10 Common English Phrases You're Probably Using Wrong

1. Behind the sheets 
It's common you hear people talk about what happens in their bed thereby making use of 'Behind the sheets'. Actually the correct line is "BETWEEN THE SHEETS"

2. Brother in laws vs. Brothers in law                              If your wife or husband has several siblings, they’re called your “brothers/sisters in law”. I’m about to get a little grammar nerdy with my explanation so get ready. The general rule of thumb for making a compound noun plural is to add a “s” to the noun that there’s more of. In our case, the words brother and law are both nouns. Since the word you’re pluralizing is brother, you add an “s” to it, not law.

3. Female youths
The phrase “female youths” is decidedly a nonstandard. Here is why. When “youth” is used as a collective noun to mean “young men and women” its plural form doesn’t admit of an “s.” It is still youth, as in “the youth of Nigeria is fed up with the incompetence of the country’s ruling elite.” However, youth also means “young man.” When it is used in that sense, its plural form takes an “s.” That means “youths” invariably means “young men.” So it is impossible to have “female youths” unless you mean women who were born men but underwent sex-change operations to become men. 

 4. I could care less 
You're in a situation, probably angered by someone, in a bid to get back at him/her, you say 'I could care less', this is wrong because the sentence actually means you're concerned about the situation. The correct phase is "I COULDN'T CARE LESS"

 5. First-come, First serve 
This one is very popular among the Nigerians, because it talks about feeding the monsters in our belly, and it's a common notion that if you're on time you would be attended to early enough. the right sentence is "FIRST-COME, FIRST SERVED"

6.He did good vs. He did well

The phrases good and well get interchanged so much that some people think they are actually interchangeable words. They’re not. If you’re ever confused about which to use, here’s a tip: Use “well” as an adverb (words used to describe verbs) and “good” as an adjective (words used to describe nouns). For example:

• The dog runs well
• He is a good dog

7. Cousin brother/sister 
You hear people say, 'He's my cousin brother'. The word cousin is a noun and not an adjective, making it irrelevant to describe the gender of the cousin. "SHE'S MY COUSIN" is just about right.


8. Marriage vs Wedding 
A lot of us substitute Marriage for Wedding and vice versa, whilst this is wrong. "WEDDING" is the ceremony where you get married and "MARRIAGE" is the state of being married


9. Wreck havoc 
You see headlines with 'All he did was wreck havoc'. Now that's clearly wrong. The correct phrase should be "ALL HE DID WAS WREAK HAVOC"

10. Breath/Breathe 
A BREATH is the act or process of breathing while BREATHE is the act of inhaling or exhaling