FILIPINISM

FILIPINISM

Most Common Filipino Grammatical Errors

(Note: some items are not really grammatical errors but word choice issues, to be exact.)

1. Please fill up the form. --> fill out the form, fill in the blanks
2. That's already taken cared of. --> taken care of; the past tense is already taken care of by "taken"
3. Your the best. --> You're (You are); not possessive in usage
4. Is that you're name? --> your (possessive)
5. I don't know what their thinking. --> they're; homonym/homophone use
6. I don't know what there thinking. It's they're choice anyway. --> they're, their; again, homonym use
7. Take last Sept 7, 2005, when you got this latest cell phone from this promo. --> There will never be Sept. 7, 2005 again.
8. Take last Sept 7, when you got this pinaka-latest cell phone from this promo. --> latest or pinakabago; double superlatives
9. Yun ang pinaka-da-best! It really felt like you were a masuwerteng lucky winner, di ba? --> again, double superlatives; redundancy
10. You are most/more unique! --> "Unique" means there is no other.
11. Rejoice, it's a free gift. --> A "gift" is assumed to be free or it is a paid good.
12. Its a free gift. --> It's; missing contraction
13. It's tail is wagging. --> Homophone use; mistaking possessives for non-possessive pronouns
14. Guess what? --> an imperative (You guess what.) declarative statement, not a question.
15. I prefer books rather than movies. --> Strictly speaking (or in old-fashioned English), should be "over" or "to."
16. I'm more interested in books rather than watching movies. --> "rather" unnecessary
17. Watch out for this new show on TV. --> "Watch" is enough. "Watch out" is altogether another idiom, meaning "take caution."
18. Majority of Filipinos say... --> My American editors in the past said there should be a preceding "a" or "the," depending on usage.

19. Thanks God, nakapasa ako sa bar! -->

20. His name is Mac and she is fond of singing. He has a sister who is fond of her. --> inconsistent gender out of carelessness

21. She have... We has... --> agreement error out of carelessness

22. The birthday celebrant (?) had lots of foods, cakes, coffees, apples, rices, ulams... --> double plurals

23. Anyone can have their own rule. --> disagreement/lack of agreement

24. Lets do this again. --> homonym use

25. He let's you know when his mad. --> homonym use and improper use of contraction

26. Inspite of the fact that... --> "in spite" (two words)

27. Despite of the fact that... --> "despite" doesn't need "of"

28. I live at Sampaloc, Manila. --> "in" is used to indicate that something is placed inside another or to refer to places in general

29. I live in #22, Sampaloc St., Manila. --> "at" is used to indicate specific places or directions

30. I live on Sampaloc, Manila. --> "on" indicates something is placed over another thing

31. Dispose the trash. --> "Dispose" needs an "of."

32. When I was born in 1970, there is a guy named... --> inconsistent tenses/tense shift out of carelessness

33. He is closed to meeting the deadline. The street was close to traffic. --> "closed" means "not open"; "close" means "near"

34. You maybe right. --> homonym use; "May be" is not the adverb "maybe"
35.. You can't do that anymore than you can't do this. --> "Any more" is different from the adverb "anymore."
36. I can't say anything with regards to that. --> should be "with regard"; otherwise, use "as regards" or "Give him my regard" or "Regards to your ____!"
37. This will result to the formation of… --> should be "result in"
38. The newly graduates wore… "new graduates"; an adverb can't be used to describe a noun

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

A modifier should be placed as close as possible to the word it modifies. Often prepositional phrases, verbal phrases or adjective clauses are too far away from the word they are meant to modify.

Misplaced Modifiers: A misplaced modifier appears to modify the wrong word in a sentence.

They often distort the meaning of the sentence or make it impossible for the reader to understand the meaning. To correct misplaced modifiers, move it closer to the word it modifies.

- Slithering through the wet grass, we watched the garden snake.
+  “we” are doing the slithering here, not the snake
- We watched the garden snake slithering through the wet grass.

Dangling Modifiers: A dangling modifier appears to modify either the wrong word or no word at all because the word it should logically modify is missing from the sentence. To correct a dangling modifier, add the missing word and rewrite the rest of the sentence as necessary.

- Pausing briefly to congratulate Barbara, the conversation continued.
+ the conversation paused to congratulate Barbara?
- Pausing briefly to congratulate Barbara, we continued the conversation.

- Driving through the desert at night, the cactuses looked eerie.
+ Cactuses that can drive are eerie!
- Driving through the desert at night, we thought the cactuses looked eerie.

- When he was three years old, Jerry’s uncle showed him how to fly a kite.
+ Jerry’s uncle is only three and already teaching his nephew?!
- When Jerry was three years old, his uncle showed him how to fly a kite.