Hello! This is Malia from the SALC. In a previous blog post, we looked at five common mistakes that Japanese speakers make in English. Let’s check five more! It’s a long spring break, so to stay focused, we will cover one mistake per week. Here is a preview of the list of common mistakes in order of difficulty:
Grow vs. Grow up
That’s all
Let’s
How vs. What
To do vs. Doing
Do you make mistakes with any of these words?
Have you heard others make mistakes so aren’t sure what is correct?
Check the first mistake below to check your English!
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1. Grow vs. Grow up
Do you know how to say ‘成長する’ in English? Maybe you’ve said ‘grow up’. Often, this is wrong! Let’s check why.
‘Grow’ is a verb that refers to something that becomes bigger or improves, like ‘成長する’. You can also use grow to mean ‘grow as a person’ (人として成長する). But when a child gets older or someone becomes more mature, there’s an important difference: 大人になる = grow up.
I need to grow up my skills. ✕
＝ 私のスキルを大人にならせないと。（非文法的）
The plants in my garden grew up. ✕（△）
＝ 庭の植物が大人になった。（生長するや植える場合など、植物に対してはgrowを使う。植物は大人になることができないが、grow upは冗談や比喩として可能）
Your daughter is very responsible. She has grown a lot. △
＝ あなたの娘は大きくなったね。（背が伸びた場合など、体が大きくなったときにgrowを使う。年を取った場合（赤ちゃんが幼稚園児になった場合など）、性格が前と比べれば大人らしくなった場合などはgrow upを使う。）
You’re immature. You need to grow. △
＝ あなたは幼い、人として成長しないと。（「幼いな、大人になれよ」の場合はgrow upを使う、「人としての成長」が必要な場合はgrowを使う。）
Let’s look at some dialogue examples.
何かが大きくなる場合（植物が生長する場合と髪や背が伸びる場合も含む）：
A: You look taller than when I saw you last month. Did you grow somehow?
B: No, it’s just my shoes. But I also look different because my hair grew longer. It grows fast like grass, so I don’t have bangs anymore.
A: You look nice! Without bangs, my forehead grows into a fivehead*.
*forehead→fourhead→fivehead＝おおでこ（とても大きな額という意味のダジャレ）
何かがよりよくなる場合（上達する、人として成長する場合を含む）：
A: Your English has improved a lot. What did you do?
B: I studied every day. I think my speaking skills grew the most.
A: Wow, you’ve really grown since your first semester at APU.
誰かが大人になる場合（大人びる、大人らしくなる）：
A: Your daughter seems more mature than the last time I met her. She grew up a lot this year.
B: She did. But her older brother is still very immature. He needs to grow up.
A: He’s still young too. Maybe he will grow up and become more responsible when he starts high school.
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Have you made this common mistake in your everyday English? The next time you use the grammar point above, remember what you learned today or share your knowledge with your friends. Come back next week to check the second common mistake!
SALC LA
Malia Bernard