Common Errors in English

3. Subject-verb agreement

The verb agrees with the subject in number and person. That is the whole rule, and the difficulty is only in finding the subject.

4. Countable and uncountable nouns

Uncountable nouns take no plural and no "a": information, advice, furniture, luggage, machinery, stationery, equipment, evidence, work, knowledge, scenery, poetry, jewellery, bread.

Much, little and amount go with uncountables; many, few and number go with countables.

5. Pronouns

Case after prepositions and "than". Between you and me, not "between you and I". He is taller than I am.

"Each other" for two, "one another" for more than two.

"Everyone ... they". Traditional grammar required "his"; modern usage accepts "their", and MU will not penalise either. "Everyone submitted their reply" is now standard.

Ambiguity. "The judge told the clerk that he had made a mistake" leaves "he" unclear. Recast: "The judge told the clerk, 'You have made a mistake'", or name the person.

Reflexives are not subjects. Not "Myself and my friend attended" but "My friend and I attended". This is one of the commonest Indian English errors and it is noticed immediately.

6. Confusable pairs

7. The errors of Indian English

Not wrong in conversation, but marked wrong in an examination.

A word about "do the needful" and "revert". Both are common in Indian offices and both are avoided in careful writing, "revert" especially, since it means to return to a previous state and not to reply.

8. Punctuation, and why a lawyer cares

The comma changes meaning, and in a legal document that is expensive.

"Let him go, not hang him" and "Let him go not, hang him" are opposite orders made of the same words.

The full stop, the comma and the semicolon. A comma separates items and marks a pause; a semicolon joins two independent statements closely related; a colon introduces a list or an explanation.

The apostrophe. Possession, not plurals. The judge's order; the judges' orders; not "the judge's are sitting".

Inverted commas for direct speech and for quoted words. Remember that reported speech takes none.

Capitals for proper nouns, the first word of a sentence, and, in legal writing, for defined terms: the Act, the Company, the Purchaser.

A worked answer

Question. "Correct the following: (a) He is in the hospital since two days. (b) One of the witness were absent. (c) He was accused for theft. (d) Myself and my friend discussed about the case. (e) The jury has divided in their opinion."

(a) He has been in hospital for two days. Three errors: "the hospital" should be "hospital" for an institution used for its purpose; "since" takes a point of time and a period requires "for"; and a state continuing from the past takes the present perfect continuous or the present perfect.

(b) One of the witnesses was absent. "One of the" takes a plural noun and a singular verb.

(c) He was accused of theft. Accused of, charged with, convicted of, sentenced to.

(d) My friend and I discussed the case. A reflexive pronoun cannot be a subject, courtesy places the other person first, and "discuss" takes no preposition.

(e) The jury were divided in their opinion. A collective noun takes a plural verb when its members act individually, and "were divided" is the correct form.

Quick revision

A or an by sound, not spelling: an hour, a university, an M.A., a B.A.

In hospital, in prison, at school, in court: no article when the institution is used for its purpose.

Accused of, charged with, convicted of, sentenced to, entitled to, comply with, liable for, appeal against.

Eight verbs that take no preposition: discuss, enter, marry, reach, resemble, order, attack, accompany.

The verb agrees with the subject, not with a phrase between them. One of the ... was. A number of ... are. The number of ... is.

Uncountables have no plural: information, advice, evidence, furniture, luggage, equipment, machinery, work.

Between you and me. My friend and I. Each other for two, one another for more.

Affect is the verb, effect is the noun. Principal is the head, principle is the rule. Council is a body, counsel is advice.

Avoid do the needful, revert back, prepone, today morning, myself Anjali, out of station.

Test yourself

1. Why is "an hour" correct but "a university" also correct? Because the choice follows sound and not spelling. "Hour" begins with a silent h and therefore with a vowel sound, so it takes "an"; "university" begins with the consonant sound "yoo", so it takes "a". The same rule gives "an M.A." but "a B.A.".

2. Give the correct preposition: accused ___ , charged ___ , convicted ___ , sentenced ___ , entitled ___ , comply ___ . Accused of, charged with, convicted of, sentenced to, entitled to, comply with. These six appear constantly in legal writing and are the ones most often got wrong.

3. Which is right: "The jury has returned its verdict" or "The jury were divided in opinion"? Both, in their own contexts. A collective noun takes a singular verb when the body acts as one, so the jury has returned its verdict; and a plural verb when its members act individually, so the jury were divided in opinion.

4. Correct: "He gave me many advices and informations about the evidences." He gave me much advice and information about the evidence. All three nouns are uncountable in English, so they take no plural form and no "many"; use "much", "some", or "a piece of".

5. Distinguish principal from principle, and judicial from judicious. The principal is the head or chief person or thing, while a principle is a rule or a fundamental truth. Judicial relates to courts and to the administration of justice, while judicious means showing sound judgment, so a judicious decision may be made by anybody but a judicial one is made by a court.