| American English | Canadian English - Wikipedia Canadian English Canadian English.org |
Translations from French (or some other language) |
Canadian English |
definately, definatly, definantly, definetly, definently, defiantly . |
D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y |
| seperate | separate Remember that "there is a rat in separate". |
| costumer customer |
costumer = one who prepares costumes |
| fewer less |
fewer - comparative of few, more than one less - not as much of a thing (distance, degree, difficulty, time) |
| take decisions, decision-taking | make decisions, decision-making |
| who - refers to people that - refers to things |
who - refers to people that - refers to things |
| confusion with homonyms/homophones | are our hour its = possessive it's = contraction = it is It’s is a contraction, not a possessive. You would say, “It’s going to be a long day” but you wouldn’t say, “The dog hurt it’s foot.” no know taut taught there = there is an adverb indicating a place or point of action (the game happened there) they're = they’re is a contraction meaning they are their = their is a possessive as in their books (the books that belong to them) to too two waste waist weather whether which witch your you're yore |
confusion with homonyms/homophones |
involved evolved lose loose of off then than thought through though thorough trough affect effect |
| Punctuation |
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Use Word's "Spelling and Grammar" checker Ask your parents, friends, etc. to proofread your work
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| Singular Plural |
Singular - he/she/it/him/her/his/hers/its Plural - they/them/their You must be consistent. Warning - If you must be "politically correct" to try to avoid using he/she/etc., you must NEVER use the plural (they/them/their) if you are referring to one person. You must use an alternate sentence structure. Try to make everything plural or everything singular in the sentence. Avoid the ridiculous "his and her" or "he/she" or "s/he", etc. (This is a controversial point of grammar.) their - Definitions from Dictionary.com |
| McDonald's are a restaurant chain. McDonald's serve burgers and fries. They are a restaurant chain. |
McDonald's is a restaurant chain. McDonald's serves burgers and fries. |
Adverbs - Americans do not understand adverbs |
It should be: "Think globally, act locally". |
| Prepositions must take the accusative case, the object. "Give them to John and I"- this is WRONG The reasoning - You obviously couldn't say "Give them to I" |
"Give them to John and me" "Give them to me and John" In other words, "Give them to John & Give them to me" |
The subject must be in the nominative case. |
"John and I studied for the exam." "I studied for the exam and John studied for the exam." - Incorrect use of I instead of me in an objective case. This is another very common error. For example, people will often say, “She gave the money to him and I.” when it should be “She gave the money to him and me.” They think the first version sounds more correct. A simple way to remember the rule is to take out the first object and see if the sentence makes sense without it, i.e., “She gave the money to him and I.” “She gave the money to I” doesn’t sound right, does it? That’s because it’s not. |
| $25,000 | |
DVDs |
DVDs = the plural of DVD = more than one DVD DVD's = possessive = it belongs to the DVD DVDs' = possessive = it belongs to the DVDs (plural) |
| Plural vs. Possessive | company = one company |
| who vs that | who = a person that = a thing |
web |
Web (as in World Wide Web) e-mail (as in electronic mail) |
| Thank you for your comprehension. (This is French) | Thank you for understanding. |
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