Common usage dilemmas of ESL students

English Grammar : Usage

Common usage dilemmas of ESL students

English is full of problems for a foreign learner. Some of the most common usage dilemmas of ESL learners are explained here.

A few, few, the few; a little, little, the little

A few means some. It has a positive meaning. It is used with countable nouns.Few means hardly any. It has a negative meaning. The few means not many, but all of them.

Compare

• There were a few members present. (Some members were present.)
• Few members attended the meeting. (Hardly any member attended the meeting.)
• He lost the few friends he had. (Not many, but all of them)

Note that few is used with plural nouns.

A little, little and the little

Little is used with uncountable nouns. A little means some. It has a positive meaning. Little means hardly any. It has a negative meaning. The little means not much but all of that much.

• Give me a little milk. (some milk.)
• I have little money. (hardly any)
• He drank off the little milk we had. (not much, but all of that much)

Either and Neither - differences

Either means one or the other of two.

• There are roses on either side of the door.
• I don’t like either of them.

Neither means not one and not the other of two.

• I like neither of them.
• Neither of my brothers can sing.

Both either and neither are used to talk about two people or things. To refer to more than two people or things, any or none should be used.

• You can have either of the two shirts.
• You can have any of the three shirts.
• You can have none of the three shirts. (NOT … neither of the three shirts.) 

Each and every - differences

Each is used to talk about two or more people or things; every is used to talk about three or more.

• She had a child holding onto each hand. (NOT … every hand.)

We prefer each when we are thinking of people or things separately. We prefer every when we are thinking of people or things together.

• Each boy in the class was given a present. (= one at a time)
• Every boy in the class went on a picnic. (= all the boys or the whole class)

Every, but not each, can be used with abstract nouns.

• You have every reason to be happy. (NOT You have each reason to be happy.)

Similarly every can be used with numbers.

• Buses leave every ten minutes. (NOT … each ten minutes.) 

Some and any - differences

Some suggests an indefinite quantity or number. It is most common in affirmative clauses. In questions and negatives, we normally use any to express the same idea.

• I want some milk.
• Is there any milk left?
• No, there isn’t any milk left.

Some can be used in questions that express offers and requests.

• Would you like some coffee? (NOT Would you like any coffee?)
• Could I have some rice, please?

Any can be used in affirmative clauses after words that have a negative meaning. Examples are: hardly, scarcely, never, little.

• You hardly give me any help. (NOT You hardly give me some help.) 

Have or have got?

Have got means exactly the same as have in affirmative clauses. Got-forms of have are informal, and are most common in the present.

• She has got a new boyfriend. (= She has a new boyfriend.)
• My mother has got two sisters. (= My mother has two sisters.)
• They have got a car. (= They have a car.)

Differences

In questions and negatives, we do not normally use have without got.

• Has your sister got a car? (More natural than Has your sister a car.)
• I haven’t got your keys. (More natural than I haven’t your keys.)

Note that it is also possible to use do-forms of have instead of got-forms.

• Does your sister have a car? (= Has your sister got a car?)
• I don’t have your keys. (= I haven’t got your keys.)

Cases where have got is not used

Have got is not used in short answers or tags.

• Have you got a headache?’ ‘Yes, I have.’ (NOT Yes, I have got.)
• She has got a new car, hasn’t she? (NOT …hasn’t she got?)

Got-forms of have are less common in the past tense.

• I had flu last week. (NOT I had got flu last week.)

British-American differences

In British English, have without got is possible in short questions and negatives, though these are often formal.

Compare:

• Have you a car? (Formal GB only)
• Have you got a car? OR Do you have a car? (US/GB)
• It’s a nice flat, but it hasn’t a proper bathroom. (Formal GB only)
• It’s a nice flat, but it doesn’t have a proper bathroom. OR It’s a nice flat, but it hasn’t got a proper bathroom. (US/GB)

Hear or listen to?

Hear means become aware of sound through the ears. It is the ordinary word to say that something ‘comes to our ears’.

• ‘Can you speak a bit louder? I can’t hear you.’
• Suddenly she heard a strange noise.

Listen to

Listen (to) is used to talk about paying attention to sounds one hears. It emphasizes the idea of concentrating. Note that you can hear something without wanting to, but you can only listen to something deliberately.

Compare:

• I heard them talking in the next room, but I didn’t really listen to what they were saying.

Other differences

Note that listen to is mostly used to talk about experiences that are going on, in progress.

• When she arrived, I was listening to the radio. (NOT …I was hearing the radio.)

To talk about experiencing the whole of a performance, speech, piece of music or broadcast, we generally use hear.

• Did you hear the news yesterday?

Listen and listen to

When there is no object, listen is used.

• Listen! (NOT Listen to!)
• Listen to me! (NOT Listen me!)

He or she and they

In English, he is traditionally used in cases where the sex of the person is not known, or in references that can apply to either men or women.

• If I ever find the person who did that, I will kill him.
• A doctor can’t do a good job if he doesn’t like people.

A lot of people now regard this usage as sexist and try to avoid it. The expression he or she is becoming increasingly common.

• A doctor can’t do a good job if he or she doesn’t like people.

They

In an informal style, we often use they to mean ‘he or she’. This is particularly common after words like somebody, anybody, nobody and person. Grammarians often consider this usage incorrect, but it has been common in educated speech for centuries.

• If anybody wants my ticket, they can have it. 

Words ending in -man

Many words ending in –man do not have a common feminine equivalent. Examples are: chairman, fireman, spokesman etc. Since most women dislike being called, for example, ‘chairman’ or ‘spokesman’, these words are now often avoided in references to women. They are also avoided in general references to people of either sex. In many cases, –person is now used instead of man.

• Jane has just been elected chairperson of our club.

In some cases, words ending in –woman are coming into use. Example: spokeswoman.

There is also a move to choose words, which are not gender-marked. Examples are: supervisor instead of foreman, firefighter instead of fireman.

Can and be able to

Be able to often has the same meaning as can.

• I am unable to/can’t understand his motive.
• He is able to/can support her.

Can is preferred in expression like can see, can hear etc. It is also used in the sense of ‘know how to?’

• I can knit. (More natural than I am able to knit.) (= I know how to knit.)
• I can see a ship. (More natural than I am able to see a ship.)

Be able to is preferred in cases, where can/could is not grammatically possible.

• I might be able to help you. (NOT I might can help you.)
• Someday scientists will be able to find a cure for cancer. (NOT Someday scientists will can find …)

At or in?

In is used for position inside large places – countries, districts, large cities etc, and in three-dimensional space (when something is surrounded on all sides.). At is generally used for small and unimportant places like villages, small towns etc.

•  He lives at Ottappalam in Kerala. (Ottappalam is a village in Kerala.)
• His brother lives at Mumbai. (Mumbai is a big city.)
• Turn right at the next corner.
• She grew up in Africa.
• Let’s go for a walk in the woods.
• He is in the office.

This rule is not very rigidly followed, and in is often used for small places too, though at is seldom used for big places.

Sometimes we use at with a larger place, if we just think of this as a point on a journey or a meeting place, for example.

• The planes stops for an hour at New Delhi.
• Let’s meet at the club.

At is particularly common with proper names used for buildings or organizations.

Compare:

• She works at Legal and General Insurance.
• She works in a big insurance company.
• I first met her at Harrods.
• I first met her in a shop.

Can or could?

We use can to say whether situations and events are possible theoretically.

• Glass can be blown.
• Can gases freeze?

We use could to talk about past possibility.

• It was a place where anything could happen.

Cases where can is not used We do not use can to talk about the chances that something will happen in future. We express this idea with may, might or could. Note that could suggests a less definite possibility than that is implied by may or might.

Compare:

• There may/might be a strike next week. (Future probability) (NOT There can be a strike …)
• Strikes can happen any time. (Theoretical possibility)
• It could rain later this evening. (Less definite future possibility) (NOT It can rain later this evening.)

Cases where can is used

We use can in questions and negative sentences, to talk about the logical possibility that something is true or that something is happening.

• ‘There is the doorbell.’ ‘Who can it be?’ ‘Well, it can’t be the postman. He has already been.’

Note that can is not usually possible in affirmative sentences with this meaning. Instead, we use could, may or might.

• ‘Where is Jane?’ ‘She could/may/might be at Joe’s place.’ (NOT She can be …)

But can is possible in affirmative sentences with words like only, hardly, never etc. Can only means must.

• ‘Who can it be at the door?’ ‘It can only be the postman.’ (= It must be the postman.) 

Go or get?

Go (and not get) is used to talk about changes of colour. This is common in British English.

• Leaves go brown in autumn. (NOT Leaves get brown …)
• She went green with envy. (NOT She got green …)

Other examples are: go white with anger/ blue with cold/ red with embarrassment

Turn and grow can also be used in these cases. Note that go is more informal than turn and grow.

Go (and not usually get) is also used with adjectives in a number of common expressions that refer to changes for the worse.

Examples are:

People can go mad/crazy/deaf/blind/grey/bald etc.

Horses can go lame

Machines can go wrong

Meat, fish or vegetables can go bad

Beer, lemonade, musical instruments and car tyres can go flat

Cases where get is used

Get is also used with adjectives to talk about changes. For example we use get (and not go) with the adjectives old, tired and ill.

• I am getting old. (NOT I am going old.)

Since, for, ago and before

Since, when used with the present perfect tense, means from a point or period of time in the past up to now.

• I have lived here since my childhood.
• I haven’t seen him since last week.
• India has made tremendous progress since the dawn of independence.

For For, when used with the present perfect tense, refers to a period of time up to now.

• We have lived here for twelve years.
• He has been working here for three years now.
• The strike has continued for two weeks.

Ago

Ago is used when you date back from now to a point of time in the past.

• It was two years ago that I first met Alice.
• I saw him two months ago.

Before

Before is used when you date back from any point of time in the past or future.

• The roof must be repaired before the rain starts.
• I think I have seen him before.

Enough to and Too... to...

Enough to shows sufficiency and has a positive meaning.

• He is strong enough to lift that box.
• The boy is clever enough to understand this.
• We are not rich enough to buy a car.
• He was foolish enough to listen to her.

Too…to shows undesirable excess. It has a kind of negative meaning.

• She was too tired to walk.
• This is too good to be true.
• The coffee is too hot for me to drink.

Note that ‘She was too tired to walk’ means ‘She was so tired that she could not walk’.

Has/have been and has/have gone

Has/have been is used for completed visits.

Compare:

• The postman has already been. (= The postman has come and gone away again.)
• I have been to Tokyo three times. (I am not in Tokyo at the moment. I have returned.)
• Where is John? He has gone to Tokyo. (He is in Tokyo at the moment.)

They're, there and their

They're

They're is the contracted form of They are.

• They’re playing. (= They are playing.)
• They’re running. (= They are running.)

There

There is a kind of preparatory subject. It is used in sentences which say that something exists somewhere.

• There is a bridge over the river.
• There is no way out.
• There are two people in the room.

Their

Their is a possessive word like my or your.

• I have been to their home.
• I would like to buy their car.

Too and to

Too means more than is good or desirable.

• It is too hot to go out now.
• The hat is too large for me.
• You smoke too much.

Too can mean ‘also’. It is generally used at the end of a sentence.

• I have got a headache. I have too.
• You can have an apple, but you can’t have an orange too.

To

To is a preposition.

• I go to office by bus.
• I gave a present to him.

It's and its

These two words are often confused by foreign learners of English.

Its is a possessive word like my or your.

• Every country has its traditions.
• Its colour was deep red.

It’s is the contracted form of it is or it has.

• It’s raining again. (= It is raining again.)
• It’s time we went home. (= It is time we went home.)
• Have you seen my cell phone? It’s disappeared. (= It has disappeared.)

Double possessive

The double possessive (of + possessive pronoun) is used when we wish to emphasize the person who possesses rather than the thing which he/she possesses.

Compare:

• He is my friend. (The emphasis is on friend.)
• He is a friend of mine. (The emphasis is on mine not friend.)

Other examples are given below.

• Is he not a friend of yours?
• Once I lent him a book of mine and never got it back.

Note that when used with this, that, these and those, the double possessive often expresses ideas such as slight contempt, ridicule or indignation.

• This cat of yours drank up all the milk.
• These shoes of mine pinch me terribly.
• That boy of yours has broken my window again.
• Those dirty fingers of yours have stained the walls. 

So that and In order that

These structures are used to talk about purpose. So that is more common in informal speech and writing. Both these expressions are normally followed by modal auxiliary verbs such as can or will.

• I waited for an hour so that I could meet him.
• She is staying here for six months in order that she can perfect her English.
• I started early so that/in order that I wouldn’t be late.

In an informal style, that can be dropped after so.

• I have come early so (that) I can talk to you.

Tenses

Present tenses are sometimes used to refer to the future after so that/in order that.

• Send the letter today itself so that she gets/will get it before Friday.
• I am going to make an early start so that I don’t/won’t get stuck in the traffic.

On time and In time - Differences in meaning

On time means ‘at the planned time’. If you are ‘on time’, you are neither late nor early. The opposite is early or late.

• The train arrived on time. (It was neither early nor late.)
• We want the meeting to start exactly on time.

In time means ‘before the last moment’. The opposite is ‘too late’.

• We arrived there in time.
• He would have died if they hadn’t got him to hospital in time.

Travel, Journey, Trip and Voyage - Differences in meaning

Travel means traveling in general.

• Travel is my passion.

The plural form travels is used to refer to long journeys especially to other countries.

• Is he back from his travels?

Journey

A journey is a piece of traveling.

• Did you have a good journey?

Trip

A trip is a return journey. It also refers to the activity which is the reason for the journey.

• He is on a business trip.

A long sea journey is often called a voyage.