The tip of the week in August looked at some commonly over looked but important aspects of language. Here’s the round up:
3 August: Few, a few: “Few women in the world can keep secrets”. ‘Few’ is used whn you want to say that the number is almost zero,, zilch. This sentence actually means that NO woman can keep a secret. But if you wish to say that a number a small but positive, it is better to say, “A few women can keep secrets”.
10 August: Using ‘will’ and ‘would’ interchangeably is wrong. Would is used for invitations, requests, asking permission, talking about preferences and making arrangements. If used in any other context to replace ‘will’ is a wrong idea. Eg: I would tell you tomorrow – this makes no sense because the intention is to tell the next day and hence ‘will’ should be used.
17 August: Prepositions: “I wanted to discuss about this proposal”. ‘Discuss’ itself means to talk about something and there is no need to add ‘about’ here.
24th August: Contractions: Forms like I’ll, We’ll, You’re, They’ve are usually used in informal conversations. More formal communication should use – I will, we will, you are, they have.
Would you like to add any tip to the tip of the week section? Do send in your favourite pet peeves and I shall add them here for you. Looking forward…