Errors in the use of singular and plural

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Errors in the use of singular and plural:

One can give a lot of advice. (not advices.)

You may read poetry. But you can’t read poetries. You can read only poems.

‘Staff’ is a collective known comprising all the members of the staff. It is singular.

The staff is very happy with Umesh’s performance. ( Not staffs.)

The scenery was breathtaking. ( not sceneries).But we can say,

The scenes were lovely.

We have bought new furniture- (not furnitures) . We have bought a few chairs and tables.

I bought a loaf of bread and ate three slices.

For your reference:

Nouns, always singular

advice                   help                 honesty           music              poverty

Information           beauty              bravery           truth                wisdom

knowledge           bread                 butter             coffee            gold    

milk                      sugar              luggage          water               powder

silk                       hair                  furniture          weather          scenery

homework            stationery       poetry             traffic               crew

Nouns, always plural

jeans                     shorts                          pants               tights               trousers

binoculars            glasses                       pliers               scissors          spectacles

contents                Alms                           savings           oats                 stairs

belongings           riches                          wages             arms               surroundings 

drugs                    outskirts                      teens               arrears            earnings

premises              thanks                         auspices        regards           funds  

clothes                  condolences              goods             congratulations

     

Nouns, singular in form but plural in sense:                   

cattle         people            police 

Nouns in the same form in singular and plural:             

deer   poultry     sheep      public     fish       issue

* What is onomatopoeia?

Ordinal Numbers

Friday, July 5, 2013

Another common error is using ‘st’ / ‘nd’/ ‘rd’/ ‘th’ after theRoman numerals- like Ist/ IInd/ IIIrd/ IVth.

They are ordinal numbers that indicate their position or order in relation to other numbers. According to Roman numerals, ‘I’ means first and ‘II’ means second. There is no need for the addition of ‘st’ / ‘nd’/‘rd’/ or /‘th’. If you write ‘page II’, it does not mean page two; it means page second. This error is found in very important official documents as well as in posters and hoardings. When something is visually seen again and again, it gets registered in the brain.

We commonly use words such as ‘brunch’, ‘motel’, ‘Tanglish’ etc. What is the name given to such words? Why?

Spoonerisms

Thursday, July 4, 2013

William Archibald Spooner used to make funny verbal slips which later came to be known as ‘Spoonerisms.’

Spooner's Spoonerisms

Fighting a liar                          Lighting a fire

Tons of soil                            Sons of toil

Our queer old Dean               Our dear old Queen

You've tasted two worms      You've wasted two terms

Our shoving leopard              Our loving shepherd

Is the bean dizzy?                   Is the Dean busy?

Some of my friends have already given good examples. Here are some more for you to enjoy.

·       It is pouring with rain. (It is roaring with pain.)

·       Tease my ears (Ease my tears)

·       Go and shake a tower ( Go and take a shower)

·       Chipping the flannel ( Flipping the channels)

·       Chewing the doors (Doing the chores)

·       Trim your snow tail (Trim your toe nails)

·       Plaster man (Master plan)

While talking about spoonerisms, I am reminded of the question my daughter asked me when she was three or four. ‘Why is a ‘butterfly’ called so? Is it made of butter?’ I couldn’t give her aconvincing reply and drew her attention to something more interesting.  However, after many years, I got a convincing though not an authentic explanation for this. These insects flutter by. When the tongue slips and the consonants are interchanged, ‘flutter by’ becomes ‘butter fly’. If any of you have a more logical explanation, please let me know.

Srikanth Tamraparni wanted me to explain the difference in the use of ‘Until’ and ‘till.’

Common Errors in English-3

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Common Errors in English-3
29th June

Common Errors in English-3

Use of singular nouns after 'One of'

Expressions such as 

'He is one of my best friend' is quite common. 
Actually, it should have been 'one of my best friends'.

The error occurs because the speaker is misled by the word 'one'.

But, if we have to take 'one' of something, there should be at least two. If there are two fruits, you may take one. If there is only one, how can you take one of it?

It is wrong to say: She is one of the greatest singer.
The correct expression is ‘She is one of the greatest singers’.

That reminds me of another common error usually found in leave letters ( especially, those written by school going children). If you are submitting the leave letter after availing leave, you should not write, ‘Please grant me leave for ….. days.’ How can anyone grant leave after you have already taken it?

It is always better to submit the leave letter before going on leave. In that case, the expression, ‘Please grant me leave for ….. days.’, is correct. If by any chance, due to some reason, it is not possible, then the letter should contain the request, ‘Please treat my absenceas leave.’ ( i.e., please pretend as if I have got permission from you earlier, though I have not actually done so.’

* What is spoonerism?

Common Errors in English -2

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Common Errors in English -2

28th June
Common Errors in English -2

‘A few’ and ‘A little’

I have seen advertisements that say, ‘Few seats available; rush’. What the advertiser means is , ‘A few seats’. When ‘A’ is added before ‘few’, it gets a positive meaning- 'ஒரு சில'/'कुछ '. But without 'A', 'few' means almost nil.

We can say, 
'He is an introvert; he has few friends.'
What we mean is, he has hardly any friends.

When we make a positive statement, we can say,
'He has a few good friends; he need not worry.

In the same way, 'A little' has a positive meaning.

'I will make tea for you. There is a little milk.'

But when the milk is so little that one cannot make tea, one can say,
'Sorry. I can't make tea. There is little milk left.

P.S. I am very glad to receive many correct answers for , ‘Who is a lollipop lady?’

Question for today: ‘What are Kangaroo words?’

Reflexive and Emphatic pronouns

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Reflexive pronouns and emphatic pronouns look alike. They either end in –self, as in the singular form, or –selves as in theplural form.

The singular reflexive/ emphatic pronouns are:

Myself

Yourself

Himself, herself, itself

Plural reflexive pronouns include:

Ourselves

Yourselves

Themselves

Reflexive pronouns are pronouns that refer back to the subject of the sentence or clause.

E.g.,

He fell down and hurt himself.

I e-mailed myself a copy of the article.

Kumar blames himself .

If we write without ‘self’, the pronouns will not refer back to the doer of the action. They will refer to somebody else.

E.g.,

He hurt me.

I e-mailed you a copy of the article.

Kumar blames her.

Emphatic pronouns

When reflexive pronouns are used to put emphasis on a particular noun they are called emphatic pronouns.

E.g.,

She herself told me this.

I finished the job myself.

We ourselves cooked dinner.

* The emphatic pronouns cannot be used as subjects. It is therefore wrong to say:

Shekhar and myself went there.

I invited herself to tea.

The correct form will be:

Shekhar and I went there.

I invited her to tea.

Difference between reflective and emphatic pronouns:

A pronoun is a reflexive one if the action of the subject reflectsupon the doer.

E.g.,

He cut himself. (Reflexive: here the subject and object refer to the same person.)

Emphatic pronouns, on the other hand, are used to just emphasize the action of the subject.

E.g.,

He himself cut the cake. ( He cut the cake-not anybody else.)

I spoke to the principal myself. (Emphatic)

But,

You must blame yourself for the loss. (Reflexive – the subject and the object are the same).

* An emphatic pronoun can be removed from the sentence and the core meaning would not be affected.

E.g.,

I myself opened the door.

I opened the door.

A reflexive pronoun, on the other hand, is indispensable. The sentence wouldn’t make complete sense if you remove the reflexive pronoun.

E.g.,

She cut herself.

If you remove herself, what remains, will not make sense.

She cut…… what?

·       Some use ‘itself’ along with the pronouns in order to give emphasis.

E.g.,

You  itself teach me.

He itself wants to go there.

But that is not the way. It should be:

You yourself teach me.

He himself wants to go there.

                                                          ***

It is high time…. / It is time….

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

There is a confusion in the use of ‘It is high time’ and ‘It is time’The former is used when we wish to state that  something should have been done long back. It is already a bit late.

So, ‘high time’ is always followed by the past tense form of the verb.

E.g.,

It is high time you started preparing for the examinations. ( You should have started long back; start at least now.)

It is high time Anu took her responsibilities seriously.

On the other hand,

‘It is time to’  is used to indicate that it is the right time to do something.

E.g.,

It is time to wind up the meeting.

It is time to pack our things.

It is time to start cooking.