[INXX]

Hello,

For everyone's benefit, here are some of the more irritating grammar/spelling gaffs. Please add more or learn, as befits you.

It's no one, not noone.

It's sought after, not sort after.

:laughing:

 

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[Immemorial]

The word 'alot' does not exist. It is 'a lot.'

If you are making a long post, space it out for fuck sake. I'm not going to strain my eyes to read all of that text crushed together.

Use punctuation to separate your text. It stops it from becoming a never ending and incoherent ramble.

For gods sake, at least make some effort to make sure that your post is understandable.
(Forgiveable if English isn't your first language).

:dry:

 

[arisblacklight]

May I ask what a gaff is? Not intending to be mean, just don't know... is it an error of some sort?

 

[JamesSteal]

(Forgiveable if English isn't your first language).

:dry:

Forgivable* :kitteh:

 

[Flaming Bassoon]

Another one that constantly gets mixed up is "it's" and "its." People just don't get that its is possessive and it's is a contraction.

 

[Recede]

- "I could care less" does not have the meaning most people intend it to have. What they really mean is "I couldn't care less."
- It's not "If they would have (done x, then y)," it's "If they had."

 

[Glenda Gnome Starr]

I think that the word is gaffe. Here is a definition: Noun
An unintentional act or remark causing embarrassment to its originator; a blunder: "an unforgivable social gaffe."

May I ask what a gaff is? Not intending to be mean, just don't know... is it an error of some sort?

 

[Glenda Gnome Starr]

some more:

would have, not would of
between you and me, not between you and I

if you can count them, it's fewer not less. "There were fewer people in the store today than there were yesterday," not "There were less people in the store than there were yesterday."

Please don't start sentences with numerals. Spell it out. Sentences started with numerals are just... um... ugly.

Thank you!

 

[Yedra]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned "lose" and "loose" yet.

- "I could care less" does not have the meaning most people intend it to have. What they really mean is "I couldn't care less."

I see this one very often. Even people like Beyonce or 50 Cent used it in their songs (Single Ladies, for example).

 

[Diphenhydramine]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned "lose" and "loose" yet.



I see this one very often. Even people like Beyonce or 50 Cent used it in their songs (Single Ladies, for example).

It's an Americanism - perhaps, a feature of US English. In Britain people don't say "could" care less.

I don't have anything to add yet. Most of what I'd suggest has been already said.

The most annoying thing imo isn't minor grammar mistakes, but huge posts that are very poorly formatted; not enough spacing, loads of !!! or bolded, italicised words etc.

EDIT - I forgot. An ellipsis is three full stops. It is NOT two. ".." as an ellipsis is grammatically incorrect, it's not just a difference of effect.

 

[milti]

DPH's last word brings us to effect vs. affect.

"Effect" is a noun. "Alcohol has a bad effect on me."

"Affect" is used in its most common form as a verb. "UV rays affect the skin."

These are the most common ways. You can use the words in the alternate ways too, but those are so complicated. Remember VANE: Verb Affect Noun Effect.

 

[Glenda Gnome Starr]

Here's another:
it's bated breath, not baited breath (unless your breath really stinks, lol)

 

[Yedra]

It's an Americanism - perhaps, a feature of US English. In Britain people don't say "could" care less.

I don't think it's an Americanism but ignorance. The sentence doesn't even make sense without the negation. If one "could care less", then this would mean that there is a degree of importance of the thing the phrase refers to in a specific context and when people use this phrase they want to say that they don't care about a specific thing at all. To convey this meaning the only correct use of the phrase is "couldn't care less".

 

[mamadabinski]

Here's a good one I saw the other day: bear with me vs. bare with me. One asking for patience, the other is getting naked together. Pretty big difference.

It's one thing to have one or two mistakes - we all make them, myself included. It's the posts where it's clear the writer has no regard whatsoever for the readers experience, making no effort to edit, punctuate or otherwise make the material readable. I admit to making initial judgements on a persons intelligence based on such posts. Just like I'd make initial judgements on a person's hygiene if I saw them in a mall, dressed in a leisure suit with a belly hanging out, covered in mustard stains. Think 'WalMart people'.

I am a self confessed Grammar Nazi and I approve the content of this thread.

 

[WickerDeer]

DPH's last word brings us to effect vs. affect.

"Effect" is a noun. "Alcohol has a bad effect on me."

"Affect" is used in its most common form as a verb. "UV rays affect the skin."

These are the most common ways. You can use the words in the alternate ways too, but those are so complicated. Remember VANE: Verb Affect Noun Effect.

I am guilty of this one.

I think it's partially because I associate the word "affect" with "affective." So, I know there have been times when I wrote "I effected him" rather than "I affected him," because I mistakenly assumed that to say that I "affected" him would be to say that I took up his mannerisms and mental state.

So thanks for bringing that up.

Right? So it would be right to say "I affected him" to mean that I caused him effects? Is that right?

 

[milti]

Right? So it would be right to say "I affected him" to mean that I caused him effects? Is that right?

Yes, that's correct.

Lesson 2:
"Your" and "You're"

Your = belonging to you.
You're = YOU ARE.

The apostrophe means that letters are missing and it's a contraction. Thus, "you are" becomes "you're".

"Your dress is lovely." -"Thanks, you're so sweet."

Edit: I teach high school English, sorry if I come off sounding too teacher-y. :laughing:

 

[Ellis Bell]

And another: it's "graduated from college," not "graduated college." The second makes it sound like you were the one conferring the degree, not the institution conferring it on you.

Also agree with the formatting stuff; just because you think it's pretty doesn't mean that other people will want to read it. And paragraph breaks every now and then would be nice for readability.

 

[ilphithra]

May I ask what a gaff is? Not intending to be mean, just don't know... is it an error of some sort?

A gaff is a pole with a hook on its end.
A gaffe is a mistake.

Yes, that's correct.

Lesson 2:
"Your" and "You're"

Your = belonging to you.
You're = YOU ARE.

The apostrophe means that letters are missing and it's a contraction. Thus, "you are" becomes "you're".

"Your dress is lovely." -"Thanks, you're so sweet."

Edit: I teach high school English, sorry if I come off sounding too teacher-y.

English isn't even my main language and I cringe at what I see... sometimes I think us foreigners know English better than the natives...



Let me add "their" and "they're".

It goes on the same lines as "your" and "you're".

Their - Possessing Adjective, something that belongs to them (3rd person)
They're - THEY ARE (verb to be, 3rd person)

This is their car. They're going to the cinema.

 

[Abraxas]