Top 10 Overused Phrases and Words
To request
“My husband/wife requested that I stop at the supermarket to get some shopping before coming home.”
Comments:
The English is accurate, but sounds overly formal. In day-to-day conversations involving requests or favours between friends, family or colleagues, we tend to use “ask”.
“My husband/wife asked me to stop at the supermarket to get some shopping before coming home.”
Cost performance
“The cost performance of that restaurant was good.”
Comments:
It’s better to say “value for money”. In English, the phrase originates in the specialised language of economists when discussing the Cost Performance Index.
“That restaurant offered good value for money.”
to proceed
“We are going to proceed the project.”
Comments:
This sentence is ungrammatical because “proceed” cannot take a direct object. Minimally, the word “with” is required:
“We are going to proceed with the project.”
The correction is now natural and acceptable, but native speakers will often alternate this verbal phrase with “go ahead with”, with the nuanced meaning that something will now happen after a period of consultation and subsequent approval.
“We are going to go ahead with the project.”
There
“We went to a Chinese restaurant. The food there was very good. I loved all dishes there, but the next time I go there, I’ll order something more adventurous!”
Comments:
The English is accurate, but there is overuse of the word “there”. Once the location is established and thus obvious to the listener, it need not be referred to again. Simply nothing – no alternative or additional word – is better!
“We went to a Chinese restaurant. The food (there) was very good. I loved all dishes, but the next time I go, I’ll order something more adventurous!”
To give up
“We saw the long queue (line) for the attraction and gave up.”
Comments:
The English is accurate, but the nuance of “give up” is not quite right.
“to give up doing something” suggests trying first, discovering problems with doing and as a result of the difficulty, stopping or “giving up”. In this example sentence, there is no indication of trying first. “decide against [doing something]” is a better choice of phrasing.
Compare:
“We saw the long queue (line) for the attraction and decided against it.”
“After one hour of waiting in a queue (line) with no real progression, we gave up.”
To challenge
“I’m going to challenge with this project.”
This sentence sounds unnatural.
“I’m going to challenge myself with this project.”
This is now acceptable in English, however there is one caveat. In English, we use this expression to describe “big” challenges that we want to undertake. We don’t use it for small day-to-day challenges with a relatively high likelihood of success.
E.g. “I’m going to aim to respond to all these emails by lunchtime.”
To travel
“We want to travel to Greece for 3 days at New Year.”
This sentence is not wrong, but the speaker is wanting to focus on the destination; on the reason for travelling to Greece – a vacation. Travel as a verb is used to focus on the journey itself; getting from A to B.
Much more common in natural English is to say “go on holiday” for British speakers and “go on vacation” for American speakers.
“We want to go on holiday to Greece for 3 days at New Year.”
Glad
“I was very glad during my school years.”
This sentence is not impossible, but “glad” has a more nuanced meaning in English. It is a combination of “happy” and “relieved”. (One exception below). The latter element is important. Under most circumstances, it sounds strange to feel “relieved” for talking about general happiness. The emotion is just “happiness”.
“I was very happy during my school years.”
Compare:
“I’m happy about the choice of candidate we made.”
General meaning: that after interviewing several candidates, I feel happy (and presumably confident) about selecting one candidate over the others.
“I’m glad about the choice of candidate we made.”
Six months later, the new employee is doing a great job. I feel happy and relieved, with the benefit of hindsight, that I chose the right candidate.
One exception:
“I was glad to help.”
“I will be glad to help.”
Glad to do something = to be happy and willing to do something
that’s true
“You’re taking a day off tomorrow, aren’t you?”
“(That’s) true.”
This sounds slightly unnatural. More common would be to say “that’s right”.
This is especially the case when replying to someone who is essentially just checking that they hold correct information.
“That’s true” is used in response to a statement of fact or opinion that sounds novel to you but convincing.
“London is expensive.”
“That’s right.” = I have thought the same.
“London is in many ways very similar to Tokyo: dense population; large metropolis; big transport networks.”
“That’s true” = I have never thought about this before, but I can’t deny the truth to the claim.
Bad condition
“I’m in bad condition”
This phrase means something other than what is usually intended.
“in bad condition” = in a poor state of health and/or physically unfit
Usually, people just want to say that they have a cold and are feeling a little bit unwell.
In such case, use “I’m feeling (a bit) unwell,”; “I’m feeling under the weather.”; “I’m not at my best today.”.