Struggling with Language Mistakes? Discover How to Convey Your Message Clearly

Dear Everyone,

I was completely engrossed in an interesting article, but the usage of certain words made me go nuts over the person who submitted the same. Unfortunately, I was concentrating more on the language than the message itself. I would not have felt this way if I were not taught the proper usage or pointed out my own silly mistakes that I later corrected. (By the way – I am still being corrected and no exception to the above.)

A few common mistakes:

Avoid the usage of the word "doubt" unless you doubt someone's character. The alternate word is "clarification."

It's not "clearify" – it's "clarify."

While browsing for self-improvement, I came across these interesting sites that will be useful to many of us. Just glance through during your occasional breaks. Should prove to be more useful than gossip. You don't get to learn language there!

- [http://www.refdesk.com/factgram.html](http://www.refdesk.com/factgram.html)
- [http://richmond.edu](http://richmond.edu) (link updated to site home) ([Search On Cite](https://www.citehr.com/results.php?q=FONT%20Times%20New%20Roman%20http%20 writing2%20richmond%20edu%20WRITING%20wweb%20confo rd%20html%20FONT) | [Search On Google](https://www.google.com/search?q=FONT%20Times%20New%20Roman%20http%20writi ng2%20richmond%20edu%20WRITING%20wweb%20conford%20 html%20FONT))
- [http://www.bouldertherapist.com/html/humor/WordPlays/tips_for_proper_english.htm](http://www.bouldertherapist.com/html/humor/WordPlays/tips_for_proper_english.htm) - explained in a humorous way, but you will get the message!

Thank you.

Targeted? Definitely not, Pankaj. It's for everyone out there who uses the English language.

But if you'd require more clarification, please let me know. :-)

Actually, I am expecting much from you as before, but you have sent links instead of providing more information of your own.

Hope to read your views more often.

Regards,

Pankaj Chandan

"Targeted?
Definitely not, Pankaj. It's for everyone out there who uses the English language.
But if you require more clarification, please let me know. :-)"

Dear Ash and all,

I would like to add some more into this kitty:

It is not "There" when people actually mean "Their," and vice versa. "Revert back" can be written without "back." It is not "Increament"; it's "Increment." He/she never "DO"; He/She always "Does." It is not "Than" when people actually mean "Then," and vice versa. "Listening music" is wrong; "Listening to music" is correct. When it's for designation, you are not "Promoted to"; you are "promoted as."

I know members here can add further to this list. Let's make this post worth it.

Thanks,
Prashant

Good Prashant,

I would like to add some more in it:-

1) One of my friend is wrong correct one is One of my friends
2) Introduction – Myself is XYZ is wrong and correct one is My name is XYZ.

Rest I will add whenever remember

Regards

Pankaj Chandan

Excellent, Prashant and Pankaj!

Trust me, you made me go and check my personal profile out there to confirm if I mentioned everything the right way. Thanks and keep contributing.

Common mistakes we make while speaking English!!

1. "It was a blunder mistake."

Correction, people! The word 'blunder' means mistake, so you could say:
"It was a blunder," or
"It was a big mistake."

2. "It would have been more better."

The word 'better' itself implies that the option in question is superior -- the use of the word 'more' in the sentence is, therefore both inappropriate and unnecessary. Thus the correct sentence would go as follows:
"It would have been better."

3. "Why don't he get married?"

The term 'don't' applies when discussing a plural subject. For instance, "Why don't they get married?" The right way to phrase that sentence would be:
"Why doesn't he get married?"

4. "I want two Xeroxes of this card."

The term 'Xerox' is used in North American English as a verb. Actually, 'Xerox' is the name of a company that supplies photocopiers! The correct thing to say, therefore, would be:
"I want two photocopies of this card."

5. "Your hairs are looking silky today."

This is one of the most common Indian bloopers! The plural of 'hair' is 'hair'! Thus:
"Your hair is looking silky today."

Some more::

1. Loose vs lose:

Many people make this mistake. They inevitably interchange the words 'loose' and 'lose' while writing. 'Lose' means to 'suffer a loss or defeat'. Thus, you would write:
'I don't want to lose you," and not 'don't want to loose you.'

'Loose', on the other hand, means 'not firm' or 'not fitting.' In this context, you would write,
"My shirt is loose," not "My shirt is lose."

2. "One of my friend lives in Kolkata."

This is one of the most common Indian English bloopers ever! The correct way of putting that is:
"One of my friends lives in Kolkata."

Why? Because the sentence implies that you have many friends who live in Kolkata, but you are referring to only one of these friends.

3. Tension-inducing tenses.

People often use the wrong tense in their sentences. For instance, someone might say:
"I didn't cried when I saw the movie."

Unfortunately, the word 'didn't' is never followed by a past tense verb, in this case 'cried'. The correct way of putting it would be:
"I didn't cry when I saw the movie."

Howzthat Asha Mathew!!!!!

Regards

Pankaj Chandan

1) "I'm in agreement with..." or "I agree with...", and not "I am agreed with..."
2) "I cannot...", or "I am unable to..." and not "I cannot able to..."
3) "Cannot" is one word. Do not write can not.

A funny incident to quote:

I went for an interview a couple of days ago. At the reception, I asked for the person whom I wanted to meet. The "english-is-my-second-skin" type receptionist confidently said, "Please go on top(?)" pointing her finger upside. I took her leave and went all the way up to the 6th floor where I had to again ask a housekeeper about the person. To my surprise, he said, "Wo to saab 1st floor pe baith ti hai". Only then I understood that the receptionist meant "on top of her head...oops...ceiling...oops, the next floor!!!" :)

Dear Members,

These errors usually happen. Even a person with good communication skills tends to make these errors. I believe every company should conduct a training session on email writing or post messages on a notice board that highlight "Frequent errors in our language" or perhaps create a quiz stating "Even a genius can make mistakes!!!".

I once saw an email from a "Project Manager" in my previous company. It was a client email, and he took a printout to show us "the client's feedback" (indirectly trying to blame the HR department for not providing enough manpower resources and the reason why the project is on hold) - but it backfired. The email read:

Dear <client>,

I hope you are okay. I have attached the file for you to review and let me know whether we can finalize this. Your response is important to us.

Thanks,

<name>
Projects Manager
<company name>

Reply from the client:

Dear <name>,

Well, thank you. I am "OKAY."

Let's end this here.

Now you see - he made a mistake in taking a printout. His skills are excellent - but the communication part... "You know."

Please let me know if this revised version captures the essence of the original text.

I would like to share the basics of punctuation while drafting in English. I learned these when I was learning English Typing 10 years ago.

Text_, [wrong]. Text, [correct].

Do not use any space before a comma (,), colon (:), semicolon (;), exclamation (!), full stop (.), and question mark (?).

Text, Text [wrong]. Text, Text [correct].

Always use one space after a comma (,), colon (:), semicolon (;).

Text. Text [wrong], Text. Text [correct]. Text. Text [correct].

A full stop (.), question mark (?), and exclamation (!) should always be followed by two character spaces.

Text_/ Text [wrong], Text/ Text [correct].

An oblique is neither preceded nor followed by any character space.

Issued in the interest of HR fraternity!

Prashant