Dear Students,
English Section in the exam is a section where some students score very well but others even fail to clear cut-off. Learning Grammar is really essential to score good marks. But, what happens is that students from various boards where lesser attention is paid on English language fail to apply grammar during the examination even if they know the rules.
So, conclusion is that practicing in some interesting way so that the things remain intact in your mind is important. Keeping this in mind, we have launched this series of “ENglish – VinglisH”. We have done enough for some common mistakes which we do while speaking, writing and communicating in English. Now we will discuss about the use of some basic words in English.
This is the sixth post of ENglish – VinglisH. Hope you people like it.
So, lets start now!!
1. “Could/would/should of”
This common mistake arises because the contracted form of “could have” – “could’ve” – sounds a bit like “could of” when you say it out loud. This mistake is made frequently across all three of these words.
Rules:
When people write “should of”, what they really mean is “should have”.
Written down, the shortened version of “should have” is “should’ve”.
“Should’ve” and “Should have” are both correct; the latter is more formal.
How not to do it:
- We could of gone there today
- I would of done it sooner
- You should of said
How to do it properly:
- We could’ve gone there today
- I would have done it sooner
- You should’ve said
2. There/their/they’re
We’ve met this one before, too; it’s another example of those pesky homophones – words that sound the same but have different meanings.
Rules:
Use “there” to refer to a place that isn’t here – “over there”.
We also use “there” to state something – “There are no cakes left.”
“Their” indicates possession – something belonging to them.
“They’re” is short for “they are”.
How not to do it:
- Their going to be here soon
- We should contact they’re agent
- Can we use there boat?
- Their is an argument that says
How to do it properly:
- They’re going to be here soon
- We should contact their agent
- Can we use their boat?
- There is an argument that says
3. Fewer/less
The fact that many people don’t know the difference between “fewer” and “less” is reflected in the number of supermarket checkout aisles designated for “10 items or less”. The mistake most people make is using “less” when they actually mean “fewer”, rather than the other way round.
Rules:
“Fewer” refers to items you can count individually.
“Less” refers to a commodity, such as sand or water, that you can’t count individually.
How not to do it:
- There are less cakes now
- Ten items or less
How to do it properly:
- There are fewer cakes now
- Ten items or fewer
- Less sand
- Fewer grains of sand
