Questions and Common Errors-I

 

Questions and Common Errors-I

Dear readers, in the previous post we discussed some of the common errors associated with Relative Clauses that English as non-native speakers encounter in their daily conversation. This present post deals with the common errors that might occur when we frame questions on both formal and informal occasions.

Making questions in English is quite confusing, because there is no any fixed format for making questions. We can frame questions in two different ways, namely, WH Questions and Yes/No Questions. For instance,

-Where are your now?

-How is your father?

-Do you like tea?

-Is it your college?

Let us look at some of the serious and common grammatical mistakes non-native speakers of English likely to make in their conversations.

1.   What Ganesh is doing in the college now?                      (Incorrect)

What is Ganesh doing in the college now?                      (Correct)

Where do you work?                                                        (Correct)

In WH-questions, the word order changes from subject + (auxiliary/modal) + main verb to WH word + auxiliary /modal verb + subject + main verb. So, the ‘auxiliary’ was follows the WH- word What.

2.   You are living in Coimbatore?                                          (Incorrect)

Are you living in Coimbatore?                                         (Correct)

Is he Arun?                                                                        (Correct)

In Yes/No Questions, the word order changes from subject + (auxiliary verb) + main verb to auxiliary verb + subject + main verb.

3.   You told Principal about what happened?                           (Incorrect)

Did you tell Principal about what happened?                    (Correct)

Did you meet the person whom I suggested?                     (Correct)  

4.   You agree?                                                                            (Incorrect)

Do you agree?                                                                      (Correct)

Will she agree?                                                                     (Correct)

5. What dharma means?                                                            (Incorrect)

    What means dharma?                                                            (Incorrect)

    What does dharma mean?                                                    (Correct)

If there is no auxiliary verb in the affirmative question, use do before the subject.  

 Practising all the above-mentioned statements in daily conversation will help us improve our English. Let us discuss some more ideas in the next post.

 

Author:

Dr. K. Nandhakumar

Assistant Professor of English

Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Arts and Science (Autonomous)

Coimbatore- 641 020

 

Reference:

Saumya Sharma. (2017). Common Errors in Everyday English.