This week’s common errors

19 Jul, 2019 - 00:07 0 Views

The ManicaPost

Morris Mtisi Education Correspondent
If you sincerely learn one or two common errors that always made or make your English mischievous, funny or ridiculous . . . only one or two at a time, by the time the whole year goes by, you will have done a huge favour to your communication skills. You will have rid your English of numerous embarrassing slip-ups or blunders.

Accident:  People do not have accidents; they get involved in accidents. How many times have you said or written, “He had an accident just before the bridge”? Surely you know generally ‘to have’ means ‘to possess’. So you cannot be found saying, “He possessed an accident.” For now simply use ‘involved’ until, depending on the appropriateness of the situation and growth of your word-power, you can use words like ‘entangled’, embroiled, caught-up’ . . . in an accident.

High time:

It is high time we eat our food.

It is high time we fight to the bitter end.

It is high time we do our work.

It is high time we see the benefits of education.

It is high time we realise the advantages of good behaviour.

How many times have we heard, said or written sentences like these? They certainly appear correct, but they are all wrong, please carefully note. Even though they are all referring to NOW (high time), the main verb must always be in the past tense:

Examples

It is high time we ate our food.

It is high time we fought to the bitter end.

It is high time we did our work.

It is high time we saw the benefits of education. 5. It is high time we realised the advantages of good behaviour.

All the past tenses of this nature (used after ‘‘It is high time’’) are only Past in structure, but Present in meaning. They are called inchoative verbs because of that function: Referring to NOW, yet Past in structure.

Therefore, be extra cautious every time you use ‘It is high time . . .’

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