Don’t chat me up!

Common Errors In English With Samuel Alimi

One of my recent posts on WhatsApp about the difference between ‘chat with you’ and ‘chat me up’ sparked numerous reactions from my viewers, leading to questions from a few of them. I clearly emphasized that unless you are sexually attracted to someone, you should never tell them that you will ‘chat them up’. I felt confident writing about this topic because I had thoroughly researched the difference between these expressions in various authoritative dictionaries.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, ‘chat someone up’ means ‘to talk to someone in a way that shows you are sexually attracted to them’. An example from the source is: “He spent all evening chatting her up and buying her drinks.” The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines it as ‘to talk to someone in a friendly, open, or casual manner, sometimes in a charming or affected way, usually to gain favor, and sometimes flirtatiously with the intention of establishing a romantic or sexual encounter or relationship with that person’.

Other example sentences in the dictionary are as follows:

Have you been chatting up my girlfriend?

He spent the whole evening chatting her up.

Also, consider the following example sentences:

Femi ended his relationship with Ola because she chatting  up her friend.

It is important to note that saying ‘chat with her friend’ or ‘chat to her friend’ would not have caused problems in her relationship with her boyfriend. This is because it does not imply any sexual interaction or romantic relationship. It simply means that the conversation is platonic. It is crucial to use the correct terminology to avoid misunderstandings and misinterpretations.

The student leader chatted with the Vice Chancellor and discussed the student agitation for a reduction in school fees. (Correct)

The student leader chatted the Vice Chancellor up and discussed the student agitation for a reduction in school fees. (Incorrect)

The woman chatted with her daughter and prayed for her. (Correct)

The woman chatted her daughter up and prayed for her. (Incorrect)

Reason Why

One of the most common questions I  have received is whether it is grammatically correct to use “The reason why…”. I always respond that, contrary to the claim that it is tautological, there is nothing wrong with it. It is a common idiomatic expression. Most of the time, it is considered redundant, but it is just for emphasis.

However, you can also use ‘why’ or ‘the reason’. For example:

Question: Why did you travel to Lagos?

The reason I travelled to Lagos was to meet the chairman.

Is it OK to end a sentence with a preposition?

It is perfectly acceptable to end a sentence with a preposition, despite the fact that many experts have argued against it. Although it may sound unnatural, since a preposition typically indicates that another word will follow.

Consider the following sentences:

What is the professor of Economics talking about?

When is the chairman coming in?

Sentence Fragments

Sentence fragments are usually ignored in spoken English, but they can negatively affect one’s writing when any sentence misses a subject, a verb, or a complete thought.

Below is an example with its explanation extracted from the Writer’s room:

He still loved his parents. Despite everything that had happened.

Why it is wrong: The second sentence “despite everything that had happened” has no subject and verb. You depend on the first subject to give the second meaning.

The correction: The complete sentence for this clause is “Despite everything that happened, he still loved his parents.”

Much and Many

The people are much. (Wrong)

The people are many. (Correct)

Much should be used for uncountable nouns. In contrast, ‘many’ goes with countable nouns.

The people are uncountable. Therefore, ‘many’ is the correct adjective.

Do not add ‘much’ water to the drink.

Why do we use ‘much’ for ‘work’? It is because ‘much’ is also an uncountable noun.

I  have some work to do. (Correct)

I have some works to do. (Incorrect)

Assignment

Choose the correct answers to each of the following questions:

We did some ____ last night. (a) works (b) work (c) work
___________ children have destroyed the tables in their classroom. (a) The (b) an (c) a
______ my advice, my son. (a) Heed to (b) Heed (c) Listening
Kindly forward your answers to samueltolulopealimi@gmail.com or send an SMS to 07049203179.

Names of those who answered the last questions correctly
Samuel Glory, Feyisayo Akorede, Adesina Sofiyat, Solomon Moses, Shukurat Adekola, Edward Israel, Caroline Praise, Mohammed Aishat, Philip Moses, Abdullahi Nuhul, Jerry Solomon, Aderibigbe Akorede, and Bala Aminat.