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.
; K8 @( r9 ]* j) s- _7 i2 w
# P' L2 i# z$ u6 |% g1. 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.
- F6 D! Y- J1 D6 P5 L
0 c: A. l3 A8 N4 h7 C2 ]& |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.

$ e* S$ g: t5 c) a6 z, f2. I do not like big rain, I like small rain.
3. Please close your phone.
! H; u( r' ~9 h& U0 D; pThese 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.

5 ^. K/ A" M# u4 Z9 n# y, }/ \/ G
4. 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?
. T6 g2 Y4 W3 M, b, D' Y  v8 z
5. I am a Chinese.
/ D: h* P6 W" U7 bI am a Chinese person, or I am Chinese.
6. He is a gay.
# n! d- C; E# q$ hHe is gay.

7. Why? No why.
Not no why, no reason.
. K$ e! k/ j  {! _% {5 S8. Thanks! No thanks!

1 L! ]5 Q7 l6 c: H& m2 B5 ]