English Topics Bad Habits in English
Alisha: Hi, everybody. My name is Alisha.
And today, I’m joined again in the studio by…
Michael: Michael. Hello!
Alisha: And today, we’re going to be talking
about bad habits in English.
So, these are some things that we’ve heard
before or mistakes that native speakers and
non-native speakers of English make and that
drive us crazy.
So, let us begin.
You start.
What’s your first thing?
Michael: This doesn’t bug me too much until
someone points it out about me and then it
drives me nuts.
Once you tell someone that they say “um”
or “like” too much, then every time they
say it, they notice it.
And, it’s really hard to get a thought out
because these are filler words that you almost
always use or I always use, maybe Americans
always use, but, it’s really tough not to
use the word “like” or “um,” I think,
when you’re just speaking casually.
Alisha: Right.
Michael: Yeah.
Alisha: Right.
Well, yeah.
I mean, like…
Michael: Right.
See?
Alisha: Why did you have to make it that the
first word?
Why did it have to be the first one?
Actually, we talked about that.
We have a video, I think, probably like a
year ago, one of the English weekly words
videos where the word, “like,” was one
of the words that Americans overuse.
I don’t know where that information came from
but that was—see?
Now, I’m suddenly aware of it.
Why?
Oh, God.
This whole thing I’m going to be thinking
about how often I say, “like.”
Okay.
Let’s see, I’m going to go to one that I think
all of us talked about and all of us were
aware of before we even turn the camera on.
This one is written.
This is a written problem that drives me nuts
and there are so many variations on this with
other words but this is the big one.
“Your,” Y-O-U-R, this is a do not equal
sign, “you’re,” Y-O-U-‘-R-E.
So, this one “your” while “you are,”
is a possessive word.
“This is your shirt.”
“Your bag.”
“Your whatever.”
Y-O-U-‘-R-E is a contracted form of “you
are.”
Interestingly enough, though, I will say that
I rarely see non-native speakers of English
make this mistake.
Most of the time, it’s native speakers who
make this mistake.
Come on, guys.
Really?
It just drives me nuts.
That really drives me nuts.
Michael: That one bugs me, too.
It’s really simple.
I mean, there’s another one and it still kind
of bugs me but I’m more forgiving is “its”
and “it’s” because they’re both I-T-S
and one of them has an apostrophe.
And in both cases, it seems reasonable because
you can use an apostrophe for possessive or
for a contraction.
So, both seem reasonable and you just have
to do a pneumonic device.
Figure it out, there are rules.
I’m sure there’s an English Class 101 episode
on it.
Alisha: No apostrophe is the one that’s the
possessive, the “‘s” is the one that’s
short for “it has” or “it is.”
Michael: Right.
But it makes sense, it’s kind of tough for
some people to remember, “your,” “you’re,”
that really upsets me.
Alisha: Yes.
Michael: It’s so easy.
Alisha: It’s simple.
That and, we talked about this earlier before,
“their,” “there” and “they’re.”
The possessive T-H-E-I-R for “That’s their
house.”
“That’s their dog.”
T-H-E-R-E, “It’s over there.”
And T-H-E-Y-‘-R-E, “They are.“
They are three different, “their,” “there”
and “they’re.”
They sound the same but they have different
meanings and they should be spelled differently,
too.
So, come on native speakers, let’s do this
together.
Alright!
Next one for you.
What’s your next one?
Michael: Along the same lines of being correct,
“could of.”
So, I think the problem with a lot of these
words is it’s supposed to be “could have,”
but when you’re speaking the language, any
language, you make it quicker and quicker
and you kind of slur the words together.
So, for example, “grandma” or “gramma.”
Native speakers don’t really say the “D,”
you just say a “gramma.”
And so, as a kid, I thought that’s how you
spelled it and I remember spelling, G-R-A-M-M-A.
Someone told me, “No, that’s not it.”
So “could of,” it makes sense why people
would say, “could of,” but it’s not proper
and you shouldn’t get in the habit of doing
it.
I think most of these things you can be forgiving
when they’re kids but it’s best to “nip
it in the bud” because you know it just
becomes a bad habit.
Alisha: Yeah.
And I mean with “could have,” there is
a correct contracted spelled version, it’s
just “could’ve,” ‘-V-E, “could’ve.”
I mean, I would argue that it’s more casual
and it’s perhaps not the most correct thing
to write, I probably would just write “could
have.”
I probably wouldn’t use the contracted form
so much.
Use of contractions will make you sound more
casual.
If you want to write a formal letter I feel
you should not use contractions.
If you’re writing an academic paper, as well,
don’t use contractions.
Spell it out, spell the whole thing out.
You’ll sound much more formal and more, at
least in my mind, more educated.
Alright.
Great.
This topic is getting me all like…
Let’s see.
I’m going to go to another pronunciation issue
that I feel like almost is cool now.
“Lemme axe you a question.”
This pronunciation.
Okay.
So, I’ve written “axe” on this card, but
it’s “ask,” A-S-K, “let me ask.”
So, this “lemme” which we talked about
in a previous video which is short for “let
me.”
I’ve contracted it here to the very casual
“lemme.”
But I’ve used “lemme” here because this
is typically said in a very, very casual setting.
“Lemme axe you a question.”
But the pronunciation of “ask” should
not be “axe,” it’s “ask.”
Let me ask you a question.”
“I want to ask you something.”
It’s not “axe”, it’s “ask.”
Michael: This one, again so like” lemme.”
“Lemme” is okay, I think most people say
“lemme.”
I think that’s okay.
But for some reason “axe,” I think a lot
of these just are not even close at all.
“Let me,” when you say it really fast,
it sounds like “lemme.”
Right?
But when you say “axe,” it’s just totally
wrong.
Alisha: Well, that is reversing the consonants
in the word “ask.”
Michael: Right.
It’s not faster, you’re not making it quicker.
You’re not slurring or putting it into one
little fluid blob.
You just switch the two syllables.
Alisha: Similarly, I hear this with the word
“asterisk” as well.
The little star that’s on the number 8 on
your keyboard or whatever.
This looking thing, it’s not an “aksterisk.”
I don’t even know.
It’s “asterisk.”
Michael: So, “over pronunciation.”
This one is kind of the opposite direction.
So, this whole time we’ve been kind of nitpicking
when you use the incorrect version of a word.
I think “over pronunciation” can also
be equally as damaging but instead of making
you look stupid, it makes you look pretentious.
So, for example, in English, we don’t use
all of the syllables with “chocolate,”
so it’s “cha,” when you spell it “cho-co-late.”
So, maybe in Spanish or something like that,
they would still say that like “cho-co-la-te,”
or something, whatever.
But with English, we took it out.
And so, even though, you still spell all of
those syllables, native speakers now say “choc-late.”
Or, “comfortable,” “com-for-ta-ble,”
that’s how it’s spelled but as native English
speakers, we say “comf-ter-ble.”
And now, I think it’s unanimous.
When it becomes–when slang becomes so popular
that it’s part of the new language, it’s the
language is now evolved, if you don’t go with
the flow even though it’s incorrect I think
you sound pretentious.
Alisha: That’s a great one, I like that a
lot.
Alright.
I’m going to wrap it up.
I have two, actually, I think I can do them
quickly though.
Do you have any more by the way?
Michael: No.
Alisha: No.
Then I’ll go quickly.
My last two are just a couple of what my students
actually struggle with.
Maybe this is something that you can work
on, as well.
This one, just an example sentence, “I want
to go to there.”
I’ve underlined the word “to” here.
We use the word “to” when we’re talking
about a specific city or a specific country
like, “I want to go to New York.”
“I want to go to Europe.”
But, “there” is not a specific location.
“I want to go to there.”
It’s not a specific place so we don’t need
to use “to” in this sentence.
“I want to go there” is perfectly fine.
So, this is a mistake that non-native speakers
seem to make from time to time, perhaps.
And then, another one that I’ve heard a lot
recently is this phrase, “in case of,”
and then a country.
So, for example, “in case of China,” “in
case of Egypt” or whatever where someone
is trying to explain the political situation
or a policy in that country.
“In case of.”
But actually, you don’t need to use “case
of,” just “in China,” “in Europe,”
“in Japan,” whatever.
You don’t need to use “case of.”
This pattern, “in case of,” is used for
an emergency situation or used to talk about
alternate plans often to do with weather.
So, for example, “In case of rain, the event
will be canceled.”
Or, “In case of tornado, please go to your
nearest evacuation center.”
I don’t know.
Something like that.
So, it’s used for an emergency situation.
It’s not used to talk about policies in the
countries.
Just use “in” plus the place.
It’s much better, much more natural.
So, those are a few things that I’ve noticed
that non-native speakers struggle with sometimes.
So, perhaps they’ll be helpful for you as
well.
So, thanks very much for watching.
If you have a bad habit that you’ve noticed
when you’re speaking English or if you’ve
noticed about a habit of somebody else in
their English speaking or their writing or
whatever, please leave it in the comments
and let’s compare.
It might be interesting to see if there are
any other things that people tend to struggle with.
Thanks very much for watching this episode
and we will see you again soon. Bye.