Thursday, April 2, 2009

I'm a Grammar Nerd

I'm somewhat of a grammar nerd. I just ran across this list of commonly misused words, and I think it is pretty good (and I like the title). My only complaint is that the author ended one of his example sentences with a preposition. I do it all the time, of course, (especially when speaking), but it is still incorrect. Anyway... Here's the link:
The Inigo Montoya Guide to 27 Commonly Misused Words

One thing I would add to the list that I have begun to notice more and more is the difference between then and than. It really irritates me to see then used when making a comparison. For example: I like Coke better then Pepsi. This is wrong. It should read: I like Coke better than Pepsi. Seems obvious, right? What third grader wouldn't know the difference between these two words? Start paying attention, and you'll be surprised by how many educated adults misuse these words in their writing.

Another pet peeve of mine is the misuse of apostrophes. In my Walmart parking lot, there is a sign that reads, "Violator's will be towed." Violators is meant to be plural in this sentence, not possessive. I see this type of error ALL the time. I notice it especially with people's last names. It can get tricky when you're trying to make a surname possessive since many surnames end in s, or when you're talking about the whole family and want to use the plural form of their last name. For example, we have a sign in our laundry room that reads, "The Buellers" (not our real last name). If it read, "The Bueller's," it would be incorrect. What belongs to Bueller? For last names that end in s, you have to apply regular plural making rules. For example, "The Williamses" is correct. This looks weird, though, so if I were them, I would make my sign read, "The Williams Family." For first names that end in s, you can't simply toss an apostrophe at the end and make it possessive. My friend, Mary Frances, and I discussed this in our dorm room at least once during our first year of college. Her name ends in s. So, the sign on her door should read, "Mary Frances's Room," not "Mary Frances' Room."

Well, if you're still reading, good for you. I've probably bored you to tears. If you learned something, though, then YEA (by the way, YEA means "woo-hoo!" or "yippee!" YEAH means yes).

P.S. If you see any grammatical errors in this post, I don't want to know about them. :-)

P.S.S. One more... Correct: I could have gone to bed an hour ago. Incorrect: I could of gone to bed an hour ago. We say, "could've," and it sounds like, "could of," but it's not. Now I really am going to bed!

4 comments:

  1. Holy cow! I totally followed you to the end, and yes, I did learn something! Thanks!

    I'm not sure if my little brain can remember all of that though. :-)

    Now I'm super paranoid about you reading my blog posts (ha/ha). I KNOW I probably have TONS of grammatical errors! Oh well... maybe the more I write, the better it will get.

    Have a great weekend!

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  2. Hey, thanks for reading! :-)

    Don't be paranoid... I only pay close attention about half the time! I also found several errors in my post after I read it the first time. I always read and re-read, and I almost always find at least one thing to correct. :-) I'm only really critical when I'm reading things that I know have been edited and proofed by professionals (like books or newspapers).

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  3. Thank you from all the English teachers. Is it really that hard? I give my students extra credit for finding errors that adults make. They love it. Your boys must be asleep for you to be so eloquent about punctuation!

    love,
    Debbie

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  4. Punctuation is my passion! :-)

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