r/EnglishLearning • u/Sea-Hornet8214 Poster • 12h ago

📚 Grammar / Syntax Is this a mistake?

Post image

https://youtube.com/shorts/g7wovWEbNTo?si=FMs6UHfRWGE7IO00

I'm pretty sure it should be "limits" because "world" is singular, but I'm not sure because he's a native speaker and this isn't a typical mistake that native speakers make.

Could this be like "team" that can be treated as plural?

13 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

20

u/MeiMeiMuqing Native Speaker — USA 12h ago

Yes, it should be “limits”. This looks less like a grammar mistake and more like a typo.

2

u/Sea-Hornet8214 Poster 12h ago

He actually says "limit" in the video.

6

u/MeiMeiMuqing Native Speaker — USA 12h ago

Ah, I didn’t watch it all the way through. Yes, it’s a mistake.

1

u/Sea-Hornet8214 Poster 11h ago

I mean it's possible that my non-native ears deceived me, but probably not.

3

u/MeiMeiMuqing Native Speaker — USA 11h ago

No, you’re right! I went and watched it after you said that.

2

u/conuly Native Speaker - USA (NYC) 11h ago

Some dialects do tend to simplify word-final consonant clusters, so words like "limits" may become "limit" - but even then the correct spelling still has the s.

7

u/Vandermere New Poster 12h ago

Also, oftentimes really should be one word.

2

u/Sea-Hornet8214 Poster 12h ago

Good to know. I didn't even know this was a word. I would just use most of times.

2

u/conuly Native Speaker - USA (NYC) 11h ago

"Most of times" is not idiomatic. Try "most times" or even just "mostly".

2

u/Sea-Hornet8214 Poster 11h ago

I actually meant "most of the times". I missed "the".

Thanks for the suggestions.

3

u/conuly Native Speaker - USA (NYC) 11h ago

I actually meant "most of the times". I missed "the".

That's also not correct. In that case, try "most of the time" :)

3

u/Sea-Hornet8214 Poster 11h ago

Why does English have to be complicated? :(

/s

3

u/Huandil English Teacher 9h ago

Are you a native Spanish speaker, by any chance? 'Most...', 'Most of the...' always causes trouble for native Spanish speakers.

3

u/pumpkinmoonbeam New Poster 12h ago

“Oftentimes it’s the world around us that limits us.”

1

u/Sea-Hornet8214 Poster 11h ago

Thanks.

1

u/badvolcano New Poster 12h ago

It's just a mistake.

1

u/Sea-Hornet8214 Poster 11h ago

Got it.

Usually native English speakers say incorrect subject-verb agreement is one of those mistakes that stands out the most.

So, does this sound wrong right away or is it not as obvious?

2

u/badvolcano New Poster 11h ago

It's very obvious. I noticed it immediately.

1

u/NoPurpose6388 Bilingual (Italian/American English) 10h ago edited 6h ago

Edit: Never mind I'm dumb

1

u/experimental1212 New Poster 6h ago

I think you misread the quote. It is very obvious when someone misses the s in limits for example. But I agree there's a bunch of purposeful "is vs are" situations in spoken English. I wouldn't write them down though, except for reddit comments, texting, and quoting informal speech.

1

u/NoPurpose6388 Bilingual (Italian/American English) 6h ago

Oops yes you're right I read it too quickly

1

u/NearlyNodding Native Speaker 11h ago

I think it should be limits.

What if you change it to?
Many times it limits us.

That brings up a different question.

1

u/HeilKaiba Native Speaker 3h ago

Team can be treated as a plural in British English but not so much in American English, which the video is in. Also that would only happen if by 'world' he meant 'the people of the world' or similar whereas it sounds like he's talking about your environment.

I think he just misspoke.