Subject: Grammar, Grammar, Grammar!
Posted by: Lochalsh
Date: Sep 07 10
What error in grammar disturbs you most, gives you a fingernail-across-chalkboard sensation? For me, it's "for you and I." Would a person ever say "Oh, is it for I?" No? Then why would that same individual say "for you and I"?
Stop me before I start in on the nominative vs. accusative stuff! :)
Posted by: Lochalsh
Date: Sep 07 10
What error in grammar disturbs you most, gives you a fingernail-across-chalkboard sensation? For me, it's "for you and I." Would a person ever say "Oh, is it for I?" No? Then why would that same individual say "for you and I"?
Stop me before I start in on the nominative vs. accusative stuff! :)
295 replies. On page 15 of 15 pages. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
romeomikegolf
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There's a question on AFT at the moment that asks 'What sports team is the 'winningest' in history?' Things like that really get up my nose. What's wrong with ' Which is the most successful'? I also detest the use of kinda instead of kind (or type) of. It's just laziness. Reply #281. Jan 04 13, 4:46 AM |
Mixamatosis 
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The one that gets me is when people write "What well know etc at the start of a question" instead of "What well known" etc. Fewer and fewer people seem to read books these days. Books are great for learning language and vocabulary. Non-readers often pick up expressions they overhear but mishear them. One guy my husband worked with kept referring to "short shift" instead of "short shrift". Shrift comes from the verb to shrive which I believe is the prayers said for the souls of the dying or those about to die. You might get short shrift if you are about to be executed for instance but in everyday use to give someone short shrift means a swift rejection or not giving something or someone any consideration. Reply #282. Jul 01 16, 10:22 AM |
cecil1
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Between you and I. Sure, I'll keep it between we. Reply #283. Jul 01 16, 11:04 AM |
daver852
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I think grammar should be flexible. The most important thing is to get your idea across. One of the few things that really annoys me is when people say "I'm nauseous" instead of "I'm nauseated." I also do not like political catch phrases that seem to spread like wildfire. Most recently, when former President Bill Clinton met with Attorney General Loretta Lynch. who is involved in an investigation of his wife, the pundits said it was "bad optics" for Lynch. Bad optics? Really? Reply #284. Jul 01 16, 11:36 AM |
Upstart3
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I'm with you all the way Daver. If they say are nauseous when they mean nauseated they nauseate me for sure. Reply #285. Jul 01 16, 12:09 PM |
| Mixamatosis
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When people use long words to try and sound clever but they clearly haven't understood the meaning of the words or bothered to look them up. That can lead to some hilarious malapropisms. Most of the famous examples are known from the sayings of George W Bush or Dan Quayle but one of my sisters used to say she was "ravished" when she meant "famished". She was probably subconsciously mixing up ravenous and famished but ravished has an altogether different meaning. When I was a child at school I mixed up 2 words to form a "new" one. I wrote "grandiloquoise" which mixed up grandiose and grandiloquent. I used to read a lot so and was always picking up new (to me) words. Reply #286. Jul 05 16, 1:43 AM |
| Mixamatosis
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I've noticed how people seem to be forgetting that the past participle of the verb to shine is "shone" not "shined". Perhaps people aren't taught about irregular verbs these days. Also in England the past participle of the verb to sneak is "sneaked" but you would not know that now, because so many people say "snuck" in line with American English. Reply #287. Jan 29 17, 6:02 AM |
krabbitt
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I absolutely hate the use of snuck. Reply #288. Feb 21 17, 11:17 AM |
Shadowmyst2004
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I'm with Daver. I said as much very recently in another thread. Reply #289. Feb 21 17, 11:54 AM |
| Mixamatosis
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Daver, You made a statement in your first sentence and then contradicted that sentiment in your following sentences. Then Shadowmyst, you say you agree with Daver. Most puzzling. Reply #290. Feb 22 17, 6:21 AM |
| Mixamatosis
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I've noticed that people don't seem to learn the various tense forms of English verbs now. For instance they often correctly remember the (simple past) tense of verbs like "come" as "came" but if you put "I have" in front (present past) it's "I have come" not "I have came". Just now I heard a BBC interviewer speaking to an interviewee say "You never went to University". "Why did you never went?" instead of "Why did you never go?" People also often lose the simple past first person form "I did" saying "I done" although it's correct to say I have done or I've done. Here's the explanation of verb forms, though when learnt there's no need to remember the explanation because what is remembered best is that it sounds right or sounds wrong. However even a mistake will eventually sound right if everyone around you is making the same mistake which is why the internet is a tool that often quickly spreads bad grammar https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/grammar/verb-tenses Reply #291. Apr 25 17, 12:54 PM |
UmberWunFayun
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Everyone who knows me says I'm the Grammar Police. I don't mind a few colloquialisms when it's spoken, or written in an informal setting (for example, I use 'kinda' and 'sorta' when I want to give an impression of friendliness and informality, because it is too easy for people to mistake your meaning on internet chats due to your words having no tone or inflection) but what really bothers me is poor grammar and spelling in a 'professional' capacity. I used to work with someone who claimed that she had previously been an English teacher, yet her emails had no punctuation (I mean none, the whole thing would be one long sentence), dreadful spelling and appalling grammar. No wonder it's getting so much worse if that's how teachers write! Anyone whose job it is to send me emails or letters should get their grammar and spelling correct, or not get paid. Reply #292. Jan 22 19, 11:30 AM |
| UmberWunFayun
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There's a property developer in my TV right now, and she's just said "Everything needs done" three times. Talk about fingernails on a chalkboard! Reply #293. Jan 23 19, 4:52 AM |
Skyflyerjen
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Haha, that one made me laugh, because I get it! I notice when people make errors but I try not to judge. But... like Jo said, when it's in a professional setting it irks me. My sister works with people who, literally every day, say "I seen that over there," "I seen her yesterday," etc. Reply #294. Jan 23 19, 3:02 PM |
Blackdresss
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I understand the "nails on a chalkboard" feeling, and I don't really have a poker face, either. I used to have the sweetest friend. Cute as can be -- practically perfect in every way. But she would say, "Them are some..." "Them are some nice jeans you're wearing tonight!" "Them are some great songs!" "Them are some cute boys over there by the jukebox!" She was a bartender, and extremely popular because she was SO cute. And that's the only thing she said that made me want to do a double-take (and I did.) "Them are some..." I have no idea where she is now, but when I'm feeling lazy, or think I might be funny, I'll say something like, "Them are some mighty fine colors you've picked out today!" It's so bad, it's good. Reply #295. Jan 23 19, 11:08 PM |
295 replies. On page 15 of 15 pages. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
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