People who say 'you was' instead of 'you were' ( certain TV personalities take note! )
People who use a small case i instead of I.
People who have forgotten that the letter t exists midword...(be...er, fa..er etc. ) Practically every soap character under the age of 35 is guilty of this!
American spellings instead of UK ones. I've just seen in a shop a beautiful hand made wooden Harry Potter Hogwarts trunk with the word 'defense' carved on it.
Indefensible!
I know the day is coming when I write "should of" and then I'm going to have to sit myself on the naughty step for a good few minutes!
Worryingly it is how language evolves - on QI Stephen Fry stated that orange was originally from the Spanish - "a norange", but people constantly said "an orange" until it became official.
Mr. Fry is closer than you think with a norange, the Spanish for an orange is una naranja, you'll sometimes see, and hear, laranja.
The Portuguese for an orange is uma laranja, so it's easy to see where Mr. Fry is coming from.
Mr. Fry is closer than you think with a norange, the Spanish for an orange is una naranja, you'll sometimes see, and hear, laranja.
The Portuguese for an orange is uma laranja, so it's easy to see where Mr. Fry is coming from.
In French and German it's also called an orange, so how does he explain that?
I'm finding having used the Internet so much my spelling has been affected, subconsciously absorbing American spellings I feel. Just fed "watercolour" into Google UK and the first item to appear is "Watercolor painting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia"
Even on DS I find my spell checker shows my English spellings as a mistake (check my settings?)
Yes you are obviously using a US dictionary for your spell checker, it should be trivial to switch to UK English, what browser and checker are you using?
Non-capitalisation of the initial letter of proper nouns.
Or, even perhaps worse, capitalising random Words in a sentence For no Apparent reason. Then There Are The People Who Capitalise Every Word - Just To Be On The Safe Side.
I have so many pet grammar/spelling peeves that I must qualify as a fulyl paid-up Grammar Nazi (which is not to say I don't make mistakes myself and that annoys me even more) but one that drives me particularly crazy is the misuse of the words lie, lay, laid, lain, lying. Eggs are laid. Bricks are laid. You are not laid down (unless you're unconscious perhaps). Nor are you ever lied down.
Another one is "anyways". Really? Think about what you're saying! The same applies to all those double negatives. "I don't know nothing." You do know something then?
Should of annoys me, too. However, there may be a case for of becoming a legitimate alternative to 've or have because on a mobile phone when texting, it takes two fewer key presses to type: 2 versus 4 or in the case of 'should of' 9 versus 11.
I think they've all been mentioned but the worst for me is lose/loose closely followed by their/there/they're.
Having read through this thread though I think I've been guilty of a few errors without realising!
Also, I can never remember when to use practice/practise and licence/license!
That's something that really annoys me about DS and everything on-line. Correcting something is frowned upon but how do you know that you are wrong, if no ones tells you?
We should never stop learning and we should be told when we are wrong.
Should of annoys me, too. However, there may be a case for of becoming a legitimate alternative to 've or have because on a mobile phone when texting, it takes two fewer key presses to type: 2 versus 4 or in the case of 'should of' 9 versus 11.
Believe it or not, we don't all live our lives through text messages.
People posting mistakes on DS doesn't bother me one iota, but I HATE errors in public print and signage.
One of my faves is 'Grocerery's' which was at a petrol station.
Also the one for a school in Liverpool which has a massive banner stating:- 'Achievements is good.....'
That's something that really annoys me about DS and everything on-line. Correcting something is frowned upon but how do you know that you are wrong, if no ones tells you?
We should never stop learning and we should be told when we are wrong.
That's always tricky though, isn't it? It's like when you hear someone use a non-existent word. Do you tell them or not? I know someone who regularly says boughten instead of bought and paided instead of paid. When I've corrected other such words he says I'm humiliating him, so...
People who post mistakes on DS doesn't bother me one iota, but I HATE errors in public print and signage.
One of my faves is 'Grocerery's' which was at a petrol station.
Also the one for a school in Liverpool which has a massive banner stating:- 'Achievements is good.....'
My local TK Max has a sign above the stairs leading to the first floor.
Believe it or not, we don't all live our lives through text messages.
No, but most of the youngsters of today do just that, noses buried in their iphones as they wander home aimlessly from school; 'tis they who are the main culprits and 'tis they who may, one day, force the Oxford Dictionary to include of as a variation!
I don't like the mis-use of of either but English is a living, breathing, dynamic language and I love it.
Comments
People who use a small case i instead of I.
People who have forgotten that the letter t exists midword...(be...er, fa..er etc. ) Practically every soap character under the age of 35 is guilty of this!
American spellings instead of UK ones. I've just seen in a shop a beautiful hand made wooden Harry Potter Hogwarts trunk with the word 'defense' carved on it.
Indefensible!
Milimetre is mm and no capitals allowed.
MM is mega mole
Mr. Fry is closer than you think with a norange, the Spanish for an orange is una naranja, you'll sometimes see, and hear, laranja.
The Portuguese for an orange is uma laranja, so it's easy to see where Mr. Fry is coming from.
I've just read "one foul swoop"
In French and German it's also called an orange, so how does he explain that?
Its not the grammar that annoys me the most though, it's poor English in general.
It weren't me...
It don't work...
And the double negative:
I wasn't doing nothing...
Yes you are obviously using a US dictionary for your spell checker, it should be trivial to switch to UK English, what browser and checker are you using?
Having read through this thread though I think I've been guilty of a few errors without realising!
Also, I can never remember when to use practice/practise and licence/license!
Or, even perhaps worse, capitalising random Words in a sentence For no Apparent reason. Then There Are The People Who Capitalise Every Word - Just To Be On The Safe Side.
Another one is "anyways". Really? Think about what you're saying! The same applies to all those double negatives. "I don't know nothing." You do know something then?
I defiantly agree
A similar one is the use of may be and maybe.
It's like 'would of', it shows that the person using it doesn't have a grasp of the concept of a verb.
No, just no.
We should never stop learning and we should be told when we are wrong.
Believe it or not, we don't all live our lives through text messages.
One of my faves is 'Grocerery's' which was at a petrol station.
Also the one for a school in Liverpool which has a massive banner stating:- 'Achievements is good.....'
That's always tricky though, isn't it? It's like when you hear someone use a non-existent word. Do you tell them or not? I know someone who regularly says boughten instead of bought and paided instead of paid. When I've corrected other such words he says I'm humiliating him, so...
My local TK Max has a sign above the stairs leading to the first floor.
MENS KIDS HOME
No, but most of the youngsters of today do just that, noses buried in their iphones as they wander home aimlessly from school; 'tis they who are the main culprits and 'tis they who may, one day, force the Oxford Dictionary to include of as a variation!
I don't like the mis-use of of either but English is a living, breathing, dynamic language and I love it.
E & OE
Also spelling/saying "discusting" instead of disgusting. Drives me nuts>:(
Aargh, it makes me want to kill kittens!
So, I'm guilty of that one.
'Well' and 'indeed' are another of my sentence starters, along with 'and' and 'because'.