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Inspired by fnordboy's question in another thread (and supplied by evidence on a daily basis), what are your grammar pet peeves?

I have a list a mile long, so I'll try to start off slow so as not to hog the conversation.

First, using the wrong pronouns:
I hate when people use "myself" incorrectly - anyone else get those HR memos that end, "See John or myself"? That is WRONG!

Misuse of pronouns used with conjunctions in general, but specifically the phrase "between you and I."

Both of these mistakes seem really obvious to me because my elementary school English teacher always told us to take out the "______ and" to test the pronoun and most people would agree that saying "See myself" and "between I" sound weird.

Moving on to some abused adverbs:
The word "basically" which basically means nothing If you take the word "basically" out of sentences and realize that its presence is unnecessary, why use it? For example, "Basically, I have to _______," "It's basically a really long, boring movie," or as a response such as, "So you have to take three finals in one day? That sucks!" "Basically."

The use of "real" (an adjective) instead of "really" (an adverb).
Correct: Is that a real bird? (Paula Abdul on American Idol, I'm talking to YOU! Every single contestant sang "real nice" according to her.)
Incorrect: He was real funny.

So basically bad grammar sucks real bad.



Anyone else?

love,
the Grammar Nazi

Well i'm not one to talk. Clearly. Online i cut down for ease and speed. I never capitalize "i" except when a the beginning of a sentence i interchange between dont and don't or cant and can't. Candygirl must freak out every time she reads a post of mine.

I will admit it, i am lazy. As long as you can understand what i am writing i feel it is, basically , not an issue.

So there

Okay, Mr. Underwears.

candygirl wrote:Okay, Mr. Underwears.

Argggh i hate that.

OK.....this one really gets me bad. Not that I have seen it in the forum but I can't stand when people end their sentence in a preposition. To be more specific. "Hey, where are my keys at?". I must be mental 'cause that little two letter word AT basically annoys me like to no end when used to finish a sentence.

Especially when the preposition is TOTALLY unnecessary!

I understand a little more when people say things like, "Who are you going with?" (as opposed to "With whom are you going?") because it's colloquial.

Reminds me of the Beavis & Butt-head movie...

Agent Bork: Chief! Ya know that guy whose camper they were whackin' off in?
Agent Fleming: Bork, you're a federal agent! You represent the United States Government! Never end a sentence with a preposition.
Agent Bork: Oh, uh... Ya know that guy in whose camper they... I... I mean, that guy off in whose camper they were whacking?

aside from spelling mistakes, one of my grammar pet peeves is when people use the words
"your" (possessive pronoun) and "you're" (a contraction) incorrectly.
same goes for "its"(possessive pronoun) and "it's" (a contraction).

oh no, i think i misspelled "possessive"!

When people say "I could care less" when they mean couldn't care less.

Also, I was in an English class this semester. Most of our assignments were response papers - we'd read something then write our response to it in first person: our opinions, experiences, etc. I like writing this way, but the thing that ticked me off about it was that some of my peers' papers got a little too comfortable with their writing. They'd use "like" (ie, as in) several times in papers, and it was fine listening to but when I had to proofread some of them I must have circled about one hundred "likes."

"And she was all like, 'I didn't go to class today.' And I was like, 'Me neither!'" I swear one of the papers read like this. I could hardly get through it.

I can't bear bad grammar either... it is a massive pet peeve of mine.

Two of the worst are when people don't have any idea how to use apostrophes. I understand when people are typing for speed, but I've seen formal writing that beggars belief.

Like was said before: 'it's' and 'its'.

Also, when people don't know the difference between these:
there
their
they're.
That one constantly irritates me and I see it SO often.

I agree too, it's definitely that you couldn't care less. To say you could care less makes absolutely no sense in the context in which most people use it.

I also have a problem with (this might be slightly OT) people using words when they have clearly mistaken the meaning. Like my boss for example (worst offender of the english language known to humankind) who uses the word 'implicit' when he means 'explicit'.

Example: 'I really think you need to make that more implicit in the letter'.
When what he means is 'state it clearly'.

He also has a habit of throwing in the word 'nominally' wherever he can't think of another word to fill space.
eg 'nominally speaking'. What does that mean?

Well, that's enough of a rant for now - can you tell it's Monday morning and I don't want to be at work?


People who know nothing about grammar should read more Jane Austen.

Of course, my post is probably riddled with terrible grammatical errors.

How about when people use "irregardless"? Redundant and nonexistent!

My ex insisted that he didn't have to learn spelling and grammar because that's what spell check is for. Grrrr!

You might want to read "Ella Minnow Pea" by Mark Dunn - it's a novel about a town that honors its native son Mr. Nollop, creator of the phrase, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," with a statue. When the letter Q falls off, the city council decides it is a sign to stop using that letter. Of course they slide right down the slippery slope once the rest of the letters begin falling off. Near the end of the novel, the citizens are reduced to abandoning grammar rules in order to communicate without using any of the forbidden letters. Very funny and clever!

Well I just think their are problems wit what your sayin here!

I agree with the issues you have to an extent. I guess when it comes to myself (did I use that correctly?) grammar issues don’t affect me because I do it myself all the time. When I am typing I'm typing as if I'm having a conversation with the person. I am more concerned with getting my point across than with proper grammar. I type what I would say to you if you were standing in front of me. I believe that a book should have proper grammar, but a chat board such as this, it's the content that more important than the grammar. Also there's the issue of actually knowing the proper rules. English is full of exceptions to the rules and remembering them all can be tough for those who do not read and study writings. My friend here at work is an English Major and I catch him looking at "The Elements of Style" all the time. But I agree that none of this is an exception for not knowing the difference between their, there and they’re, as well as your and you’re. But that’s more an understanding of what it is that you’re referring to. And on the internet I run into people all the time that I believe have no idea of the what their point is let alone how to refer to the point they’re making!

Editorial Note: This post, with the exception of the first line was run through a spelling and grammer checker.

My sentiments exactly.

mglenn wrote:Well I just think their are problems wit what your sayin here!

I agree with the issues you have to an extent. I guess when it comes to myself (did I use that correctly?) grammar issues don’t affect me because I do it myself all the time. When I am typing I'm typing as if I'm having a conversation with the person. I am more concerned with getting my point across than with proper grammar. I type what I would say to you if you were standing in front of me. I believe that a book should have proper grammar, but a chat board such as this, it's the content that more important than the grammar. Also there's the issue of actually knowing the proper rules. English is full of exceptions to the rules and remembering them all can be tough for those who do not read and study writings. My friend here at work is an English Major and I catch him looking at "The Elements of Style" all the time. But I agree that none of this is an exception for not knowing the difference between their, there and they’re, as well as your and you’re. But that’s more an understanding of what it is that you’re referring to. And on the internet I run into people all the time that I believe have no idea of the what their point is let alone how to refer to the point they’re making!

Editorial Note: This post, with the exception of the first line was run through a spelling and grammer checker.

Go Mike. Go Mike. Go Mike.

Editorial Note: This post, with the exception of the first line was run through a spelling and grammer checker.

Hmm, this is funny because you misspelled "grammer"!
Very cute!
Did you do that on purpose?

candygirl wrote:I understand a little more when people say things like, "Who are you going with?" (as opposed to "With whom are you going?") because it's colloquial.

Im willing to bet cash money that you understand this a little more because you do it. Don't ya?

Who says "whom" anymore (ok I do but that's not the issue) - fact is language evolves - grammar along with definition. I like being quite vigilant about grammar, but only because it helps me express what I mean more clearly.