Grammar Pet Peeves

[Django]

 

[TwooTwooTwitTwitTwoo]

Genuinely, this is honestly brilliantly helpful! If only my KS2 teacher had explained it to me this way

What’s the possessive thing about? Also, say a name ends in an S, what happens then? James’s or James’ or neither? Why?

The possessive would be "It is Jane's book" and names that end in s just have an apostrophe so "It is James' book".

 

[Kim Mild]

People who consistently spell someone's name wrong, even when they've known them for years, or when the name is right there in front of them on an email or social media. I'm thinking Micheal/Michael, Jane/Jayne, Jackie/Jacqui, etc.

Especially on social media , there's no excuse. It's already on the page , just copy it as it is written.

 

[ClaretFairy]

Mixing up bought and brought. I’m going to end up getting banned on some of the Vinted groups on Facebook as it does my head in.

 

[sheleg]

Splarshen Darsh

I once worked as the PA for a very posh publishing exec. She once asked me to get her a copy of the latest book by Jard Darmen. I googled for ages before realising she was saying Jared Diamond.

 

[bubbadabut]

The trend for using adverbs incorrectly. I imagine it stems from America.

"She drove too quick".

"He did good"

Apple had a slogan a few years ago..."Think different".

 

[Ensay]

"He jumped off of the table". The "of" is redundant.

I think that's an Americanism, isn't it?

A bit like"gotten" instead of "got". I know the former is fine to use in North America, but it annoys me when people use it in the UK.

 

[JustHereForTheAgriculture]

People who say "brought" instead of bought. "He brought me a necklace for Christmas"......no, just no. Stop it.

I came on to this thread just to say this.
It’s infuriating. You didn’t bruy anything so you can’t have brought anything.

 

[hannahsaurusrex]

I’ve noticed a lot of ‘prolly’ instead of probably online, which makes my eye twitch. The other thing I can’t abide are the adoption of American phrases- ‘I could care less’ or ‘I did it on accident’. They get on my pip!

 

[Loubywoobywoo]

My pet peeves:
Things being described as very unique or really unique or worst of all almost unique. No! It’s just unique, it either is or isn’t.
Stationery/stationary - remember e for envelope, a for arrest.

I remember it as stationery: pens, letters and envelopes and stationary: a parked car

 

[AliceInWanderLost]

An apostrophe is when your connecting two words the apostrophe goes where the missing letter is e.g has not - hasn’t.

I’m not sure if this has been mentioned I haven’t read through the whole thread but I’ve seen this three times this morning ‘generally’ instead of ‘genuinely’ two different words with totally different meanings

*as an example of correct apostrophe usage, the "your" in the first sentence should be "you're" - a contraction of the words you and are.

 

[sheleg]

It's really sad when educators can't get it right, the children they are teaching don't stand a hope
This is from the website of a school that one of my daughters was looking at for her son.View attachment 1186837

Arghh! My eyes!

Or should I say, my eye’s!

How can a teacher make such a basic mistake?

 

[Mamacita]

I’ve thought of another one! People who use sink when they mean washbasin! A sink is where you do your washing up, in the kitchen, and a washbasin is where you wash your face, brush your teeth etc and is in a bathroom!

Don't think I've heard anyone say washbasin in my life sounds awfully posh

 

[Ensay]

Ah, I just stumbled across this thread! It's the perfect thread for me!

I cannot cope when people muddle these words up:

there/their/they're
your/you're
to/too/two
it's/its
done/did
lose/loose
affect/effect
expect/accept
were/we're
where/were
then/than
bought/brought
dessert/desert
advice/advise
ensure/insure
quiet/quite
chose/choose
of/off
stationery/stationary
who's/whose

Should of/could of/would of.

When Arctic is misspelled as Artic.

I hate the misuse of apostrophes - Sunday's instead of Sundays or DVD's instead of DVDs - and when people refuse to use commas, or dramatically overuse full stops.

I also internally cringe when I hear "something" pronounced as "somethink", "unacceptable" as "unasseptable" or "ask" pronounced as "axe" and "espresso" as "expresso".

And I appreciate it's very specific, but it also irks me when people misspell broccoli!

What a brilliant post! As I was reading through your list I thought "I bet they'll have missed at least one of my pet peeves", but I'm pretty sure you've said them all.

The funny thing is that I don't even think my grammar is that great. I consider the above to be basic things.

 

[lannx]

Your instead of you're and there instead of their and vice-versa.
Mistakes coming from native English speakers...

 

[AliceInWanderLost]

It's exactly that it's a possessive apostrophe rather than an apostrophe to denote a missing letter

I disagree. If my surname was Smith. And your talking about my house, it's the Smith's house. I.e. the house belonging the the Smith's

If you said "the Smiths house" that would be grammatically incorrect.

Therefore "Christmas at the Smith's" is grammatical correct.

the house belonging to the Smith family - as a group - would be referred to as the Smiths' house - the hours belonging to the Smith family, thus the Smiths and the use of a possive apostrophe. the house is possessed by/belongs to the Smiths, plural. if you were the only member of the Smith family, people generally wouldn't refer to you as "the Smith" in the way they would use "the Smiths" to refer to a couple or family - they would say "Mrs Smith's house" or "Lucy Smith's house".

yes, "the Smith house" would be incorrect, because it does need an apostrophe - but the house belongs to the Smiths, plural - not the Smith - thus the apostrophe is at the end of Smiths - Smiths' not Smith's. "the Smith's house is grammatically incorrect. the house belongs to the Smith family, not" the Smith".

people would refer to your house as "Smith's house" if your first name was Smith.

 

[Pawpaw365]

When a partner writes a status after their wife/gf has given birth " She done amazing"!!

When people write "How are use", instead of you!

‘Boy done good’

 

[hannahsaurusrex]

My husband used to send messages with the wrong to/too; or you’re/your. I only found out last year he’s been doing intentionally to wind me up- we’ve been together for fifteen years!

 

[colouredlines]

Ahem. First of all your should be you're (you are). You are incorrect with the rest. The apostrophe between Smith and s indicates the word IS, ie something that Mr Smith or his family would be doing. Where are say "Christmas at the Smith's" would therefore read "Christmas with the Smith is" which doesn't make any sense.

This explanation is also incorrect. Smith's is not necessarily a contraction of Smith is; it can also be a contraction of Smith has or it can indicate the Saxon genitive, aka the possessive apostrophe. It's pretty clear that the poster was using it for the latter, and got the placement of the apostrophe wrong.

The verb to be is also used for far more than "something that Mr Smith or his family would be doing", but that's neither here nor there.

 

[FoxyBingo]

People who leave a space between punctuation !

Why? A guy I used to work with did it constantly....I'm not sure if it was to wind me up?