32 Most Commonly Misused Words And Phrases (sentence, grammar, quote)

[Niftybergin]

Originally Posted by Mainer61

The other day I heard someone say, "I have a photogenic memory." Believe it or not, I kept a straight face.

You made me think of this:
"Left hand, right hand, it doesn't matter. I'm amphibious."
-Charles Shackleford of the NCSU basketball team

[Radrook]

I recently encountered these two gems:

I was shook

I had did

[pvande55]

Your tax dollars at work: I saw an announcement by the "Village of Elk Grove Village' IL and in New Jersey I saw a municipal truck marked "City of Atlantic City."

[SXMGirl]

I work with several people who use the word Ideal instead of Idea. Drives me crazy. Since we are public high school teachers, I always worry that students will use Idea incorrectly and how they will be judged in the workplace.

[Niftybergin]

Originally Posted by pvande55

in New Jersey I saw a municipal truck marked "City of Atlantic City."

That totally makes sense to me. It's a city named "Atlantic City." Now, I live in Charlotte. That's it. That's the name. It would be weird to see a truck marked "City of Charlotte City." But "City of Atlantic City" is not weird at all. (Not to me, at any rate.)

[Authentic Bird]

Always, I forget spelling of exercise
when I want to write it, I begin with : excersize

Maybe, I need to put it under my name.

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by Authentic Bird

Always, I forget spelling of exercise
when I want to write it, I begin with : excersize

Maybe, I need to put it under my name.

I remember how to spell it, I just don't remember to DO it!

[Drover]

Originally Posted by pvande55

Your tax dollars at work: I saw an announcement by the "Village of Elk Grove Village' IL and in New Jersey I saw a municipal truck marked "City of Atlantic City."

The ultimate winner of the Needlessly Redundant Municipal Names contest is "The City of Iowa City, Iowa" as the heading on their website proudly proclaims.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by JustJulia

It's correct, as is "He's taller than I." The first uses "me" as the direct object of the preposition "than," and the second implies "am" ("He's taller than I [am]"). It's matter of personal style.

You might be thinking of phrases such as, "She likes ice cream better than me," which is correct if one means that she likes ice cream better than she likes me. "She likes ice cream better than I" would be correct if one means she likes ice cream better than I like ice cream.

In this case, "He's taller than I" is the correct usage (although few people say this anymore). He is not taller than me, since me can't be taller than anyone.

[theatergypsy]

I was taught that if you can complete the sentence, i.e. "he is taller than I (am tall)" it's correct. No one would say, "he is taller than me (am tall)".

And in the case of "John and I" vs. "John and me" - "The taxi took John and me to the station" or "The taxi took John and I to the station" Would you say, if traveling solo, "The taxi took I to the station"?