English Mistakes

OK, here are a few mistakes that you should not make.

(2) "is" and "are"-Please take care when using these words. Do not mix them up. The word "is" is a singular word, and the word "are" is a plural word. Example: She is going to the mall. They are going to the mall. An exception to this is the word "you"Example: You are very nice.

(3) "alot" Although you will find many English speakers using this term, it is incorrect. A lot is a piece of property, and should not be used to describe the quantity of something. The correct terms to be used are words such as "much" and "many".

Thank you for reading.

-Lizz

M. Augustus
Thank you for your posts… You set my mind at rest because sometimes I use "ain't" myself and often I prefer to say "a lot" instead of "many". But when Her Majesty Queen recieves me I try to watch my words.

Mr Augustus and Lizz! Thank you very much! I have learnt much from you. God bless you!

Augustus gets to the heart of the "prescriptive" vs "descriptive" arguement. Do you teach English as it SHOULD be used or as it actually IS used.

Ain't isn't good formal English, but it's used by many English speakers, even if only in informal speech. Therefore, learners should at the very least know to recognize it and know the meaning even if they don't use it themselves.

A lot is simply correct English. It is not incorrect to say "There are a lot of English learners on Ebaby," meaning there are MANY English learners here. 

thanks for the sharing lizz and mr.augustus! useful indeed. ;) anyway shardzy dont comment on mr augustus if you dont know him well. he just want to share some of his knowledge to others.  he just got pissed of the magic word "ignoramuses".;) i think.

thanx lizz

Thank you to everybody that offered support. If anybody ever needs help with English I would be more than happy to help.

Despite the fact that M.august has ruled the world over Lizz, i do believe that Lizz is a most nice girl who is offerring these informative notes as you can tell from her avatar how cuuute and beauuutiful she is.

i also want to learn more about ,as M.august said, "avoid placing a preposition at the end of a clause, even if the result sounds absolutely ridiculous" .  i ,too, myself don't have any exact ideas about the rules as to when to place a preposition at the end of a clause. if i didn't place one at the end, how ridiculous it would be?

Leaving a preposition at the end of a sentence or clause, where it appears to lack an object, is considered by prescriptive grammar to be a poor construction.

Examples:

What is that book about? 

Where do you come from?

That it something I will not put up with. 

In very formal English, such constructions should be avoided, but a non-native speaker who takes this rule too much to heart is liable to end up with such beastliness as Winston Churchill (allegedly) derided: "This is the sort of English up with which I will not put."

In informal english, it's VERY common to end a sentence with a preposition, especially in questions and when the prepositions form part of an established verbal phrase.  (to put up with: to tolerate.)   

The rule on split infinitives is of similar caliber – you should not do it, according to the prescriptivists (who in this instance model their objection on Latin, it would seem), but it is often done.  (Personally, I like the rhythm of the unsplit infinitive in most instances; eg, "Boldy to go where no man has gone before" sounds better to me than "To Boldy go…" etc; but I don't acknowledge it as a legitimate rule.)

I mean, etymologically it is derived from OE 'hlot', which is associated more with the casting of lots to determine people's properties.  But as I understand it, it's had the expanded sense of 'many' for a long, long time.   I don't have the OED handy, but I'm sure it's at least a century old, and probably more.  And the descriptivists would say that if large numbers of people have been using the word that way for over 100 years, it's English.