Common Errors in English

[rjoubert]

I happened upon this site while searching for the difference between despite and in spite of.

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html#errors

It details many mistakes made in English (as the title suggests) and also provides some word/phrase origins. I found an explanation of the eg/ie question I had posted here previously. Of course, I already knew the answer thanks to the brilliant minds of this forum.

I haven't read through everything yet (you'll know why when you click on the link), but here are a few that I found interesting...

far be it for me
jerry-built/jury-rigged
butt naked

I'd be interested to see if anyone disputes any of the content of this site, or if anyone learns anything they didn't previously know.

Enjoy!

 

[vanka25]

Also, consider the following:
A picture of my mother.
A picture of my mother's.
Two very different meanings.

Or:
A picture of my mothers.

 

[SantaMufasa]

A picture of my mothers.

Usually just here in Utah. <grin>

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[ESquared]

A picture of my mother.
A picture of my mother's.

To me that is compelling, where the other explanation was not.

So how does one say that in Spanish? Perhaps it comes in with articles: a "casa de fruta" would literally be a house made out of fruit like a gingerbread house is made out of gingerbread, whereas a "casa dela fruta" is simply a house of fruit in the sense of "grocery store" which is a store where groceries are sold rather than one being constructed of them. (I see an amusing Photoshop contest in this.)

I'll ask my wife about Portuguese.

 

[SantaMufasa]

So how does one say that in Spanish?

Literal translation into Spanish, is, as you suggested, totally ambiguous (as is the former version, "...a picture of my mother...")

English: ...a photo of my mother...

Spanish: ...una foto de mi madre...

There is no method, in Spanish, to remove the ambiguity without re-writing the phrase. (In English, we use the possessive to, at least, show the ownership meaning.)


To remove the ambiguity in either English or Spanish, we are compelled to re-write the sentence:

English: ...a photo that depicts my mother...
Spanish: ...una foto que representa a mi madre...

English: ...a photo that my mother possesses...
Spanish: ...una foto que mi madre posee...

c'est la vie (et la langue) <grin>

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[2ffat]

A picture of my mothers.

So in Utah you could have "A picture of my mothers' mothers." ;-)


James P. Cottingham
-----------------------------------------
[sup]I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229![/sup]

 

[SantaMufasa]

In my case, No. I do, however, have a photo of my grandmother's mothers. <grin>

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[ESquared]

Portuguese:

Uma foto de minha m[&atilde;]e
Essa foto pertence a minha m[&atilde;]e

Though my wife was distracted when I was asking her so I'm not sure if she completely gave what we wanted.

Here's a Portuguese dictionary if you're interested. I find that instead of looking up single words in a Portuguese-English dictionary, it helps my comprehension more to look up the entire definition of a word in Portuguese, then get all that text translated with something like Babelfish. Getting all the related meanings can really help, especially when the word is difficult to translate or the translators simply mess up on the word.

 

[Michael52x]

Predication is the qualifier of a sentence.
Hence plurality, in both 's, and just s.
Never tasted "Karens" are they any good?

"Impatience will reward you with dissatisfaction" RMS Cosmics'97

 

[SantaMufasa]

Hence plurality, in both 's, and just s.

Could you please place in context, and explain what you mean, Michael? The appearance of "'s and just s" certainly do not imply/ensure plurality.


Also, what are we to make of:

Never tasted "Karens" are they any good?

Sounds a little kinky to me. <grin>

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[ESquared]

Karen's car.

Where's the plurality in that?