What rules of English do our foreign colleagues violate? Part 2

In the comments to our previous article , a large number of suggestions have accumulated, therefore, at the request of the workers, we decided to continue this topic. Catch another selection of cases where you can speak by the rules so that your speech still remains clear.

Less vs fewer

In English, as in Russian, there is a clear distinction between countable nouns (a friend - friends) and uncountable (milk) . For each of these types of nouns, there is a certain word that indicates quantity. To show that something is not enough, we say:

I have little milk. - I have a little milk.
I have few friends - I have few friends.
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So, when comparing items to show that we have something less, we say:

I have less milk than you. - I have less milk than you.
I have fewer friends than you. - I have fewer friends than you.

In reality, you can often hear “I have less friends than you” , especially in an informal situation, movies, songs, and so on.

There is vs There are

Continuing the theme of nouns, we recall the construction of there is / are , which we often use with them to show the location of something or someone:

There is a man in the office. - The office is (one) person (often the word "is" can be safely omitted).
There are people in the office. - There are people in the office.

But, if you listen to all the same films, songs, and the usual speech of Americans, they often use there is with multiple nouns:

There is many of them outside. - There are a lot of them on the street.

The native speakers of our school have told us that the whole thing is in pronunciation - to say there is is easier than there are.

That vs which

If we need to somehow describe in more detail the object (often inanimate) in a sentence, we use that and which in the meaning of “which”. According to the rules of the English language, that carries a more serious function in its meaning and makes more emphasis on the characteristics of the subject:

A dog that lives here is mine. - The dog that lives here is mine. - In this proposal, we kind of declare that the very dog ​​that lives here is ours, and this is important. As a result, both facts in the proposal are equal in meaning to us.

Which should be used when you need to give some additional information that is just interesting and not so important:

A dog that lives here is mine. - It is more important that our dog. Well, she lives here, if that. Although it is not so important. The main thing is that our dog!

Yes, such a fine line seems completely invisible, so native speakers often neglect this rule and use that and which are interchangeable.

Which vs what

Another case where the difference is not particularly visible. Usually, which is used in questions when we know (or offer) all possible answers, and what - when we do not know:

Which football team is your favorite? - In such a question, the speaker knows the names of all or almost all football teams, or they were previously mentioned in context.
What football team is your favorite? - And here we are not particularly oriented in the possible answers.

In everyday speech, you will still be understood with any of the options, so this rule can be ignored.

The order of the adjectives in the sentence

This is generally a sore subject, because in our own language we both put the words in the sentence correctly and well, although not always pleasantly. In English, if we need several adjectives to describe a subject or person, there is a clear order:

opinion - size - shape - age - color - origin - material - goal - noun

For example, a cool black leather jacket is a cool black leather jacket. True, even in the native language it is difficult to pronounce all this? So the British or Americans are confused and can say a black leather cool jacket . In general, as our speakers said, no one will take offense at you if you call adjectives in the wrong order in ordinary speech. But on the exam or test it is better to observe the correct order!

Comparative Adjectives

If you don’t go deep into the rules, then adjectives from one syllable form a comparative degree with the help of the ending - er : strong - stronger, tall - taller. All the others (2 or more syllables) form a comparative degree with the help of the word more : common - more common, beautiful - more beautiful.

But there are some exceptions, which consist of two syllables, and they have a comparative degree, like those of monosyllables: happy - happier, simple - simpler. This is a list of adjectives of two syllables and with the endings -y, -le, -er, -or, -ow. And even the carriers themselves are confused here, so if you tell someone more simple , and not simpler , they will understand you perfectly and will not quibble.

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There is such a rule in English, when all significant parts of speech in the title of a newspaper, essay or something else, are written with a capital letter:

Harry Potter - A History of Magic - As you can see, the word of is written with a small letter, the rest - with a large one. The article is written with a capital letter, since it starts a sentence, and in the middle of a sentence it would be with a small one (although a fan of the Harry Potter series of books would argue with us, as there are often articles written with a capital letter and in the middle of the sentence).

But, if you write in the title of your essay only the first word with a capital letter, they will also understand you correctly and are unlikely to be punished even in the exam.

And there is one not always clear moment - the use of the present tense in describing the events of the past is all in the same headings:

Microsoft release new Windows 10 preview with bug fixes ahead of Fall Creators Update

It would be more correct to say Microsoft has released or just released new Windows 10.
This, in fact, is about already released updates, although it is said about it in the present tense. Just because the title is shorter and easier to read.

And about the omission of individual words from the headlines, too, do not forget:

New Version Released

In the full version, it would sound like new version was released.

We do not in any way encourage you to violate all rules and prohibitions. On the contrary, they perfectly help to understand the language and learn how to use it. But it is important to realize that native speakers are not mythical creatures who always adhere to the standard pronunciation and follow every smallest rule. They also make mistakes. It's just another attitude to mistakes, because this is a great chance to understand and learn something in more detail. It is better to talk a lot, albeit with errors, than to remain silent!

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