Hello, and welcome again to Mistake Monday! I often hear my Spanish-speaking students make this mistake, but I've also heard native speakers of other languages saying these incorrect phrases, so it's a good idea to look at it:
Common Error: Using "have" incorrectly | ||
DON’T say this: | ||
WHY? | -Phrases like this may make sense in other languages, but in English we sometimes have to re-phrase them or use a different helping verb. -For example, in English a person doesn't "have" a number of years; instead, s/he is a number of years old: "John is 23 (years old)."* *Note: in this example, you can say "John is 23" or "John is 23 years old," but not " -In the second incorrect example above, if you want to say how long something has been happening, generally you use a present perfect tense and the word for: "Tina has worked at her new job for 10 months" OR "Tina has been working at her new job for 10 months." -In the third example, we also need to use the verb "to be" as our helping verb: "I am hungry." (Notice that we change hunger to hungry, since "hungry" is an adjective). We generally use the verb "to be" with other temporary emotions like: (TO BE + __ ): hungry, thirsty, awake, asleep, tired, hot, cold, bored, annoyed, happy, etc. -Finally, in some languages things can "have" sense, but in English if something is logical we say "it makes sense," and if it's illogical or confusing, "it doesn't make sense." | |
INSTEAD, SAY THIS: | -"I am 23 (years old)." -"Tina has worked at her new job for 5 months." OR "Tina has been working at her new job for 5 months." -"I am hungry/thirsty/bored/excited." -"This question makes no sense." OR, more naturally: "This question doesn't make sense." |
Well, that's it for this week--I hope it all makes sense! If you are confused or have questions or comments, please leave a comment or contact us. Thanks for reading!
Ryan.. Sincerely I always made this mistakes and I didn´t know this error.. Thanks for the correction..
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! As the name implies, it's pretty common, so most people don't even notice when they're making this mistake.
ReplyDelete