Grammatical NIGHTMARES

[tiffanytwisted]

"set" vs "sit"

 

[E B]

I''ll admit it: I''m guilty of "Whole ''nother". I hope I wouldn''t type it (though I probably have), but I say it every now and then.

 

[hlmr]

A few years back, I used to go crazy when someone used the word irregardless, but it has unfortunately made it into the dictionary!!!

Another one that drives me bonkers is when I hear library pronounced as libary!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah, and alot is two words not one!!! I like it A LOT!!!! Heehee, thought I would throw that one in there for the old timers!!! HA!

 

[muzzman]

I hate to see comma splices, they drive me crazy.

Do you know what the very worst are? Unnecessary intensifiers.

People also are far too free to wantonly use split infinitives.

 

[Munchkin]

Where to begin?

I am a grammar nut. I visibly cringe when I hear grammatical errors. Aside from the obvious it, it''s, there, they''re, their, your, you''re, etc; "I could''ve went" drives me BONKERS! I also hate "Me and her went to the store." She and I, she and I, she and I !!! (Yes, I am aware that wasn''t actually a sentence.

Another peeve: "I could care less." Please, pause for a moment and think about what you are actually saying. I believe what you mean is "I couldn''t care less."

I am most bothered by people who think they are using proper grammar (in an attempt to sound more refined), yet stumble badly.
My very well educated mother will say "It looks well on her" or "I feel badly." In both of those instances, an adverb is NOT the proper modifier. She knows that it is "more correct

" to say "I feel bad about that," yet she insists on sounding more refined. Along the same lines, people who use "I" when "me" is actually correct, "myself" when "me" is correct and the most entertaining - whom desperately thrown into a sentence when it simply does not belong.

-To the readers who don''t understand why it is incorrect to say "I feel badly" about something - (not being rude, I just know many people do not understand why it is incorrect) Using badly in that instance suggests that your sense of touch is poor. It should not be used to modify an emotion, only an action.



I will never forget a conversation I had with a girl I disliked. She and I had both been accepted to colleges in the same ''tier,'' yet she felt the need to point out ways in which my school was lacking. We were discussing SAT scores and she said, "Well, I did really really good on the English part." She was completely serious. Her comments never bothered me again!

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

That said, is just, that.

NIX to: "that BEING said". uuuggghhhhhhhhh

cheers--Sharon

 

[Elmorton]

I started to post on this thread earlier this afternoon...when it was a page. I can''t believe there are 4 now (well, actually, I can...my mentor once posed this question to a classroom of MA/PhD candidates in Writing/English Comp, and we spent roughly 3 hours discussing our pet peeves and why we hate them so much). I teach college writing, and to be honest, this thread both makes me laugh and also disturbs me a bit. It''s amazing how many shibboleths we have for our language, considering that language is something that, by its nature, is highly unstable and relies on evolution. I can''t imagine how many qualified candidates have been overlooked because they have broken the rule (out of thousands) that their potential superior just happens to find irksome. As this thread indicates, the "mistakes" that are ultimate no-nos for one person are very slight for another.

By the time most of our children are adults, some linguists say that punctuation as whole will be on the fast track to extinction (if you don''t believe me, check out the recent change to MLA style, where a comma is no longer needed before "and" when listing items). Linguists will also tell you that there is no such thing as "Standard English Grammar" because no one in the U.S. is void of dialectal influence, therefore no one speaks "Standard English." I love getting a rise out of people when I say that. Some people want so desperately to believe that there is a clear set of rules and everyone follows (or should follow) them. Nevermind the fact that there are something like 300 grammatical mistakes in Warriner''s (the Bible of most secondary English teachers). "Perfect usage" in English simply doesn''t exist. We use different dialects for different situations and audiences.

Honestly, it''s strange to me how grammar is such an issue and how wrapped up we are in the idea that grammar denotes education and class status. I hate that many of my students come to me saying that they''re "bad writers" because past teachers have taken it upon themselves to correct every little grammatical mistake in a student''s paper, leaving it bleeding with editing marks that are incomprehensible to the average person. To me, that''s abuse and laziness. It takes more time and more intellectual work to discuss the strength of ideas and arguments than it does to simply read for grammar OR look for grammatical patterns in a student''s writing and address these patterns with her or him individually. And, while I''m ranting, I am so glad no one has posted about split infinitives or ending a sentence with a preposition. Those rules that are based on Latin languages and English is Germanic. I want to SCREAM when I see other teachers mark those as errors. Rrrrg!

But - even with all that said about grammar/writing, mispellings and misusages just crack me up. The other day I went to breakfast with DH, and there was a sign on a trashcan that was labeled

"FOR TOOTHPICK RAPPERS."

P.S. "I graduated college" or "I attend university" is absolutely correct in British dialects of English.

 

[hlmr]

Date: 11/14/2007 9:43:16 PM
Author: Munchkin

Another peeve: 'I could care less.' Please, pause for a moment and think about what you are actually saying. I believe what you mean is 'I couldn't care less.'

Moi aussi Munchkin, moi aussi!!!!

 

[somethingshiny]

Date: 11/14/2007 4:56:07 PM
Author: Ninama
Oh, hooray!



: : : : cracks knuckles and neck : : : :






'Yeah' for 'yay'



For everything that hasn't been mentioned, just go here... they're all here:


http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

I say "yeah" when some people would say "yay." I say it like "yeah, yeah, yeah!" Like, "That's right. I sure did. MMM HMM." And others would just suffice it to say "yay."

 

[KimberlyH]

I was going to add "could care less" to the list, but Munchkin read my mind. Thank you, Munchkin!

I was an English major in college, not too long ago, and was told to leave the comma in front of and out of my writing. Interresting.

 

[fatafelice]

Well, I teach seventh grade Language Arts, so don''t get me started. I have a bunch of students (in honors classes, no less) who weren''t bothered with spelling in the lower grades (much like a previous poster''s granddaughter''s class). The thing is, spelling and grammar are conventions, and there are times when you can break the rules, but you have to LEARN them first. Grrrrr. And yes, we have spellcheck, but it isn''t always right, and half the time they don''t bother to use it. Frequently, while answering a question, they will repeatedly mispell words that are in the question itself. While it is right in front of them. On the same paper. This is why I don''t think it should be legal to sell guns to anyone with a teaching license.

Some of my most common offenses (and I just finished grading some short stories):
"should/could/would of" instead of "should/could/would have"
their/there/they''re
whole/hole
where/were
"+" instead of "and"...seriously, on final, typed drafts
switching verbs tenses in the middle of telling a story and/or using gerunds incorrectly (ex: Sally is running down the street. She is wanting to find her friends. After she found them, they all went for pizza)
Ending sentences with prepositions

I am sure I will think of more later, but here are some that adults (in my school) use that make me crazy:
"draw" instead of "drawer"
"liberry" instead of "library" -- and I get this from the secretary who works... IN the LIBRARY!

 

[somethingshiny]

They just keep coming to me...

ValentiMe's instead of Valentine's, very popular in the South

People who pronounce "Sean" as "Seen"

 

[msb700]

eeeck!!! <---runs to the corner and hides..i am HORRIBLE when it comes to spelling/garmmer and im sure i have met at least every other pet peeve posted above...

sorry!!

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 11/14/2007 11:50:42 PM
Author: msb700
eeeck!!! <---runs to the corner and hides..i am HORRIBLE when it comes to spelling/garmmer and im sure i have met at least every other pet peeve posted above...

sorry!!

don''t worry I''m guilty of em all and well if someone don''t want to read what I write cuz of it then I could care less :}

 

[Mara]

interestingly enough, writing style has changed so much from the old days in terms of grammar. i know there is still 'proper grammar' but the internet has changed writing forever. my mom is a teacher and i grew up using proper english, i also learned to spell quite well, and learned to read at a young age. spelling mistakes drive me nuts actually. grammar nowadays is so far removed from what it used to be. writing style on the internet actually encourages things like broken and run-on sentences. i love reading when someone writes like that, especially when it's obvious it's intentional.

overall, bad spelling and obviously incorrect grammar (aka 'i done good') drives me crazy. it's just a function of my upbringing, hahaha. i know that i definitely have my own foibles. 'like' ... i say 'alot' instead of 'a lot'...mmmm what else. i used to say 'anyways' and greg and i had a year long argument over whether or not it's 'anyway' or 'anyways'...haha.

i had a friend who used to drive me insane by saying 'saurday' instead of 'saturday'. and 'liberry' instead of 'library'. hehehe.

 

[Anastasia]

Date: 11/14/2007 4:16:55 PM
Author: Allisonfaye
Wow, I can''t believe no one has mentioned this one yet.

Weary. Leary. Wary.

WEARY MEANS TIRED. WARY MEANS SUSPICIOUS. I see weary used to mean wary or leary so many times it makes my head spin.

Allisonfaye - this is the first thing I thought of!! It makes me insane!!!

 

[decodelighted]

Totally off topic but it still cracks me up that my parents called pizza & salad "azip & dallas" when discussing what to have for dinner. They didn''t want to get all six kids excited about "azip" until they were sure ... so they used backwards-spelling-speak.

So it would really be "azzip & dalas" but I thought I''d spell it more like they pronounced it. Of course, we all caught on to the translation in about one minute ... but they used it for years after, just for fun.

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 11/15/2007 12:43:54 AM
Author: decodelighted
Totally off topic but it still cracks me up that my parents called pizza & salad 'azip & dallas' when discussing what to have for dinner. They didn't want to get all six kids excited about 'azip' until they were sure ... so they used backwards-spelling-speak.

So it would really be 'azzip & dalas' but I thought I'd spell it more like they pronounced it. Of course, we all caught on to the translation in about one minute ... but they used it for years after, just for fun.

That's cute!!

Caret, carrot... don't see why people get that wrong over and over.
Same goes for diamond. I see diamend A LOT.

Which brings me to the word TO. Does it bother you too?? I want to make a point, but maybe I am too picky, hehe.

 

[luckystar112]

Well, I really don't feel like I have a right to point fingers since I'm pretty much obsessed with ellipses...
(See what I did there?)
I'm also guilty of fragment sentences, poor spelling and "supposeably". Ha! I'm an English major, too.

However, my major is more related to creative writing than linguistics, so I feel like there is a little bit of leeway there.

But I have to say, my biggest pet peeve in the entire world written or oral is double negatives.
"I don't have no bread" So you have some bread?
"I didn't kill nobody." So you're a murderer?

Worse part is that it's pretty much acceptable to talk that way nowadays. It's "urban" and "cool".

 

[Gypsy]

Lucky: I too am overly fond of ellipses. I'm sure it drives people nuts. Oh, and I was an English major as well. ROFLMAO. And I agree with Elmorton 100%.

 

[Deelight]

I don't have a lot but the two main ones I hate:

- purposely mis-spelt advertising that attempts to be cool and uneducates children on how to spell words correctly

- and the use of ? when not asking a question my boss does this (mind you she shits me in general) if your not asking a question do not use a question mark :K. She believes that it adds a light and fun note to the tone of the letter.

Petty but most pet peeves are

thritto on the English major, mind you not that you would be able to tell from my posting style .

 

[AGBF]

Elmorton wrote in support of the linguists.

Date: 11/14/2007 9:50:37 PM
Author: Elmorton

...
It''s amazing how many shibboleths we have for our language, considering that language is something that, by its nature, is highly unstable and relies on evolution. I can''t imagine how many qualified candidates have been overlooked because they have broken the rule (out of thousands) that their potential superior just happens to find irksome. As this thread indicates, the ''mistakes'' that are ultimate no-nos for one person are very slight for another.


By the time most of our children are adults, some linguists say that punctuation as whole will be on the fast track to extinction (if you don''t believe me, check out the recent change to MLA style, where a comma is no longer needed before ''and'' when listing items). Linguists will also tell you that there is no such thing as ''Standard English Grammar'' because no one in the U.S. is void of dialectal influence, therefore no one speaks ''Standard English.'' I love getting a rise out of people when I say that. Some people want so desperately to believe that there is a clear set of rules and everyone follows (or should follow) them. Nevermind the fact that there are something like 300 grammatical mistakes in Warriner''s (the Bible of most secondary English teachers). ''Perfect usage'' in English simply doesn''t exist. We use different dialects for different situations and audiences.

...

I just want to point out that, earlier in the thread, I called this one!

Date: 11/14/2007 6:32:22 PM
Author: AGBF

The linguists will tell us grammarians that this is a natural process, however, and that as mistakes become acceptable, languages evolve!

Deb

 

[AGBF]

I don''t believe anyone has yet mentioned the misuse of "like" when one should be using "as". I have found this to be so pervasive that I correct it in my head (as I sometimes do split infinitives) even when I am reading for pleasure. I am afraid that if I do not correct it in my own head that it will start to sound natural to me. (In other words, I fear that that evolution of language stuff will happen and I will start speaking English I hate!) I have to say that despite all the things she does that I hate, such as saying "like" frequently for no apparent reason, my fifteen year-old daughter seems to have grasped the difference between when to use "like" and when to use "as".

Deborah

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 11/15/2007 1:04:22 AM
Author: Kaleigh
That''s cute!!

Caret, carrot... don''t see why people get that wrong over and over.
Same goes for diamond. I see diamend A LOT.

Which brings me to the word TO. Does it bother you too?? I want to make a point, but maybe I am too picky, hehe.

yes it bugs me there should only be 2 tos I vote to kick em all off except for 2 and to.
Which brings me to the word TO. Does it bother you 2??
See it still works fine!!!!! without the too so it should be banned!!!!!!!!
Which brings me too spelling out numbers.... who invented that stupid rule?!?!?!?!?!?!?

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 11/15/2007 8:58:18 AM
Author: strmrdr

Date: 11/15/2007 1:04:22 AM
Author: Kaleigh
That''s cute!!

Caret, carrot... don''t see why people get that wrong over and over.
Same goes for diamond. I see diamend A LOT.

Which brings me to the word TO. Does it bother you too?? I want to make a point, but maybe I am too picky, hehe.

yes it bugs me there should only be 2 tos I vote to kick em all off except for 2 and to.
Which brings me to the word TO. Does it bother you 2??
See it still works fine!!!!! without the too so it should be banned!!!!!!!!
Which brings me too spelling out numbers.... who invented that stupid rule?!?!?!?!?!?!?

I knew that would get you!!!

 

[HollyS]

Date: 11/14/2007 3:51:30 PM
Author: Fly Girl
I was membership chair for a small club, and the president kept referring to finding ''perspective members''. Drove me nuts. I would write back that ''from my perspective, we are looking for prospective members'', but I don''t think he ever got it.

Laugh out loud funny!!!

 

[HollyS]

My hands down favorite AAARRRGGGHHHH must be when someone uses "axe" for "ask".

2nd choice would be "irregardless".

Confusing "lay" and "lie" .......you lay something down or you lie down.

And when I moved to Texas many years ago, I was floored by this phrase .... say it with me Texans: "I''m fixing to do _________." What?! You''re getting ready to do __________? Is that what you mean? I must confess, I''ve been here more than half my life, and I can actually talk like a yayhoo myself without thinking twice. Y''all come down and visit now, ya hear?

 

[ChargerGrrl]

oh wow- what a great thread!

i''m sure I''ve been guilty of a misspelling or incorrect grammar here and there myself.

here''s my pet peeve: using here/hear or bear/bare incorrectly, such as- "here me out", or "bare with me, please"

AAAGHHHHHHH!

 

[isaku5]

Date: 11/15/2007 2:05:38 AM
Author: Gypsy
Lucky: I too am overly fond of ellipses. I''m sure it drives people nuts. Oh, and I was an English major as well. ROFLMAO. And I agree with Elmorton 100%.

Gypsy, we love you anyway in spite of "qoute" and Joe "Escrobar".

I don''t want to be accused of "pettifoggery" again. It''s okay, I''d never heard of the darn word either so had to look it up and the definition sort of applies to my question now.

Is "..." correctly referred to as an ellipsis (collective noun), or is it "ellipses" because there''s more than one dot?

Btw: pettifog: One who bickers over trifles and unimportant matters.

 

[TravelingGal]

One that makes me laugh is waiting with "baited breath." I''m thinking...that sounds kind of stinky and icky. But BATED breath would be normal.

Another one that makes me cringe a bit is when people say things like, "Us girls are going out." Drop the "girls" out of the sentence and you can see where the problem lies...