(did you catch that?)
Here are the most misused words/phrases I encounter when reading blogs or living my life:
Regardless vs Irregardless: Regardless means just that. Without regard. When used in a sentence: "I'm going to eat that Double Double, regardless of the saturated fat content." The prefix ir- is a negative prefix. Adding it to regardless is making a double negative, so if you're going to use it, use it ironically and let the double negatives flow.
Without further ado vs adieu: The definition of 'ado' is fluff / hubbub / crap. Shakespeare's "Much ado about nothing" could easily be rewritten as "A lot of crap about nothing" and it would still have the same feel. Oh wait, they redid that in the 90's and made Seinfeld. My bad. 'Adieu' means goodbye. Does "without further goodbye" make any sense? I think not.
Criteria: The singular form of criteria is criterion. If you only have one criteria, you probably say octopuses as well (oh, and spellcheck didn't catch that one... hmm...)
Ensure vs Insure: One is a drink for old people, and a guarantee of sorts. Another is so easy a caveman can do it. Can you tell which is which?
Easy ones like to/too/two and they're/there/their still happen all too commonly. These mistakes not only happen in blogs, but in major print. When I'm reading USA Today or even the local paper, I want to go into a rage-fit when I see these mistakes.
Who vs Whom is one of my favorites, and a hard fight to fight. Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee. If you're writing about an object (the bell that tolls) you use whom. If you're writing about a subject, like The Lone Ranger, you would say "Who was that masked man?" Get it? No? Ugh...
I bet my composition teacher would smile if she had the chance to read my blog. I'd probably get a solid B or B+. I fragment a lot, and type the way I talk, but still do an overall good job.
What grammar mistakes do YOU see often? Feel free to sound off and comment below...
...and feel free to point out any errors I made in this post...
35 witty retorts:
The whole they're/their thing really irks me - I have a fucking mental breakdown if I see I'm ever guilty of that typo - AAACCCKKKK.
The other one that annoys me is when people spell alot instead of a lot.
Muthas!
ahhhh, I see what you did there in the second sentience.
Nice post!
I don't claim to be a grammar Nazi cause I misuse so much shit that it's ridicules. BTW, I love the head banger. Reminds me of a Nazi from work who hated when I used ... in my email sentences. It used to really piss her off ... I loved it.
Their/They're mix ups drive me nuts. And this is different but in the same vein, can we as a society agree to stop substituting "z" for "s" in wordz as marketing gimmicks or to make things seem edgy somehow? It didn't work with Boyz to Men and it's not working 20 years later.
By the way, I payed homage to you in pickle form over on my blog. Hope you like it.
I am guilty of making these mistakes :)
Reminds of one fwd I received long long ago. Love the mistakes.
Funny mistakes that kick Shakesphere's grave
I also hate it when people misuse words; in fact it literally makes my molars explode.
The classic your/you're mix-up. I can't believe people miss that.
I'd probably get full marks for run-on sentences & comma abuse, myself.
I can never keep the who/whom one straight, but I'm down with all the others. Irregardless is a gangster word.
"... you killed my father, prepare to die!"
A woman I used to work with once stopped me, looked around to see if anyone else was listening, and then whispered, "There sure are a lot of oxymorons working at this place!"
I didn't even start to explain it to her... just let the "thunderous silence" overwhelm me...
All of these are bad, but I think "irregardless" is the one most likely to make you look like an uneducated hillbilly.
My favorite thing, while only mildly related, is how hard it is for people to spell grammar. I love when people call someone out for bad 'grammer,' only to make themselves look like an idiot as well.
One grammar Nazi to another - thank you for this. One little thing though. You said "besides the point" when it really should be "beside the point". :-D
I fragment a lot too.
Another one that irks me is incorrect use of the apostrophe.
It may not be a grammatical error but those who use a comma before the word and. I guess I just don't like that one.
contextualization is a real word... sweet.
@Gucci: You caught the error, but you missed the humor. That was intentional, which is why the snark in parentheses is there. Good catch though!
Oh. Fail.
I type how I talk so I over use the comma sometimes. I tryyy to catch myself. I do. I know I often use wrong words in order to finish something too.
I hate their and they're, your and you're, but one that really bothers me, despite the fact that I do it by accident sometimes myself, is the people who don't catch then and than. I mean I do it occasionally, but someone who discards then as a word and just always uses than is enough for me to explode.
Also, people who don't capitalize their I's in posts. When I'm just chatting or whatever, it slips, but something like a blog post with such an obvious mistake really grinds my gears.
Brandon. What drives me crazy is when men wear socks with sandals. WTF is up with that?
Also, my head is ready to explode when I next hear the word "awesome". [And since the grammar fuzzi (fuzzes?) are here, would somebody please help me determine where the period goes to end that last sentence?]
FUCK RICK PERRY!
I love me a grammar nazi. (See what I did there?)
Peeves:
- Your vs. You're
- Affect vs. Effect
- I HATE when people use the subject "I" incorrectly after a preposition, when it should be used in the objective form i.e. "This thing between you and I." Shudder. It should be "This thing between you and me."
As someone who suffers from word blindness I can assure you this makes me so happy – so much anger caused by poor usage of words…sadly my editor eradicates most of my best indiscretions…
I love grammar. I like to think of it as math for word-geeks. And I've studied it carefully yet I will likely never fully grasp all the rules. And sometimes I actually love breaking the rules I know well. [Note that the two previous sentences both start with conjunctions.) I also love it when people care so much about it. Like you. [sentence fragment]
to,too,two; there,their,they're; are,our,hour; your, you're ahhhh!
Great post! All too true!
I use irregardless constantly to annoy a friend of mine. hehe. It's a bit of an inside joke. Grammar has never been a strength of mine but I hate when I see your/you're, there/they're/their, and too/to/two misused. Even I can get those right so there really is no excuse.
LOVE the grammar nazi cat!
I'm a grammar nazi IRL when it comes to important docs or reports but not so much here in the blogger world. It's all for lulz and stuff anyways.
Well personally and usually, I'm a bit of a 'grammar anarchist'. However, I'm on this campaign to add a bit of 'colour' to your lives by getting our American friends to spell in English, English :)
Have a peaceful, positive weekend.
Gary
I'm annoyed by the classics: too and to and there and they're.
Hey Dude, I've been reading this blog for a while now, great job by the way. I work with someone who wrote something out in an E-mail which she asked me to proof read
She had used the word "being" instead of "been", I explained to her that it should be spelt BEEN, her response "well it means the same thing doesn't it?" Err, No it doesn't actually. Myself and some other colleagues tried to explain to this 40+ person why it should be spelt the way I told her, I really don't think she gets it yet.
Thanks for the great post, like you in my blog I probably use commas way to much.
@Martyv25: Spelt?
...
who wants to take this one?
=P
Actually, "spelt" is technically okay; I'm guessing Marty is English or Australian.
"Myself and some other colleagues..." is making my brain seize though.
A lot of people correct me (including you) on the ado and adieu thing, but honestly I just think it looks pretty so I keep using it. I suck ass with prepositions too.
being a grammar police nazi used to be cool in middle school, but now it's just like... wtf i dunt curr anymoar.
@Lost.in.Idaho, "Spelt" is a word, and yes I am English Gucci Mama. I may not be the best at spelling but I don't claim to be either, so what!
My brother (raised in Idaho, residing in California... basically the opposite of you) believes that the word 'A' should always be capitalized. I'm still laughing about that one
Who/whom is easy to keep straight if you substitute he/him or she/her. Who = he/she, whom = him/her. "Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for she"? No, for her -> whom.
One gotcha to remember is this: if "whom" becomes the subject of a subordinate clause, it takes nominative case and becomes "who." Say, "invite whomever you like," but "invite whoever wants to come."
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