Everyday aspects

Everyday aspects you might currently be missing

Oftentimes, we use some words, phrases and clauses on a daily basis.  While doing so, we might not consider whether they are grammatically correct or not. However, grammar mistakes are sometimes inevitable and we should continuously work on improving them. Besides that, it is okay to err up on that word knowing that we will have the error corrected upon noticing it. This is pretty much a good way to learn language.

Confusing words

There is a number of confusing words in English. Let us have a look at some of them.

a) daily, dairy & diary

daily
If something is done daily, it is done every day.

Walking is a daily activity. (adjective)
I walk daily. (adverb)

dairy

She bought some dairy products. (adjective)
Butter is a dairy product. (adjective)

diary

I record my daily experiences in my diary. (noun)

clue: Carefully analyse the letters in such confusing words. They are probably the reason why you keep mixing up the words.

b) quite & quiet

It is quite cold today. (adverb)
She hardly talks because  she is a quiet girl. ( adjective)

c) complain, complaint & complainant


They always complain about the noise. (verb)
They made a complaint about the noise. (noun)
They are the complainants. (noun)

You can, therefore, see that when you complain, you make a complaint. One who makes a complaint is called a complainant.

Articles (a, an & the)

Did you know?
Not always can one use any of the articles anywhere. Let us find out the reasons behind this.

Indefinite articles: a & an

These are indefinite articles. this means that we use them when talking about something in general (unspecifically).

They will go to a mall.
They will go to an orchard. 

Note that in this case, we do not know which mall or orchard they will go to. The malls or orchards might be more than one. All we know  is that, they will have to go to one of the malls or orchards.      

NB: For you to use the indefinite articles appropriately, you must first determine the sound at the beginning of the word preceded by the indefinite article. If the preceded word begins with a vowel sound, use an.
examples: an apple, an orange, an hour etc.

If the preceded word begins with a consonant sound, use a.
examples: a ball, a web, a university etc.

Definite article: the

This is a definite article. We use it when we are being specific.

They will go to the mall.
They will go to the orchard.
In this case, the mall  or orchard to which they will go is known.

The h in the following words is silent. They, therefore, take  the indefinite article an.

• hour
• honour
• honest
• heir

Did you find this post useful? Do not forget to share!

Frans SM ( authoress)

Commonly misused phrases

Commonly misused phrases

The frequent use of incorrect grammar makes one to see correct grammar sound odd or even wrong.

supposed to 

wrong use: The children are suppose to be here now. The children suppose to be here now.

She is suppose to be here now.  She suppose to be here now.

  Do not omit the -d since this will give your phrase a different meaning. The verbs  is and are must precede supposed.

correct use:  The children are supposed to be here now.  She is supposed to be here now.

used to

wrong use: I am used to stay up late. I am used to dance.

correct use: I am used to staying up late. I am used to dancing.

rule: You cannot use the verb in another form here. After the preposition (to), the verb becomes a verbal noun (gerund). 

However, it is correct to say: I use to go to school on Mondays. (Note that you haven't stopped going to school on Mondays here.)  I used to go to school on Mondays. (You just stopped going to school on Mondays.) Determine the tense used, and you will get it right away.

looking forward to

wrong use : I am looking forward to see you.

correct use: I  look forward to seeing you.

rule: You cannot use the verb in another form here. After the preposition (to), the verb becomes a verbal noun (gerund).

Doubling the past tense is incorrect!

wrong use: Did you went to school?  Did you ate something?

correct use: Did you go to school? Did you eat something?

You see, the auxiliary verb did is already carrying the past tense of the whole sentence here. Putting the main verb into past tense will only make the whole saying sound incorrect.

 Frans SM (authoress)

More posts are still to come.

The Language Passion


The Language Passion is a blog created for sharing useful aspects in the language of English. The blogger found it useful to create the blog so as to  help learners of English  in uplifting their language skills. Check out this blog often to have your language skills upgraded.