# Grammar juries



## David Baxter PhD (Nov 11, 2012)




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## Katieann (Nov 12, 2012)

Ohhh...grammar - now maybe that's a healthy outlet for obsessive thoughts...?! These days with texting the rule is" Anything goes".

My parents were very irritated by the misuse of adverbs and swore that they would start an association for the preservation of adverbs.

(You know... _He runs quickly (correct)_ instead of _He runs quick_).Their list, if they were still alive, would be much longer by now I'm sorry to say. My pet peeve is "Therzu".

_Therzu_ car. _Therzu_ lot of cars in the parking lot. Instead of there is one thing/there are two or more things. 

And when people die... Now they say: _She passed_. No... you pass an exam or a gallstone. When you die you _pass on._ (phrasal verb with it's own special meaning). As far as I know "pass" is a transitive verb, and you have to pass something. 
Well... there is my language rant for the day. Whew....Do I qualify as a grammar Nazi...?! Can I be the Helga Braun of Syntax?!
Or should I simply join the e.e. cummings school of punctuation...?:facepalm:

Katieann


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## Bumblebean (Nov 15, 2012)

I know my spelling and grammar aren't all that great, but there are some things that really bother me when I hear them, especially on the news from people who should know better. Stuff like "amount of people". Isn't "amount" a measurement? Or "8 a.m. in the morning". When did "o'clock" die and why wasn't I invited to the funeral?  Also, isn't it "if or when" not "if and when"? I don't "take a listen", though I might take a look, and isn't a troop a military unit? If it is, then when for example someone says "four troops were injured", isn't that an awful lot of military personnel?

mg: 

I'm not exactly the right person to be judging,  but that doesn't stop my teeth from hurting when I hear stuff that just  sounds wrong. 

Thanks,

BB


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## David Baxter PhD (Nov 15, 2012)

"I could care less" instead of "I couldn't care less".

The first (incorrect version) means I do care, which is not what is intended. The second means "I don't care" ("I care so little that it would be impossible for me to care less than I do").

Don't even get me started on the misuse of the word "momentarily"....


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## Katieann (Nov 15, 2012)

Oh do start - Do...do! lol...For a former ESL teacher, with obsessive compulsive tendencies, this is better than eating M & M's...:victorious:

On a more serious note, I really do worry about the state of the English language. The French and the Spanish have institutions to at least prevent the erosion of their language structure. Here in Quebec, the minister of Education has recently referred to English as a "foreign language". (?!)

Did you have the chance (or misfortune - ?) to see the movie  "Airplane"...a B farce. There was, though, a scene where a passenger of colour, was sick and hysterical. A proper middle class lady comes along and manages to calm him down by speaking to him in the appropriate "from the hood jive talk". Two thumbs up for communication... Makes me think of the time I was entering a university to teach an ESL class at 7:30 in the morning... and was greeted by one of my students with: "Yo - O'Grady! What up?

Oh well... it's the thought that counts...:haddock:

---------- Post Merged at 10:53 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 10:09 AM ----------

Hey Bumble... If you would like to blog about grammar - I'm totally there for you!:dance2:


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## Bumblebean (Nov 15, 2012)

David Baxter said:


> "I could care less" instead of "I couldn't care less".



Oh yes, that another one! I almost bite my tongue off every time I hear someone saying that.

---------- Post Merged at 08:10 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 07:53 AM ----------

"Alot"? 

"These ones".

"Healthy food". I'm always glad to know the food I'm going to eat is in good health, but isn't that supposed to be "healthful" or "nutritious"? Not to mention "eat healthy". Is there a food named Healthy?


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## Modus.Ponens (Nov 15, 2012)

Oh man! I'm not an english native speaker. But when I see "its" instead of "it's" and vice versa, i get really frustrated!


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## David Baxter PhD (Nov 15, 2012)

Modus.Ponens said:


> Oh man! I'm not an english native speaker. But when I see "its" instead of "it's" and vice versa, i get really frustrated!



But then you actually LEARNED English. A lot of the people for whom English is the first language didn't...


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## gooblax (Nov 15, 2012)

One that I can't stand is "aircrafts".
I was also going to buy pizza last night, until I realised that the local shop sold "pizza's" instead. Pizza's what?


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## MHealthJo (Nov 15, 2012)

Hehe, the ever-threatening unnecessary apostrophe... I'm not much of a grammar nazi but those do pop out at me in shop signs...

Maybe the pizza is having a garage sale and they're selling some of the pizza's old stuff? They just haven't finished painting the sign yet. Give 'em a chance! 

They seem to happen when someone has one of those plurals that they feel just... "looks weird". They stare at it... they're not sure...

And for some reason adding a dysfunctional apostrophe seems to offer a strange sense of appeasement. "Let's add an apostrophe... just to be on the safe side." 

(And yes I typed more carefully than I normally would in this thread, engaging in the laborious task of long-pressing to add apostrophes I'd normally ignore if my phone doesn't automatically add them for me... hehe)


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## rdw (Nov 15, 2012)

"could of" -  no,  people it's "could have"  - that is an AAARGH to me!


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## Katieann (Nov 15, 2012)

Ahhh... the "reductions" - coulda shoulda woulda...and then there are my ESL students who had trouble pronouncing vowels plus "r"... ur...fr...
And so told people how much they liked eating boogers and flies. Well, I guess it was a cultural thing...

Katieann:yikes3:


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## SilentNinja (Dec 7, 2012)

I was really bad at English and Maths... I was in the lowest class for those, I didn't do well at all - I really struggled, but subjects like Art, Music i was in advanced higher classes and did really well. So excuse all my mistakes, spelling and bad grammer when i post!


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## rdw (Dec 7, 2012)

SN no one corrects spelling and grammar in other's posts so please don't worry about that.


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## David Baxter PhD (Dec 7, 2012)




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## Retired (Dec 7, 2012)

Hanging on the wall, my mom really liked the picture.

Baking in the oven, John waited for the pizza.

 The woman walked the dog in purple suede cowboy boots.

The hunter crouched behind a tree waiting for a bear to come along with a bow and arrow.

Covered with hot melted cheese, we ate the pizza.

We saved the scraps of meat for the dog that had been left on our plates.

layful:


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