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.

1. My husband has a good job. She makes over 100,000 dollars a year.
- Y" l' b- W& Z( V    My girlfriend did not live with me, because he is still in China.

, I2 W1 D; U1 e, f- e/ K% l+ PThe 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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& H* U6 w+ f, L, n/ j2. I do not like big rain, I like small rain.
3. Please close your phone.
These 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.
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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?

$ R) H9 `9 [/ X8 h, {9 e# _5. I am a Chinese.
# j5 G1 Q: k' N. W4 fI am a Chinese person, or I am Chinese.
3 M& Y/ b) p( _0 |9 A# f6 W6. He is a gay.
He is gay.
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8 c7 N8 i- r- @( P7. Why? No why.
) p# j7 U9 b6 D3 jNot no why, no reason.
8. Thanks! No thanks!
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