Grammar nazi...

mrblanche

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No, I'm not, although my mother often was. It's a real temptation, with degrees in English and French.

However, I've found that I make as many mistakes as anyone else, even if I KNOW the rule. Some of them are typos. Some are due to lack of attention. And a few happen because I change my mind about what to say before I get to the end of the sentence.

But I DO have a few pet peeves. One is the misuse of "dove" as the past tense of "dive." "Dove" is a little white bird.

The other is the use of "snuck" as the past tense of "sneak."

Really important, huh?
 

tutti_bella

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It's the txt spk tat gets 2 me! I dun noe, but i h8 it!
 

clixpix

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I have some issues with grammar, but I have more issues with spelling. An obvious typo I can stand, but truly misspelled words makes me cringe. For some reason, the one that really gets me is when someone spells "separate" "seperate". Gah!


Don't even get me started on the subject of using "text speak" in forum postings!
The computer is not a telephone...use your words!
 

jcat

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Originally Posted by MonaxLisa

Its too and to for me. I have to make it a point to keep myself from correcting people!
That one drives me nuts, too. I can understand when people confuse "its" and "it's", but the difference between "to" and "too" is what - taught in first grade?
 

pookie-poo

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Originally Posted by mrblanche

But I DO have a few pet peeves. One is the misuse of "dove" as the past tense of "dive." "Dove" is a little white bird.

The other is the use of "snuck" as the past tense of "sneak."

Really important, huh?
I hate to have to break it to you....

Either dove or dived is acceptable as the past tense of dive. Usage preferences show regional distribution, although both forms are heard throughout the United States. According to the Dictionary of American Regional English, in the North, dove is more prevalent; in the South Midland, dived. Dived is actually the earlier form, and the emergence of dove may appear anomalous in light of the general tendencies of change in English verb forms. Old English had two classes of verbs: strong verbs, whose past tense was indicated by a change in their vowel (a process that survives in such present-day English verbs as drive/drove or fling/flung); and weak verbs, whose past was formed with a suffix related to –ed in Modern English (as in present-day English live/lived and move/moved). Since the Old English period, many verbs have changed from the strong pattern to the weak one; for example, the past tense of step, formerly stop, became stepped. Over the years, in fact, the weak pattern has become so prevalent that we use the term regular to refer to verbs that form their past tense by suffixation of –ed. However, there have occasionally been changes in the other direction: the past tense of wear, now wore, was once werede, and that of spit, now spat, was once spitede. The development of dove is an additional example of the small group of verbs that have swum against the historical tide.

In Michigan....we say dove. (and nobody thinks we're talking about that bird that's too stupid to move out of the way!)
 

katachtig

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My latest pet peeve is lose and loose. "he will lose the doves if he lets them loose in the city"

As to dove as a past tense of dive, that was the way I was taught in school. Dived was never used.
 

valanhb

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Mine are the obvious...to, too, and two; their, they're, there; your and you're (your is possessive i.e. your cats, you're is a contraction of you are i.e. you're going to get her spayed, right?). Oh, and spelling a lot as one word. It's two.

Being an English major and former English teacher, there are a lot of things that do bother me, but being a former English teacher for 9th graders, I've gotten over most of my hang ups.
 

pookie-poo

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Originally Posted by valanhb

Mine are the obvious...to, too, and two; their, they're, there; your and you're (your is possessive i.e. your cats, you're is a contraction of you are i.e. you're going to get her spayed, right?). Oh, and spelling a lot as one word. It's two.
Your list is almost identical to mine!!!

Lose - to misplace
Loose - not tight enough

To - toward (among many other definitions)
Too - also (I can't believe how many people misuse this word!!!)
Two - the number 2

There - in, or at, that place (among other definitions)
They're - they are (contraction)
Their - possessive form of them, meaning belonging to them

Than - when, as, or if
Then - at that time, next in order, at another time, (among other definitions)

Sometimes, I just mentally cringe when I read how they're used!
 

buzbyjlc10

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I'm a pretty big grammar Nazi - admittedly! haha - my degree is in German and one of the biggest peeves I have about the language is there is only one German word for the English words good and well... and the German word sounds like the English word good, so it drives me nuts because in my mind, it sounds wrong haha

What also bothers me to no end is that Boost Mobile commercial where their motto is "Where you at?" DON'T END A SENTENCE IN A PREPOSITION! haha It literally irks me!

So, yeah, I'm always correcting people's grammar, but more so to people who know me well and don't get offended haha... my ex boyfriend used to occasionally use wrong grammar just to get at me, and it worked! haha
 

going nova

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I'll add some of mine:

except vs. accept
advice vs. advise

Unnecessary ' irk me.
As an example: "I enjoy going to party's."
No, you do not. You enjoy going to parties.
 

fwan

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I notice i make a lot more mistakes on the internet than in real life.

such as... alot.

I noticed this a couple of days ago when I got home from work and I realised that I irked my self. Tada!

I admit I'm not the greatest English teacher, as I don't have a degree, but after drilling some of those grammar books in to my head I'm starting to get it..



Two weeks ago one of my students wanted to ask if it was okay to say mentally handicapped. I replied with.. No, you call them a retard. Another student replied with Spaztic. But it was all just sarcasm because it was a conversation class and we were playing Taboo.

Towards the end of the class, the student said "one of my work buddies is a retard and he is the nicest person I know" I just about died and realized he took me seriously!!!

Moral of the story? I'm not the greatest English teacher around, but i have several students that think i'm very amusing.
 

jcat

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Originally Posted by BuzbyJLC10

I'm a pretty big grammar Nazi - admittedly! haha - my degree is in German and one of the biggest peeves I have about the language is there is only one German word for the English words good and well... and the German word sounds like the English word good, so it drives me nuts because in my mind, it sounds wrong haha
I know exactly what you mean! I remember spending a lot of time explaining the difference between "good" and "well" to a class of German students, only to have one of them come in with a TIME article entitled
"Doing good and doing well"!

To add to the list:
affect vs. effect
"I don't hardly know..."
I seen that yesterday
 

carolpetunia

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Yes, it's true that "dove" as a verb has become an accepted usage -- and thereby hangs one of my own hot buttons: the idea, propagated by the usage panels of dictionary publishers, that a mistake somehow becomes right just because a whole lot of people make it!

If the usage panels have their way, I guess greatful instead of grateful will soon be accepted. The numeral 2 will simply replace to, too, and two altogether. And nobody will ever again have to learn the difference between it's and its -- we'll just switch between them randomly, as most people already do.

I enjoy nonstandard English in informal writing -- I use "snuck" sometimes myself! And I would much rather end a sentence in a preposition than create a monstrosity like "You're tracking mud into my house, young man, and that is something up with which I will not put!"


But by golly, ya oughta know the rules before ya start breakin' 'em!
 

carolpetunia

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Originally Posted by jcat

...I seen that yesterday
Oh yes -- that's one that drives me truly crazy, because it's used by so many people who are otherwise very bright indeed! It seems to be commonly accepted up around the Great Lakes area. Tomorrow the world, I suppose.
 

pookie-poo

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Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

Oh yes -- that's one that drives me truly crazy, because it's used by so many people who are otherwise very bright indeed! It seems to be commonly accepted up around the Great Lakes area. Tomorrow the world, I suppose.
Seen!!! Bah!
I'm from the Great Lakes area...and I can't tolerate 'seen'. I'm sorry, but being unable to conjugate a verb correctly (in my eyes) is the sign of an idiot. It's basic grammer, people!
 

natalie_ca

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I don't pay any attention to grammar and spelling on a discussion board. And if I do notice a mistake I sure won't point it out because I think to do so is petty and rude. Besides, English is not the first language of everyone who posts, and some use translation programs, or spell based on how the word sounds. And then there are those of us who are dyslexic.

All that matters is that I can understand what the person is saying or asking. Grammar and spelling doesn't affect that in most cases.
 
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