What spelling/grammar errors really irritate you?

[laconicsax]

Apostrophe misuse used to top my list with the inability to use the correct version of a word that rhymes with "hair," starts with "th," and has three variants, but those days are behind me now, so seeing some moron write "my shoe's are over their" doesn't irritate me so much as it makes me roll my eyes.

Now, I'm finding that dropping the last half of "though" and pretending that it's the same word is slowly driving me mad. Given a sentence like, "I love snickerdoodle's tho there kinda boring..."

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Throwing in apostrophes where they don't belong.

You use an apostrophe to indicate possessive, not plural! Drives me nuts.

A few more:

"I could care less." NO. You couldn't care less. If you could care less, it implies you do care. You are trying to say you don't care at all; that is, you couldn't care less.

"Your" instead of "you're." "Your" is the possessive of "you." "You're" is the contraction of "you are." They are not interchangeable.

Same goes for their/they're/there and it's/its.

"Bated breath" is correct; "baited breath" is wrong.

Misuse of lay/lie. Lay is a transitive verb; lie is intransitive.

Loose instead of lose.

Phenomena as a singular noun is wrong - phenomena is plural; phenomenon is singular.

Kudos is singular - there's no such thing as a kudo (kudos is Greek for praise or honor).

There are a lot more but I can't think of them all right now.

[laconicsax]

2. Absence of an apostrophe can indicate possessive.

While an apostrophe usually indicates possession (except for when it's a contraction), its absence can indicate it too.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

22. You beat me to it.

I can see saying it, but writing it?

"I could care less." NO. You couldn't care less. If you could care less, it implies you do care. You are trying to say you don't care at all; that is, you couldn't care less.

Then again, I'm sure my posts are littered with grammatical errors.

[eppur_se_muova]

74. "I could care less" is meant to be said in a thoroughly sarcastic tone.

As in "I *could* care less, but it's hard to see how".

I'm pretty sure this is thoroughly Jewish.

[RebelOne]

73. Yes, lay, lie are so totally misused.

You lie down, you do not lay down. You lay down an object.

[GoCubsGo]

109. That is my biggest peeve, too.

I like to post this in reply:



http://www.angryflower.com/aposter.html

[pokerfan]

3. irregardless

loose/lose, it's/its, they're/their/there

blessing in the skies
blimp on the radar
tournament birth
tournament buy
chomping at the bit
deep-seeded belief
diamond dozen
doggy dog world
for all intensive purposes
give free reign
i could care less
in the mist of
lame man’s terms
mute point
never seizes to amaze me
nip it in the butt
off the beat and path
once and a while
pedal to the medal
peak one’s interest
reap what you sew
reek havoc
ring his neck
road to hoe
slight of hand
statue of limitations
taken for granite
throws of passion
without further adieu
wreck havoc

[laconicsax]

5. Argh!

blessing in disguise
blip on the radar
tournament berth
tournament bye
champing at the bit
deep-seated belief
dime a dozen
dog-eat-dog world
for all intents and purposes
give free rein
I couldn't care less
in the midst of
layman's terms
moot point
never ceases to amaze me
nip it in the bud
off the beaten path
once in a while
pedal to the metal
pique one’s interest
reap what you sow
wreak havoc
wring his neck
row to hoe
sleight of hand
statute of limitations
taken for granted
throes of passion
without further ado
wreak havoc

Look what you made me do!

[pokerfan]

9. Ah

I was hoping someone would challenge me but you got them all.

[limpyhobbler]

18. in the same vane I would say "making ends meat"

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

52. "Blimp on the radar"? That's a good one!

A blimp would appear as a blip on the radar only if it had a transponder.

[EastTennesseeDem]

4. I definately have never thought of this.

[laconicsax]

6. definitely n/t

[Angry Dragon]

7. to, too, two

there, their

[laconicsax]

8. , and they're. n/t

[grasswire]

10. laundrymat, double is, and impact as a verb

It's laundromat.

And to say "The problem is, is that Newt blows..." is an excessive "is" (The most educated people seem to do this regularly!)

The proper word is "affect": "The debate was affected by the poor sound system." Impacted is wrong.

[pink-o]

28. Double "hads" too!

You mostly see it in fictional narration, because unless it's that pretentious, existential crap, most narration is written in past tense. So you get a writer who gives you this tripe:

'He had had a very bad day.'

OMG, get a freakin' EDITOR.

[SCantiGOP]

44. do do

Young Frankenstein, when his fiance first arrives, she asks Igor, "What is it that you do do?" Which, since Mel Brooks is still about 14, gives everyone the chance to stop and stare at each other because they had just managed to say Doo Doo in a movie!

[enuegii]

45. Your "double is" is a type of

cleft sentence construction.

It's perfectly good English, though I would hesitate to use it in formal writing.

Opinions vary, I suppose.

Prayer

Whatever happens. Whatever
what is is is what
I want. Only that. But that.

--Galway Kinnell

[pinniped]

11. The misuse of it's is really irritating. I think there is a 50% error rate.

Incorrect usage:
The Cooper's Hawk was preening it's feathers.

Correct usage:
The Cooper's Hawk was preening its feathers.

--------
People also think that by adding an apostrophe, the word becomes plural.

Move those stinking cars over there.

Move those stinking car's over there.

[laconicsax]

12. I sometimes think that the letter "s" should just get an apostrophe as part of the character.

"Move those stinking cars over there" would become "Move tho'se 'stinking car's over there"

"Seven sensational slideshows" would become "'Seven 'sen'sational 'slide'show's"

After a while, you 'stop noticing the apo'strophe's.

[pinniped]

16. LOL....All Ss should receive an apostrophe. It actually doesn't look that bad.

Using the pipe symbol (|) would give it extreme character. This character will be known as super apostrophe.

Move those stinking car|s over there!

What would you use in this instance:

Ss should receive an apostrophe.

or

S's should receive an apostrophe.

Of course, one could just reword it.

The letter "s" should just get an apostrophe.

[Lasher]

19. I think apostrophes should get apostrophes.

We could call them quotes. I haven't thought of a use for them yet.

[TexasTowelie]

13. I'm reminded of a certain sign.

I went to McDonald's several months ago and they were trying to encourage the various soccer teams to stop by after the game. The sign promised the kids that they would have a good time--win or loose!

I pointed the mistake out to the manager, but it was never changed. What a wonderful example for the next generation of recruits at McDonalds.

[REP]

14. All of them.

Especially the ones I make, because I know I know better!

This is really a usage problem, but using "infer" for "imply" (and vice versa) bugs the living crap out of me.

[HERVEPA]

66. Used to drive me nuts, however,

per all dictionaries, including OED, "infer" can be used for both meanings.
"Imply" of course has only the one meaning.

[dimbear]

15. "Though" has a sort of quaint retro charm, sets you

apart from the hip young moderns.

[limpyhobbler]

17. then vs. than. Rather then explain I give this example.

Also whoever whomever whoever said imply/infer, I agree that's an issue.

[UrbScotty]

20. People put apostrophe's in the wrong place's!

[tjwmason]

21. Could care less

It appears to be almost entirely an American use, as I've never come across it over here - a moment's pause reveals that it's a precise inversion of the meaning of the intended phrase.

Bad use of apostrophes definitely. The irony being that it is the most clearly and simply defined piece of punctuation; grammarians can argue for hours over the position or appropriateness of a comma or semi-colon, but the apostrophe is easily determined.

[rucky]

26. Maybe Americans just care too much?

[muriel_volestrangler]

30. I've heard it claimed that it's "ironic"

but I'm not convinced.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

23. Not being an english major, I'm never sure

where to use commas and periods. But some people sprinkle them like rose petals.

Why use paragraphs when stream of consciousness is so much more fun?

[laconicsax]

76. Don't they teach that in elementary school?

[UnrepentantLiberal]

86. Was that directed at me?

[laconicsax]

93. Pretty sure it was.

I remember learning where to use commas and periods in elementary school.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

94. LOL

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1240&pid=35030

Pornography and serial comma usage must be stopped.

[Populist_Prole]

24. Proud anti-intellectuals that try to launder their ignorance

By blaming their bad spelling on typographical errors....as if we wouldn't know the difference.

[laconicsax]

77. Your ellipsis is getting away from you. n/t

[LeftishBrit]

25. That's easy: people misspelling my name, of course!

[laconicsax]

78. I've never had that problem.

Usually, people see my name and say another, less common name that starts with the same letter.

[surrealAmerican]

27. Although other people's mistakes do irritate me ...

... especially when I see them in print ("are" instead of "our", or "women" instead of "woman" are particularly annoying), the ones that bother me the most are my own.

[muriel_volestrangler]

29. 'could of'/'would of'

Aarrggh.

Aaaaaarrrrrrrrggggggghhh.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH.

[raccoon]

31. The word "lose" spelled "loose." nt

[Adsos Letter]

88. AMEN!

[Shrek]

32. "For all intensive purposes"

What does that even mean?

Also the use of jive for jibe, and the use of proscribe for prescribe (that one's irritating because incorrect usage pretty much inverts the meaning of whatever is being said).

[HopeHoops]

33. I ain't never used none impropular englishes.

[Swede]

34. Never.

Well,almost never.

[no_hypocrisy]

35. there/their

[Iggo]

36. The use of the subjective form of a personal pronoun as the object of a preposition.

For example: Just between he and I.

Makes me want to take hostages, it does.

[yellerpup]

37. When you breathe you are taking a breath.

When you put on your apparel for the day you are wearing clothes, not cloths. Also, the term shoo in - not shoe in.

[1gobluedem]

38. Oh so many....

Apostrophes used for plural is right up there along with they're/their/there, hear/here, your/you're, random capitalization (i.e. "my Mother said..." Mother is not a proper noun when used in this context. It should be "my mother said..." However, "Mother said to me..." is correct because now it's a name/title), and I/me. So many people use that last one incorrectly. Easy way to tell what's correct; take out "[name] and." Would one say "Would you like to go for a walk with I?" No? Then why do people say "Would you like to go for a walk with Bob and I?" Makes me nuts.

[cyberswede]

39. Incorrect use of "I" vs. "me"

For instance, people trying too hard to speak correctly often say something like "If you have questions, please contact Jane or I." argh!

[Iggo]

43. Yep, yep, yep.

[MadrasT]

40. Marshall Law

OMG OMG I want to scream every time I see that one...

"JUST WAIT UNTIL THEY DECLARE MARSHALL LAW!!!!!"



Apostrophe misuse is a biggie for me, too, especially confusion between "your" and "you're".

[bigwillq]

41. None really. I guess it depends on the situation.

If it's something professional, resume, newspaper article, school assignment, I feel not spell checking shows a lack of professionalism.
But I am not going to freak out because someone misspelled something on an on-line site, on a text message, or in a situation like that.
There's more important things to worry about, imo, than a word misspelled.

[geardaddy]

42. "cut and dry"

The incorrect use of the past perfect, e.g., "I should have went to the store."

Here's another, i.e. and e.g. are NOT interchangeable! Gah!

[rrneck]

46. Yea for yeah.

Yea = yay

Prolly for probably.

[Kali]

53. ya

what is that? I read it as yaw

[rrneck]

55. Or maybe german "ja" short for "jawohl". Pronounced "yah"?

Yaw comes close to "y'all" for a guy like me.

"Yaw gonna go t'town t'day?"

[Kali]

58. yeah, that's true

when it is used for "you" I get it (and use it sometimes), but yeah is YEAH

yea is some kind of British thing or other furrin' speak, pronounced yay

yay! is a cheer

ya used in place of yeah chokes in the reading and mental pronunciation


and that reminds me "he he" - what is that? it should be heh heh or hee hee

[rrneck]

65. All this thumb typing

will be the death of the English language (as he posts from an android phone)

Harumph harumph

[laconicsax]

80. The vast majority of my posts on DU are typed with my thumbs.

Even long, complicated ones with lots of HTML tags like this one: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=214&topic_id=298595&mesg_id=298889

People just use mobiles as an excuse for their inability to spell.

[rrneck]

83. I have to do it one fingered.

Its not so bad but its slow. I post in the religion forum less because replies run longer there. And selecting text is a real pain.

I don't mind bad spelling so much as intentional contractions and texting shorthand.

Stuff like "r", "u", and "kthxby" annoy me.

[laconicsax]

84. Like they say, practice makes perfect.

[cyberswede]

47. "The floor needs swept."

No, it needs to be swept. This one REALLY bugs me, and I hear versions of this with all kinds of verbs all the time.

[Glorfindel]

48. A few funny ones...

"tow the line" instead of "toe the line"
"reign in spending" instead of "rein in spending" (why not RAIN it in?)
the confusion of "principle" for "principal"

[Iggo]

70. My grade school teacher taught me, "The Principal is your pal."

He also taught me "You pay a toll to get to the Capitol."

It helped.

[Kali]

49. then/than, affect/effect

at least at the moment those are the most irritating. I'm sure my writing drives people nuts too. I tend to leave off a lot of capitalization and use / as a shortcut too often.

[PassingFair]

50. Corn Beef, Ice Tea, Tooth Comb....

Doesn't bother ME so much, but it drives my daughter CRAZY.

I sometimes take pictures of menu foods that are missing the "ed"
and send them to her.

I'm kind of annoying.

[treestar]

51. its and it's

It is easy to determine. It is or the possessive?

[pokerfan]

57. It's page 1 of Strunk and White

A common error is to write it's for its, or vice versa. The first is a contraction, meaning "it is." The second is a possessive.

It's a wise dog that scratches its own fleas.



http://www.keck.ucsf.edu/~craig/The_Elements_of_Style.html

[treestar]

68. all the person has to do is ask whether the contraction applies

Would an "is" go there? If not, it's its. If yes, it's it's.

[KansDem]

54. Using "to go" instead of "to say"

Example:
"I go 'What are you doing?" and he goes "Working on my book report."

Also past-tense:
"I went "What did you do?" and he went "Nothing."

Like little ice-picks in my ears!

Much worse...'like"
"I'm like, "What are you doing?" and he's like, "Working on my book report."

But for some reason, "to go" in place of "to say" irritates me more...

[sibelian]

56. "could care less"

ARG.

[siligut]

59. I can't figure out what punctuation to use at the end of a subject line.

Sometimes a subject line isn't a full sentence. If it is a question or an exclamation, I know what to use, but otherwise I might have trouble. Also, how about using an ellipsis? Is it "..." or is it ". . ."? I have seen both.

[grasswire]

60. to waiter: "I'll GET a cheeseburger and fries"

I hear that all the time!

How can a diner GET food? Will he/she go to the walk-in cooler and shove the cook out of the way?

Or this: "I'll do the ham and eggs." Really?

[grasswire]

61. Next question: How many people here have been/are paid to correct errors like these?

I'll cop to that. And I love the work.

[geardaddy]

69. Me!

I love it, too.

[hunter]

62. Only one: "literally" when it's not.

Other than that, fuck, write whatever you want, grunt and wave your hands, throw bullshit, spell things however you want, abuse unique, I can probably figure it out.

Just don't say "my head literally exploded" 'cause you wouldn't be able to say that if it had.

[laconicsax]

81. I literally died when I read that.

[Initech]

63. Nuclear as "nucular"

That one bugs the crap out of me.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

64.

[Initech]

106. When Obama was first elected I used to joke

That we finally had a president who could pronounce the word "nuclear" correctly. But that video...

[Wait Wut]

67. The husband left me a note the other day...

"I went to the store to pick up some stuff for the pie's"

I corrected it and put it back on the counter. I also correct his FB posts. It's actually working. He spends a bit more time thinking of how words work and less time making me nuts.

I can't imagine what it must be like to live with me. He told me I'm no different than my cat. I thanked him.


Now, something I do often is type as I think, so I end up with many sentence fragments and/or run-on sentences. The conversation in my head doesn't always translate as grammatically correct. I will also use commas as I see fit and not necessarily where they should/shouldn't be. I will pause in my sentences wherever I damned well please.

[cherokeeprogressive]

91. LOL!

As a teacher, sometimes it was necessary to leave memos to staff in their mailboxes. No one left a note without having another teacher proofread it lest they get it back covered in red ink.

[Wait Wut]

100. I love hanging out with teachers.

One of my closest friends is a teacher. It's fun to watch her, after a few drinks, correct the grammar of men that hit on her. Their expressions are priceless!

[RebelOne]

71. As a former copy editor, I could write a list of grammar and spelling errors

that really tick me off.

The most offensive is the use of it's and its. It's is a contraction of it is. Its is a possessive pronoun. No one seems to know the difference.

Also, I deplore the use of apostrophes in plural nouns.

[treestar]

72. "try and" for "try to"

[eppur_se_muova]

75. Could of, would of, should of ...

The start of a slippery slope with "had of" as its inevitable end.

[riderinthestorm]

79. moot/mute

A point is "moot"!!!

[mrs_p]

82. to instead of too

[jobycom]

85. If I can understand it, I'm good.

There's a point where the spelling or grammar becomes unreadable, and that's when it bothers me. Until then, I'm okay. As the son of a man who can barely read and the father of a brilliant dyslexic who can barely write, I've learned not to judge.

The thing that makes it unreadable to me is lack of punctuation. People skip commas or even periods, and it comes out a jumble mess that's it for me can't read it why do they bother jack?

[kimi]

87. In addition to all of the above

my own little pet peeve - and I may be alone in this, but oh well.

When someone refers to another as "The person THAT did thus-and-such" instead of "The person WHO did thus-and-such". Am I alone in this? It just gets to me. I'm not a grammar scholar by any means, but a "THAT" IMO refers to an object, a "WHO" refers to a person.

It just bugs me, I don't know why - and I see it all the time.

Edit: Maybe it's proper, but I don't like it. Boo hiss.

[Digit]

89. I know it is stupid, but using hung instead of hanged

When it comes to someone who committed suicide.

I hear it on TV all the time and it drives me nuts.

[cherokeeprogressive]

90. "Tough road to hoe".

Your sig pic makes me gag...

you may be happy to know that a language professor I know predicts the death of capital letters due to email and texting. ten years, tops.

[renie408]

92. Loose when they meant Lose n/t

[Inchworm]

95. No matter how hard I try, I can't spell definatly right

so... each time I use the word I change it up a bit.

Definitly, definitely, definitley, etc.. one is bound to be correct. 25% chance.

[Iggo]

97. It's based on the word "finite" (meaning "limited").

Last edited Wed Jan 25, 2012, 11:32 AM - Edit history (1)

You just add letters to either end.

Thusly: de-finite-ly

[hobbit709]

96. They don't irk me half as much as the Grammar Nazis.

[WolverineDG]

98. But they knows English gooder than the rest of us! nt

[pintobean]

99. A superiority complex

is a piss-poor substitute for earned respect.

I think their public corrections should be viewed as personal attacks.

Have you seen this in H&M?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/124035008

[laconicsax]

102. Because correcting people on their grammar is exactly like genocide, right?

[hobbit709]

103. whatever you say.

I'm not the one with the authoritarian streak in H&M

[laconicsax]

104. Authoritarian streak?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

101. Between HIM and I (Many, many, many make this error...even supposedly intelligent people) nt

[laundry_queen]

105. The common errors bother me

its/it's
lose/loose
etc

However, I know I make many mistakes. English may be my first language, and I do have several university level English courses, but the first grammar I learned was French grammar. I was in French Immersion school and for nearly all of elementary school, the focus was on learning to speak French, learn French grammar, conjugate verbs and so on. In high school, the only reason I got high marks in English was because I read so much that I absorbed grammar. If it *sounds* right to me, I'll use it (although sometimes that's not reliable, with the French background I've been known to make hilarious errors). I have no concept of grammar rules or what the terms are. Please don't ask me to define a dangling participle.

[jcboon]

107. "close with" instead of "close to"

Lede for lead as in lead sentence in a newspaper story. I worked for newspapers for 20 years and no one ever used "lede" It's fictional newspaper history and it's an irritant.

[blueamy66]

108. Thank goodness I had a Catholic school education

Last edited Thu Jan 26, 2012, 02:03 PM - Edit history (1)

They pounded English into us.

I write perfectly. I proofread all of my boss' important e-mails.