🗣️ Singlish vs Standard English

"I go school already."

✓"I have already gone to school."

Singlish drops prepositions and uses "already" as a particle. Standard English requires "to" and proper tense.

"She never study for the test."

✓"She did not study for the test."

"Never" in Singlish is used for simple past negation. In Standard English, "never" means "not ever"; use "did not" for single past events.

"He always like that one."

✓"He is always like that."

Singlish adds "one" as an emphatic particle. Standard English does not require this particle.

"Yesterday I eat chicken rice."

✓"Yesterday I ate chicken rice."

Singlish often omits past tense markers. Standard English requires the past tense form "ate".

"She don't know how to do."

✓"She does not know how to do it."

Subject-verb agreement: third person singular requires "does not". Also, "do" needs an object ("it").

"I got finish my homework already."

✓"I have already finished my homework."

"Got" is not used as an auxiliary in Standard English. Use "have" with the past participle.

"Teacher say must hand in tomorrow."

✓"The teacher said we must hand it in tomorrow."

Standard English requires articles ("the"), proper tense ("said"), subjects ("we"), and objects ("it").

"I scared cannot pass the exam."

✓"I am afraid that I cannot pass the examination."

"Scared" needs a linking verb "am". "Cannot" should follow a conjunction "that". Use full form "examination" in formal writing.

"He confirm will come."

✓"He confirmed that he will come."

Singlish uses "confirm" as an adverb. Standard English uses it as a verb with proper tense and a "that" clause.

"Don't play play, must study hard."

✓"Stop fooling around; you must study hard."

Reduplication ("play play") is a Singlish feature. Standard English requires a full expression.