Common English Blunders

“These ones …”

Common English Blunders, Plurals, Pronouns

I heard this from a small boy the other day.

Problem:
The word “ones” is unnecessary in this phrase.

Explanation:
The boy said a sentence such as “These ones are bigger.”

The word “these” in the phrase “These ones …” is acting as a determiner.

Other examples of “these” as a determiner include:

  • “I like these chocolates.”
  • “Do you want these tickets?”
  • “He should give her these flowers.”

Also, it is possible to pluralize the singular numerical pronoun “one”, as in the following examples:

  • “I like the vanilla ones.”
  • “The ones in green are tickets for the front row.”
  • “Are the pink flowers the ones that he wants?”

However, when the word “ones” is preceded by a plural determiner (such as “these”), it is best to drop the word “ones”, thereby converting the determiner “these” into a demonstrative pronoun, as shown in the following examples:

  • “I like these.”
  • “Do you want these?”
  • “He should give her these.”

Solution:
“These …”

“I’ll relate it back to …”

Adverbs, Common English Blunders, Self-negation

I heard this a few days ago in a conference call.

Problem:
The adverb “back” in “relate it back” is redundant.

Explanation:
A man promised on the conference call to send some information to a woman who also was on the conference call.

In turn, the woman on the call began a sentence with “I’ll relate it back to …” so as to indicate that she would take the information — the “it” in the sentence — and connect it to something else.

The “re” in “relate” means back.

Therefore, one could argue that “relating back” would never establish the connection.

I believe that the growing tendency, at least in American English, to add words such as “back” after many verbs reflects a growing ignorance about the meanings of the roots of English words.

Solution:
“I’ll relate it to …”

“It tastes different.” vs. “It tastes differently.”

Adjectives, Adverbs, Common English Blunders, Verbs, Versus

I frequently see one of these used when the other is required.

Problem:
These two sentences do not mean the same thing.

Explanation:
The sentence “It tastes different.” means that “It” has a different taste than something else.

In other words, “It tastes different.” effectively is an abbreviated sentence for something like “It tastes different than ice cream.”

The sentence “It tastes differently.” means that “It” now tastes things differently than it formerly tasted things.

The source of the confusion between using the adjective “different” and the adverb “differently” is due to the fact that the verb “taste” has definitions when used with an object and other definitions when used without an object.

  • The most common definition of the verb “taste” with an object is to test the flavor of [the object] by putting some in the mouth or on the tongue;
  • The most common definition of the verb “taste” without an object is to have a particular flavor.

Solution:
Use “It tastes different.” when referring to the taste of something. Use “It tastes differently.” when referring to the ability of something to test the flavor of other things.