Five mistakes in English that have become the norm

There are 5 grammatical errors that are acceptable in spoken English. Remember the main grammar rule of any language - if enough speakers make the same mistake, it becomes a rule, says the ILS channel on the portal “Yandex Zen".

That and who

As a rule, that is used with inanimate objects, but not with people. But most people use that to talk about people too:

• He's the man that she married.
• Do you remember the guy that we were talking to yesterday?

Father and further

There is a very subtle difference between these two words. Only further denotes a metaphorical distance. It's better to remember. But in fact these words are interchangeable:

You keep pushing me farther/further and farther/further away.

Lie and lay

This is one of the mistakes that English speakers make all the time. Lie - lie, lay - put. However, their past tense forms are similar. Therefore, you may hear sentences like this in everyday life:

• Don't just lay there! Let's go!
• I just want to lay down for a while.

On the subject: How to Learn English from Songs: 8 Cool Resources

Me and I

I is the subject form and me is the object form. Something like “I” and “me” in Russian. However, native English speakers often put me in the subject position in conversation, for example:

• Me and my mom went to the cinema yesterday.
• You and me need to talk.

less and fewer

Less is used with uncountables and fewer with countables. But not every native English speaker thinks about these categories. Less dominates the number of uses and is often used instead of fewer:

• I need to eat less sweets.
• How many suitcases did you bring? – Less than 5.

Such “correct errors” exist in every language, but in fact there are not so many of them.