DelGesu1836 wrote:How about any error that is in advertising slogans or songs?

"Make your dollar go FURTHER"

"If I LAY here, if I just LAY here, would you LIE with me and blah blah blah blah blah..."
You used two different tenses of the word! You know one of them has to be wrong, right? At least be consistent!

My high school English teacher would go on and on about the Bob Dylan song "Lay Lady Lay" since she said it should actually have been "Lie Lady Lie" instead. You lay something down that's in your hand but a person will lie down.

I had to make a little cheat sheet for my boss because he was grammatically challenged. I spelled out the meaning of each of these words but I still had to proof read his correspondence.

to/too/two
your/you're
there/their/they're
affect/effect
lay/lie
its/it's

Me and him went. Ugh!!! It's he and I went.

At this point in time. Time has points? Why not just say now?

The word like should only appear once in a sentence. Like, do you like know what I like mean?

Their, They're, there--Learn the difference!

booberry519 wrote:
....
The other is the spelling of words phoenically. This is evident on Facebook with the "word" PROLLY. At first I didn't know what it meant. It is the phoenic spelling of PROBABLY...who would have guessed that one!!

The use of the non-real word Prolly will also inspire me to bleed internally. I will add that it is only the phonetic spelling of Probably if you are mispronouncing the word in the first place.

When an athlete misuses English, it is understandable. When a person who writes/speaks for a living misuses the language, it makes one's lunch sour.
"How did Tommy do in the game today?"
"Oh, Tommy did just excellent."
If it cost them money, I will bet the speakers, even the talking heads on the evening news, would not drop the LYs as often.

Also, people are who, not that. Things are that.

We have made a very long list. We did excellent today.

JoeJitsu wrote:My high school English teacher would go on and on about the Bob Dylan song "Lay Lady Lay" since she said it should actually have been "Lie Lady Lie" instead. You lay something down that's in your hand but a person will lie down.

The use of lie versus lay depends upon the what Dylan meant. Was she becoming prostrate on the bed or was he talking about something more intimate?

As a grammar teacher, all of them get on my nerves, but I loved your questions.

insanitea wrote:All of these are painful! The missing serial comma is the bane of my professional existence, however, as a not-small part of my job is proofreading the book's worth of articles my boss wrote that we're turning into a website, and a disproportionate number of his sentences (and even article titles) include three or four listed items. The final comma is ALWAYS missing... (Unless, of course, there are several such sentences in close proximity, in which case he may get one of them right.)

Sometimes, I'll do an initial "comma sweep," skimming through an article once just to add commas so I can read the gorram thing to see what else is wrong.

The worst is when it's in an image or a video's title frame that I can't edit! D:

My boss actually told me that it is okay not to have the last comma because it is the "new style." I told him I was old school, and my students would learn the correct way. Who is in charge of changing from old to new school? I would like to discuss this with them.

Lets eat Grandpa.

Let's eat, Grandpa.

Punctuation saves lives.

The only one that really gets to me is when anyone says, "all _____ are not..." when they mean, "not all _______ are..."

unlessrwynn wrote:My boss actually told me that it is okay not to have the last comma because it is the "new style." I told him I was old school, and my students would learn the correct way. Who is in charge of changing from old to new school? I would like to discuss this with them.

The correct way -- how arrogant! Either usage is acceptable, as I demonstrated in my previous post on this subject (which was actually in defense of those of you who omit the so-called "serial", "Oxford", or "Harvard comma). My post contains a link to the Wikipedia article, which shows that a majority of American style guides (including what I consider to be the definitive guide, "The elements of Style" by Stunk and White) call for using the comma. Also, "The Elements of Grammar" by Margaret Shertzer calls for its use. Here is another web source which indicates that either usage is acceptable, and just a matter of which style guide you choose to follow.
Don't you think you are doing your students a great disservice by teaching them something which their later teachers (under the direction of your boss) will mark as incorrect? The proper thing to do would be to explain to your students that it is a matter of a choice of style, and tell them which style you require. Students should use the style required by their school or teacher, employees should use the style required by their institution or boss.

Prepositions are words I don't like to see sentences ended with.

walkingfree wrote:Lets eat Grandpa.

Let's eat, Grandpa.

Punctuation saves lives.

What is that in the road, a head?
What is that in the road ahead?

Three words:

There, their, they're.

ActorTom wrote:The correct way -- how arrogant! Either usage is acceptable, as I demonstrated in my previous post on this subject (which was actually in defense of those of you who omit the so-called "serial", "Oxford", or "Harvard comma). My post contains a link to the Wikipedia article, which shows that a majority of American style guides (including what I consider to be the definitive guide, "The elements of Style" by Stunk and White) call for using the comma. Also, "The Elements of Grammar" by Margaret Shertzer calls for its use. Here is another web source which indicates that either usage is acceptable, and just a matter of which style guide you choose to follow.
Don't you think you are doing your students a great disservice by teaching them something which their later teachers (under the direction of your boss) will mark as incorrect? The proper thing to do would be to explain to your students that it is a matter of a choice of style, and tell them which style you require. Students should use the style required by their school or teacher, employees should use the style required by their institution or boss.

My niece, who is ABD at Penn State, told me that the profs are demanding virtaully ALL commas be omitted and to use only one space after a period, etc. Aparently anyone can cause the change in grammar simply by demanding that underlings do things THEIR way.
If your boss is arrogant and insecure, then HIS way is correct. He is the boss after all.

Also, Stunk and White is a good reference, Wikipedia is not. The latter is written by people like us: people who simply THINK they know everything.

The inability to conjugate simple verbs in English. Especially, for some reason, the negative "do not."

I don't, you don't, he DOESN'T

The only time you should say "he don't" is in the sentence: "He don't talk no gooder'n me."

spyder7 wrote:
Also, Stunk and White is a good reference, Wikipedia is not. The latter is written by people like us: people who simply THINK they know everything.

*Strunk

"Every day" is an article and a noun.

"Everyday" is an adjective, dagnabbit!

It's/its also makes me see red, but that one has been run into the ground already.

I have a niece that frequently misuses "literally," and it makes my skin crawl. I correct her every time.

I think "epic," and "random" need to be placed on a 5 year probation so that people can rediscover the actual meanings of those words.

Jester747 wrote:Saying something is ironic when it's merely coincidental.

Do you mean like rain on your wedding day? Or possibly the good advice that you just didn't take?

I hate when people seem to ignore the existence of the period and just have one run-on sentence that never ends even if they have three paragraphs worth of information they want to convey when trying to get help from their favorite forum and it makes them look dumb

(broke my heart to even type that lol)

They/They're and there/their bugs the crap out of me too. But at least I can understand what the poster is trying to get across. Without periods, it's a freakin zoo.

Speaking of capitalization:

I had to help my uncle Jack off a horse.

I had to help my uncle jack off a horse.

Pitcher instead of Picture

Wit instead of With.

rpm wrote:I've rarely seen "should of" written. In casual speech, I suspect that when one hears "should of" the speaker intends "should've". The difference in pronunciation between the offending "should of" and the contraction "should've" is almost, if not entirely, undetectable.

Please use "should of" in a sentence as an example of a correct use of these two words next to each other. I can not think of one.

I despise the flagrant use of double-negatives. There ain't no way I would ever use a double-negative...

dugaboggy wrote:YES! Why is there no "all of the above" option? I was cringing through the whole list.

Also, passive voice is hated by me. It is used by people, especially in the professional world, way too often!

The "all of the above" option always bothered me on tests when it fell below a "none of the above."

philselmer wrote:While not exactly a grammar complaint, I do get incensed while people are too lazy to capitalize.

Something like:

i'm going to lake erie on monday and might sail over to cananda.

When people do not capitalize Cananda (or Canada) ;)

Accept and except.

Servers who are taking an order and ask you "...and for yourself?"
I like to answer "Myself would like..."

panthiest wrote:Loose is not lose.

Alot isn't a word. Allot isn't a quantity.

Intensive purposes isn't the phrase you're looking for.

Rouge is a color or a kind of makeup, not a deviate.

"A whole nother" is something I don't even know where to start with.


"And" isn't the first word of a sentence, ever.

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/conjunctions.htm

Lincoln used a conjunction at the beginning of a sentence in the Gettysburg Address. Shakespeare began many lines with "And" in all of his plays.
Do not forget about literary license, when you actually look at my entire sentence fragment rather than the individual words comprising said fragment.

And do not use contractions; use of contractions is improper grammar.

Of course there is the big error of people spelling "you are" as your. Tons of people use your instead of you're.

And another one....dangling modifiers.

I had a corporate instructor once who used "death" instead of "deaf"

him: "My nephew is death"
me: "Is he the destroyer of worlds?"
him "..."

All attempts to correct him were short lived.

None of the above... It's when someone calls someone else "genious". It's both funny and annoying at the same time, but it does really bother me when they have the gall to insult someone, but then can't spell the operative word correctly.

kaveman212c wrote:F you both. Should've is a contraction for "should have".

God, I was hoping SOMEONE had picked this up. There are a couple of other contractions that people have the wrong ides what they are shortening, I just can't remember them at the moment.

"Based off of" is often incorrectly used instead of "based on" (better yet: "based upon").

mikey1969 wrote:God, I was hoping SOMEONE had picked this up. There are a couple of other contractions that people have the wrong ides what they are shortening, I just can't remember them at the moment.

People seem to think "let's" is not a contraction at all. I find that odd.

"That've" is also entertaining.

zeke7 wrote:Prepositions are words I don't like to see sentences ended with.

Agent Bork: Chief, you know that guy whose camper they were whacking 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... You know that guy in whose camper they... I mean, that guy off in whose camper they were whacking?

-- Beavis and Butt-Head Do America

The one that fries my eyeballs is the over-use of the word "literally."
"Like, oh man, I am literally speechless. I mean...."
The word you are looking for is "figuratively."

As Bugs would say: "what a maroon."

And people, you know, who can't seem to get, you know, a whole sentence out, you know, without saying you know a whole, you know, bunch of times. Frequently athletes.

I will meet you at 8 AM in the morning.... makes me nuts. As opposed to 8 AM in the EVENING???

loudermipr wrote:Do you mean like rain on your wedding day? Or possibly the good advice that you just didn't take?

Not one irony in the entire song... maybe that's the irony.

jeanerz13 wrote:I hate when people try to sound smart by saying "I" when it really should be "me". "John gave the book to Bob and me" NOT "John gave the book to Bob and I"!

Agreed! Hearing this error makes me clench my teeth.

It's scary how many very educated people do this.