷ lines sometimes read “15 items or less.” These lines are for people who are not buying very much.

But the phrase uses the adjective less to describe items, a countable noun. So less is wrong; the correct adjective is fewer.

The word fewer must be used with count nouns, like items, animals, cars, or dresses. Less is used with non-count nouns, such as money, sand, love, or water. (See our Everyday Grammar episode on Understanding Non-count Nouns)

So how can you remember whether to use less or fewer? One easy way to remember is to ask yourself, "Can I count this thing on a few fingers?" If the answer is "yes," use the word fewer.

We will be back next week with another Everyday Grammar. And remember: if you understand how to use the words discussed today, you are different from many English speakers!

Words in This Story

native English speaker - a person whose first language is English

contrast - n. something that is different from another thing

standard - adj. accepted and used by most of the educated speakers and writers of a language

checkout line - n. the place or area where goods are paid for in a store

item - n. an individual thing

1 misuse   

n.误用，滥用；vt.误用，滥用

参考例句：

• It disturbs me profoundly that you so misuse your talents.你如此滥用自己的才能，使我深感不安。
• He was sacked for computer misuse.他因滥用计算机而被解雇了。

2 misused   

v.使用…不当( misuse的过去式和过去分词 )；把…派作不正当的用途；虐待；滥用

参考例句：

• He misused his dog shamefully. 他可耻地虐待自己的狗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had grossly misused his power. 他严重滥用职权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 abbreviated   

adj. 简短的，省略的 动词abbreviate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He abbreviated so much that it was hard to understand his article. 他的文章缩写词使用太多，令人费解。
• The United States of America is commonly abbreviated to U.S.A.. 美利坚合众国常被缩略为U.S.A.。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

6 countable   

adj.可数的，可以计算的

参考例句：

• The word "person" is a countable noun.person这个词是个可数名词。
• Countable nouns have singular and plural forms.可数名词有单数和复数之分。

7 checkout   

n.（超市等）收银台，付款处

参考例句：

• Could you pay at the checkout.你能在结帐处付款吗。
• A man was wheeling his shopping trolley to the checkout.一个男人正推着购物车向付款台走去。