JUST SOME OF THE MISTAKES WE MAKE WHEN WE SPEAK OUR LANGUAGE

Dear Reader,

In my last post I promised to provide you with some of the mistakes we make when speaking or writing, so here are just some of them together with the explanation.

1)  "I don't know nothing" -  Made frequently and unknowingly when speaking.  In fact, the use of double negatives has a positive effect meaning "I know everything". The correct construction is "I don't know anything" or "I know nothing" as Manuel used to say in the classic comedy FAWLTY TOWERS.

2) "I ain't bought nothing for my wife" - The negative 'ain't' is used here to replace all other correct auxiliaries such as 'haven't' (in this case).  Again, notice the incorrect use of 'nothing' instead of 'anything' as in (1) above.

3)  "You should of told me...." -  A case of understanding the sloppy contraction "Should've" being interpreted as "of".  This is a common mistake in speaking (and even sometimes in writing).  'Have' is the correct word to use in fact.

4)  "The bank don't want to borrow me no money".  - The bank in its subjective form is 'it' so the auxiliary third person singular is "doesn't".  'Borrow' is used instead of 'lend' (you are the borrower in the eyes of the bank, unless you lend them some money) and there is yet another mistake in the use of 'no' instead of 'any'.

5)  "I goes to the pub every Friday" -  This construction is used in some parts of England.  Again, it's a case of misusing the form in the subject (I, you, we, they GO; he, she, it GOES).


By the way, if you find a mistake in the above, let me know.

John

INTRODUCTION

Dear Reader,

This is the first of what I hope are many entries to this particular blog.

I'm John and I was born in England a long time ago.  It's the country where I lived
the first 30 years of my life. Therefore, I hope you appreciate that I do know something
about the way the English people speak English.

You may think why there should be a blog about English people speaking English.  Of course
they speak English!  However, have you ever thought about whether the language
spoken is correct English?  In most everyday situations most people DO NOT use the language 
correctly and DO NOT even realize that what they have uttered or said in something known as
'bad English'.  This so called 'bad English' is normal and nobody questions the fact that it's 
incorrect or bad.  That's the way it simply is.

Proper English in everyday life is spoken by very few.  If spoken to someone who is not familiar with the style, it may appear pompous or that the user is creating a barrier.

It may seem strange for me to say this but the 'bad English' I've just referred to is part of the 
living language, and in many nations across the world I'm sure that most of the populations do not
use their language correctly.  The point I want to make that if it's bad or incorrect, it's still good
and acceptable because it forms a part of the living language which of course changes all the time.

I hope I've made my point clear.

As I child and later on I think that I made those mistakes too.  Things are somewhat different now as I teach English as a foreign language and I'm forever having to correct my learners' mistakes. When I'm listening to the radio online or go back to the UK I hear those mistakes and when in social circles find it  now difficult to  speak the language incorrectly.

In my next blogs I'll write about the kind of mistakes made and in what situations they are mostly
made.

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Thank you for reading.