Top 10 Grammatical Mistakes Made by Filipinos

#10. ”Alright” and “All Right”

We see the word “alright” everywhere, and it’s begun entering the major dictionaries, but for formal writing, such as academic papers and business correspondence, you should still use the two-word version.


#9. “Pinaka-Latest”

“Latest” is already in the superlative, meaning there nothing “later” than it. “Most latest” is just redundant. Therefore, “pinaka-latest” is also redundant. But I have to admit, it’s pretty catchy. That’s probably why local showbiz specials love to use it.


#8. “More + Adjective-er”

Phrases like “more harder” and “more brighter” just give me more headaches. Just say “harder” or “brighter,” okay?


#7. “Your” and “You’re”

Two words that should never, ever, ever be interchanged, at least if you want to be taken seriously as a writer.

“Your” is a possessive adjective. In other words, it is used to express possession: “Your job.” “You’re” is a contraction of two words: the pronoun “you” and the verb “are.” Therefore, it’s always “you’re welcome“ and not “your welcome.”


#6. “Its” and “It’s”

This is almost identical to “you” and “you’re.” Use “its” to express possession: ”I scratched its fur.” “It’s” is a contraction of “it” and “is.” Therefore, always write “it’s nice” and never “its nice.”


#5. “Their” and “They’re” and “There”

Same banana. “Their” is a possessive adjective, “They’re” is a contraction, and “There” refers to a place: “I’m going there.”


#4. “He” and “She”

“Clara’s there na. He’s, ah, I mean, she’s waiting for you.”

This happens because most Filipinos think in Tagalog, in which the word ”siya” means both “he” and she.” This tiny difference between English and Tagalog trips up millions of Filipinos on a daily basis.


#3. “Already”

“She went there already.”

This sounds correct to a Filipino, but the correct use is “She already went there.” Personally, this still sounds a bit off. I would say “She has already gone there.” But that’s just me.


#2. The Ellipsis

This is one of the most abused punctuation marks in the history of humankind. Simply put, an ellipsis is the formal term for the three dots (“…”) that follow some types of sentences. Filipinos love to abuse it in the following ways:

* By using only 2 dots: ..
* By using more than 3: …….. (of course, there are some instances in which 4 dots are acceptable)
* By using it several times in a single sentence: “Oh… Well… I’ll see you later, then…”


#1. Pluralizing all the wrong words

I visibly wince whenever I hear Filipinos add “-s” to the wrong words. “Fats.” “Furnitures.” “Evidences.” “Stuffs.” Stuffs. For the love of God, all of these words are already in the plural form. And saying “anyways” instead of “anyway” has always struck me as being singularly pretentious.