Without Further Adieu...

I'm not a grammar nazi, but I CAN'T STAND when people misuse words.  Granted, I overuse and often-abuse the comma, and am guilty of a few run-on sentences, but that's besides the point.

(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.

Compliment vs Complement:  A compliment is something nice someone says about you, like "your ass looks smokin in those jeans."  A complement is something that supplements something else.  Peanut butter complements jelly nicely, but not bacon.

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...

Ok, so maybe I am a little of a grammar nazi.  I'm not perfect by any means, but I paid enough attention in class not to do the blatant.

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...

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