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.
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1. My husband has a good job. She makes over 100,000 dollars a year.
/ C8 s& ^  o6 }% K: ~1 b  `% h% K    My girlfriend did not live with me, because he is still in China.
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, j7 a; d. a$ ?4 o& z/ hThe reason to make this mistake is not due to grammar knowledge. One reason might be she and he have the same pronunciation in Chinese.

. t- _8 t# l. ^! X3 k+ n. X2. I do not like big rain, I like small rain.
3. Please close your phone.
# }. }" o# q$ F! ^* R, X" D5 |These 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?
* o( ]( Y) b1 t3 uThe correct way to ask the question is like this: how do you say... in English?

5. I am a Chinese.
4 p# }0 B' J. x  R. ?# uI am a Chinese person, or I am Chinese.
- L5 o4 ~: \$ |' M4 @2 \6. He is a gay.
  P3 G5 m  p, A6 s& E0 \He is gay.
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7 ]3 S4 t; ~/ c2 j% o7 h' f/ x' f1 j7. Why? No why.
Not no why, no reason.
9 N7 f: D% R2 N" D$ C: g8. Thanks! No thanks!