Whether you’re a “Grammar Nazi” continually feeling burdened by the duty to auto-correct grammar when people speak or the helpless earthling, whose every word is judged as if they were in a real-life Microsoft word document, you will have to agree that English is a funny, funny language.
Think about it. “There goes Karan and Arjun to their mother.”
Nope, this is incorrect. Turns out subject-verb agreement, that we didn’t pay attention to in class is a real thing. “There go Karan and Arjun to their mother” is the correct sentence because with plural subject, we must use “Go” and with singular subjects we must use “Goes”. But, hey! wait a minute, “I” and “You” will always “Go” like “I go” or “you go” even if we are singular!*
(*screams internally at the horror of this confusion!)
Many a time, (not many a times) we ignore these errors because “It sounds fine when we say it”. Nevertheless, grammatical errors are real and we must correct them, ourselves. So, without further (and not farther) ado, let’s change.
- JUST REPLY
The next time you reply to your boss, just “reply” and not “reply back” or “revert back”. The prefix “re” itself means to do something again, so you need not add a “back” to it.
INCORRECT: Let me reply back to that.
CORRECT: Let me reply to that.
- ME OR I?
They are not the same thing. “I” is used along with other subjective pronouns such as we, he, she, you and they. Whereas “Me” is used along with other objective pronouns such as us, him, her, you and them.
INCORRECT: Rohan and me went for a coffee.
CORRECT: Rohan and I went for a coffee.
INCORRECT: The dog followed I.
CORRECT: The dog followed me.
- PEEK-A-BOO!
Let’s solve the confusion with peek, peak, pique once and for all.
PEEK(verb) take a quick look at something- “Sneak peek of the film.”
PEAK(noun) a sharp point or a high point- “Priyanka Chopra is at the peak of her career.”
PIQUE(verb) to provoke or instigate- “The trailer piqued my interest to see the film.”
- Knock Knock! Who/whom/whose/who’s there?
This is a tough cookie but no more.
Who is used for a person like Who will open the door?
Whom is used for someone receiving something like Whom shall we welcome today?
Whose assigns ownership of someone like Whose dirty shoes are these?
Who’s is a contraction for Who is.
Yes, you are right. It will be “Knock Knock! Who’s there?”
- BETWEEN VS AMONG
The word “between” is used to refer to two (or more) separate things, and the word “among” is used to refer to things that are not clearly separated because they’re part of a group.
So, you choose between different subjects and you talk among your friends.
- “THAT” THING YOU DO
We must always use “that” whenever we are reporting someone else’s word to another person.
INCORRECT: Babuji said Simran will have to marry Kuljeet.
CORRECT: Babuji said that Simran will have to marry Kuljeet.
- DON’T COPE UP
This might come as a “my whole life has been a lie” moment but it is incorrect to say “Cope up”. The right phrase is “Cope with”.
INCORRECT: We have to learn to cope up with stress.
CORRECT: We have to learn to cope with stress.
- WE HAVE TO “DISCUSS” THIS
Let’s get this clear. The word “Discuss” means to talk about and using “discuss about” would be like saying talk about about.
INCORRECT: Let’s discuss about this.
CORRECT: Let’s discuss this.
- CALLED AS V/S CALLED
Remember photosynthesis? The process by which green plants make their food is called as photosynthesis. But guess what, this is incorrect. The process is called photosynthesis and not called as photosynthesis.
INCORRECT: Called as
CORRECT: Called
- DO I GIVE OR TAKE AN EXAM?
As much as we would like to do neither, but we must take an exam. Saying giving an exam is the Hindi translation of the sentence and not applicable in English.
INCORRECT: Give an exam
CORRECT: Take an exam.
How many of these did you already know of? Share with us!
