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 T7 s/ S7 F3 h7 n1. My husband has a good job. She makes over 100,000 dollars a year.
    My girlfriend did not live with me, because he is still in China.

. R8 L5 M5 }; c4 G" ?# q7 S! 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.

5 w1 v+ I. F$ U+ C+ I2. I do not like big rain, I like small rain.
' S4 b  A* p- C# b3 @& N, m3. Please close your phone.
1 N7 ]$ T2 U" J& `" }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.


, X: m! u7 A6 K; ^/ H. y4 N4. How to say: heavy rain, light rain, and turn off your phone in English?
The correct way to ask the question is like this: how do you say... in English?

+ n5 h3 A% m5 \6 K9 h" {! f2 w5. I am a Chinese.
% X2 O, r5 O4 h1 B- t9 PI am a Chinese person, or I am Chinese.
* f# {4 o2 `, U! v, S  W6. He is a gay.
He is gay.

. R9 n$ q" h& F- Z8 H; j7. Why? No why.
Not no why, no reason.
: m5 t2 P1 F% [" u7 A4 u8. Thanks! No thanks!
0 ~) N9 F4 H$ S5 c