Senin, 27 Juli 2009

English Language Usage Mistakes
Speaking, listening, reading, and writing are not entirely separable entities. 
degree 
The English language has comparative and superlative endings for some words. Those word endings indicate degree of intensity. For example, consider the word pretty.
pretty, prettier, and prettiest 
During August 2003 a very prominent American political person toured an ourdoor area where some renovation work was in progress and made the following unscripted remark on national television: "This area will be more pretty when the work is completed." 
The substitution of more in usages that require comparative endings is widespread in America at the outset of the Twenty-first Century, perhaps reflecting the commercialization of society. There are, of course, some appropriate uses of the word more to intensify degree. However, it is more appropriate to use comparative or superlative word endings for many words. It is not correct to say or write appropriate(er). If you are in doubt regarding the correct way to express degree of a word, consult your dictionary. 
The following is from an August 30, 2003, TV promotion for a face cream.
After application pores in the facial skin are "less smaller." 
proactive 
A local school board, assessing the criteria for a new school superintendent, decided that the new superintendent should be "proactive." The prefix (pro-) means for. America's infamous "couch potatoes" are proactive. They favor activity. They can sit and watch activity for endless hours: football, basketball, baseball, golf, tennis, and staged scuffles on TV shows featuring disfunctional behavior. The school board wanted to find a superintendent who would provide efficient administration and who would also actively pursue opportunities for improved student performance. They wanted an active person. 
The word proactive has become a buzzword among the elite who provide news media and entertainment media commentary on affairs of the day and affairs of state. Perhaps the extensive use of the word proactive reflects America's change from an active society to a sedentary society. Choose the word active. 
you know 
There was a time when a speaker could pause. A pause is not acceptable in the electronic media era. "Dead time" causes "channel flipping." Speakers interject the phrase, you know, to buy thinking time. Some speakers, because they are are inadequately prepared or incompetent, use the phrase almost continuously. Some of us use the phrase, you know, because it has become an unconscious habit. This author once endured a two-hour lecture class in which the lecturer used the phrase, you know, 18 times each minute of every two hour class session, thus inadvertently making horologists of the students! 
Teachers know that young students have a tendency to write the language as they have heard it spoken. If students have customarily heard the language misused, they must relearn the language to make satisfactory academic progress. 
move forward 
A phrase spoken with reliable frequency by politicians, business executives, and administrators who want to avoid accountability, want to avoid answering a critical question, is move forward. The accountability dodge may be expressed as in the following sentence.
I don't want to dwell on these negative things; I want to move forward. 
Forward, as used in the above context is meaningless. It is neither a physical location nor a policy position. We have no obligation to develop masterly writing skills, but we the people have a requirement to understand the language if we expect democracy to function. 
email 
Computer electronic communication brings us the problem of maintaining our humanity while interacting with strangers in absentia. When we deal with other human beings, face-to-face, we read facial expressions, tone of voice, and body movements, and that enables us to better understand how our own expressions are being received. It tempers our behavior. The possibility of adverse reaction to inappropriate face-to-face expression provides a certain discipline. It helps insure our humanity. We have become accustomed to this feed-back over the millennia, and we are dependent on it. All of this is missing when we communicate electronically. 
Communication is facilitated by respect and courtesy. People who have held leadership positions are aware that familiarity can breed contempt. Rephrased for the electronic era that observation becomes: unwarranted familiarity is contempt. Familiarity is by invitation only. If you were to send an email message to a former President of the United States and opened the message with, Hi Bill, Hi Jimmy, Hi George, or Hi Jerry you would be sending an unflattering message about yourself. Use appropriate courtesy titles when communicating on-line, e.g., Mr., Mrs., Ms., or Miss, unless you are communicating with a close personal friend. 
The physical inaccessability obtainable in the era of electronic business enables businesses and individuals to avoid accountability and acceptance of responsibility. Effective communication in the electronic era requires the same hard work and discipline that was required in previous eras. Communicate responsibly. 
gestures 
Those of us who have read history or made history will recall the V for Victory gesture used so effectively by British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and by General of the Armies, Dwight Eisenhower. It was an effective form of communication in the context of WW II. It may have been the only gesture the eloquent Churchill ever used. Gestures are effective when they are rarely and appropriately used. You can observe ineffective use of gestures by turning on a television "talk" show and watching the hands and arms vigorously and aimlessly flailing, thus revealing the owner's inability to address the issue being discussed. Beware, when you gesture, you send a signal, a message about yourself. 
image 
The purpose of language is, obviously, to communicate. We know, however, that false messages date to early recorded history. Our contemporary era is fraught with a new communication deception: image. Politicians, governments, corporations, and celebrities employ professional image manipulators. The intent is to replace crude reality with a designed image. Image manipulation is deception. Image manipulation for profit, personal gain, or to avoid accountability is a perversion of the language, and it does a disservice to society. Read "between the lines" with skepticism. 
Taken from:
www.iscribe.org/english/mstk.html

Tutorila Adjectives

Comparative and superlative adjectives: formation

The comparative is formed with –er or more; the superlative is formed with –est or most. One syllable adjectives like big and fast tend to prefer –er and –est. Larger ones like beautiful and carefully take more and most. 
John is tall. 
John is taller than Peter. 
John is the tallest man I know. 
Susie drives carefully. 
Susie drives more carefully than Alice. 
Susie drives the most carefully of anybody in Paris.

English Grammar
Comparison using positive adjectives and adverbs
Positive adjectives and adverbs can be used for comparing. Several different grammatical structures are possible
As … as …

This structure is used to say that people, things, actions or events are equal in a particular way. 
A car is as fast as a bus. 
Alice is as beautiful as Mary. 
Tom is as tall as Harry. 

If we want to say that people, things etc are unequal in a particular way, we can use not so … as … or not as … as …
Tom is not as/so tall as Harry. 
A car is not as/so fast as a train. 
Alice is not as/so beautiful as Susie. 
No other as … as …

This structure can be used to compare one person or thing with the whole group that she/he/it belongs to. 
No other girl is as intelligent as Alice. 
No other metal is as useful as iron. 
No other river is as long as the Niles. 
As much/many … as …/as few/little … as…

This structure is used to make a comparison of quantity. 
I earn as much money as you. 
Alice has as many children as Mary. 
Tom earns as much as Harry. 
We have as many cars as them. 
They have as few visitors as we have. 
They have as little money as we have. 

In an informal style, we use object pronouns (us, them, him etc.) after as. In a more formal style, subject pronouns are used usually with verbs. 
I earn as much money as he does. 
We have as many children as they have. 
Not as much/many … as …

This structure can be used to say that quantities are not equal in a particular way. 
He does not earn as much as I do. 
Harry does not eat as much food as Tom does. 
We do not have as many visitors as them. 

Comparision using comparative adjectives and adverbs

To say that people, things etc are unequal in a particular way, we can use comparative adjectives/adverbs.
She is older than me. 
Tom is taller than his brothers. 
Iron is more useful than any other metal. 
He is cleverer than her. 

In an informal style, object pronouns are used after than. In a more formal style, subject pronouns are used usually with verbs. 
He is cleverer than she is. 
He earns more than I do. 

We can use double comparatives (…er and …er or more and more …) to say that something is changing. 
You are getting fatter and fatter. 
We are going more and more slowly. 
The + comparative expression + subject + verb

We can use comparatives with the … the … to say that things change or vary together. Note the word order in both clauses. 
The more I study, the less I learn. (NOT … I learn the less.) 
The older I get, the happier I am. (NOT … I am the happier.) 

More can be used with a noun in this structure. 
The more money he makes, the more useless things he buys.

Comparison using superlative adjectives and adverbs


We use the superlative to compare somebody/something with the whole group that she/he/it belongs to. 
Tom is the tallest of the four brothers. 
Gold is the most precious of all metals. (OR Gold is the most precious metal.)

Grammar notes

Nouns with superlative adjectives normally take the article the (unless there is a possessive). 
She is the best girl in the class. (NOT She is best girl …)

Superlative adjectives in predicative position also tend to take the, though it is sometimes dropped in an informal style.
This book is (the) best. 

The is sometimes dropped before superlative adverbs in an informal style. 
Who can run (the) fastest? 

After superlatives, we do not usually use of with a singular word referring to a place or a group. 
He is the richest man in the world. (NOT … of the world.) 
Who is the fastest player in the team? (NOT … of the team?) 

But of can be used before plurals, and before singular quantifiers like lot and bunch. 
Iron is the most useful of all metals. 
He is the best of the lot.

The difference between comparative and superlative


We use the comparative to compare one person, thing, action, event or group with another person, thing etc. We use the superlative to compare somebody/something with the whole group that she/he/it belongs to. 
Mary is taller than her three sisters. 
Mary is the tallest of the four girls. 
He plays better than anybody else in the team. 
He is the best player in the team. 
Iron is more useful than any other metal. 
Iron is the most useful metal. 

When a group only has two members, we sometimes use the comparative instead of the superlative. 
John and Tom are clever boys, but I think John is the cleverer/cleverest of the two. 
Take the shorter/shortest of the two routes. 
Alice and Mary are rich women. But Alice is the richer/richest of the two. 

Some people feel that a superlative is incorrect in this case.

Degree modifiers with comparatives and superlatives



We cannot use very with comparatives. Instead we use other degree modifiers like much, far, very much, a lot, lots, any, no, rather, a little, a bit and even. 
She is much older than her husband. (NOT … very older than ...) 
Is he any better? 
Russian is much/far more difficult than Spanish. 
You are no better than him. 

Note that any, no, a bit and a lot are not normally used to modify comparatives before nouns. 
There are much better shops in the city. (NOT … a bit/a lot better …)

Quite is not normally used with comparatives, but it is possible in the expression quite better, meaning ‘recovered from an illness’.

Superlatives can be modified by much and by far, and by other adverbs of degree such as quite and almost. 
She is by far the oldest in the firm. 
He is quite the most stupid person I have ever met. 

When more modifies a plural noun, it is modified by many. 
many more opportunities

When more modifies a singular/uncountable noun, it is modified by much. 
much more money


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