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| Present | Past | Past Participle | Examples of Incorrect Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| come | came | (have) come | I have came too early. (have come) |
| drink | drank | (have) drunk | They have drank too much wine. (have drunk) |
| go | went | (have) gone | She has went to work. (has gone) |
| ride | rode | (have) ridden | I have rode a bike since I was 10. (have ridden) |
| run | ran | (have) run | I have ran four miles. (have run) |
| see | saw | (have) seen | I seen the accident as it was happening. (have seen) |
| speak | spoke | (have) spoken | We have spoke on the phone. (have spoken) |
| write | wrote | (have) written | I have wrote a letter. (have written) |
less/fewer
Less and fewer have essentially the same meaning, but they are used differently according to what they modify. Less is used with mass nouns, while Fewer is used with count nouns. Look at the following example:
Example (less-correct usage): There is less milk than juice in the refrigerator.
In the example sentence above, milk does not consist of an amount that can actually be counted, so less is the appropriate word to use. This type of sentence rarely causes any problems for English speakers. However, in a sentence such as, "There are fewer people in class today than there were yesterday," a great deal of confusion arises over what is correct. Many people would be tempted to say, "There are less people in class today than there were yesterday." But remember that if the objects can be counted, always use fewer, not less. People in a class can be counted, so fewer is the correct choice for this sentence.
lie/lay
Lie and lay are two words that seem to cause some of the greatest confusion, even among those versed in English grammar. Lie means to recline; lay, on the other hand, means to put or place something. Lay is a transitive verb, meaning that there is always an object after it. (Lay the book on the shelf. Book is the object.) The principal parts of lie and lay are listed below.
lie: lie, lying, lay, (have) lain
lay: lay, laying, laid, (have) laid
The confusion generally seems to occur with the forms of lie. The following sentences illustrate the correct and incorrect uses of lay and lie.
- lie/lay
- I lie [not lay] on the floor when I watch television.
- I lay my keys on the table when I arrive home from work.
- lying/laying
- I am lying [not laying] on the floor watching television.
- I am laying my briefcase on my desk to remind me that I have work to finish.
- lay/laid
- Yesterday I lay [not laid] in bed all day with a fever.
- Yesterday I laid my briefcase on my desk and forgot about it when I left for work.
- (have) lain/(have) laid
- I have lain [not have laid] in bed all day with a fever.
- I have laid my briefcase on my desk to remind me that I have work to finish.
Although these are two extremely confusing verbs, with a little practice, you should have them down pat. Unfortunately, I don't know of any helpful hints to use for remembering how to use lie and lay correctly. My only suggestion is to memorize them and practice.
like/as though; as if
The word like should never be used before a clause.
Example 1 (incorrect usage): It looks like it will rain.Like should only be used before a noun, as in the following example:
Example 2 (correct usage): The girl looks like her mother.Take a close look at the two sentences above. Do you see the difference in how they are used? In the first sentence, like is followed by the clause it will rain. In the second sentence, like is followed by her mother. Whenever a subject and verb follow, remember to substitute like with either as though or as if, as illustrated in the final example below.
Example 3 (correct): It looks as if it will rain.
"Only" as a misplaced modifier
The adverb only should be placed as close as possible to the word it modifies in a sentence. Consider the following two sentences:
Example 1: The band only sang five songs at the concert.
Example 2: The band sang only five songs at the concert.
Example 1 indicates that the band sang, rather than played, five songs. The sentence in Example 2 indicates that the band sang five songs, rather than eight or ten or any other number. There is a distinct difference in meaning. However, it is common for only to be misplaced in a sentence, making the meaning of the sentence ambiguous.
A similar error was made with the popular old song called "I Only Have Eyes for You." The writers of this song would have made the message clearer by writing "I Have Eyes for Only You." But then again, the song just wouldn't sound the same had the lyrics been written to be grammatically correct. Regardless, when using only in your own speaking and writing, remember to place it as close as possible to the word you are modifying so the meaning of the sentence is clear to the audience.
real/really
Real is often used in place of really, most often in conversational English.
Example 1 (incorrect usage): I am real tired today.
Example 2 (correct usage): I am really tired today.
Although this error is somewhat acceptable in informal conversation, it is actually incorrect and should never be used in writing. The reason that real is incorrect when used this way is simple: Real is an adjective, and as you can see in the first example above, real is incorrectly used as an adverb. In the example, real is describing tired, which is an adjective, so the adverb really is needed to make the sentence correct.
wait on/wait for
The phrase wait on should be used only when referring to serving someone or something.
Example 1 (correct usage): The server waited on the customers in the restaurant.
This phrase should never mistakenly be used in place of wait for.
Example 2 (incorrect usage): We waited on our guests to arrive.
Example 3 (correct usage): We waited for our guests to arrive.
who/that
The pronoun that is often mistakenly used in place of who. When the noun to which you are referring is a person, always use who. If, however, you are not referring to a person, then the appropriate pronoun to use is that.
Example 1 (incorrect usage): The waitress that served me was very rude. (In this sentence, that is referring to a real person--the waitress--so who should have been used instead.)
Example 2 (correct usage): The waitress who served me was very rude.
Example 3 (correct usage): The car that is parked in the street belongs to me. (That is correctly used because a car is not a person. Who would, of course, have been incorrect if used in this sentence.)
who/whom
These two words must be a couple of the trickiest ones in the English language. It seems as if no speakers, and only some writers, know how to use who and whom correctly. In fact, whom doesn't even exist in some people's vocabularies, and unfortunately, it appears to be a word that is quickly disappearing from the English language.
Who is used as the subject of the clause it introduces. Whom is used as the object of a preposition, as a direct object, or as an indirect object.
A key to remembering which word to use is simply to substitute who or whom with a pronoun. If you can substitute he, she, we, or they in the clause, and it still sounds okay, then you know that who is the correct word to use. If, however, him, her, us, or them sounds more appropriate, then whom is the correct choice for the sentence.
The following are some example sentences that illustrate how to correctly use who and whom.
Example 1 (who): The woman who [not whom] is standing over there is my mother.
Example 2 (whom): Whom are you going out with tonight? (Note that in formal writing, the sentence should be read: "With whom are you going out tonight?")
Example 3 (whom): The stranded motorist whom I helped was very grateful.
If you substitute she for who in Example 1, it becomes obvious that who is the correct word: "...she [in place of who] is standing over there." Now take a look at Example 3 above. Take the clause whom I helped and substitute him for whom. If you reverse the order of the words, the clause becomes I helped him. Him is in the place of whom. Remember that although this is a helpful way to distinguish between who and whom, you have to look at just the part of the sentence that begins with who or whom for this trick to work.
English Grammar Gone Awry
Created and maintained by Rachel Vidrine