Grammar, Gotdangit!

Post your grievances, pet peeves, denunciations, corrections, problems, philosophies, favorite linguist and related matters here.

I'm going to start with some pet peeves:

-It's "people who," "things that." That simple. Example: The man, who was fond of speculating. . . VS The ball, that went on a seemingly impossible trajectory. . .

-Believe it or not, there is a difference between "then" and "than". "Than" is a comparison and "then" is of or related to time.

-Affect and effect: I know it's confusing, but, really. . . verb/noun. Effect being the latter.

-"There" and "their" and they're. C'mon.

-Ending a sentence in a preposition: It's usually not so terrible, but unless it makes a sentence awkward, don't do it. I die a little inside when I hear a sentence like, "Where are we supposed to be at?"

-Unless you are well versed, leave the mixed metaphors to the experts. Seriously.

- Incorrect mispronunciation leads to bad grammar and spelling. Too many people tend to spell things how they pronounce it. For many of us, it's a bad idea. Learn who to enunciate and pronounce things by learning to spell them. It improves both.


-As a matter of fact, and even though I'm conflicted on this, leave the rule breaking to the experts. Learn your language well and then bend the rules. Language is living, but don't abuse the privilege. Sure, I love Cockney slang, hobo speak, and rail jumper talk, but, the things are shibboleths
and don't get us communicating with one another well. Standardization has its place: it helps to communicate more effectively with a broader range of people.

/not-quite-a-screed, for now.

-

You guys want me to post some goodies when I pick up freshmen comp papers in a few weeks? I'm sure there will be a few gems.

I've been guilty of this, on occasion, as a typo; it gets my feckin' goat, too.

*shudder* This was a typo. A typo that happens to remind me of one of my big pet peeves: double negatives and redundancy. Here I am committing the crime while on a soapbox.

Oh, hell yeah!

Factoid: the origin of the expression, "Get my goat," comes from a practice where goats were provided to race horses as calming companions. In order to stack the decks, and lower the odds for a race horse, someone would abduct the horse's goat in order to upset the horse before a race. Thus sprang the expression.

I can give a few examples I've seen. The errors are real. The sentences are my own creations.

Did you know that the Us keeps tarrorists at Guan Tanamo?

Weather or not the whetherman is write is a matter of opinion.

Too men walked out of a bar. They had to much two drink.

John Wayne often rode a Palimino whores to go see the horse.

Their ones was a family named Smith. They lived over they're. There going on vacation next week.

The whole your/you're thing is my biggest annoyance. It is not hard to figure out which one is the proper one to use in any given situation.

Another big one is "come on" somehow turning into "common". I could go on and on, but I have a plane (plain!?!?!) to catch.

i hate people who can't manage proper capitalization.

augh, i get so screwed up trying to keep pronunciation and spelling separate. for instance, the word "separate": in order to keep the spelling straight in my head, i mentally pronounce it "sep-arr-ate"... which occasionally leads me to stumble over it when i'm saying it out loud.

Yeah, it's a homograph and not a homophone.



Who has trouble with irregular verbs? For example, lay vs lie.

Irregardless . . . .GAH!!!

a pet hate of mine, seriously, they're not even pronounced the same, seriously.

That depends on where you are and what sort of English you're speaking. They're, there, and their may sound different when you say them, but they sound identical from me.

I see a Godwin coming to this thread soon.

I wish I had more power to effect change on this issue.

there

their

they're

I don't have to explain because it just don't matters.

*face palm*

Once my granpaw died, my grammar had to sell their house.

One of the more common spoken things that makes me want to punch puppies: ASK.
"Yo! Can I ax you a question?"
The word is spelled A-S-K.

Don't forget You're and your.

Oh! This one I'm guilty of on occasion, and then I flog myself: There's some. . . There's these. . . Using the singular contacted form of this pronoun is rampant.

Ahh hells to the no, I work in the world that is all corporate and I hears peoples, white peoples,speakin 'axed' to mah faced all them times.

Seriously, how do you have a job? I'm shaking right now because I just can't fathom how people like that make more money than I do.

Jussayin.

Because the man is trying to keep my yellow sistas down.

You can't cross a skreet/skreek 'cause it doesn't exist!

Makes me want to punch babies.