Dictionary, Shmictionary
by Ben Huberman
Time to confess: tell us about a time when you used a word whose meaning you didn’t actually know (or were very wrong about, in retrospect).
Photo credit: Google
English is not my first language. Except for school, and college I wasn’t using it till last year Feb 2013 when I started my blog. I commit blunders, and I feel so bad when I discover them.
Back in school days, one word which got me a zero in English (that’s why it remains embedded in my memory), was the word did. While using it, I would add a past tense to it.
Mrs. G announced the English test results. I got the highest marks. She showed it to the class, and then called me to her desk. First she showed me the marks, then she circled the one mistake I had done, and then wrote,
“For this I am giving you a zero.”
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/dictionary-shmictionary/
http://wp.me/p23sd-nGo
It’s ok, my friend is worse and his first language IS English:D He recently announced to me that the past of fit was fat… Say no more 😀
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That’s so funny. Thanks for a good laugh.
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I have English only, and still can get muddled. If you got the highest mark, and it was zero, then your teacher failed the whole class. She must have been incompetent! Your English is excellent!
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Thank you for having such a good opinion about my English. I think Mrs. G wanted to teach me a lesson so that I never do the same mistake again.
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Oooh, that’s harsh! And unfair, in my opinion. Good grief. It’s been my experience that people who are learning English as a second language often do much better with our grammar than native-born English speakers do. In fact, I really began to understand English grammar when I studied Spanish and German in high school.
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Mrs. G failed me,but till this day I remember not to use the past tense with did.
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Oh you got it easy Sheen, I had a much worst experience which I wrote for this daily prompt thinking ‘Loathe’ meant ‘Adore’…boy that was embarrassing !
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I was commenting on some one’s post, and misspelled superb. I felt so ashamed, but couldn’t do anything about it.
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I feel you ! lol
I do that more times than I can count so the only thing I can do is correct it after wards in another comment ! 😛
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That is quite common though, using did + past tense, but the best of learning is through mistakes so… Cheers! 🙂
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