Roman Thomas Sedlar - Mistaketionary: how to avoid mistakes in English

MISTAKETIONARY

how to avoid mistakes in English

- the sequel to ' 101x Wrong Right '

Roman Thomas Sedlar

www.romansedlar.com

Copyright

Roman Thomas Sedlar , Dipl.-Ing., M.B.A.

2020

Cover picture by DavieS.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the author.

If you are reading this book freely downloaded from an illegal source, please consider buying a legal copy.

Please, find the links to all author's publications at

www.romansedlar.com

www.romansedlar.co.za

Foreword

After the successful publication of the previous book explaining 101 mistakes in English, there is another sequel that will increase your awareness of correct English. This book presents another 100 common mistakes that are made by both beginners and advanced speakers. All expressions are arranged in alphabetical order as individual entries in a dictionary - hence the title 'MISTAKETIONARY'.

Each item contains an incorrect expression, and most of them come with the possible reason why the mistake occurs. The terms and expressions are then explained from the point of view of etymology (origin of words), phonetics (pronunciation), morphology (grammatical forms), or syntax (the structure of sentences).

Any of the 100 mistake items can be quickly and easily searched using the hamburger icon in any e-book reader application - it provides quick access to the alphabetical list of entries.

After reading this book, you will avoid making mistakes in English pronunciation as well as in many English phrases and expressions.

The phonetic transcription in this book is based on the IPA symbols (International Phonetic Alphabet), for example:

- cup /kp/

- about /bat/

- cat /kt/

- door /d/

- turn /tn/

t - child /tald/

d - just /dst/

think /k/

this /s/

- sheep /ip/

- vision /vn/

Abbreviations and symbols used in the book :

BrE (British English)

AmE (American English)

e.g. (for example)

List of entries :

abroad

actual

advice

advice vs. advise

advise

all, every

almond

always doing

anyone

as, like

ballet

beautifully

bomb

broad

bury

camel

chances

China

choir

citrus

climber

comb

composed

comprise

concert

cuisine

data

decision

different

difficulty

dont think

each other

else

enough

enter

even

event

eventually

every

everyday, every day

experience

fantasy

fine

fish and chips

flammable, inflammable

fruit

fruit, vegetables

good

goods

Greenwich

herd

homework

honest

hotel

how

how, what

hundred, a hundred

I dont know

if + will

in front of, opposite

information

I think so

lamb

learn, teach

life, living

listen

look

look forward

lots of, a lot of

me, I

medicine

mistake

modify

mortgage

most of

nature

neither

news

nobody + question tag

on + date

on, in

permission

picture

preface

problem

project

pudding

record

row

someone they

still, always

suit

suite

surface

their, theyre

tomb

to tear

waistcoat

will, going to

yet, still

Mistake - /brd/

The adverb 'abroad' contains the cluster of letters that is similar to the word 'road' /rd/ . That is why the word 'abroad' is sometimes mispronounced as /brd/ . The correct pronunciation is /brd/ . The reason is the origin and etymology of 'abroad' . It comes from Middle English and it consists of two parts - a // + broad /brd/ .

The same pronunciation principle works for the word 'broad' /brd/ , which also has nothing to do with 'road' or its pronunciation.

Correct - /brd/

Mistake - Internet crime is an actual problem in many countries.

The adjective 'actual' doesn't mean 'at the present time' , but it means 'real' or 'exact' . This word belongs to the group of words called false friends because it looks and sounds similar to a word in another language, but it differs significantly in meaning.

There are more words belonging to the same category of false friends, such as 'eventually' (= at the end), 'fantasy' (= a type of literature), or 'preservative' (= a chemical substance).

Correct - Internet crime is a current / present problem in many countries.

Mistake - Here are some advices for lazy students.

The noun 'advice' is uncountable, so it is not used in the plural. If for some reason you want to express a specific number of recommendations, you can use the phrase 'pieces of advice' , for example '10 pieces of advice that most people ignore' .

Correct - Here is some advice for lazy students.

Mistake - Id advice him to book the hotel in advance.

There is a difference between 'advice' /dvas/ and 'advise' /dvaz/ . The difference is not only in pronunciation - an unvoiced consonant /..s/ in 'advice' and voiced /..z/ in 'advise' , but also in meaning - 'advice' is an uncountable noun, while 'advise' is a verb. Similar principles are also applied to other nouns/verbs - 'practice/practise' and 'device/devise' .

Correct - Id advise him to book the hotel in advance.

Mistake - They advise that an ID card is carried with you at all times.

In English, we use the verb form (or mood) called subjunctive after the verb 'advise' . It is an abbreviated form of the clause '... an ID card should be carried ...' , in which the modal 'should' can be omitted. Similar principles are applied to other verbs such as 'suggest , recommend , or insist' .

Correct - They advise that an ID card be carried with you at all times.

Mistake - Not every water is safe to drink.

Both 'all' and 'every' are determiners - these are the words that are used before a noun to show which thing is meant. They can both be used to talk about all the members of a group of things or people. However, there is little difference in grammar. 'Every' is used with singular countable nouns (every child/student/book/) , while 'all' is used with plural nouns (all children/students/books/) and uncountable nouns (all food/wood/money/) .

There can be another determiner between 'all' and the noun (the, this, my, her, etc.) , for example 'all his money' .

Correct - Not all water is safe to drink.

Mistakes - /lmnd/ , /lmnd/

In British English, the correct pronunciation of the noun 'almond' is /mnd/ . There is a silent letter 'l' , so pronouncing /lmnd/ or /lmnd/ is wrong. One of the origins of 'almond' is the Latin word 'amandula' (with no 'l' after 'a' ).

The reason for mispronouncing the word is probably the words spelling similarity of the initial letters to other words, such as 'almost' /lmst/ . Yet in some North American dialects you may hear /mnd/ or rarely /lmnd/ .

Correct - BrE /mnd/ , AmE /mnd/

Mistake - He loses always his keys.

We use the present simple to talk about habits and routines (things that happen regularly, repeatedly or all the time). As a result of this, we can use the adverb of frequency 'always' to emphasise that somebody does something at all times, on every occasion.