This is a column of words or phrases commonly misused by Chinese speakers. If you’re planning to be an English teacher, reporter or employee of a multinational company, then watch out for this page each week
1. He persists to keep calligraphy brushes relevant.
Professor Zhu Shida (ZS): The verb to persist means to stick to it; continue firmly; refuse to stop or be changed. It is an intransitive verb. For example, She persisted in reading the newspaper at the dinner table. On the tops of some very high mountains, snow persists throughout the year. How can it be followed by an infinitive clause? So, the right way to say this is: He persists in keeping calligraphy brushes relevant. However, the verb to persist can have an object clause when it means to say again and again or maintain: He persisted that he was innocent of the crime.
Native speaker Steven Sandor (SS):
There is nothing more to say about this example. If you cannot remember the rules above, it may be better to revise the sentence to avoid this construction entirely: He has never given up his calligraphy brushes. You could also avoid this by using a transitive verb instead of an intransitive verb: He continues to use (or to write with) calligraphy brushes.
2. Eye, eyeing and eying; age, aging and ageing
ZS: When a verb ends with e, the letter will have to be omitted if it is to be changed into a participle. Take the verb to endure for an example: We are enduring the greatest hardship since we started the experiment. However, with the verbs to eye and to age, the rule may and may not apply. You will be perfectly right to write: The dog is eying the stranger, or, The dog is eyeing the stranger. The same holds true for the verb to age.
