MISTAKE MONDAY: **I AM AGREE**
15 / 09 / 2014
MISTAKE MONDAY: **I AM AGREE**: meaning and examples
Good morning everyone and welcome to the 2014-2015 academic year! I hope you had a relaxing summer.
This year we are going to begin the Daily Vitamin with a format that is a bit different. Each day we are going to concentrate on a specific topic, depending on the day of the week it is.
-Mistake Monday
-Tense Tuesday
-Wordy Wednesday
-Theme Thursday
-Phrasal Verb Friday
On Mistake Monday, The Daily Vitamin focuses on an error commonly made by English learners, especially those who speak a Romance language, like Spanish or Catalan.
Can you spot the blunder in today's sentence?
Example 1:
**I am agree with Tom. I also think the food tastes salty.**
In this sentence, the speaker uses the phrase **I am agree**, which is incorrect; it should be I agree.
In Spanish and Catalan, for example, the equivalent phrases are estoy de acuerdo and estic d'acord, so students of these languages understandably make this mistake often; students translate directly from their native language to English, but it doesn't work here.
The incorrect sentence contains the verb TO BE, which must be followed by an adjective or a noun. However, AGREE is neither a noun nor an adjective: it is a verb. The correct sentence should be:
Example 2:
I agree with Tom. I also think that the food tastes salty.
Alternative: there is a second way to correct the above sentence: by using the noun-form of the word "agree," which is "agreement." Consider example 3 below.
Example 3:
I am in agreement with Tom. I also think that the food tastes salty.
Tune in tomorrow for Tense Tuesday, where we look at one of the twelve English verb tenses. Tomorrow we examine using the Simple Present to talk about events that are scheduled for the future.
Additionally, be sure to check back next Monday for another lesson on common English mistakes!
Have a great day!
This year we are going to begin the Daily Vitamin with a format that is a bit different. Each day we are going to concentrate on a specific topic, depending on the day of the week it is.
-Mistake Monday
-Tense Tuesday
-Wordy Wednesday
-Theme Thursday
-Phrasal Verb Friday
On Mistake Monday, The Daily Vitamin focuses on an error commonly made by English learners, especially those who speak a Romance language, like Spanish or Catalan.
Can you spot the blunder in today's sentence?
Example 1:
**I am agree with Tom. I also think the food tastes salty.**
In this sentence, the speaker uses the phrase **I am agree**, which is incorrect; it should be I agree.
In Spanish and Catalan, for example, the equivalent phrases are estoy de acuerdo and estic d'acord, so students of these languages understandably make this mistake often; students translate directly from their native language to English, but it doesn't work here.
The incorrect sentence contains the verb TO BE, which must be followed by an adjective or a noun. However, AGREE is neither a noun nor an adjective: it is a verb. The correct sentence should be:
Example 2:
I agree with Tom. I also think that the food tastes salty.
Alternative: there is a second way to correct the above sentence: by using the noun-form of the word "agree," which is "agreement." Consider example 3 below.
Example 3:
I am in agreement with Tom. I also think that the food tastes salty.
Tune in tomorrow for Tense Tuesday, where we look at one of the twelve English verb tenses. Tomorrow we examine using the Simple Present to talk about events that are scheduled for the future.
Additionally, be sure to check back next Monday for another lesson on common English mistakes!
Have a great day!
