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43 Embarrassing Grammar Mistakes Even Smart People Make

WVBaker

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Like it or not, words, spelling, and punctuation can leave a lasting impression on others. But even the most educated people often unknowingly make these common flubs.



Come to think of it, I've always called it a Hot Water Heater. :ponder:
 

LannyPC

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Come to think of it, I've always called it a Hot Water Heater. :ponder:

Somebody pointed that out to me too, From then on, I've always called it a water heater. BTW, I wouldn't call it a grammar mistake. I would maybe call it a redundancy.
 

dioxide45

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Not sure I agree with this one. I think it depends on where you are when saying it;

7. Emigrated to
"Emigrate" and "from" always go together, as do "immigrate" and "to." To emigrate is to come from somewhere, and to immigrate is to go to somewhere. "Colin emigrated from Ireland to the United States" means the same as "Colin immigrated to the United States from Ireland."

If someone is saying it in Ireland. Saying "Colin emigrated to the United States" should be fine. You shouldn't have to say "from Ireland" to make it correct since the person is in Ireland. Being in Ireland it is assumed it would be from Ireland.
 

LannyPC

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"So, if you use the correct version you'll sound intelligent to the grammarians of the world but you risk alienating a certain percentage of people who will not understand your meaning. " (point #39).

That's the problem I personally find in the English language today. The dilemma: Do you use correct grammar and pronunciation and sound unintelligible or do you use everyday grammar and vernacular (although incorrect) and be easily understood?
 

LannyPC

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"I" as the last word in a sentence. (point #4).

Actually, "I" can be used as the last word in a sentence when making a comparison. For example "You are smarter than I."
I realize that most people would say "You are smarter than me," but using "I" would be short for (and in this case, correct) " You are smarter than I am."
 

Luanne

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The incorrect use of I and me is one that drives me nuts. I did learn to check (as in #4) by removing the other person's name out of the sentence and see if your personal pronoun choice still sounds right.

The other thing that bugs me is the incorrect your of your and you're, when written.
 

LannyPC

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The other thing that bugs me is the incorrect your of your and you're, when written.

For example: "If you want to spend $100,000 on a car, that's your business and (your/you're) right to do so." There are two totally different meanings here.
 

Luanne

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For example: "If you want to spend $100,000 on a car, that's your business and (your/you're) right to do so." There are two totally different meanings here.
True. But I wasn't talking about something like that. I meant something like '"Your going to the store".
 

Talent312

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In the vernacular --
... should'a, could'a, would'a,
.
.
 

isisdave

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Don't we have this thread annually or so? Still it's one of my favorites. It's very daring to write articles like this, as you have to get everything right or bear the scorn of a few readers.

I rather like "nip it in the butt."

Number 28 and 36 are changing; there is an increasing use of plural pronouns to avoid ones that connote gender. I wonder how long until we have to capitalize "Them" (as in Black and White) when used this way. Although I understand this, and often write s/he or (s)he, there is really no way to do this orally (except by saying "he or she"), and I still find it jarring.

And apparently, "literally" has been misused so badly and so long that the wrong meaning is now officially acceptable. See #4.

I gave up on 4 and 5 when my kid was in high school. No amount of correction was going to do it. And it's so easy. But it's another one that must be officially correct by now. Same with "to beg the question."

Most of these are actually errors of usage, not grammar, so: "escape goat" "card shark" "unphased." And how did "all intensive purposes" evade this list?
 

CalGalTraveler

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Ha. Great list! A foreword in a book is often mixed up with Forward, Foreward, and Fourword.

I often mix up the apostrophes 80s vs. 80's, CEOs vs. CEO's.
 

Luanne

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Ha. Great list! A foreword in a book is often mixed up with Forward, Foreward, and Fourword.

I often mix up the apostrophes 80s vs. 80's, CEOs vs. CEO's.
I always think the rule is to use an apostrophe when it's a contraction or a possessive. But I know I use them incorrectly all the time.
 

Eric B

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This one is a bit irritating:

40. Eccetera
Pronounce "etcetera" exactly how it is spelled. Lots of people bristle when a speaker drops the "t."

It's really two words, "et" and "cetera" that have the meanings "and" (for "et") and ("the rest" - by implication "of similar things") in Latin. If you follow the suggestion here and pronounce it as a single word, not only are you substituting a high falutin 50 cent phrase for the simple 5 cent English phrase "and so forth," but you're doing it wrong (as many do with 50 cent words and phrases). That kind of makes me feel like the years of Latin I took in high school were a waste.

Of course, there is a diametrically opposed issue - the word "eccetera" is perfectly acceptable in Italian when pronounced with a hard "ch" for the "cc" part of the word and has the same meaning. Having lived in Italy for 4 years, I'm quite happy with people pronouncing it that way and don't consider it an embarrassing grammar mistake. If you try to pronounce it with an "x" for the "cc" though, I will get irritated.....
 

Eric B

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I always think the rule is to use an apostrophe when it's a contraction or a possessive. But I know I use them incorrectly all the time.

The word "it's" is the one exception to this rule for possessives that I know of; the apostrophe there always indicates the contraction.
 

Eric B

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Luanne

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The word "it's" is the one exception to this rule for possessives that I know of; the apostrophe there always indicates the contraction.
Maybe I'm not understanding your statement, but what about word like that's, or what's. Don't those apostrophes always indicate the contraction?
 

Eric B

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Maybe I'm not understanding your statement, but what about word like that's, or what's. Don't those apostrophes always indicate the contraction?

They do, but they generally never indicate the possessive (i.e., something belonging to "that" or "what"). With the pronoun "it" the possessive is "its" rather than "it's".

 

isisdave

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Apostrophes are used in possessive forms of nouns, but not pronouns.
A Latin teacher told us that it represents the "i" in the genitive form of many third-declension nouns (doctor, doctoris, etc.) but I don't know if that was just his opinion.
And now I know why I can't remember where my glasses are. Too much of stuff like the above still stuck in there, fifty years later.
 

DeniseM

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You know what I'm hearing a lot of lately, even on the news - people swallowing the hard "d's" and "t's" in the middle of words.

button becomes bu-un
didn't becomes di-nt

Annoying...
 

Luanne

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You know what I'm hearing a lot of lately, even on the news - people swallowing the hard "d's" and "t's" in the middle of words.

button becomes bu-un
didn't becomes di-nt

Annoying...
That drives me nuts too. There is a local news commentator who does this. Grating.
 

SmithOp

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If we are discussing pronunciation, every sportscaster that puts a T in Wimbledon grates on my nerves.


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LannyPC

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You know what I'm hearing a lot of lately, even on the news - people swallowing the hard "d's" and "t's" in the middle of words.

Annoying...

Or when people just can't seem to say "going to" and must shorten it to "gonna".
 

LannyPC

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Most of these are actually errors of usage, not grammar, so: "escape goat" "card shark" "unphased." And how did "all intensive purposes" evade this list?

Yes, and a lot of them are just using the wrong homonym such as peak vs. pique, should've vs. should of, or bated vs. baited.
 
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