English pitfalls

English is probably considered as one language and this might be the fakest truth, but at the same time, it is not entirely a lie. By becoming a lingua franca, millions and millions of people each day are constantly creating variations and typos. I am talking about those mistakes that day after day might end up creating a strange feeling, misunderstandings or non-orthodox forms of English. 

Mistakes and variations do not represent a problem per se, it is through diversification that languages evolve and become richer, more sophisticated or simpler. However, it is true that the diversification of a lingua franca becomes a problem when all of its speakers end up babelised and unable to communicate with each other in an effective way, even though the language they speak is so similar.

In this article – which I hope you will bookmark – I will discuss some of the most common pitfalls and troublesome areas related to English language and its usage, especially by non-native speakers. These come from a book I have been reading lately named The joy of English by Jesse Karjalainen (LINK). While for other areas, I just surfed the internet for some pretty good resources (Safari primarily); I consider these two as your starting point to improve your written and spoken English. 

To be honest, however, I must add that every time I publish an article I do utilise Grammarly (LINK) for proofreading purposes, it is definitively an extremely useful tool when you’re not a native speaker (and I would say even if you are!) that is capable of a good integration with your browser/writing apps. 

Common Pitfalls

• Compare With – Compare To

Use compare with for unsimilar/unknown comparison and compare to for similar comparison; eg. Can I compare my answers with yours? (I don’t know your answers) – Can you compare me to my brother (similarity/I know my siblings!).

• Different from – Different to/than

Different from is used as part of standard English, while different to/than can be used in informal environments.

• Affect and Effect

Affect is a verb, while effect is a noun; eg. the conditions affect me; the conditions are having an effect on me.

• Up to date VS Up-to-date

Treat up-to-date as an adjective referred to another word, while up to date as related to the verb’s effect; eg. this research is up to date; this up-to-date research is really fine.

• Good VS well

Good is an adjective, well is an adverb. So make sure it fits the context; eg. We played a good game (good is referred to the noun/game); we played really well (well referred to the verb/way we played)

• Historic – Historical

Historic means important/of great significance, while historical means true in history; eg. this novel is historically accurate; a historic event happened today.

• Practice – Practise

Practice is a noun, practise a verb; eg. I practise Judo; practice makes perfect.

• Advice – Advise

Similar to practice, an “advice” is a noun (so I may give you an advice in this case), while “advise” is a verb (so I might advise you in this case).

• While – Whilst

No difference in meaning. The real difference between the two is that whilst is the archaic form of present-day word while!

• Lose – Loose

The first one is a verb (I lost my wallet), the second is an adjective that is the opposite of tight (a loose jacket).

• Every day – Everyday

If separated, every day means daily, while everyday means frequent/common; eg. I go to the office every day (daily); I am living the everyday life (an ordinary life)

• Data and Media

Both data and media are plural nouns; eg. these data tell me that… - the media advise that…

Grammar matters

• Contractions

Contractions are not generally wrong, however, please keep in mind that they are fine for informal language/interactions. So when writing to a friend is fine writing: I haven't. But avoid it in case of formal interactions.

• Use of active rather than passive when writing

English generally relies on active verbs because they keep the focus on the action performer and enable logical sequence.

• That as a clause connector

That must always be present in a sentence as a clause connector. Omitting “that” can happen in informal English, whereas formal English generally requires it.

(To know more)

• Reason, Why/Because

Reason, Why and Because cannot stay in the same sentence since they would end up becoming redundant. The motivation is that Why and Because basically mean “for the reason that”. For this reason (again!), it is incorrect to say: the reason why I tell you this; a correct sentence would be: I tell you this because...

• Were vs Was

Was can be used to express the past tense (apart for plural personas), while were is used for hypothetical situations.

-When I was young, I wanted to…

-If I were you, I would…

• That vs Which

Though they might look similar, please keep in mind that if the sentence does not need the clause that the word in question is connecting, use which. If it does, use that.

(To know more)

• Capitals

These shall be used only for awards (Pulitzer’s prize), trademarks (Apple, Tata, Samsung), countries (Italy, England), regions/cities (Rome, Berkshire, Tamil Nadu), religions/parties/movements (Christians, Buddhists, Fascists, Liberals), days of the week (Monday, Thursday), languages (French, Japanese).

Redundancies (for a complete list)

• In order to/so as to – to

Though “in order to” is not incorrect, it can be easily substituted by "to"'; eg. in order to watch the movie, we should go to the cinema; we should go to the cinema to watch the movie.

• Very

Generally speaking, there is a tendency to overuse the adjective very in place of other adjectives that make a pretty good job in the majority of the situations: eg. very beautiful/gorgeous; very small/tiny; very large/enormous etc...

Couple of tips to enrich your English

I hope you enjoyed this article! In the future, I would like to write a similar one about local kinds of English that might become useful when interacting with people from different cultures.

#copied