Minor but significant mistakes you may have made in speaking English

billzhao

Some friends, especially those who are just learning English, often make the following mistakes.

1. My husband has a good job. She makes over 100,000 dollars a year.
' Q1 D- ^* S& L    My girlfriend did not live with me, because he is still in China.
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( u* P; D8 P- L$ W- G! v1 C; U1 pThe reason to make this mistake is not due to grammar knowledge. One reason might be she and he have the same pronunciation in Chinese.

2. I do not like big rain, I like small rain.
1 D. l7 j" F1 d& ~9 M3. Please close your phone.
: D" K) ]" T; I$ ~+ eThese mistakes are made because of direct translation. Another similar mistake is: I very like Canada. You really like Canada, or you like Canada very much.

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4. How to say: heavy rain, light rain, and turn off your phone in English?
# ?$ b' n0 o' I9 @1 yThe correct way to ask the question is like this: how do you say... in English?

* f$ g3 F% S8 H. f) T5. I am a Chinese.
, v  ~+ h  Q2 d* `# Z5 ^5 v1 v% {I am a Chinese person, or I am Chinese.
6. He is a gay.
+ C! N1 q$ g6 u% a8 }3 F% BHe is gay.
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7. Why? No why.
Not no why, no reason.
8. Thanks! No thanks!
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