Let’s do a role-reversal today.
Instead of me telling you, YOU are going to point out
throughout the video, what are the
grammatical mistakes that I am making.
So buckle up, because in today’s video we are going to see…
The Top 5 Most Common Grammatical Mistakes
that most Indians make and how to fix them.
And towards the end, I’ll give you a Bonus Tip so that you don’t let
English grammar mistakes stop you.
But, before that, if you like our work,
make sure to hit that big fat 'like' button.
Let’s begin.
Mistake #5: I am going to show you a couple
of sentences and you tell me
what is wrong with these sentences.
a) You had your breakfast aa?
b) This book is really good no?
c) You cooked chicken this weekend kya?
Most of us Indians have the habit of adding a ‘no?’ or ‘aa?’
at the end of a sentence and make it a question.
This happens because we translate a sentence from our native language
to English word-by-word.
For example…
We do this just out of habit.
Me included.
So to fix it… know this…
In English, a question always starts with either a question word..
like 'Who' or 'What'
or with a helping verb like..
Do, Does, Did, Can, Could, Should, Is, Are etc…
This helping verb is very important at the beginning of a question,
because it tells us to listen attentively because a question is coming.
So instead of saying…
Yes, I did.
Now you comment below and tell me,
how would we write this sentence correctly..
What I am asking is…
If you had to ask someone..
if they like commenting beneath a Youtube video or not,
how would you frame that question?
I will be waiting to read your comments.
Mistake #4
It was very cute when Sridevi asked this question...
Why India not 'The' India?
Why America... 'The' United States of America?
We Indians think that whenever we use, 'The'…
we are giving importance or respect to someone.
Just like how we ask, what is your 'good' name?
That’s a whole another discussion.
But ‘The’ is only used with a noun, which is a one of a kind noun.
For example…
..because there is only one man who was first to walk on the moon.
Neil Armstrong.
On the other hand, we use ‘a’ when the noun represents one of many.
So please don’t say…‘My manager's name is THE Krishnakanth’.
Adding THE doesn’t really give your manager respect.
It’s just grammatically wrong.
You can just say…
‘My manager’s name is Krishnakanth’.
Similarly, instead of saying, ‘I am from The India’,
we need to say.. ’I am from India’.
And to explain what Sridevi asked..
we don’t use articles like A, AN or THE in front of
Countries, States, Cities.
For example…
Unless… the country name includes ‘States’, ‘Kingdom’ or ‘Republic’.
For example..
Understood na?
Now you comment and tell me..
in which of these blanks, would you put a ‘a’
and in which one would you put ‘the’.
Mistake #3
These are filler words, or sounds...
that we use to fill the pauses while we are thinking
what to say next.
I don’t have a problem with them.
They saved me from embarrassment when I didn’t know what to say next.
The real problem is...
even after becoming fluent in English,
these filler words don't leave you.
In a Toastmasters meeting, there is a role called 'Ah' counter,
whose job is to just sit and count 'Ahs', 'umms' of everybody who comes on stage.
I am not kidding.
And at the end of the meeting, the 'Ah' counter also gives a report.
Today, Taskeen used…
3 Ahs, 5 Umms… and 3 Filler Words.
It is annoying. But, slowly..
it helped me realise how many times I was using filler words
and I consciously stopped doing it.
So if you want to join a club for that,
then I’ve left the link to find a Toastmaster club near you,
in the description.
But if you don’t want to join.. then no problem.
Just once, record your voice while you are speaking in English
and then play it back.
You will instantly know what your frequent 'Filler Word' is..
and when you become aware of it, you’ll automatically use it less.
And after you do that, comment and tell me..
what is the Filler Word you use often?
For example..
Let’s see how many of us use the same words.
Mistake #2
Listen to these statements and tell me if they sound wrong…
I didn’t 'finished' my assignment.
I didn’t 'liked' the movie.
Did you 'ate' your food?
What did you 'said'?
They do sound a little incorrect, right?
We often mess up the usage of 'did' and 'did not'.
It’ll take time to understand why,
But to give you a quick explanation...
In a sentence where 'Did' is used as a helper verb
and is followed by a main verb (which carries the real meaning)..
then the 'tense' need not be conveyed through the main verb,
because the helper verb already conveys the tense.
See…
'Did' or 'Didn’t' already represent that it happened in the past.
So you don’t need the main verb to also convey the tense.
And hence, the main verb must be used in its base form.
For example…
The correct way to say..
'Finish' here is the main verb..
and because 'didn’t' is already telling us that this thing happened in the past,
'finish' doesn’t need to do that again.
So instead of 'finished',
we just need to use 'finish'.
Similarly….
So comment below and tell me..
how would you correct these 2 sentences..
It’ll be exciting to see what you write.
Btw, if you’ve watched this video so far, then I guarantee you,
you’ll love the rest of our videos too.
So don’t forget to 'subscribe' to our channel, The Urban Fight and hit that 'bell' icon, because
we make Career, Finance and Communication videos, regularly.
And, if you want to watch our videos in Hindi,
then go check out our other channel.. Skillo Hindi,
where we share all of this gyaan and more… in Hindi.
I’ve left the link of this channel in the description.
And finally..
Mistake #1: and this is a mistake that Sugandh makes a lot...
Their and There.
Let’s solve this very common mistake once and for all..
T-h-e-r-e is the opposite of 'here'.
Come here.
Go there.
BUT…
T-h-e-r-e is also used as a PRONOUN.
For example...
Got it?
On the other hand, T-h-e-i-r means it belongs to them.
For example…
Just remember this… t-h-e-r-e has 'here' in it.
So use it for place.
And t-h-e-i-r has ‘heir’ in it, so use it for possession.
THERE you go.... we just solved it.
Infact, let’s practise it right now.
Pause this video, and comment and tell me..
in which of these blanks would you use 'there' and..
in which one you’d use 'their'.
If you are worried that you make too many grammatical mistakes and..
want someone to correct you while you speak,
then you can check out Cambly.
This video is brought to you by them.
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These courses are a set of slides that your tutor will go through with you.
Tutors on Cambly will only encourage you,
if you struggle to speak in English confidently.
You can just select a tutor from the list
and start talking to them..just like this…
And if you want to try out Cambly,
then you can use the code ‘25TUF’
and you’ll get a minimum 25% off on quarterly and yearly packages.
I’ve left their link in the description.
Good luck!
So we made this ‘grammatical errors’ video not because..
we want to point out your mistakes.
If you’ve watched all of my videos, you know that I make..
the first mistake that we discussed today, a lot.
You know what I am talking about no?
So what?
Today’s Bonus Tip is this…
Keep Speaking.
So what if you make mistakes?
Jo Kaam karta hai, wohi galti karta hai.
Which loosely translates to…
Making mistakes is a sign that you are at least doing something.
And that’s what we need to do.
Do more.
Speak More.
Be more.
And if you want to practise more grammar usage
and see if you've really learnt something today,
then head over to our Instagram (@theurbanfight)
because we will soon post a 'Grammar Quiz' in our stories.
I am Taskeen
and this is The Urban Fight's...Spoken English.