Grammatical errors that make you cringe!
 

In this era of technology and bastardization of the english language...and just about everything else...I still can't get past certain grammatical errors.

For me...the misuse of them/those just makes me cringe in disgust.

"Hand me them pliers"

"Will you sell me them cards"

At risk of insulting some here...I apologize.

What grammatical errors make you seethe...or do you just not give 2 sh$ts!?

The misplacing of "only" as a modifier, for starters -- as in,
"Shlabotnik only played in eleven games that season"
instead of "Shlabotnik played in only eleven games that season"...

"Would of," "could of," &c', instead of "would have," "could have"...

This is great -- a thread just for all of us grammar police who always have to bite our tongues...

It depends on the situation. Posts here on Net54 with poor spelling don't bother me too much. However, I continually receive emails at work in which people misuse the following:

there / their / they're
your / you're

It shouldn't irk me; however, does seem to get under my skin.

Grammatical errors that make you cringe!
 

My own errors are what make me cringe.

I just quickly write a lot of posts. Then later I see them again and I see all the mistakes. That makes me cringe. It is especially true when it is already quoted and I can't fix it.

None mistakes happen .

no...it seems my attempt has failed as most people do not care...or even care to answer the specific topic/question raised.

So eager were we to respond that we committed a glaring gaffe, since edited but now immortalized in having been quoted...

Sorry, were you referring to grammatical errors only in spoken conversation, as opposed to grammatical errors in writing?
We'll overlook almost any error spoken casually, but grind our teeth when we hear it read in a speech, newscast, and so on...

in writing is worse as I get to see it over and over again!!!!!:p

Peter - I was raised in the South by a highly educated English teacher who would also cringe at those phrases both in written and spoken form.

She taught us to recognize the difference between proper English and anything otherwise pretended to be.

With that in mind, I will take the opportunity to correct you in one case:

It's "Hand me them THAR pliers" not "Hand me them pliers"


I was fixin' to let that go, but decided agin' it.
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haha...to me...hand me thar pliers sounds much better!!!!!

I don't know why, but I could scream when I read "I could care less", knowing they mean "I couldn't care less".

"Would of" and "could of" drive me batty.
Also when someone spells "lose" as "loose." "We can't afford to loose focus..." Ugh.

Double Negatives and Misplaced Quotation Marks
 

This is a great thread. Two of my pet peeves (although I'm sure I'm guilty from time to time) are the use of double negatives and the improper "use of quotation marks".

- I can't see nothing wrong with that card.

- I haven't "never owed nothing" to no one.

Not much really bugs me, I make plenty of mistakes myself.

But the two that really get me are
Mixing tenses - "That car needs restored" instead of "this car needs to be restored" (I forget the term for the "to be " that makes it right, but I know someone here will know. )

And the textspeak. Is it really 2 hard 2 type the extra few letters?

Steve B

Many people in formal settings will use the wrong pronoun case for "I" and "me".
My wife purchased the tickets for my son and I.

No! My wife purchased the tickets for my son and me.
Watch the news for 10 minutes and you'll hear someone mess that up.

Watching sports, I hear many athletes use "myself" incorrectly.
I have to do what's best for the team and myself.

No! I have to do what's best for the team and me.

In writing, I hate when people use apostrophes on words that don't require them:
Old photo's for sale.

I just don't understand what people are thinking when they do this!

+1

good ones ryan...those really irk me too...talk about sounding stupid!!!!

I should have started this thread when I could have. Who would have thought that Pete would beat me to it?

Is anyone interest in my Gene Wouldling and Tiger Woulds collection?;):eek:

I thought my grade and high school teachers were stifling in their focus on grammar over substance. Personally, I've always considered myself a poor speller. Nevertheless, for some reason the frequent use of possessive form when the plural was intended always drives me crazy:

"T206's for sell"

i think if you'd started this thread, Frank...it'd be a tad bit more popular!!!!

Definately Its my favorite.

You see "then" and "than" used not so goodly all the time.

I'd rather do this than that. (instead of).

I'd rather do this then that. (do one followed by the other).

omg...my blood pressures a boiling..."I seen this...I seen that!" GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!

Veering off slightly from grammar to spelling..........it astounds me how many "experts" examine their cards with a "loop" rather than what it is.....a loupe.

People who over-exaggerate their punctuation.

?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!???!!!!!!!??!?!?!?

Edited to add: the classic to vs. too makes me cringe as well.

Exactly !

Also throw in:

to / too
were / where

Steve B (re #14), wholeheartedly agree on the textspeak thing, even though one of our favorite people,
one of the most intelligent people we know, does it constantly.

Agreed, too, that the elision of the infinitive ("the floor needs swept") is grating, but it's actually
a pervasive regional dialect thing that runs in a geographical band from central Pennsylvania to eastern Ohio.
One needs get used to it...

Sticking an @ in front of someone's name.

haha...I like ?!?!?!?!?!

Not really a grammar issue, but it makes me cringe when someone types boarder instead of border when describing a card.

That's the one for me, too.

My big one is when people use 'r', 'u' and 'c' instead of 'are', 'you' and 'see'. I can understand if it's on Twitter, where they have the 140 character limit, but outside of that, use real words.

It has already been mentioned, but it amazes me how many out there don't know the difference between your and you're. It seems so basic.

I really enjoy when someone tries to insult another person online, or even argue against their opinion, without proper spelling or grammar. It certainly doesn't add much credibility to their position.

Though it's not exactly on point to this discussion, have you noticed how often interviewees begin their responses with, 'I mean...' ?

I hate to admit it but I caught myself doing that on Wednesday - and as soon as 'I mean' escaped my editing devise and could be heard by others, I actually froze up in disgust and stopped talking altogether.
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A personal pet peeve of mine is for someone to us 'they' instead of 'their'. Example: 'they' parents vs. 'their' parents. To me, it makes the speaker sound uneducated. While I have noticed this occurring more in more 'relaxed' or less formal conversations, what is heard is the same and perceived as the same and that is sad indeed.
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Pete, there are more than I can count. I find myself correcting somebody, and then just as I'm about to hit the enter button, I back out of the post. Too many people have jumped on me as being a "grammar Nazi", even though my posts have always been pretty constructive. So, I started sending people friendly little messages to alert them of their error. That seemed to upset them even more. "It's only online, so it doesn't matter."

/face palm

I guess people just don't care about the English language anymore. Sad. I'm certainly not above the occasional mistake, but if I'm writing a post, and I'm not sure of something, I'll stop and look it up. And if somebody were to correct me, I'd appreciate that they took the time to do so.

I saw somebody writing an article about the Brewers earlier today. This was the headline:

Reversal Of Fortunes Continues to Allude Brewers

I felt a nervous tick developing in my right eye. I almost let it go...almost.

As for what really knocks on my nerves? Most unique, or more unique. Those make my colon clench. http://www.williamgregory.net/images/angry.gif

That's the ready-made excuse for the lazy or ignorant to not put any effort into their grammar. That may have flown in 1992 when the internet was in its infancy, but today the vast majority of our communication takes place online, through text or email. This is how we communicate with other human beings, so if it doesn't matter there, where DOES it matter? I'm not sure why the transition from writing by hand to typing dictated that the rules of grammar went out the window but that seems to be the popular opinion.

Someday, maybe soon, one of us may seriously start up a new thread entitled, 'Show us your ancient language samples: Cursive'
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A conversational affectation -- technically not a grammar issue -- that hits us like the sound of fingernails on a blackboard:
the deliberate imposition of a "sh" sound at the start of any word that begins with the consonant cluster "str"...
we hear it every night from the under-30 contingent of the local TV news crews -- "shtreet" ... "shtrong"... "shtrike"...
we could just shtrangle 'em...

I feel like showing those people @outthedoor

I think that it's only the over 50 crowd that really cares about this.
You know, the same ones who don't want baseball to be any fun.

:p;):D:o:):rolleyes::cool::eek:

im only 46 3/4...but I am an old...grumpy soul!!!!!

This is number 1 on my list too.
Others include: When homophones are used incorrectly, Using a letter or number to replace a word, When someone uses the word "Literally" figuratively.

When I first saw this thread it made me think of Weird Al's song "Word Crimes"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gv0H-vPoDc

FWIW, I agree, ur right.

Spell-Check has created bad habits. Instead of reading for typos, some folks look as far as the red underline. That allows all but the incorrectly spelled words to slide by.

good stuff guys...one thing that really bugs me is when referring to the t206 uzit verso people say "an uzit" as opposed to a "uzit"...am I crazy here????

uzit or lose it

I can't tell if you're being serious or not but I agree with you if you are. It seems as though the majority in that age bracket are for all of the new rules that have been taking place in baseball.

I'm not in favor of the home plate rule. It had been that way for how long? I won't rant on about that stuff nor instant replay I think I'll start a separate discussion about that.

I think context is an important consideration. Given the number of grammar mistakes in the two paragraphs above, is it fair to be judgmental? That seems very harsh given the context. An internet discussion board has the feel of casual conversation and, it seems to me, should be judged accordingly.

What's troubling, however, is when I see these types of mistakes in cover letters or work-related correspondence. Then I'm much more critical. In fact, I've tossed many resumés simply because of poor grammar. And I think young people, especially, are often unaware of the importance of good grammar.

What's very sad, though, is that English grammar is not taught in public high schools much anymore.

No, you're not alone, Pete.

+1. No credibility whatsoever. I laugh at the author more than read the point they're trying to make.


The usual Their, There, They're, Too, To.

Biggest pet peeves: Could of, would of.

Not yet mentioned: The incorrect use of Effect and Affect.