Top 12 expressions that we think are true, but are false

1. “Raise the bar”

What we should say: “Raise the bar high. »

Why ? In this sentence, “high” is an adverb and not an adjective! It relates to the verb “to put” and not to “the bar”. In fact, we say “setting/setting the bar high” but “the bar is high”.

Another example : “He won hands down” / “The hand is high”.

2. “Incessantly Shortly”

What we should say: one or the other, but not both! “I will arrive shortly. “, “I arrive shortly. “, but not “incessantly shortly”!

Why ? It is a pleonasm! To say “immediately shortly” is equivalent to saying “soon in a short time”. A little heavy, right?

3. “Olalala, I have one of those headaches!”

What we should say: “Olalala, I have one of these ailments skull, me! »

Why ? After the determiner “these”, it is logically the plural which must follow. In reality, this error remains controversial. Indeed, “one of these evils” can be accepted if we consider that “one of these” serves as an “adjective marking the high degree”. On the other hand, if the sentence is completed with a complement or a relative clause, the question no longer arises: we use the plural, and that’s it! So we’ll say, “I have one of those headaches that stays with you all day.”

4. “I came by scooter”

What we should say: “I came at scooter. »

Why ? “In” means “in”. So we can come in car, train, plane or taxi. On the other hand, we circulate at bicycle, scooter, motorbike, or trotting!

5. “She came first”

What we should say: “She arrived in premier. »

Why ? “First” or “last” are two invariable adverbial phrases. A woman always comes first. On the other hand, it can happen the first one.

6. “I have a lot to think about”

What we should say: “There are a lot of things I have to think about. »

Why ? One can “think something” in the sense of design. A florist can think of a bridal bouquet, for example. On the other hand, when “thinking” refers to reflection, it is constructed with an indirect complement.

7. “I’m in Paris”

What we should say: ” I’m in Paris. »

Why ? According to the sages of the French Academy, the preposition “on” can in no case “be used instead of “to” or “of” to introduce a complement of place such as a region, a city and the place where we go/find”.

The little nuance: we can continue to say “I am moving to Toulouse”. Still according to the Academy, the preposition “on” can be justified with a verb of movement. “I march on Rome” is presumptuous, but correct.

8. “Bring me a drink”

What we should say: to start, we say “please”. Then, the correct formula is “bring me a drink”.

Why ? “To lead” means “to lead something that works”. Until proven otherwise, a glass has no legs. It is therefore necessary to wear it, or to bring it.

9. “The conclusion turned out to be wrong”

What we should say: “The conclusion turned out to be wrong. “.

Why ? “Proven false” is barbarism. The primary meaning of “prove” is “prove true”. Thus, “proving to be false” is a misinterpretation.

Nor do we say: “prove to be correct”. It is a pleonasm.

10. “In the end”

What we should say: “finally”, “to finish”, “finally”, “lastly”, “in the end”,…

Why ? It’s just grammatically wrong. “Final” is an adjective, which you can’t really tinker with to make it into a noun.

11. “The jury shot down the candidate”

What we should say: “The jury shot down this candidate in flames”.

Why ? The phrase “to soar” comes from the unfortunate mixture of “to go down in flames” and “to soar”. ‘Down’ can be used to replace ‘quickly’, in phrases such as ‘go/go up/soar up’. On the other hand, to speak of “descending” in the sense of “criticizing” we use “in flames”, which refers to the vocabulary of war (planes shot down, shots that start fires).

12. “I remember you”

What we should say: ” I remember you “.

Why ? We “remember” something, we “remember” someone!