Hello beautiful people! We hope our last blog helped you in stepping up your Grammar game a bit. Also for those of you, who think you already know the errors we studied in the last blog, let’s test how good you are and whether or not you are familiar with the 5 more errors that we are going to study today.
Since we already told you people about how important Grammar is, for any language, we don’t think we have to repeat it again. But for those of you who are new here. Well, learning words of any language without knowing the Grammar Rules of that language is like Marvel making “Avengers” without “Iron Man”. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE.
So let’s get into it and learn some new rules-
1. Words that are Singular in form but plural in use
Some nouns are singular in form but are used as plural nouns and hence are followed by a plural verb like Cattle, Peasantry, People, Vermin, Police, Clergy, etc.
E.g. The cattle is grazing. (Incorrect)
The cattle are grazing. (Correct)
This is a very common mistake and you might have even seen people make it in movies. They say like “Don’t worry the police is coming” which is actually wrong.
2. Pronouns Related Mistakes
- A pronoun should always agree with its antecedent in person, number, and gender. An antecedent is a noun that a pronoun is replacing or referring to
E.g: All the employee must bring their ID cards tomorrow. (Correct)
Each employee must bring their ID card tomorrow. (Incorrect)
Each employee must bring his ID card. (Correct)
- The pronoun ‘one’ should always be followed by one’s.
E.g. One must finish his task in time. (Incorrect)
One must finish one’s task in time. (Correct)
3. Little, A little, The little
You must be like “that is the same thing”. But it is not. To the surprise of many little, a little, the little, are used in different places and it is not that difficult to figure out if you know the exact meaning of the three.
- ‘Little’ has a negative meaning which means hardly any or there almost zero.
E.g. There is a little hope of his recovery. (Incorrect)
There is little hope of his recovery. (Correct)
- ‘A little’ has positive attributes and means some, not much though.
E.g. Little hope is better than no hope. (Incorrect)
A little hope is better than no hope. (Correct)
- ‘The little’ means ‘not much’, but all that is there.
E.g. A little hope that was left in my heart was like a small beam of light in the darkness. (Incorrect)
The little hope that was left in my heart was like a small beam of light in the darkness. (Correct)
Though these may not sound wrong and different when one reads, but again this is for all the GRAMMAR FREAKS out there. This might be a little confusing when you read but our advice would be to read this part again and keep in mind the meanings of the three. This difference might also be very helpful if you are preparing for any exam.
4. Since and For
This is also another very common mistake which you cannot figure out by just reading the sentence unless you know the meaning and when they are used.
For – It is used when we are talking about a period of time or a duration or when we want to say “for this long”.
Since – It is used when we talk about a particular point of time or when we want to say “from a precise moment in time till now”.
Let’s make this even clearer with some Examples –
E.g. I have been studying since 20 minutes. (Incorrect)
I have been studying for 20 minutes. (Correct)
I have been studying for 9 a.m. in the morning. (You sound stupid)
I have been studying since 9 a.m. in the morning. (Correct)
Since – the beginning of time, Monday, January, 1956 etc.
For – ever, a long time, 4 years, six months, a few days, two days, 1 hour, etc.
Hope the difference is clear by now.
5. Sentences with two Subjects
When there are two Subjects in a sentence and they are not in the same Number, then we must have to use separate Auxiliaries (is, are, am, was, were, have, has) for both of them.
E.g. Incorrect- Five criminals caught and one is on loose.
Correct- Five criminals were caught and one is on loose.
So this was it for today. We hope you learned a lot and for those who knew these errors too, we will come up with some more in the next part of the blog. Click here for Most Common Grammatical Mistakes (Part – 3). Also, you should make notes of what we study like all the rules in one line. It will help you in the future and you would not need to go through the internet again and again to revise. Good luck.
Thank You.
