Grammar Pet Peeves

kittkatt

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I'll admit I'm not an "expert" and certainly make my share of mistakes - and the English language certainly can be confusing; but sometimes, I'll come across a grammar mistake that I'll notice, and it just bugs me!
For example:

The words to, too, and two - as in:

"I'm going to the store at two. Would you like to go, too?"

Or - there, they're, and their:

"The Baxters just called to inform us that
there
isn't anything wrong their car as we thought; they're just running late, and will be here shortly to pick us up."


I'm not trying to "make fun" of anyone, so please don't take offense!


Do you have any grammar pet peeves?


~KK~
 

norachelhere

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I know I go insane when people use abbreviations, or what I like to call text message speak. I write in full sentances, punctuation and all, even in text messages. . .

wan 2 go 2 da movies

perfect example^

or

wut up

or

k thnks by

the list goes on but it drives me insane and half the time I have no idea what they are saying. . .
 

shopcat

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How about the usage of "your/you're"? It bugs me when people use your for everything, when it should be more like..
" You're so sweet for helping me. I hope it didn't take too much of your time."
Another thing that bugs me, & here is a perfect example-made by a professional signmaker!!!
"Ted's Shed's"
I used to pass that one on the way to work & it would irk me everytime!
 

EnzoLeya

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Its and It's

I sometimes have troubles with these.... I always have to break the word apart and say it, it is.....
 

duchess15

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I can't stand it when people use double negatives for example "ain't no", "don't need no", etc. That drives me crazy! I'm not an expert on grammar, but am fairly practiced due to college and having a friend who is an instructor who would critique my papers. It is astounding to see how many people do not know proper English.
 

carolpetunia

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Excellent examples above. Another one that drives me batty is it's and its. The former is a contraction of "it is;" the latter is possessive, as in "belonging to it." So...

"It's a shame the dog isn't microchipped. How will we find its owner?"

Another one: lots of people write things down the way they sound, rather than thinking through the meaning of the words and determining what's really being said. So you often get things like "He should of called sooner," when it ought to be "He should have called sooner."

And a lot of people either don't understand how to use punctuation and capitalization, or they simply don't bother... and they often don't spell well, either, or they like this silly misspelling fad (what I call Princespeak)... and then they put their faith in spellcheck, which often causes more problems than it solves... and they apparently don't proofread... so their writing barely qualifies as communication at all:

"im new i have a question if your not 2 busy how do u get you neibor not 2 chute you're cat just 4 comming in there yard its the forth time"

It's heartbreaking to see our schools turn people out into the world with no better ability to communicate than that -- it's such a handicap to them! I just don't understand it.
 

catcaregiver

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Than/Then

Than is a conjunction used in comparisons: “Better late than never.†“I would rather be happy than rich.†“Blood is thicker than water.†“He is taller than I am.â€

Then is an adverb pertaining to time: “We said goodbye, and then we went home.†“The way we lived then is quite different from the way we live now.†“Finish your supper; then you can watch TV.â€
 
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kittkatt

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Those are all good examples!
What you have all mentioned are some of the same things that bug me too!

That internet "talk" irks me too: half the time, I can't follow the conversation..
And it's drives me nuts when people don't use any punctuation, and you're trying to make sense of what they're saying!
Most of the time, I won't read someone's post if they're not using any; it gives me a headache trying to understand what they've written!


I'll admit, I sometimes use "shortcuts" when I'm writing a post (such as "gonna" or "wanna", but most of the time, I don't. And unfortunately, I've picked up the usage of "ain't" when I'm talking to someone since moving to Texas: when you constantly hear people saying it, it's easy to pick it up.
I know it ain't right..


~KK~

 

duchess15

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Originally Posted by KittKatt

I'll admit, I sometimes use "shortcuts" when I'm writing a post (such as "gonna" or "wanna", but most of the time, I don't. And unfortunately, I've picked up the usage of "ain't" when I'm talking to someone since moving to Texas: when you constantly hear people saying it, it's easy to pick it up.
I know it ain't right..


~KK~

I'm surprised you haven't picked up on YA'LL yet!
I never ever said that until I moved here, but I don't say it that often. "Ya'll just giddy up now and move along those doggies." lol Don't you just love Texas?
 

carolpetunia

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Okay, I've gotta say this: I care more about the gracefulness of the language than I do about what I call "gender ego." Therefore, I hew to the good old-fashioned practice of using the masculine to include the feminine, as in "No one wants to see his constitutional rights undermined."

This avoids the needless awkwardness of "his or her" and "his/her," which serve no purpose other than to appease those who actually fear a mere linguistic convenience might compromise their status in society.

While I'm ranting, let me point out something in the example I used above: the phrase "no one" is singular, and therefore must be referred back to in the singular ("his"). So although a lot of people would write, "No one wants to see their constitutional rights undermined," that would be incorrect, because the reference is not to the entire group, but to "no one." Same goes for someone, something, somebody, anybody, etc.

Together, these two issues bring up a third. It makes me crazy when people say, for example, "When we hire a new security officer, their supervisor will reset the code." They do this to avoid having to specify a gender when the gender is unknown -- but as a result, we have a disagreement in number: security officer is singular, their is plural.

It's another excellent reason to stick to the time-honored method of using the masculine to include the feminine! That allows you to write, "When we hire a new security officer, his supervisor will reset the code."

This is a point on which there is disagreement even among experts, but... well, just trust me, I'm right!
 
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kittkatt

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Originally Posted by Duchess15

I'm surprised you haven't picked up on YA'LL yet!
I never ever said that until I moved here, but I don't say it that often. "Ya'll just giddy up now and move along those doggies." lol Don't you just love Texas?
I'll sometimes use "y'all" when I'm writing something, but I usually don't say it verbally.
I DO say I'm "fixin'" to do something, or "ya reckon" sometimes.


Yeah, I do love Texas!
That's why I continue to stay here!


~KK~
 

carolpetunia

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Originally Posted by Duchess15

I'm surprised you haven't picked up on YA'LL yet!
I never ever said that until I moved here, but I don't say it that often. "Ya'll just giddy up now and move along those doggies." lol Don't you just love Texas?
Well, now, seems to me like you ain't been in Texas long enough, or you'd know it ain't "doggies" -- it's dogies, ya greenhorn!


And y'know, y'all is a useful term, unsophisticated though it is. And although everybody else writes it "ya'll," as you did, I always write "y'all" -- because the missing letters represented by the apostrophe are missing from the word "you" -- the word "all" is complete. Know what I mean?

[And that reminds me of "this 'n that" and "bit 'n pieces" and other such constructions. Okay, there's an apostrophe to indicate that the A is missing in front of the N -- but where's the apostrophe to indicate that the D is missing after the N? Come on! It's "cats 'n' dogs," "cheese 'n' crackers," "rock 'n' roll!" AUGH!]

But back to colloquialisms -- I'm not persnickety about them here on TCS! They lend color and personality to the kind of informal writing we do here.

The key word being INFORMAL!
You wouldn't want to write:

Howdy Sir or Madam,

My name is Jimmy Joe Bob Ray Jeeter III and I'm applyin' fer the job of English teacher y'all advertised in the Gazette...




ETA: Can y'all tell I'm kinda het up on this subject?
 
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kittkatt

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Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

Okay, I've gotta say this: I care more about the gracefulness of the language than I do about what I call "gender ego." Therefore, I hew to the good old-fashioned practice of using the masculine to include the feminine, as in "No one wants to see his constitutional rights undermined."

This avoids the needless awkwardness of "his or her" and "his/her," which serve no purpose other than to appease those who actually fear a mere linguistic convenience might compromise their status in society.

While I'm ranting, let me point out something in the example I used above: the phrase "no one" is singular, and therefore must be referred back to in the singular ("his"). So although a lot of people would write, "No one wants to see their constitutional rights undermined," that would be incorrect, because the reference is not to the entire group, but to "no one." Same goes for someone, something, somebody, anybody, etc.

Together, these two issues bring up a third. It makes me crazy when people say, for example, "When we hire a new security officer, their supervisor will reset the code." They do this to avoid having to specify a gender when the gender is unknown -- but as a result, we have a disagreement in number: security officer is singular, their is plural.

It's another excellent reason to stick to the time-honored method of using the masculine to include the feminine! That allows you to write, "When we hire a new security officer, his supervisor will reset the code."

This is a point on which there is disagreement even among experts, but... well, just trust me, I'm right!



Seriously, we have ourselves a grammar "expert" here!!
You go, girl!!


Cheers to Carol Petunia!


~KK~
 

trouts mom

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Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

Well, now, seems to me like you ain't been in Texas long enough, or you'd know it ain't "doggies" -- it's dogies, ya greenhorn!


And y'know, y'all is a useful term, unsophisticated though it is. And although everybody else writes it "ya'll," as you did, I always write "y'all" -- because the missing letters represented by the apostrophe are missing from the word "you" -- the word "all" is complete. Know what I mean?

[And that reminds me of "this 'n that" and "bit 'n pieces" and other such constructions. Okay, there's an apostrophe to indicate that the A is missing in front of the N -- but where's the apostrophe to indicate that the D is missing after the N? Come on! It's "cats 'n' dogs," "cheese 'n' crackers," "rock 'n' roll!" AUGH!]

But back to colloquialisms -- I'm not persnickety about them here on TCS! They lend color and personality to the kind of informal writing we do here.

The key word being INFORMAL!
You wouldn't want to write:

Howdy Sir or Madam,

My name is Jimmy Joe Bob Ray Jeeter III and I'm applyin' fer the job of English teacher y'all advertised in the Gazette...




ETA: Can y'all tell I'm kinda het up on this subject?
Wow, you must know everything
 
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kittkatt

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Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

Well, now, seems to me like you ain't been in Texas long enough, or you'd know it ain't "doggies" -- it's dogies, ya greenhorn!


And y'know, y'all is a useful term, unsophisticated though it is. And although everybody else writes it "ya'll," as you did, I always write "y'all" -- because the missing letters represented by the apostrophe are missing from the word "you" -- the word "all" is complete. Know what I mean?

[And that reminds me of "this 'n that" and "bit 'n pieces" and other such constructions. Okay, there's an apostrophe to indicate that the A is missing in front of the N -- but where's the apostrophe to indicate that the D is missing after the N? Come on! It's "cats 'n' dogs," "cheese 'n' crackers," "rock 'n' roll!" AUGH!]

But back to colloquialisms -- I'm not persnickety about them here on TCS! They lend color and personality to the kind of informal writing we do here.

The key word being INFORMAL!
You wouldn't want to write:

Howdy Sir or Madam,

My name is Jimmy Joe Bob Ray Jeeter III and I'm applyin' fer the job of English teacher y'all advertised in the Gazette...




ETA: Can y'all tell I'm kinda het up on this subject?


Your just way to funny, CP!


~KK~
 

carolpetunia

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Originally Posted by Trouts mom

Wow, you must know everything
Ha! Not hardly! And there's some personal opinion mixed into that last post, too, so don't take it as gospel. (But I am right!
)
 

duchess15

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Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

Well, now, seems to me like you ain't been in Texas long enough, or you'd know it ain't "doggies" -- it's dogies, ya greenhorn!


ETA: Can y'all tell I'm kinda het up on this subject?
I was born here, but I'm not a real Texan.
 

katachtig

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One that is bugging me more and more is Lose (to misplace) and Loose (to release).
 
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