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.

( K' q' s! l8 x% {+ Y8 z  B1. 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.
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3 _2 w' x& _# s' d8 E' I. _The reason to make this mistake is not due to grammar knowledge. One reason might be she and he have the same pronunciation in Chinese.
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7 H9 ~. T/ m& ~$ i) I8 {: w2. I do not like big rain, I like small rain.
: f! z% v5 q- P4 f/ f  H- N7 j, `3. Please close your phone.
' h5 J- h8 n  V* rThese 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.


7 z4 D3 K: z: @2 S' F6 s4. How to say: heavy rain, light rain, and turn off your phone in English?
# q! `- ]3 `) b0 F7 L" b3 kThe correct way to ask the question is like this: how do you say... in English?

5. I am a Chinese.
I am a Chinese person, or I am Chinese.
& ]7 u5 n5 D6 r: y6. He is a gay.
, e5 r0 d0 D2 r4 ^. tHe is gay.
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7. Why? No why.
, b% V1 h  {% U, R! nNot no why, no reason.
1 w; r7 x$ E, c  l8. Thanks! No thanks!