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Pronunciation shares a kinship with grammar. How about the words 'realtor' and 'nuclear'?
Realtor is a two syllable word...Real-tor......many people pronounced it as three syllables...Real-A-tor. Nuclear is often pronounced NEW-KEY-LAR....but the correct pronunciation is Nuke-le-ar.
Carter and Bush for some reason couldn't say it "nuclear" correctly. People are funny that way. Oh yeah, there were one or two others, but I don't remember off hand, who...
OK, I did a little Googling and found that Eisenhower and Clinton had also mangled the word.
Pronunciation shares a kinship with grammar. How about the words 'realtor' and 'nuclear'?
Realtor is a two syllable word...Real-tor......many people pronounced it as three syllables...Real-A-tor. Nuclear is often pronounced NEW-KEY-LAR....but the correct pronunciation is Nuke-le-ar.
Here's another similar one--athletic pronounced as ath-a-let-ic rather than ath-let-ic.
I know Bush couldn't enunciate the word but I find it hard to believe about Carter since he had a degree in nuclear physics
I am not sure both weren't affectations designed for popular appeal. The American people are most comfortable with a leader who sounds as dumb as they are. (If he's a she, however, and she pulls that, she's stereotyped; they like her less. Try and fathom the public mind.)
My hope is that this will NOT be a hater thread nor will it be someplace to simply make fun of others. It occurs to me more and more everyday that not all of us are from this country nor are we far along in our respective educational careers. So I encourage all of you to post examples of COMMON mistakes that may help others out. I do not claim to be any special resource on the english language but there are things I have observed to be wrong and I would like to create this forum for identifying those errors. I always consult dictionary.com when unsure of spellings.
*There is a difference between their, they're and there. Jaydub's thread illustrates this point very effectively.
*Not everything is pronounced/said correctly in day to day conversation thusly leading people to “spell as it sounds†and inevitably spell wrong.
- Supposedly not supposively or supposably
- I couldn't care less as in there is no way you could care any less. Therefore "I could care less" is incorrect.
- "For all intents and purposes" is a phrase you use when you are referring to something that is accepted/assumed for a certain situation as true/fact. The purposes are therefore not intensive and there is no such phrase as "for all intensive purposes"
* For all intents and purposes :eyebrows:, semicolons are used to interject an incomplete sentence into a complete one without using and or but. There really is no other use despite how I love to use them. Here's an example:
I went to that restaurant yesterday and had the big ass Angus burger with bacon; it was delicious.
*Apostrophes seem to always be misused
- when a letter is left out of a word to form a "slang" version an apostrophe is used in its place (Hey y’all, I had a tough time gettin' 'em to fit 'n there)
- it's = it is ... not belonging to it (see good example in sentence above)
- when it comes to a series of things, an apostrophe is NOT used no matter what people say. I screwed this up for years until I got blasted on an initial draft of my masters thesis (1990s, EPs, 50s........1990’s, EP’s, and 50’s is incorrect)
- Someone told me yesterday that the plural of Chipotle is Chipotle's and that any word that ended in a vowel will use an 'S when you pluralize it. After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I punched him in the face. Don't make me punch you in the face too.
*when you refer to a single item, the general rule is an “an†is placed in front of words beginning with a vowel sound (A,E,I,O,U) and an “a†is placed in front of words beginning with a consonant sound
- I bought AN egg off at A store and then drank A coke as I drove home in AN ephatch pimp-ass ride.
* Just because 3/4 of people use the term "Daylight Saving[SIZE=5]S[/SIZE] time," does not mean it is correct.
- Daylight Saving Time....you heard me, saving, not savings....go ahead, look it up.
* Have you ever sold anything on Ebay? Ever gone to the store Big Lots? Ever parked in a parking lot? If the answer is yes to any of those, then you hopefully know what "a lot" is. There is no such word as "alot".
This is all I feel to type at work. I will update this as crimes against grammar occur
Wow, for someone who wants to end all grammar errors, you should have proof read your post. Semicolons are not used to interject an incomplete sentece into a complete sentence. Even in your example, both are actually COMPLETE sentences. A semicolon is used for two independant clauses not connected by a conjunction. You have three choices.
I ate the big burger. It was delicious. (Two complete sentences)
I ate the big burger, and it was delicious (comma and conjunction)
I ate the big burger; it was delicious (Two independent clauses).
Wow, for someone who wants to end all grammar errors, you should have proofread your post. Semicolons are not used to interject an incomplete sentence into a complete sentence. Even in your example, both are actually COMPLETE sentences. A semicolon is used for two independent clauses not connected by a conjunction. You have three choices:
I think one thing people often mix up, myself included, is when to use "than" and when to use "then." "Than" is used when comparing two things, such as, "Timmy is taller than Jimmy." "Then" is used to indicate order, such as, "I drove to the store, then I drove to work."
I do have a couple of questions, however. When using single quotations marks (apostrophes?) to denote sarcasm or colloquial word use, is it appropriate to place the final single quotation mark after or before a period or comma in a sentence? I would assume that it would go after, but it just looks wrong to me.
Example: To combat their addiction to reality television, some people have organized so-called 'self-help groups,' but I don't think it makes any sense.
Versus: To combat their addiction to reality television, some people have organized so-called 'self-help groups', but I don't think it makes any sense.
Which brings me to my next question: What is the appropriate convention for hyphenating words? In my previous sentence, it seems that both "so-called" and "self-help" should be hyphenated, but I'm not sure why, or even if it is technically correct.
thEn refers to timE. Do this, then that.
thAn refers to Another thing. I like this better than that.
I've always found an easy way to remember how to proceed: which follows a comma!
The apple which is on the table...WRONG!
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