The most common usage mistakes in Indian English

very less | too vs. very | much vs. many (mass nouns) | tell vs. say | here vs. there | "is it?" | 9 o'clock mtg.

1. very less instead of very little (for mass-nouns) or very few (for countable nouns.)

Wrong:

• The mosquitoes tonight are very less.
• Buy it now while it costs very less.
• We've heard so less of him at this point.
• I have very less fuel in my tank.

It's equally odd to say: "The mosquitoes tonight are very more".

"More" and "less" are opposite terms of comparison. Less is a grammatical particle in the English language, functioning as an adverb that modifies comparatives, just as "more" is used to form the comparative of some adjectives and adverbs; "less interesting"; "more beautiful"; "more quickly", "less expensive". (sources: Google, Wikipedia and WorldNet). It is a term of comparison and does not indicate a relative degree such as "a little bit", "a moderate amount" or "a lot". It's generally used to modify verbs pertaining to mass nouns. (Mass nouns are non-countable nouns such as rice, electricity, atta, equipment, feedback, traffic, etc. They are not pluralized. e.g. "softwares")

From Wikipedia:

• More info about mass nouns
• Don't confuse mass-nouns with collective nouns

Right:

• The mosquitoes tonight are very few. (better: There are very few mosquitoes tonight.)
• Buy it now while it costs very little. (better: Buy it now, while it's inexpensive.)
• We've heard so little of him at this point. (slightly better: "We've heard so little from him...")
• I have very little fuel in my tank. (little does not mean tiny in this scenario)

More examples (more or less):

• "I have less rice than she does." simply means that she has more than I have. I might still have a lot of rice.
• "She has more sauce." may mean that I have less than she. (I received only one drop of sauce. She got two drops.)
• "We need to purchase more equipment." does not imply that we need to purchase a lot of equipment. It may mean that we need one more item. The implication is that we need: ... more than we've already purchased, more than we already own, or more equipment than that other company bought."

General rule: If you can't follow "less" with "than", don't use it.
It must be less than something else.

4. too instead of very

VERY simply means "a relatively high degree", but no problem.
TOO implies something excessive, bad, wrong, etc. It means that something has crossed a line of acceptability.

Wrong:

• The movie was TOO good.
  Simply not possible! What's wrong? You don't deserve to watch such good films?

• I ate too much food.
  What's wrong? You left no food for anyone else? It made you sick?

• Mr. Petrucci is TOO good at guitaring!
  What's wrong? He's overqualified for the beginner's class?
  (Guitaring is not a word any more than pianoing, violining, tabla-ing or harmonica-ing is.)

• She loves him too much.
  This is possible. It could make sense if she should not love him so much, perhaps because he doesn't feel the same way. Too suggests that there's a problem; that she should not have such affection for him. "She loves him very much." does not indicate a problem.

• True story: An Ayurvedic doctor advised me to: "Get too much sleep before attending yoga class."
  
  Correction: ______________________________________________

2. much vs. many and the confusion of mass nouns

Wrong:

• There's too much of cars on the road.
• There's too much of mosquitoes outside.
• I didn't receive many feed backs from her.
• He purchased a new software today.

When referring to a plural noun that can be COUNTED, you would use "many" as an intensifier. The modifier "much" is used for nouns that cannot be counted (mass nouns) and are generally not pluralized. When referring to a relatively large amount of any mass noun (Ex. milk, equipment, etiquette, software) then you use much. The preposition "of" is generally not used in such cases.

Right:

• There's too much traffic. / There are too many cars on the road.
• There are too many mosquitoes outside. (even though you're not going to count them)
• I didn't receive much feedback from her.
• He purchased some new software today. or He purchased a new software program today.

How many data are enough? - An article on some tricky "part-time" mass-nouns such as data and bacteria. Even people fall into this category!

3. tell instead of say

Wrong:

• She told that Ravi would reach office by five.
• What he told you?
• Remember what we told this morning?

Tell always means "instruct", "inform" or "direct". The verb tell is usually followed by an object, that is, we usually say who is told. In other words, tell = say to. (learn more).

Right:

• She said (told me) that Ravi would reach the office by five.
• What did he say? or What did he tell you?"
• Remember what we said this morning?

It's best to use "say" when no object is specified, (i.e. who is being told.)

Confusing verbs:

During a recent election I heard someone say, "'l'll see through the ballot."
(I thought the guy had X-Ray vision!)

5. revert instead of reply, respond, "get back to"

Wrong:

• Please revert to the undersigned with any clarifications.
• Did you receive their revert yet?
• I reverted to you yesterday.
  (Impossible! Doubly-impossible!!)

Using the word revert when you mean reply will confuse westerners. If you want someone to reply, respond or "get back" to you, say that.

Revert means to switch back to a previous state, to undo, to return to a former condition or practice. It does not mean to respond. Nor does it mean to return. (Some go so far as to say, "I will return to you" when they mean "I will reply to you.")

Correct examples:

• We must revert to the previous version of application; the new version is too buggy.
• Did you receive their reply yet?
• Please revert to last month's rules.

"There" means NOT here.

Wrong:

• Veena is there.
• Biriyani is there.
• Infection is there.

Right:

• Veena is here.
• We have biriyani.
• You have an infection.

The nine o'clock meeting (not very common but worth mention)

A meeting is scheduled at 9:00am.

Scenario 1:

• You arrive at 9:15 but the meeting was postponed (pushed) to 9:30.
• Did you arrive in time?
• Did you arrive on time?

Scenario 2:

• The scheduled 9am meeting was preponed by ten minutes. You were not notified and arrived at 9:00.
• Did you arrive on time?
• Did you arrive in time?
• Were you late?

"Is it?" is not an appropriate catch-all response!

Tara will be promoted next week. Is it?

He arrived early today. Is it?

I just got fired. Is it?

They will be bringing us gifts. Is it?

I have not booked the ticket yet. Is it?

I would like to learn Spanish someday. Is it?

All the computers are broken! Is it?

They're not coming to class today. Is it?

Two two of my eggs are broken! Is it?

It's very hot outside. Is it?

Its color is too bright for my taste. Is it?

Yes, it is!

The abysmal anectode - a true story!:

• Newly-hired H.R.staff member commented to a seasoned manager: "Our company's attrition is abysmally low."
• Clearly stunned (and partially insulted) by this newcomer's negative description of her company's attrition level, the manager asks for clarification:
  "WHAT in the world do you MEAN???"
• His response:: "I mean it's TOO low!"
• Manager shakes her head in confusion and disappointment over this person's inability to communicate.

Explanation: The employee misused the words "abysmal" and "too". While abysmal does mean "extremely or immeasurably low", it is always used in a negative context. Examples: "abysmal grades"; "abysmal stupidity".  An "abysmal attrition level" is a horrible attrition level. (a high level of employee turnover.) He then followed it up with a misuse of "too" which also carries a negative connotation. "Too" means past a line of acceptability.

In this situation, (the intensifier) 'very' could have been used. This would have communicated that attrition is extremely low, which is something good.

The same person recently uttered the following!

• "Who will attrite in the next 30 days?"
• "They are attriting."
• "Attrites are not tracked."

Attrite is not a word!