COMMON

ERRORS

Indianism Vs. Correct Usage

Indian Usage
Hit

OK
Im not getting you
I

cant get you

Mr. (First

name)

Correct Usage
Press the OK
Im sorry I did not
understand that
Im sorry I couldnt
hear you
Mr. Last name

Indianism Vs. Correct Usage

Indian Usage
same
Just wait
Repeat it once again
Have a great time
What all we have
Where do you stay?
Regarding?

Correct Usage
Yes, thats correct
Just a moment please
Could you repeat that
Have a nice day
What we have
Where do you live?
What is it about?

Indianism Vs. Correct Usage

Indian Usage

Correct Usage

Where do/are you put up?

Where are you putting up?
At weekends
Its getting over

Where do you live?

What is your address
On the weekends
It will end, its ending

Tick mark the box

Club together
Lot many

Check or x in the box

Combine, add
lot or many

Indianism Vs. Correct Usage

Second

name
We people
No problems
Double or triple
Dollar

five
Waived off

Last name
Our company, we
Ill be happy to do that for you
Give the number digit by
digit
Five dollars
Waived

Indianism Vs. Correct Usage

I

am Mary smith this side

My name is
Mary smith
Youll get it today itself Youll get it by the
end of the day
Ill just come
Ill be with you in a minute
Ill just be back Ill be back in just a minute

Indianism Vs. Correct Usage

Im

understanding
I am knowing
I will revert back on this
this
I can make out
I think you missed
out on what I said

I understand
I know
I will revert on
I can understand
Let me clarify

Indianism Vs. Correct Usage

Scheme
Special offer
What is your good name May I have
your name, Sir or maam
Be rest assured
Rest assured

Correct Usage
Everyone

in this world are happy

Is it correct
Everyone in this world is happy
As everyone is a Singular Pronoun

Correct Usage
Neither

of my two brothers show much

sense when he dates women
Is it Correct
Neither of my two brothers shows much
sense when he dates women.
Because neither is singular in nature
Of my two brothers is a prepositional phrase

 Mom

heard that Me and Sheila forgot to

send a Christmas card to Aunt Louie
Is it correct?
Mom heard that I and Sheila forgot to send
a Christmas card to Aunt Louie
I is a subjective pronoun whereas me is a
Objective Pronoun

 Say

it like this
Mom heard that I forgot to send a Christmas
card to Aunt Louie
Is that sound correct
Or
Mom heard that Me forgot to send a Christmas
card to Aunt Louie
So now add Sheila to the correct sentence
So that is how we get to know when to use I or me.

 "She

is stronger than me."

Is it correct
No-She is stronger than I
Rewrite the sentence as Me is stronger that
She is wrong so I am stronger than she
So
She is stronger than I.

 Everyone

will be required to submit

their memorandum at 9:00 a.m.
Is it correct
Everyone will be required to submit
the memorandum at 9:00 a.m.

 Every

Chicken wing and pork rib sits

untouched in Ruths plate
Is it correct?
Yes as Every is a singular pronoun no
matter even if there is a conjuction and
The subject remains singular and so is the
verb

 Not

only the boss but also her employees

wish the shift would end
Is it Correct?
Yes, as a rule if a plural subject is present
after notbut, either.or, neither.nor
then the verb is plural and vice a versa.
Since employees is plural wish is also plural.

 Not

only her employees but her boss also

wishes the shift would end
Is it Correct?
Yes as the subject boss is singular the
verb is also singular

 Incorrect:

The person I saw stealing the

watch was her.
Correct: The person I saw stealing the
watch was she.

 "She"

is the subject linked to the verb "was."

Without the term "she," there is no subject for
that verb, since "I" is the subject of "saw" and
"person" is the subject of "stealing." One way to
prove that "she" is the correct choice is to
change the order of words in the sentence
without using any different words: "She was the
person I saw stealing the watch." Since "she" is
correct in that format, it is also correct in the
example above

Word or phrase

Preferred form or
treatment

Comment

firstly, secondly,
thirdly

first, second, third

consider using a
numbered list

should of

should have

drop the of

could of

could have

drop the of

orientate(d)

Orient(ed)

administrate(d)

administer(ed)

literally

avoid

only use where the

precise meaning of
the word is intended

 Do

not mix singular nouns with plural verbs and

visa-versa.
Improper
The engineers, Smith, Wood, and Reising, has
prepared several devices to attach to the main
flange.
The toddler have a short attention span.
James were preparing a presentation on gasket
design.

Avoid the use of double negatives

Improper:
No

class exercises cannot replace training in the

laboratory. (This literally means that some
exercises can replace training.)
In budgeting, one should not spend no more
than one's income. (This literally means that one
should spend more than one's income.)
Don't never perform the textile burn test in an
unventilated area. (This is actually a triple
negative and is very confusing. It could, in fact,
get somebody hurt or killed.)

 Proper:
Class

exercises cannot replace training in

the laboratory
In budgeting, one should not spend more
than one's income
Always perform the textile burn test in a
ventilated area.

Avoid confusing verb forms and tenses

Improper:
The

thirsty traveler had drank more than a quart

of water in two minutes.
Andrew, working on a computationally extensive
problem, seen that modifications were needed in
the C++ source code.
Practicing an interview situation with a friend
done helped to lessen the fear.
His expenses has offset any profits made from
the sale of the new electric mixer.

 Proper:
The

thirsty traveler drank more than a quart of

water in two minutes
Andrew, working on a computationally extensive
problem, saw that modifications were needed in
the C++ source code.
Practicing an interview situation with a friend
does help to lessen the fear.
His expenses have offset any profits made from
the sale of the new electric mixer

Avoid redundancy
Use

repetition sparingly (i.e., only when

necessary for emphasis).
Improper:
The book was a free gift.
(Have you ever seen a gift that wasn't free? If it's
not free, it's not a gift!)
Poor initial preparations and a faulty
miscalculation caused the final result of the
experiment to be erroneous and wrong.

 Proper:
The

book was free.

or
The book was a gift
Poor preparation and one miscalculation
caused the results of the experiment to be
in error

TIPS TO IMPROVE MY ENGLISH

Stop

using sms-English: All it takes is

just another 50-paise, or even a rupee, for
you to type a slightly-lengthier message in
proper English. Consider it a valuable
investment to make each time. For
recurring messages, consider creating
templates of pre-typed messages in your
phone.

Read at least one good book a week:

Reading newspapers, magazines,
brochures, and business and technical
documents, is like trying to nourish your
body exclusively on junk food. Just think:
Have you read at least 52 good books in
the last twelve months?

Run every paragraph you author through

a free online spell-check and grammarcheck tool. You may try my favourite one
here: www.spellchecker.net/spellcheck

 Be

more evocative: Quickly describe or

write a review of your favourite movie or
music. Chances are you might just have
used the word awesome somewhere.
Consider using a free online thesaurus to
find other words for almost everything you
say or write. This will help you increase
your vocabulary and also make your
expressions more evocative. Heres one:
thesaurus.reference.com

 Conduct

a readability test: Nobody will ever

tell you whether they found your written English
easy or difficult to understand. Raj Mathur has
developed a free and opensource webapplication, that grades your text against various
readability metrics. James Joyce would find it
quite Useless, but this may just help you catch
the Achilles heel of your writing-style. Discover it
here: English Diction and Readability Tests

1.

Speak slowly: You might find this

difficult at first, as you try hard to
distinctly pronounce each word, and
watch out for mistakes with definite and
indefinite articles such as a, an, the;
with prepositions such as of, in, on,
at, and more; and with your tenses.

 Switch

off from TV and radio stations

that butcher the language. Choose
instead, to watch at least one hour of good
English TV programming, while paying
more attention with your ears than your
eyes. Tune in to a quality radio station,
whether local or international, where your
ears can soak up to abut an hour of good
English.

1.

Avoid abusive or offensive language.

It makes you sound rather uncouth.