Common English Blunders

“They created me a business-objects ID.”

Common English Blunders, Devolution toward Simpler, Prepositions

I heard this during a conference call.

Problem:
The preposition “for” is missing from this sentence.

Explanation:
This statement looks as odd as it sounded.

I believe that one source of the problem is that the speaker put herself first in the statement. If she had moved herself to the end of the sentence, then she would have gotten “They created a business-objects ID me.” — clearly wrong!

It’s clear that what is missing in the re-statement is the preposition “for”. In other words, “They created a business-objects ID for me.” is one of the solutions to the problem.

I believe that the absence of “for” in the statement also supports my “Devolution toward Simpler” hypothesis. It’s simpler to say “created me” than to say “created for me”.

Putting the reference to the speaker first while retaining the needed preposition “for” gives us the other solution to the problem.

Solutions:
“They created a business-objects ID for me.”
or
“They created for me a business-objects ID.”

“Bring” vs. “Take” Revisited

Common English Blunders, Devolution toward Simpler, Verbs, Versus

I continue to hear “bring” when the speaker means “take” instead.

Problem:
The verbs “bring” and “take” are not interchangeable.

Explanation:
As I wrote last year, one should use “take” when one is telling the listener to transport something to a location other than where one currently resides. One should use “bring” when one is telling the listener to transport something to a location where one currently resides.

I am revisiting this topic to say that I believe that use of “bring” instead of “take” supports two linguistic hypotheses:

  1. It supports my “Devolution toward Simpler” hypothesis. The verb “bring” is simpler to say than is “take”. The NG sound in “bring” is simpler to say than is the K sound in “take”. One can let the ending of “bring” trail off; in contrast, one must distinctly pronounce the ending of “take” to ensure that listeners understand what one said.
  2. It supports an avoidance-of-negative-connotations hypothesis. I believe that people unconsciously avoid “take” in favor of “bring” because of negative connotations of “take”. These negative connotations come from such phrases as “on the take” and “getting taken”; “bring” has no negative connotations, as far as I am aware.

Solution:
Use “bring” when the person making the request is at the destination.
Use “take” when the person making the request is NOT at the destination.

“One of the most deadly phenomenon …”

Common English Blunders, Hypercorrection, Nouns, Plurals

I heard this from a USGS spokeswoman on television.

Problem:
The noun “phenomenon” is not plural.

Explanation:
The phrase “one of” should be followed by a plural noun.

The noun “phenomenon”, which means an observable occurrence, is the singular of the plural noun “phenomena”.

I believe that the use of “phenomenon” in place of “phenomena” represents hypercorrection. In particular, because so many people hear that “phenomena” is not always the correct noun, they use “phenomenon” even when “phenomena” is the correct noun.

Solution:
“One of the most deadly phenomena …”