Which grammatical mistake do you find most annoying?

Which grammatical mistake do you find most annoying?

  • It's/Its

    Votes: 3 6.1%

  • Splitting of Infinitives

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • They're/There/Their

    Votes: 8 16.3%

  • Wrongly placed Apostrophes

    Votes: 6 12.2%

  • Me and X, instead of X and I

    Votes: 1 2.0%

  • Other

    Votes: 11 22.4%

  • Spelling mistakes annoy me more

    Votes: 12 24.5%

  • Don't ask me! I can't even speak English.

    Votes: 8 16.3%
  • Total voters
    49
It's not a mistake of grammar, but an issue that affects how easy it is to read. Spaces should be used after punctuation marks like periods, colons, semi-colons, and question marks. I find it extremely annoying not to have those.

The overuse of ellipses .... can be irksome too.
 
really............ :D
 
Really...annoying...irksome
 
Or, to steal from crap reporter Peter O'Hanrahahanrahan (The Day Today):
"Ich nichten lichten...."

Polymath - doesn't he also say something like "trenta percenta" for "30% percent" :lol:
 
There is to my mind a distinction between variant and non standard forms of grammar and spelling; and simple mistakes.

English is not and should not be a frozen language.

I therefore have no problems at all with people splitting infinitives; after all according to most mathematicians one is still left with infinity!

I expect that there will be more changes by the 23rd century.

To boldly continue, I do not mind whether it is "me and x" or "x and me". I think that the thinking that "x and me" is correct is simply that it was considered more polite to refer to your partner, colleague or companion etc first and this good manners became confused with grammar. In my view it is grammatically correct to use either form; although probably best to use "x and me"; if x is the main subject or object in the sentence and "me and "x if me is in the main subject or or object in the sentence. I.e. to put the most relevant noun or pronoun first. For instance if someone told a joke to me and my brother and I laughed loudly while my brother laughed quietly; I might say "me and my brother" etc. However if my brother laughed loudest; I would refer to "my brother and I".

Another instance is the grammatic or grammatically adverb.

It is interesting to note that spoken english has tended to evolve
in three main separate directions in the last two hundred years
(a) in England, (b) in Indian (sub-continent; not red) and (c) USA.

Let me give you an example:

Regeneration of verbs from nouns in USA


Original Verb " Burgle"
In UK English "burglar"
In US Verb "Burglarize" generated from the noun.

Regeneration of Nouns from verbs in the USA.

UK noun "Condolences"
Indian verb "Condole".

As a Brit; I don' regard either form as incorrect.

Many Brits think that it is the USA and the Indians who have corrupted the English language. In many instances it is true that the USA or India has changed the language; but there are other instances where the US and India have retained the old form and it is the English in Britain who have changed their use.
 
Originally posted by EdwardTking
To boldly continue, I do not mind whether it is "me and x" or "x and me". I think that the thinking that "x and me" is correct is simply that it was considered more polite to refer to your partner, colleague or companion etc first and this good manners became confused with grammar. In my view it is grammatically correct to use either form; although probably best to use "x and me"; if x is the main subject or object in the sentence and "me and "x if me is in the main subject or or object in the sentence. I.e. to put the most relevant noun or pronoun first. For instance if someone told a joke to me and my brother and I laughed loudly while my brother laughed quietly; I might say "me and my brother" etc. However if my brother laughed loudest; I would refer to "my brother and I".
Click to expand...

Wellyou are wrong, sort of. "I" always used as a subject and "me" is always used as an object. So "x and I did..." is correct, but "me and x..." or "x and me..." is wrong. but "...x and me" and "...me and x" are correct while "...x and I" or "...I or x" is wrong is not used subjectively or with a linking verb.
 
It's archaic and not in common usage methinks :D
 
well...this has been one of the best joke threads i have ever read thanks guys I HAVENT HAD A LAUF LIKE THIS IN A LONG TIME i use the word's "thou" and "proly" a Lot and never had a prob with em i think they make sence and i happen to think that english is too....i dont know how to say it...it dont sound like its riten...i still cant figure out why 'door and book' sound so diferent
the lack of punctuation CAN be very annoying, i agree (ye i did it on purpose this time) i just use a LOT of white space, i seperate sentences with paragraph marks instead of .'s and capitol letters.
i dont see why some of you are so uptight about english speakers not noing there oun speak. most american 4th graders cant point out where they are on a map of the US, compared to that i think some spelling errors on a message board are crap.


If you didn't feel like reading that 'cause it's missing punctuations and god knows what else (including purpose), don't worry, you didnt miss much. :lol:

again, thanks for the laughs you'all :D
 
Uuurghh. That post was horrid Roddy. :cringe: ;)
 
well...this has been one of the best joke threads i have ever read thanks guys I HAVENT HAD A LAUF LIKE THIS IN A LONG TIME i use the word's "thou" and "proly" a Lot and never had a prob with em i think they make sence and i happen to think that english is too....i dont know how to say it...it dont sound like its riten...i still cant figure out why 'door and book' sound so diferent
Click to expand...

Well, ze sight iz internaishnal all ze neitiv spikaz hev to poot ap wiz ower iliteraci. Were zere eni misteiks? If zear were, plis ,moderators, Korekt it.
 
i dont know about grammatical mistakes, but my most hated internet "annoyance" in typing is when people use "2" "u" "c" "4" as words. lol.
 
This is a teensy weensy minor thing, but may I just point out that a college is an educational establishment and a collage is a work of art incorporating different layered aspects combined to give a larger image. Usually exemplified by the primary school class having cut pictures out of newspapers and milk bottle tops, etc, all glued together. :) Collage, that is, not college. ;)
 
Something I heard this morning that really annoys me. The incorrect use of 'literally'.

For example,

'He was literally boiling with rage'.

No, he wasn't. :rolleyes:
 
Mispelling doesn't irk me as much as it used to. Compared to every other language I've had experience with (not many, admittedly, but they are Spanish, German, French, Russian, and Japanese), the spelling "rules" of English are arbitrary and seem to have no rhyme or reason. Indeed, they are based on how the words were pronounced in Chaucer's day when the printing press was first being used.

Of course in Spanish the spelling is as phonetically consistent as it can be in a language, and yet I knew people in Guatemala who still misspelled words and proper names in Spanish! But with English, misspellings seem to be more common and indeed, more understandable. I am quite left-brained myself, and tend to have a good memory for such technical detail as the spellings of words--but I know not everyone is "wired" the same way, and I think you really almost need to be to memorize every arbitrary spelling of every English word, given that there is no real set of rules governing spelling with any consistency (that, or perhaps more than usual experience with the printed word). So spelling mistakes don't bother me anymore--besides, I care more about WHAT is said.

But yes, I have pet peeves: the "fashionable" use of "lite" and "nite", putting apostrophes in plurals (is this a spelling or punctuation issue?), and yes, the use of "u", "4", etc. to replace words that sound like them. These aren't honest mistakes, but either laziness or some stupid attempt to be fashionable or "hip"--I'm not impressed with either reason.
 
Well, as an English teacher, I suppose I should comment on this topic. :)

First, before I begin talking about grammar, let me say that this crap about American fourth-graders not being able to point out their location on a map is silly anti-American propaganda and not worthy of the intellectual level of this site.

Now, on the topic of English, let me say a few things.

First, I had to giggle a little when I noted Rodgers using the infinitive absolutely correctly, while purporting to be unqualified to comment. :D

I, too, am very annoyed by the confusion over "me and x" vs. "x and I," but I must point out that it is just as wrong to say "x and I" when one should say "x and me." Many otherwise articulate people have annoyed me by seeming to think that it is never appropriate to say "x and me."

By far, the most annoying is the new "internet speak." At my two other forums, we have a member who repeatedly says things like "u happy 2 c me?" When I see a post like that-- or heaven forbid, a PM--I just cringe.

On a side, note, I have to say that I am less annoyed by grammatical mistakes than you might think, given my profession, and I am never annoyed by people to whom it is a second language. I save my real annoyance for people who are rude or who harbor prejudice against others for no good reason. :mad:

[Edited for grammar ;) ]
 
It is hard for me but at least i give it a try....
Thx to CFC im now the best person in the street who can read English!
 
Originally posted by Greadius
I don't know if it counts as grammatical errors, but the three things that annoy me the most:

1. Lack of paragraphs.
2. Lack of capitalizations :D
3. u instead of you.
:vomit:
I don't know why it annoys me so much.
Click to expand...

Right on kapitalist freund!
 
I could care less if someone uses words wrongly or misspelled something. Just as long as I can understand what they are saying. 'Grammer Nazis' who points out everyone's errors in their posts are the most annoying and rude people I have ever seen. Some posters here normally speak another language and don't know english very well, and others may be kids, so don't jump on them for using an infinite improperly or any other crap like that.

Half the crap you learn in English class you will never use in the real world. Knowing how to read and write of course is highly important, but not knowing whether every word is considered a conjuntion, infinite, adverb, etc. Throwing all those words at kids just bogs them down with too much useless information that they get bored and tune you out, thus learning nothing.

The thing that annoys me is people who purposely write things in code thinking they are super cool, by copying some hacker style of writing, or type words with capitals in the middle. Example: nOObiE, roolZ, haXor, etc. and that one word that I can't remember exactly how it went - l337 ?

Edit: TYPO! :p
 
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