New grammar pet peeve

Dart said:
...and I'm pretty sure it only takes three dots to denote missing or deleted text. :yes:
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I don't think he was using them to indicate missing or deleted text. It looked to me like they were denoting a pause. I guess that should be a double-dash, but I don't know how to enter that on a computer.
 
I love hearing words turned into verbs that aren't: like, we're going to incentivize our folks.
I also hate so see an article in front of myriad: a myriad of choices for instance.

A market letter to which I subscribe quoted a job seeker today as saying: I have a college degree, lost my job; have looked everywhere and can't find noth'in.

Best,

Dave
 
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Let'sgoflying! said:
My unrequested advise?
If you can, let it go.

Spelling, grammar, syntax, apostrophes in the wrong place, improper idioms, inappropriate analogies, agonizing non-sequiturs........let em' all go!

I could list a half dozen reasons why; suffice it to say its going to be better in the long run if we are all able to tolerate!
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Or unrequested "advice", if you will! :D

My pet peeve is apostrophes before the "s" when making things plural. Or would that be "making thing's plural"?
 
Palmpilot said:
And then there are the people who put periods and commas ouside the quotation marks.
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There are official stylebooks that govern that sort of thing. Sometimes they belong inside, sometimes outside. Depends on the usage and, to some extent, the stylebook in question.

Signed,
23 years an editor
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
Verbing wierds nouns.
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there was a Calvin & Hobbes about that...

cnhVerbingWeirdsLanguage.gif
 
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Not that anyone asked but here is my $.02. I cant stand when people us then instead of than and then instead of than.

The English words than and then look and sound a lot alike, but they are completely different. If this distinction is harder than it should be, read this lesson and then try again.

Than
Than is a conjunction used in comparisons:
Tom is smarter than Bill.
This is more important than you might think.
Is she taller than you?
Yes, she is taller than I.
​
Technically, you should use the subject pronoun after than (e.g., I), as opposed to the object pronoun (me). However, English speakers commonly use the object pronoun.

Then
Then has numerous meanings.
1. At that point in time
I wasn't ready then.
Will you be home at noon? I'll call you then.
​
2. Next, afterward
I went to the store, and then to the bank
Do your homework and then go to bed
​
3. In addition, also, on top of that
He told me he was leaving, and then that I owed him money
It cost $5,000, and then there's tax too
​
4. In that case, therefore (often with "if")
If you want to go, then you'll have to finish your homework.
I'm hungry!
Then you should eat.
​
The Bottom Line
Than is used only in comparisons, so if you're comparing something use than. If not, then you have to use then. What could be easier than that?


First & Last Letter Mix Up - Spelling



The Human Brain will interpret words just as long as the first and last letter are the same.

So is spelling really that important?
 
NBPD336 said:
The Human Brain will interpret words just as long as the first and last letter are the same.

...snip...

So is spelling really that important?
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Just because someone CAN do something does not mean you should force them to do so continuously.

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing right.
 
Ken Ibold said:
There are official stylebooks that govern that sort of thing. Sometimes they belong inside, sometimes outside. Depends on the usage and, to some extent, the stylebook in question.

Signed,
23 years an editor
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I know you're an editor. That's why I rattled your cage! :wink2:

The following is said to be based on the Chicago Manual of Style:

In standard American practice, commas are placed inside quotation marks:
I spent the morning reading Faulkner’s “Barn Burning,” which seemed to be about a pyromaniac.
​
Periods are also normally placed inside quotation marks (with the exception of terms being defined, see above). Colons and semicolons, however, are preceded by quotation marks.
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http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/quotation_marks.html

The punctuation guide in my dictionary agrees with this, except it doesn't state an exception for terms being defined.

Have you seen a generally accepted style manual that says otherwise?
 
The style of grammar you be using depends on where you at.
 
I do almost everything that everyone here has complained about. I also put an R in wash. That one drives my wife nuts. I say fer instead of for. My punctuation sucks. I also have a BA in English, admitted it is in literature, but it is a BA in English just the same. My wife who has her Master's in English is always correcting me, but when you get right down to it, I don't care. On another note, I just wonder if people who get anal about language are the same people that spent an inordinate amount of time teaching their kids to color inside the lines. I, for one, encouraged mine to scribble all over the page. :D Life is just to short to get your panties in a wad over those kind of things.
 
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Ken Ibold said:
Just because someone CAN do something does not mean you should force them to do so continuously.

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing right.
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I do agree, I was attempting to be sarcastic. I did find that article to be interesting though.
 
Since we're complaining, I find use of internet shorthand annoying. Most of us are on high-speed internet connections and could actually type the whole word out. And even if we're still on dialup, it's not at 110 or 300 BAUD. We're also not limited by the number of letters (like twitter) or the number of words (like contests). Both are proven daily on this and many other sites.
 
"I could care less"

Do people realize they're saying the exact opposite of what they mean when they say this? Guess it's easier to say "could" than "couldn't". Dern double consonants...must also be why people say "nucular".
 
RoscoeT said:
"I could care less"

Do people realize they're saying the exact opposite of what they mean when they say this? Guess it's easier to say "could" than "couldn't". Dern double consonants...must also be why people say "nucular".
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I actually use that one when I care slightly about something, but not much. Just to see who it bothers.
 
My pet peeve is using "which" when the word should be "that". I have a running discussion with a coworker that produced this set of missives:
Here's a perfect example of why I kept wanting to use "which" instead of "that":
On Windows 7, blah, blah, blah, and blah happened. On XP, the only part of that which I could reproduce was the third blah.
The alternative is to say "that that". I hate saying "that that".
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I think that that is not the only alternative:
On XP, the only part that I could reproduce was the third blah.
On XP, the only part of those that I could reproduce was the third blah.
On XP, only the third part can be reproduced.
On XP, blah happens. On Windows 7, blah and blah also occur.
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Here's a list of usages that people complain about that are not really errors:

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/nonerrors.html#mustard

There's even one that's aviation-related:
It is futile to protest that “near miss” should be “near collision.” This expression is a condensed version of something like “a miss that came very near to being a collision” and is similar to “narrow escape.” Everyone knows what is meant by it and almost everyone uses it. It should be noted that the expression can also be used in the sense of almost succeeding in striking a desired target: “His Cointreau soufflé was a near miss.”
​
 
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For all in tents and porpoises, the lose grammer in this thread is making me loose my mind. I think a paradigm shift would take it to a hole knew level.
 
Lest anyone think this subject is trivial:

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