10 Common Mistakes that native English speakers make

[dask]

Do you (UK) people really pronounce it "par-TISS-uh-pul"?

Who even says it?

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Who even says it?

People in English classes.

 

[Alex The G and T]

Oh, so no this popSICKle thing has become a conTROVersy?

 

[TheDustyZebra]

As my ex used to say, the emPHASis is on the wrong sylLABle.

 

[Nick B]

Never really thought about it, but I don't seem to stress any syllable in most words. Could be part of why people say I have no accent.

 

[Danny McG]

As a Cumbrian, then, Danny, do you say PAR-tiss-i-ple?
In Essex, we say par-TISS-i-ple. (unless they've changes since I moved to France.)
In France we say par-tiss-I-p

Emphasis on TISS

 

[Pyan]

I'm a native Cumbrian too, and when I moved to Hampshire it took me ages to get used to people saying "Where's that to?" when they mean "What location are you referring to?"

"Did you know there's a party tonight?" "No, where's that to?"

 

[Ursa major]

Oh, so no this popSICKle thing has become a conTROVersy?

Perhaps, but con-TROV-er-sy can be CON-tro-VER-sial!

 

[farntfar]

Aren't we straying from the subJECT.

 

[Ursa major]

No. We are straying from the SUB-ject... and we are sub-JECT-ing ourselves to this.

 

[Danny McG]

Time to start a pronunciation thread?

 

[Ursa major]

Sounds like a good idea.

 

[Cathbad]

That's pronunCIation.

 

[Phyrebrat]

@HareBrain the US is guilty of far more egregious liberties with pronunciation:

Leisure... for example.

pH

 

[Cathbad]

LEEsure?

 

[Pyan]

LEZHure... first vowel-sound as in Leicester.

 

[Radrook]

It's funny because I know the grammatical rules of, say French, far more comprehensively (ha hah) than my own language, but I feel I have an automatic, or intuitive grasp of the rules we follow.

I don't ever hear British Engish speakers say 'went' as in 'we should've went to the party', but it is something I hear in American English a lot.

And +1 to what Robert said re fewer and lesser. I learnt that from Stephen Fry and Tesco

pH

When I first came across the "went" mistake it was as the expression "Let's went." since it was so obviously and horrendously ungrammatical, I assumed it was a joke and learned later that it had indeed been used in a humorous way. However, later I kept coming across the "went" mistake and it wasn't being used in a joking fashion. So I assumed they were trying to be cool by being grammatically incorrect. Then I started hearing people on YouTube and on TV doing the same thing and worse. So I guess they aren't joking after all. Such mistakes are probably perpetuated by parents who use it around their kids. I have also one American say "He didn't did it. If he had did it, I would admit he had did it but he didn't did it." That American was a late boxing sports commentator on TV.