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
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The Thread To End All Grammar Mistakes (hopefully)
sad to say that one good knock to the head and it was gone, I even took writing classes but now I don't remember any of it.
