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I was given this flyer not too long ago. There are some mistakes. Can you spot the mistakes? No prizes for guessing the right answers, sorry Using English incorrectly in advertisements may not be appealing to customers. It shows the lack of professionalism.

I blogged about the rainy weather the other day and showed you the difference between rainy and raining. When it rains, what we worry most is the drops of water on our head in the bedroom. Then, someone is going to say:

• “Oh my god, the roof is leaking again.”

Is it correct to say “leaking” in that sentence? Can a roof actually leak or are we talking about the condition of the cracked tiles on the roof that causes rain water to seep through?

• leaky (adj.) = to describe something that has a hole or a crack so that liquid could get through
  
• leaking (v.) = comes from the word “leak”, which means liquid or gas that escapes from a contained area like roof, glass, pipe etc.

Examples:

1. Get the plumber, as the tap is leaky. (√)
   Get the plumber, as the tap is leaking. (X)
2. We need to fix that leaky roof immediately. (√)
   We need to fix that leaking roof immediately. (X)

However, it is correct if you say:

1. Get the plumber, as water is leaking out of the tap.
2. Water is leaking from the roof, so we need to fix that immediately.

Notice the use of “out of” and “from” after the word “leaking“.  So, people, watch what you say and how you use the word “leak”. Are you leaking?

How’s the weather over there? The weather has been really horrendous in this part of the world lately. It has been raining cats, dogs, elephants and lions. On a rainy day, the best thing to do is to stay home and snooze.

Is there a difference between “rainy” and “raining“? Yes, there is.

• rainy (adj.) = rains a lot
• raining (v.) = comes from the word “rain” which means water falling from the sky in small drops

Now, check out the difference:

1. It’s been rainy the past few days.
2. It’s been raining the past few days.

Both sentences are acceptable. The only difference is that in Sentence #1, you’re telling people that the weather has been real bad (rains a lot). In Sentence #2, you’re merely telling them the weather (that it’s been raining).

However, it is incorrect to say:

• The weather is raining. (X)
• It is a rainy weather. (X)
• It is raining. (√)
• It is a rainy day (not rainy weather). (√)

Listen to how the weatherman announces weather conditions over the radio or on TV:

• “It will be sunny (not sunny weather) tomorrow.”
• “It’s cloudy (not cloudy weather) throughout the state.”
• “It’s a wet day (not rainy weather) in the city.”
• “Showers (not rainy weather) are expected in the afternoon.”

As I was looking for some teaching materials for my grammar class, I came across the following paragraph:

“Many English learners worry too much about tense. If you stopped 100 native English speakers in the street and asked them about tense, one of them might give you an intelligent answer – if you were lucky. The other 99 would know little about terms like “past perfect” or “present continuous”. And they would know nothing about aspect, voice or mood. But they can all speak fluent English and communicate effectively. Of course, for ESL it helps to know about tenses, but don’t become obsessed with them. Be like those native speakers! Speak naturally!”

(from: Englishclub.com)

The fact is, not only students worry about tenses. Teachers too find it difficult to sustain their students’ interest in learning grammar especially when English is taught as a foreign language and second language. Native English speakers obviously need not know grammar at all as these come rather naturally – but they still learn it.

The problem is, not every one is a native English speaker. It’s hard not to be “obsessed” with grammar when you want to express something in the future but end up using the wrong tense (especially), thus causing some confusion to the person whom you’re talking to. 

Languages like Mandarin, Arabic and Malay do not have tenses to show the differences in “time”. Having tenses merely makes learning English far more complex.  It would be great if we could say:

• I eat rice today.
• I eat rice yesterday.
• I eat rice tomorrow.

… and I’m talking only about tenses minus the sentence structures and exceptions to so many rules that linguists have created.

Wouldn’t Simplfied English be more fun and less taxing on the learner?