Common
Mistakes in English by Spanish Speaking Learners
by
Christopher Cascio,
Demand Media
While
all learners of English struggle with all the facets of usage and mechanics,
Spanish speaking learners deal with specific troubles, most of which arise with
concepts that are simple in Spanish but complex and convoluted in English.
While one way to express an idea might exist in Spanish, there might be five or
six in English, and the particulars of these differences can be a source of
confusion and frustration.
Articles
While Spanish language
uses both definite and indefinite articles, English learners still often
struggle with articles. Unlike in English, Spanish speakers don't use articles
when addressing unknown amounts of something or abstractions. For example, in
the question, "Is there any sugar in the cabinet," the article
"any" would be omitted. Also, the difference in usage between
"a" and "an," which corresponds to whether the following
noun begins with a consonant or a vowel, does not exist with the corresponding
Spanish articles "un," "uno," "una,"
"unos" and "unas."
Negation
Negation presents an
issue because the rules for usage in Spanish and English are different. In
Spanish, you simply use the word "no" in front of a verb to express
negation, while in English you have "do not" and "don't," "does
not" and doesn't," did not" and "didn't," "have
not" and "haven't," and "will not" and
"won't," all of which have specific situations for use.
Prepositions
Prepositions are a
great source of confusion for Spanish-speaking English learners, because
English sometimes uses the same word to convey very different ideas. For
example, in English we use the prepositions "in, "on" and
"at" to denote time, but in different contexts. Those same words,
which adds to the confusion, are also used to denote closed spaces, a surface
something is resting upon or a time of day, respectively.
Here you got the link
if you want to look at the American newspaper ^^
