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43 Embarrassing Grammar Mistakes Even Smart People Make

controller1

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I was taught by some pretty great professors that picking over grammar and word pronunciation is ethnocentric and wrong. So I don't pick over it. Even in grading composition papers, I was taught to overlook some errors to keep the kids' self esteem high. But did it help them as they went on to college?

The pronunciation of "often" is regional, just like not pronouncing the letter r in Bar Harbor. Who would say that someone in Maine was wrong to not pronounce the letter r? Pretty silly.

My only disagreement with what you said is when it is a work product. For years I was the signatory responsible for SEC filings and review of press releases. I sent numerous documents back for revision due to grammar errors. At times it does matter.
 

Luanne

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I don't say the word "often" very often (oh-oh, see what happened there?), but when I do, I omit the 't'. I hear it spoken more often (there it is again!) without the 't', so maybe it's more of a west-of-the-Mississippi thing.
I'm from CA and I pronounce the t, except when I don't.
 

rapmarks

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Totally agree! And another is effect and affect. I did a quiz on these two once, all of the various uses of the two words, and I was completely confused by the end of the quiz. I failed. And I have a degree in English. So embarrassing.

I make a lot of mistakes, both in punctuation and grammar, when I write, some of which I am oblivious, and I just have to forgive myself. Just sayin'. :)
And one professor explained the confusion by using Thorndike’s Law, which says learn the two at the same time and you will get them confused forever.
 

rapmarks

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Elementary and complementary
I have a friend that accents the tar syllable, and pronounced it to rhyme with care. it sounds weird to me.
 
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VegasBella

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The thing is, if a lot of people do this, then it's not actually embarrassing. Logic matters too, not just grammar.

That said, I have a sad story about my most frustrating grammar interaction. My dog was dying and we were at the vet. My normal vet was out and this was a vet I didn't know. I was asking about giving him more steroids because they made a big improvement last time. I was asking, "Can we just give him more steroids to buy some more time?" and she kept saying no and I kept asking why and she was explaining risk of Diabetes from steroids. I was getting more and more frustrated with her, explaining that long term side effects of steroids are not an issue here, he is dying and I just want more time. She was adamant, no more steroids for my dog. And then she said, "We always want to just give the least effective dose." Internally I burst. She MEANT 'lowest effective dose' but she was too stupid to get it right. She repeated it over and over and I just grew angrier an angrier. Eventually she did give him some steroids but they didn't help and he died the next day. So she was right to withhold them, but if she had communicated better it would have made things easier. She's on my list to never ever see again, I hate her.
 

rickandcindy23

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Yes, one I hear often! Also, it's jewelry, not jewlery.
In my Nature of Language class, Dr. Register didn't like my phonetic spelling of jewelry because to me, it's two syllables. Joolry would be a better pronunciation for me. I thought she was quite ridiculous to mark that one as wrong because it's a pronunciation that I use. So she was teaching that we are ethnocentric with our language, which is wrong to be that way, and on the other hand, she wouldn't count my phonetic spelling as correct for me. It was the only one I got wrong.

Funny how these things stick with you, even decades later.
 
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controller1

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Yes, one I hear often! Also, it's jewelry, not jewlery.

Yes, and when one needs additional people to help one should send in the "cavalry" not send in the "calvary". A little bit of difference in those meanings!
 

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Supposedly, the preferred English pronunciation is "fort" but both are in most dictionaries, and I don't believe I have EVER heard anyone else pronounce it "fort." In fact, I get blank stares if I do that, so I've switched to "strength" or "strong point."

Incidentally, the preferred English pronunciation of pianoforte, Italian origin or not, is -fort -- but again, dictionaries are not holding the line on this! Piano-forty? Gimme a break!

"Whom" is on the endangered list. Even when used correctly, it's starting to sound "wrong," especially in questions and indirect uses. For example: "He wondered whom he should tell." Anyone who spent four years or more diagramming sentences will recognize that the object of "wondered" is the subordinate clause "he should tell whom" -- but it is so rarely spoken, let alone written this way, it sounds odd to me.
My husband insists on using "fort" and I cringe every time, because it sounds as if he doesn't know how to pronounce it!
 

Quiet Pine

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There's also "try to do something" vs. "try and do something." The 1st is correct, but I'm told the 2nd is an idiom and shouldn't make me cringe.
 

normab

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I used to get memos where people used the phrase “as per” instead or “per”. Once a boss corrected my usage. :eek: The same boss who would take my perfectly good sentences and turn them into run-on sentences.:wall: Really? I learned grammar from nuns....lol...

I also have seen people write “repoire” instead of “rapport“.

One more that comes to mind... “supposively” instead of “supposedly”.
 
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