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Common Mistakes
Common Mistakes
Did you learn the Greek at school?
Did you learn Greek at school?
He speaks a good English.
He speaks good English.
She doesn’t know the English.
She doesn’t speak English.
The Spanish is simpler than the English.
Spanish is simpler than English.
English are a strange race.
The English are a strange race.
I met one English and one Dutch.
I met an English person and a Dutch person. / I met someone from England and someone from Holland.
There were two Japaneses on the train.
There were two Japanese people / men / women on the train.
Correct Form
Correct Form
English is a relatively easy language.
For some people, the English spoken in the UK is purer than the English spoken in the US.
The English are a conservative race.
He comes from Wales, he is Welsh, he speaks Welsh. The Welsh are very patriotic.
I met an Italian, two Americans, many Albanians, and several Chinese people.
Guidelines
Guidelines
Languages are not countable, this means that you cannot put a / an in front of them. Example: They speak
anamazing French.
Languages do not require the unless you are differentiating between varieties of the same language. Example: The French spoken in Belgium is different from the French spoken in Canada.
We generally say to speak a language rather than to know.
Nationalities that end in -ese, -ss and -h do not have a plural form. So instead of saying two
Chinesesyou have to say two Chinese people (or two Chinese men / women / children etc). Likewise, although you can say Italians / Americans love pasta you cannot sayEnglishlove pasta, instead say The English / The Swiss / The Portuguese love pasta or alternatively English people / Swiss people / Portuguese people love pasta.
Practice
Practice
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