adminCharles Dube
“TEACHING Literature in English is more exciting than teaching language,” said one teacher. When asked to support his opinion, he said there are too many grammatical rules followed in the teaching of language. In literature he or she supports views through evidence from the text. There is little interference from other languages. Literature is a subject of facts and opinions whereas language is a subject of rules. For example, when one says, “She returned back home yesterday,” this is frowned upon.
There is something grammatically wrong with such a statement. Return and back mean the same thing and when used together like this is referred to as redundancy, a needless repetition in language or excessive wordiness. I have used this commonly mistaken sentence to show that we always make these mistakes unawares. You make such a mistake and somebody asks whether you heard yourself making it and you are surprised. There are many more words which are commonly confused.
There are many more other English expressions used today which are not grammatically correct. They have become generally accepted as if they were correct. You hear the public using those expressions, be it on radio or television. The learners also hear all that and use it in class. The teacher’s job is made very difficult because he has to first of all convince the learners that all that they are hearing is incorrect. She or he has to use authoritative evidence to convince learners to accept what is true.
A lot of practice exercises should be given so that learners get used to the correct usage of words or expressions. There are common grammar mistakes to check for in writing if you are not to kill your credibility as a writer. Learners need to be on the lookout for subject verb agreement errors, sentence fragments, missing commas after introductory element, no commas in a compound sentence, misplaced or dangling modifiers, vague pronoun reference and wrong word usage among others.
Words and phrases that sound fine in your heart can look like gibberish when written down. Let us examine other commonly confused words on top of those done before. They’re, Their, There. Many learners are confused by these. They are is a contraction for (they are). Their refers to something owned by a group, and there refers to a place or location. Make sure you are using the correct one at the right place at the right time. Examples of correct usage for these: They are coming tomorrow. They is a pronoun standing for those people coming tomorrow.
The learners had their books with them. The learners owned the books. The next pair of confusing words: Your and you’re. Your refers to owning something while you’re is actually being something. Examples of sentences: You’re pretty fast. Your book is in the drawer. See the difference: “your” is possessive “you’re” is a contraction of “you are”. Its and It’s. This is quite tricky to many. “Its” is possessive and “it’s” is a contraction of “it is”. Lots of people are confused here because “It’s” has an “s” after it which normally means something is possessive, but in this case, it is actually a contraction of.
Another problem area is on incomplete comparison. More often we get sentences which read this way: Our car model is faster, better, stronger. Faster, better, stronger . . . than what? What are you comparing your car to? A competitor? Or any other model? When you are asserting that something should be compared to something else, also make sure you always clarify what that something else is, otherwise, it is impossible for your readers to discern what the comparison actually means.
Refer to a brand or entity as “it” not they. A business is not plural but always referred to as one. It is never “they” but it is “it”. Possessive nouns: Most possessive nouns will have an apostrophe, but where you put that apostrophe can be confusing. Here are a few general rules to follow: If the noun is plural, add the apostrophe after the “s”. For example, the boys’ dormitories, the class’ projects. If the noun is singular and ends in “s”, you should also put the apostrophe after the “s”. For example: the dress’s blue colour.
On the other hand, if the noun is singular and does not end with an “s”, you will add the apostrophe before the “s”. For example, the bull’s tail. Me and I. The most confusing pair of words. At face value it is easy to tell the difference between these two until it comes to using them in a sentence. They will say something like this: When you are done with your assignment, make sure you pass the information to James and I. This is grammatically wrong.
Try taking James out of the sentence — it sounds strange. You would never ask someone to send something to “I”. The reason it sounds strange is because “I” is the object of that sentence and “I” should not be used as an object. In that situation, you would use “me”. The sentence would read as follows: When you are done with the assignment, make sure you pass the information to James and me.
Who versus that. They can also be tricky. These two words can be used when you are describing someone or something through a phrase like: John, an athlete who likes reading as well . . . When describing a person be sure to use “who”. When you are describing an object, use “that”. For example: Her car is the one that passes here every time. These are just a few examples selected to show the mistakes we make almost every time, and when we make them people will be noticing and registering them. Unfortunately some learners take them to be correct if they are made by influential people in society.
Sadly, those mistakes are intolerable at school. As stated before teachers have a torrid time trying to bring learners to understand the correct spellings and correct use of these words and expressions.
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