Posted by rfvv on Thursday, May 12, 2016 at 9:39am.
One of the don'ts is as follows.
1. Don't say bad words.
1-1. Don't use bad words.
2. Don't use bad language.
2-2. Don't say bad language.
3. Don't swear.
4. ___________
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Are they all grammatical? Do you have other similar expressions? •English - Reed, Thursday, May 12, 2016 at 10:06am
2-2 is not correct. It is grammatical, but not like anything we would say or write.
I'm sure there are other ways of saying this, but I can't think of any. Some say, "Don't take the Lord's name in vain." Some say, "Don't use four-letter words".
•English - rfvv, Thursday, May 12, 2016 at 6:15pm
Thank you....
4. Don't use filthy language.
5. Don't say filthy language.
6. Don't use a filthy language.
(Is #5 or #6 wrong?)
5 and 6 are not right. "A" language would refer to Korean, English, French, Mandarin Chinese, etc. "filthy" is an adjective for language. A language is not filthy, although it may have bad/filthy words.
And we don't "say" language. We use language, we speak language, write it, etc., but we don't "say" language with any adjective, clean or filthy. We say, "Don't USE bad words" or "bad language", etc.
Out of the options you provided, #5 and #6 are incorrect. The correct way to express this would be "Don't use filthy language."
To explain why #5 and #6 are wrong, let's look at the rules of using adjectives before nouns in English. When using an adjective to describe a noun, we generally use the adjective directly before the noun, without any article or preposition in between.
In this case, "filthy" is the adjective and "language" is the noun. So, the correct phrase would be "Don't use filthy language."
Using an article like "a" before the adjective or using a preposition like "say" in #5 creates incorrect combinations. So, to express the idea correctly, stick with the original phrase "Don't use filthy language."