Same Ol’ English Mistakes, Different Day!

Christina Marrero
Academic Coordinator of RosEA (Rosario English Area)

Whether you are a novice in the language or a near fluent speaker, this might be just the article to help you!  Spend just a few minutes, and it is likely you will “fix” something you could be doing better in your English speaking.

Here we go!

1. Do you say, “That really called my attention/ got my attention”?
   In reality, you really could get by with saying either, but in North America, at least, got my attention is much, much more common.  If you do not mind sticking out like a sore thumb, use either though.
    
2. Do you say, “I cannot attend class/ I cannot assist class”?
   Many Colombians use the phrase “assist class, or assist a conference, or assist a meeting” and this is not correct.  Instead, we should say that we attend class, or really most people say go to class, or attend a conference or attend a meeting.  Fix this quick and you will already sound more native-like!
    
3. Do you say, “My sister told my mother I have three boyfriends. Actually/ Nowadays, I just have one who is my one and only”?
   If you want to use the translated versions of “actualmente”, most likely you will want to say, nowadays, now, currently, in this day and age, or some other word/ phrase to mean something similar.
   
   The word “actually” means in fact, really, in reality or something to that effect.
    
4. Try this:
   Congratulations! You have been accepted to be a presenter at the 75th Law Congress/ Conference.
   Hmmm…. Let’s see if we can help here. If you chose the first answer, you are going to be a part of the branch of government, the legislative branch. You probably would not get a letter to congratulate you.  The second answer is to tell you that will be able to present your work that you have been researching about and writing about most likely in front of a group of people, so yes, “conference” is the appropriate one.
    
5. Should a student say, “I am in the 4th semester of my career/ major”?
   If you are still a student, you must say major because you (most likely) have not started your actual career yet. That will start once you graduate. You say, “My major is Business Administration (just like you might say I am studying Business Management)”. Once you start your career after graduation, you can still use the word major to refer to what you studied when you were at the university. You might say, “My major was Psychology, and now I have a successful track record and career in Psychology”.
    
6. When someone says, “Howdy!” in the south, do you respond with Hi!/ I am fine!”
   Since, howdy, actually is just a greeting when you first see someone at that moment, hi is one of the appropriate responses (howdy does not mean, “How are you?” so you would not answer that you are fine).

Do not worry as we will keep posting more helpful hints and tips like these, so check back each edition, online or contact RosEA (Rosario English Area) at any time on the three campuses or send an email for info. on classes to contacto.rosea@urosario.edu.co!