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Some languages require a double negative, such as Spanish. "No tengo nada" = "I don't have nothing." "Tengo nada" would be incorrect, and people could laugh at your comical grammatical errors, except that most people in the world are more courteous and considerate than Americans, and would not take so much pleasure in being insulting or demeaning.
The ones I have highlighted in red stem from archaic usage of the English language (as once used in England). After independence, India was pretty much isolated for decades, meaning that old-fashioned English is still taught in schools.
The ones I highlighted in green are from Indian languages. People who don't have English as their native language tend to use expressions originating in their own languages and translate them to English. The grammar structure of Indian languages is different to that of English.
What version of English were you speaking in the red highlighted part of the sentence?
What about "laughable grammar errors" Americans make?
"I could care less"?
"Similar than"?
"Different than"?
"As good than"?
Exactly. Americans make enough stupid mistakes and should not laugh at people in other countries, for whom English is a second language after all.
I probably have seen a million times of:
A is different than B. (it is "from")
This is bigger then that. (extremely popular, should be "than")
There are less people today. ("fewer" as people are countable)
What troubles me more is the use of "lie" and "lay". They are different verbs. Lie is intransitive and its past tense is "lay"; Lay is transitive a verb and its past tense is "laid". I am not a native speaker and at some point I was so confused that I start the question the grammar I learned as so many Americans just mix up everything. For example, you can say "I lay the bag on the bed", or "I need to lie down". You can never say "I need to lay down" or "He laid in bed" as they make absolutely no sense.
Also, "nauseous" doesn't mean you are sick of something, rather it means you yourself make others sick. I means disgusting rather than "disgusted", as many seem to think. The correct word is nauseated.
Last of all, forum members often say this issue is "moot", when they actually mean "superfluous" or "redundant". "Moot" means "inconclusive, open to debate".
At least others have the excuse of speaking English as a second language.
I was watching Franklin & Bash and wondering if Indian English is simply thought to sound funny, regardless of any errors. The Indian guy in that program is funny, just like Raj on the Big Bang Theory. They just sound funny as soon as they speak
Exactly. Americans make enough stupid mistakes and should not laugh at people in other countries, for whom English is a second language after all.
I probably have seen a million times of:
A is different than B. (it is "from")
This is bigger then that. (extremely popular, should be "than")
There are less people today. ("fewer" as people are countable)
What troubles me more is the use of "lie" and "lay". They are different verbs. Lie is intransitive and its past tense is "lay"; Lay is transitive a verb and its past tense is "laid". I am not a native speaker and at some point I was so confused that I start the question the grammar I learned as so many Americans just mix up everything. For example, you can say "I lay the bag on the bed", or "I need to lie down". You can never say "I need to lay down" or "He laid in bed" as they make absolutely no sense.
Also, "nauseous" doesn't mean you are sick of something, rather it means you yourself make others sick. I means disgusting rather than "disgusted", as many seem to think. The correct word is nauseated.
Last of all, forum members often say this issue is "moot", when they actually mean "superfluous" or "redundant". "Moot" means "inconclusive, open to debate".
At least others have the excuse of speaking English as a second language.
agree and thank you for speaking up concerning an unnecessary criticism of anyones English. Merely making an attempt to speak a language in which it is spoken differently by others does not qualify it for something to be ridiculed...come on now, aren't we adults?
Some of these are mistakes, and others aren't. "Needful" and "without fail" come from the British period. Others, such as the use of "revert" in place of "reply" are just plain wrong. Most schools in India still use textbooks to teach English that were left over from the colonial era, most famously Wren & Martin, which insists that foundress be used for a female founder and that the opposite of a bachelor is a spinster.
Some of these are mistakes, and others aren't. "Needful" and "without fail" come from the British period. Others, such as the use of "revert" in place of "reply" are just plain wrong. Most schools in India still use textbooks to teach English that were left over from the colonial era, most famously Wren & Martin, which insists that foundress be used for a female founder and that the opposite of a bachelor is a spinster.
Foundress and spinster are also in the online dictionary I sometimes use
"Revert to" an e-mail or letter is also listed several times... I guess it means to deal with and reply to an e-mail after some delay, not sure, though.
Yes, foundress and spinster are genuine words, though they've long fallen out of everyday American speech. Indians also seem to do a lot of "beseeching."
Well, as long as you can communicate without an Indian <-> American dictionary
Are there similarities between oddities of Indian and African English? I mean, they both go back to colonial British English, so they might be somewhat similar...
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