43 Embarrassing Grammar Mistakes Even Smart People Make

[jme]

@jme, I and me has been mentioned several times. It was in the initial list and I mentioned it also in post #7.

All due praises to you Luanne..... I know you're a stickler for these things like I am, so let's remain warriors for proper grammar.

I indeed missed your mention of the prepositions. I guess I was more concerned with not only mentioning it,
but also providing the tutorial (all revolutions must start somewhere)
so people might understand and use the correct phraseology.
When I read the thread's list, post by post, I did scan your comment too quickly, and mentally only noted the your and you're sentence...
I hate that substitution, so it jumped off the page at me, enough to make me miss your second point about the prepositions.

Anyway, I also abhor the your/you're misunderstanding.....
People should know that your is forever possessive, and you're is short for you are.

Although I genuinely believe many people make that mistake without knowing the correct usage, I also believe that many
younger people (and now older ones too) are simply lazy and substitute your for you're, when texting for example,
which makes sense to shorten the message.
But I am quite tired of making that concession, so I don't mind speaking out too, just to remind people who might actually think
that your means you're.
I believe that the practice has unfortunately taken a firm hold, and now people don't remember what is correct.

Thx................I mean Thanks

 

[GetawaysRus]

Since this thread is still going, I'll mention another thing that hurts my ears. Many English speakers massacre the subjunctive tense and use "was" instead of "were." I suppose that I really only know about this from studying French in high school, where I first learned about the subjunctive.

An example: If I were your wife, I would put poison in your coffee. [Attributed to Lady Astor, speaking to Winston Churchill]

Many people will say (incorrectly): If I was your wife...

I forgive people for their grammatical sins. English is a difficult language.

 

[cman]

#3 on the list is the one that triggers me. All my life I've been taught that "irregardless" is not a word. Whenever I used it, my teachers would put a line through it with that red pen. I even corrected my kids when they did it. But guess what, Merriam- Webster, just this year, has decided it was a word. I refuse to accept this. LOL. I'm in open revolt against the grammar police. I will continue to cringe whenever I hear it and will not allow that word to be spoken in my house. .

Definition of IRREGARDLESS

regardless… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

 

[cissy]

Although not a grammatical error, I really dislike the new pronunciation of often when the t is pronounced. I wonder how long it will be before everyone starts saying k-nife.

 

[WVBaker]

And of course we have....

Americans speak English differently across the US

The pronunciation of "caramel" starts disregarding vowels once you go west of the Ohio River.

Americans can't even agree on how to pronounce crayon.

The South is the only place where you'll try to call your "law-yer" instead of your "loyer."

The South is also really into slaw. The North and West call it coleslaw.

We are a nation divided over mayonnaise.

When it comes to the pronunciation of the word "pajamas," the red zone (the South and East Coast) pronounce it like "father." The rest of the country, though, says the second vowel of the word as "jam."

Everyone pronounces "pecan pie" differently.

People in the Northeast Corridor put "sear-up" on their pancakes.

Massachusetts, Long Island, and Jersey in particular hear a difference between Merry, Mary, and marry.

22 fascinating maps that show how Americans speak English differently across the US

In a series of maps originally published by Josh Katz, take a look at the regional accents that make American English so interesting.

www.businessinsider.com

Which leads us to...

A Harvard linguist reveals the most misused words in English

A Harvard linguist reveals the most misused words in English

Harvard linguist Steve Pinsker says "disinterested" does not mean "uninterested," and you've been lying on your couch, not laying.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[AnnaS]

The difference between who and whom is that one is the subject and one is the object. A comparison would be the difference between I and me, he and him, or we and us.

As for whose and who's, whose belongs to "who" (or "whom"). For instance, Whose jacket is this. OTOH, who's is a contraction for who is. For example, Who's (who is) coming to the store with me?

Thank you. I understand the whose explanation - the whom- I have had it explained to me more than once. I just don't use whom

Considering I started to learn the English language in the 4th grade, I do okay/fine. I was learning kindergarten work from an excellent teacher who took the time during her own time to teach me. I think I do okay.

I know I do better than my own kids (grammar) who were born here and many other kids and adults. I try - there will always be grammar police. I don't mind learning. Just like to be corrected properly and nicely.

 

[rickandcindy23]

https://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-...1600454587&sprefix=eats+shoots,aps,188&sr=8-1

If you are a true lover of the English language and find humor in a lot of what you see or hear, this is a book that just tickled me. I laughed out loud while reading it, and Rick just stared at me. I told him he should read it, and he said, "No, I know I wouldn't laugh at that book." But really, so funny. Even the cover of the book is hilarious. Punctuation and spelling are everything.

 

[isisdave]

>>For example, In TUG member photos, many post a photo of spouse and self, and write, "This is my hubby and I"
or "My hubby and I" or "My DW and I" as the caption for the photo.
WRONG!!!!!!!! It should be "This is my hubby and me" or "This is my DW and me". (Not "This is my hubby" AND "this is I".) <<

No, no, no! These are CORRECT, this is just another example of things used wrongly so often that they now sound correct. And in fact, I'd guess we see "hubby and me" far more often.

In "This is my hubby and I", "hubby" and "I" are predicate nominatives and so must be (not surprisingly) in the nominative case. "This is I" is also correct for the same reason.
"Who killed Cock Robin?" "It was I!!!" The verb "to be" never takes an object, only predicate nominatives and predicate adjectives.

If "hubby" was the object of a transitive verb, or of a preposition, or an indirect object, then the pronoun would be in the objective case (almost typed "accusative" -- more Latin creeping in). "The desk clerk welcomed hubby and me." "They served hubby and me (or us) some delicious tangerines."

 

[isisdave]

On Morning Edition today, I heard "underlining condition" when "underlying" was meant; I think it was just a misreading of the script. I mean I hope it was.

 

[rickandcindy23]

We don't learn much about direct object in English classes, but if you bilingual, you probably understand the use of I and me better than others. I make those mistakes sometimes. I am not perfect at English, just because I have that degree.

Another misuse of a word is whom vs. who. Whom is the direct object. "Do not ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee." "To whom were you speaking?" Sounds rather English proper and not American casual.

 

[LannyPC]

Although I genuinely believe many people make that mistake without knowing the correct usage, I also believe that many
younger people (and now older ones too) are simply lazy and substitute your for you're, when texting for example,
which makes sense to shorten the message.

How about when they put "ur" for your or you're?

 

[LannyPC]

In "This is my hubby and I", "hubby" and "I" are predicate nominatives and so must be (not surprisingly) in the nominative case. "This is I" is also correct for the same reason.
"Who killed Cock Robin?" "It was I!!!" The verb "to be" never takes an object, only predicate nominatives and predicate adjectives.

Another misuse of a word is whom vs. who. Whom is the direct object. "Do not ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee." "To whom were you speaking?" Sounds rather English proper and not American casual.

I totally agree with these statements but that just shows a problem with English today. Do you speak proper English using proper grammar rules but sound foreign, weird, and not understandable to
the average person or do you speak American casual with its many errors but sound normal and understandable?

 

[LannyPC]

- the whom- I have had it explained to me more than once. I just don't use whom.

Believe me, you're not the only one. As someone pointed out in an earlier post, the word whom seems to be fading from everyday English literature and conversation.

 

[LannyPC]

The pronunciation of "caramel" starts disregarding vowels once you go west of the Ohio River.

It's kind of funny. I remember watching an episode of Jeopardy many years ago. The answer (or question) was "caramel", but in the clue, it specifically said "Make sure you pronounce all three syllables and all seven letters."

 

[LannyPC]

But guess what, Merriam- Webster, just this year, has decided it was a word.

I actually find that updated M-W and other online dictionaries are adding definitions and pronunciations that are historically wrong but making them "right" due to the general use and acceptability
of these words.

Here's one example that's very applicable here on TUG. We see newbies advertise in the Bargain Deals section that they want to give away their every other year (or biennial) TS, yet they advertise it as a biannual (meaning twice per year) TS. Modern dictionaries are now defining biannual as meaning either 1) twice per year or 2) every two years.

 

[dioxide45]

Although not a grammatical error, I really dislike the new pronunciation of often when the t is pronounced. I wonder how long it will be before everyone starts saying k-nife.

Huh? How is pronouncing the T a new way to pronounce "often"? That is how I have pronounced it my entire life. I don't pronounce "Often" like "Coffin" just without the C. I didn't know anyone did that.

 

[buzglyd]

And not one mention of people who say Supposably when they mean Supposedly. Make me go insane.

 

[controller1]

Huh? How is pronouncing the T a new way to pronounce "often"? That is how I have pronounced it my entire life. I don't pronounce "Often" like "Coffin" just without the C. I didn't know anyone did that.

I've never pronounced the "t" in "often". The differences are probably due to where one was raised and educated.

From the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

 

[Luanne]

I've never pronounced the "t" in "often". The differences are probably due to where one was raised and educated.

From the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

View attachment 26686

I've always pronounced the t in often, but not in soften or hasten.

 

[Glynda]

I've always pronounced the t in often, but not in soften or hasten.

Me too.

 

[PcflEZFlng]

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.

 

[Tank]

It’s funny the things that bother one person or the other. It’s not a big deal, only in ones own mind. Keep it to yourself.
If you know what one is saying that’s all that matters.
So you have better grammar, big deal. Taking the time correcting / pointing out is ridiculous. We all have strong points , and week.

I’m horrible with grammar, one guy on our HICV websight corrects people if they put HIVC instead of HICV, come on, I’ll do it on purpose just because,
I guess I’m the ass.

It’s just One of those Things, like extra noise eating your food to some, or putting currency not in the same direction, so what.

Example
My wife and I were the volunteer kids party coordinators for our housing community for years. Christmas coming, I sent a letter out about a month before to sign up the kids, age, sex with a cutoff date about 10 days before the party so “Santa” has time to make all the gifts and wrap them up for the party. It’s a lot of work and when something is free they come out of the woodwork. Of coarse you get late entries, that’s ok, but I got one notice back 4 days before the party with 6 grandkids on the list with RED marker corrections on my sign up sheet. No scribbled apology’s for the late notice ( shopping and wrapping was already done) Late is my peeve, but I went back out , picked up those last gifts. Took the fun out of it. I never forgot that, and I never had a lick of respect for her again after that.

I’m sure I have mistakes on here, but your not going to teach a old dog a new trick, just going to make him bight


Dave

 

[controller1]

It’s funny the things that bother one person or the other. It’s not a big deal, only in ones own mind. Keep it to yourself.
If you know what one is saying that’s all that matters.
So you have better grammar, big deal. Taking the time correcting / pointing out is ridiculous. We all have strong points , and week.

I’m horrible with grammar, one guy on our HICV websight corrects people if they put HIVC instead of HICV, come on, I’ll do it on purpose just because,
I guess I’m the ass.

It’s just One of those Things, like extra noise eating your food to some, or putting currency not in the same direction, so what.

Example
My wife and I were the volunteer kids party coordinators for our housing community for years. Christmas coming, I sent a letter out about a month before to sign up the kids, age, sex with a cutoff date about 10 days before the party so “Santa” has time to make all the gifts and wrap them up for the party. It’s a lot of work and when something is free they come out of the woodwork. Of coarse you get late entries, that’s ok, but I got one notice back 4 days before the party with 6 grandkids on the list with RED marker corrections on my sign up sheet. No scribbled apology’s for the late notice ( shopping and wrapping was already done) Late is my peeve, but I went back out , picked up those last gifts. Took the fun out of it. I never forgot that, and I never had a lick of respect for her again after that.

I’m sure I have mistakes on here, but your not going to teach a old dog a new trick, just going to make him bight


Dave

There are certainly things that bother me in grammar but I would never correct someone's grammar. I don't think anyone in this thread is advocating that nor is the thread's purpose to suggest we do such.

 

[Quiet Pine]

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

For years, the correct way is '80s. The long form is 1980s, but we often replace the century with an apostrophe, so '80s.

I'm aware of supermarket express lanes that say "Fewer than 8 items" instead of the incorrect "Less than 8 items."

I have ancestors who lived in Wethersfield, CT (named for a town in England). Wethers are castrated male sheep & a town might designate common land for grazing.

 

[rickandcindy23]

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.