[Josho]

Since starting "what's your favorite..." threads seems so popular, I thought I'd start one of my own (as a means of venting).

What's the typo or grammatical mistake that's common to posts and which ticks you off the most?

I'd have a hard time choosing between the confusion of "it's" and "its," or the confusion between "your" and "you're."

Their! Now I've asked!

--Josh

[100ja a.k.a. mr_mitja]

Originally Posted by Josho

What's the typo or grammatical mistake that's common to posts and which ticks you off the most?

This one:

Originally Posted by Josho

Its a thread about you're typos!

I know a bunch of you here get angry now and then when seeing these errors in other posts, but I think all of us whose native language isn't english are trying our best...

[Wormsie]

Many people write definately or definatly when they mean definitely.

Some people claim I form if-sentences the wrong way - they claim sentences like "If I hadn't seen you, I wouldn't have missed the bus" are grammatically incorrect. Are they?

[fov]

Originally Posted by deadworm222

Some people claim I form if-sentences the wrong way - they claim sentences like "If I hadn't seen you, I wouldn't have missed the bus" are grammatically incorrect. Are they?

I don't see anything wrong with that.

It's and its, your and you're, and there, their, and they're are some of my biggies. It bugs me too when people write "loose" instead of "lose" - like "I'm loosing my mind."

-emily

[Jazhara7]

I once saw some people discussing the bad state of the english language on the Internet.

One of them was an english teacher, and he was stating his point very well in his post.


The funny thing about that was, that he made the common mistake of writing "than" instead of "then" at one point.

Talk about irony.

I am glad that I don't make as many grammar or spelling mistakes as I used to to. Would you believe me if I told you that I am not a native speaker, and don't live in an english speaking country? (That is, if you didn't already know that. ). I'm working on my IGCSE right now.


-

[simpson_yellow]

Originally Posted by deadworm222

Some people claim I form if-sentences the wrong way - they claim sentences like "If I hadn't seen you, I wouldn't have missed the bus" are grammatically incorrect. Are they?

Er, looks OK to me. Maybe it's 'more correct' to say "I wouldn't have missed the bus if I hadn't seen you", but I'm pretty sure they're both OK.

My pet hate typo is actually the your/you're one as well. It's the only one that seems to bug me when I see it. Can't say I'm immune from making the mistake myself occassionally though.

Edit: How slow was my post?! emily caned me by a good 11 minutes

[RLacey]

Originally Posted by simpson_yellow

Er, looks OK to me. Maybe it's 'more correct' to say "I wouldn't have missed the bus if I hadn't seen you", but I'm pretty sure they're both OK.

My pet hate typo is actually the your/you're one as well. It's the only one that seems to bug me when I see it. Can't say I'm immune from making the mistake myself occassionally though.

Edit: How slow was my post?! emily caned me by a good 11 minutes

Was the misspelt word 'occasionally' deliberate there?

I'm more annoyed by people not using punctuation, myself. Whilst I'm as guilty as anyone of doing this over instant messaging programs, I hate it when people ignore full stops (alright, 'periods' for you Americans), commas and hyphens. And when they put 'i' instead of 'I' .

[Marek]

"could of" instead of "could have"

Very common spelling mistake in the UK. It drives me nuts.

[lumi]

Irregardless. Rediculous.

[EasilyConfused]

I hate it when people use the wrong pronouns. I especially hate it if someone says something like, "Please give the book to him and I," as if that is going to make the speaker sound more educated. You would never say "Give the book to we (=him + I)," so you don't need to use the subject pronoun in that instance, either--it's give the book to him and me.

I also hate it when people use a plural pronoun with a singular subject or vice versa, but I do this myself all the time when I am not paying attention, so I can't really get too worked up about it. (For example: "Everyone loves their pets.") Call me a grammar snob if you want, I don't care. I'm a total slouch compared to my parents. They practically beat me if I misused the word "bring" (and I still don't know how to use it correctly.) And if I didn't answer a phone call addressed to me by saying, "This is she." . . . :eek:

Well, things weren't quite that bad. But still . . .

[fov]

Originally Posted by Spider Crusoe

Irregardless.

Irregardless is now in the dictionary.

Originally Posted by American Heritage

ir·re·gard·less ( P ) Pronunciation Key (r-gärdls)
adv. Nonstandard
Regardless.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Probably blend of irrespective, and regardless.]

Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.

The usage note makes it a little better, but still... it's so very wrong.

-emily

[Maquisard]

Originally Posted by Marek

"could of" instead of "could have"

Very common spelling mistake in the UK. It drives me nuts.

I believe "could of" is actually a misspelling of "could've," But yeah, it eats away at my cavities when seeing that one.

[simpson_yellow]

Originally Posted by RLacey

Was the misspelt word 'occasionally' deliberate there?

Yeah, it's my subtle sense of humour.


*quietly exits thread*

[AFGNCAAP]

Wow... I've seen them so many times, that I began to suspect that "definately" and "could of" are actually slang or thought to be cool or something. What a relief.

As some previous posters, I can't stand the apostrophe mismanagement. Of course, my English is far from perfect, so I try to be tolerant about other people's mistakes.

[Josho]

It used to drive my wife batty to hear the word "supposably" when the speaker meant "supposedly." That is, until I showed her that it's a legitimate word. Now when she hears it, instead of getting angry, she just gets bitter.

--Josh

[stepurhan]

Don't think it's come up on this forum but one thing that drives me nuts is the phrase "PIN number" (as in "Credit cards now have PIN numbers")

PIN stands for Personal Identification NUMBER so why do people add the word number afterwards?

On an associated note, people driven mad by grammatical errors might be interested in [URL=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1592400876//ref=nosim/adventuregame-20 Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss[/URL] Subtitled "The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation" it covers most of the really terrible errors. My wife went to school with her by the way.

[PolloDiablo]

Originally Posted by 100ja a.k.a. mr_mitja

I know a bunch of you here get angry now and then when seeing these errors in other posts, but I think all of us whose native language isn't english are trying our best...

I think it's actually easier for foreigners to spot errors like it's/its, their/they're/there and your/you're. At least for me it is, because I read the words as they are meant to be. For instance if a sentence goes:

"the company reduced there prices"

I read it as:

"the company reduced in that place prices"

and I don't understand the sentence (where did they reduce prices?) so I go back and try to see what's wrong with it. Similar things happen when I read "Its a thread about you're typos", to me it looks like "his/her (neutral possessive pronoun) thread about you are typos" so I go and re-read until I understand what the writer must've meant to write.

But I may be really weird.

Mistakes that irritate me are things like "recieve", "wierd" and "Tolkein". And this supposedly cool and modern thing to write "you are" as "ur". I know it's lots shorter but "ur" to me is a sound a Neanderthaler might make (or a Biblical place). I don't pronounce it as "you are" but as "urr". If sentences go like "ur gr8er then ne1 ls" I cannot take the writer seriously.

But I may be really weird.

[Elton28]

Well, no doubt I will get flamed for this but:

Yes, I agree with using correct etiquette and using the correct grammar/pronunciation whilst using forums/the internet.

However, I personally feel there are more concerning issues to worry about in the world today than how somebody spells a word, or what context it is put in. I think its a wee bit pedantic to start whining about how people spell and pronounce - a lot of us here left school years ago. Who really cares how a word is spelt on the forum if you understand what the person is trying to say??
And hats off to the guys who have had to learn English and make every effort to spell things right here. Damn, English is a hard enough language to learn as it is and picking up somebodies mistakes in a place like this, I feel, is ridiculous.

You will all learn from my time here that I will always speak my mind and put my opinions across, as a basic human right I can do this. That said I will never intentionally offend anybody and will apologise if I ever do.

So on that point; Josho, this post is NOT directed at you, its just a general observation that I have made however, I am sorry if you feel this was a dig at you. I can assure you my friend, it was not.

Feel free to over the head until I

Love, ArseFerret

[Jazhara7]

Our english teacher gave us a list that is of errors that turn up quite often on the IGCSEs (tests by Cambridge) these days:


alot >>> Should be "a lot"

"u" instead of "you"

"4get" instead of "forget"


and some others. The IGCSEs are serious written tests, and you should be concerned about the fact that people (this includes native english speakers) are using Webtalk on them.

Also, on the IGCSEs we are supposed to write things like "Brian and I were walking", "My friends and I" and "Jeruma, Chris and I" instead of "Brian and me were walking", "My friends and me" and "Jeruma, Chris and me".


I think my teacher will rip off the the head of any student in my class, that makes those mistakes on the IGCSE.


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[Fairygdmther]

All of the above bother me, but I haven't replied until now because I'm an old lady, and would rather not be thought of as a crotchety old lady. I had grammar pummeled into my head for many years of school, and while I occasionally make grammar mistakes, or spelling mistakes, I really try to pre-read before I hit the submit button. (I also have a cheap-ass keyboard that has half the letters worn off!)

Another issue or two - is punctuation and the lack thereof. Simple commas between thoughts can make such a difference in understanding. And there seems to be many who have no clue how to make a paragraph. Since I use walkthroughs, I often have to copy-and-paste them into Word, and fix this, since a page-long paragraph is very difficult to follow.

Since the object of forums, chat rooms, and other internet sites is to communicate, wouldn't it be nice if there were more effort put into good spelling and grammar!

FGM