Grammar Lessons For ATS Members: Join in.

Originally posted by Night Star
There was a site where one guy would constantly correct people's spelling. It drove them nuts or pissed them off. I would rather someone point out my mistakes than to keep making them.

There. You forgot an s.

I do hope he sees this. He must know his dire error.

Writing tip of the day:

If you want to maximize your starable and flaggish potential (and whom doesn't), try to include some interesting tidbits about famous people in your posts. For example

"The Fed is a corrupt organization controlled by international bankers hellbent on taking over the world, bearing in mind that until 2005, Lady Gaga was biologically a man."

reply to post by MRuss


Absolutely!
Two mistakes that get right up my nose...
Different than is wrong. No question about it. The only acceptable option is different from. (Different to is also wrong, but less wrong than, different than!
Based off, or based off of. The correct term is based on, as in "this film was based on a book by Terry Pratchett".
That's enough for now.
Vicky

Originally posted by tribewilder

Originally posted by mblahnikluver

I have been called a grammar Nazi and spelling Nazi for most of my life. I am not perfect but I get the basics that I learned in grammar school. When I have to use "to" or "too" I still remember the lesson from probably 4th grade where my teacher told us how to remember which one to use.

I was corrected a couple of times in a similar thread just a week or two ago. I have to say that just the other day as I was writing a letter, a phrase came to me to use and because of being corrected earlier, I was able to use the right words so as not to embarrass myself.

An occasional slip up is one thing, but to continually use a word or phrase incorrectly to me just means that the person doesn't know any better.

Correct away, and you will probably be thanked just as much as being taken for a grammar Nazi. Hell, we are all ignorant of some things and the chance to actually learn something useful on this site should never be taken for granted.

I am a grammar and spelling Nazi also, although once in a tiny wee while, I make errors - you would not beleive how often I mess up when spelling 'believe'! (I remember a school teacher telling us "I before e except after C" - and you can sing that!
I can't help it, I am an English teacher...
Vicky

reply to post by Vicky32


It is posts like this that make my day.

Very well explained and to the point.

Thank you..

Originally posted by MrDesolate

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
Where is the place at?

In Canada, the correct usage would be, "Where is the place at, eh?"

This brings me to American English versus British English and also the question of dialect. The person who said his wife would shank him for saying "where did I leave my keys at?" is using a particular dialect (I don't think that usage is standard American English.)
I can't go off on a tear about AmE on an American site, that would just be rude - so I won't... But I just have to say one thing about AmE that makes me scream! (It's on TV all the time so I assume it's standard AmE and not dialect..)
"Like" - all American seems to always say "like" when they should say "as if". e.g., "I feel like I am a lost person" (quote from Ghost Whisperer the other night! )
I had my son screaming with laughter on the phone the other night, when he said "I feel like a wombat" (I presume he meant he felt hairy and ground-dwelling... ?) and I replied "Where are you going to get one of those at this time of night?"
So, when a stick insect of a model on a TV reality shows says "I feel like a fat person" I say back to my TV "Where are you going to get one of those from on this show?"

Vicky

reply to post by Vicky32

i only looked at this thread to try to troll someone's bad grammar, now i fear i've just learned something and now i fear i'll stutter every time i say 'like' in a sentence.

Originally posted by neonitus
reply to post by Vicky32

 

i only looked at this thread to try to troll someone's bad grammar, now i fear i've just learned something and now i fear i'll stutter every time i say 'like' in a sentence.

edit on 28-12-2010 by neonitus because: ugh

Sorry!
My work here is done...
Vicky

What's the big stink about grammar for anyway?

All you gotta do is use the spell checker and all your problems will go away:

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

Spell Checker Poem

See: Perfect every time.

reply to post by Vicky32


Good examples of bad form that is something many, many (myself included) are guilty of (doing). Almost ended that sentence with the word "of". Oh wait!! Just did!! (par example...)

The word "like", however? Has a far, far more dastardly 'function' of late, especially amongst the younger crowd. (And, not limited only to those still in their teenage years...unfortunately, carries over to their twenties as well).

Much too frequently, overheard "conversations" are interspersed (infested and infected) with the word....used as a "place holder", or in lieu of a pause, where one should be. OR, even instead of a comma, or a full-stop (period).

Person #1 -- "I was, like, telling Julie the other day, like, she isn't really thinking, like, this through, like....She needs to stand up for herself, like. When Steve said that to her, like, it should have been like...like right then, she shoulda said, like, 'That's just so, like, wrong!'. Instead she like, just sat there and, like, took it from him!"

Kinda like that. Ain't it irritating?

I grow puzzled about their future prospects --- especially at serious job interviews....and the like.


(I wonder if it's congenital, similar to a stammer or stutter, or learned behavior/bad habit??)

Originally posted by weedwhacker
reply to post by Vicky32

 

Good examples of bad form that is something many, many (myself included) are guilty of (doing).

Almost ended that sentence with the word "of". Oh wait!! Just did!!

(par example...)

The word "like", however? Has a far, far more dastardly 'function' of late, especially amongst the younger crowd. (And, not limited only to those still in their teenage years...unfortunately, carries over to their twenties as well).

Much too frequently, overheard "conversations" are interspersed (infested and infected) with the word....used as a "place holder", or in lieu of a pause, where one should be. OR, even instead of a comma, or a full-stop (period).

Person #1 -- "I was, like, telling Julie the other day, like, she isn't really thinking, like, this through, like....She needs to stand up for herself, like. When Steve said that to her, like, it should have been like...like right then, she shoulda said, like, 'That's just so, like, wrong!'. Instead she like, just sat there and, like, took it from him!"

Kinda like that. Ain't it irritating?

I grow puzzled about their future prospects --- especially at serious job interviews....and the like.

(I wonder if it's congenital, similar to a stammer or stutter, or learned behavior/bad habit??)

edit on 30 December 2010 by weedwhacker because: (no reason given)

Years ago in Australia, the equivalent was 'she (or he) went' meaning that they said - I remember a comedienne doing a sketch mocking children she had seen on a Sydney train.
Marianne was her name, I can't remember her last name.
The use of 'like' that you're talking about, is increasing here (NZ) as kids get more of their language from American films, including teenage romance etc.. But before that, and in older peoples' converations it's 'um' and 'er'...
Infuriating! But the worst is 'y'know' or as my ex-daughter-in-law says "ya know what I mean?". A 5 word place-holder! After a 15 minute conversation peppered with "ya know what I mean" (I mistakenly responded to that the first 3 times) I wanted to throttle her... I think it's learned behaviour, as her mother has the same annoying verbal tic..
Vicky