English Grammar Pet Peeves

[laepelba]

I happened across this on Facebook. Thought you guys might be interested. These are mistakes that native English speakers make with EXTREME regularity...

Have a great day!!

[Perikles]

Well, I don't make any of these mistakes EVER, although I know a lot of people who do.

[pjt33]

Originally Posted by laepelba

I happened across this on Facebook. Thought you guys might be interested. These are mistakes that native English speakers make with EXTREME regularity...

Have a great day!!

And it makes the mistake I was expecting it to make: most of those "grammar peeves" are nothing to do with grammar. It's curious how few grammar peevists actually know what grammar is.

[Cloudgazer]

Of the ten points, nos. 2, 5 and 9 are the ones I bump into most.

Hearing news anchors and journalists say "your" for "you're" is very provocative for me. In my formative years, the two words were usually spoken with distinct sounds for the "ou" diphthong: the "ou" in "your(s)" sounding like the "o" in "yore" and the "ou" in "you're" sounding like the "ou" in "you". Nowadays, I often hear them pronounced identically.
@Native English speakers: Are these two words pronounced the same way in your area?

And I almost always have to do a double-check with "its". (I think the sense of possession probably subliminally triggers the unaccepted use of the apostrophe.)

[Glen]

Good list. Are any others of you out there as annoyed as I am to hear the trendy "I'm good" (Soy bueno) instead of "I'm doing well" (Estoy bien) in response to the common greeting "How are you?"

[caliber1]

Originally Posted by Glen

Good list. Are any others of you out there as annoyed as I am to hear the trendy "I'm good" (Soy bueno) instead of "I'm doing well" (Estoy bien) in response to the common greeting "How are you?"

Oh my gosh! This list could go on forever My mother was an English/Grammar teacher. She still will correct me or anyone for that matter if we don't put "ly" after an adverb in certain spots. Por ejemplo:

Mom- How did you do on the test today?
Me- I did bad.
Mom- Badly! You did badly!!!!!!
Me- Stop it nowly. That isn't funnyly. Leave me alonely. The test is overly. . . . .
Well, you get the point. I give her a bad time about it. I mean I give her a badly time about it

[Rusty]

Yeah, the list is nowhere near complete. That would be an exhaustive task.

I'll bet most native speakers aren't even aware that the preposition 'to', not the conjunction 'and', precedes an infinitive that follows the verb 'try' - "We can try to see if it's still there tomorrow." "If I try to help him, he just scowls at me."

"You're" and "your" are pronounced exactly the same way everywhere I've been. They're considered to be homonyms, just as "they're," "their" and "there" are.

[marmoset]

Originally Posted by Rusty

"You're" and "your" are pronounced exactly the same way everywhere I've been. They're considered to be homonyms, just as "they're," "their" and "there" are.

Same here, as far as I've noticed.


I try not to worry about other people's common mistakes, as I know I have a ton of them myself. Although I admit to automatically thinking, "lower education" when I see, "your welcome" etc.

I certainly cannot always use "whom" properly.

I just recently had my mind blown to learn that "laxadaisical" is not a word. It's actually "lackadaisical" and prescriptively pronounced as such, but I have never heard anyone pronounce it "correct". I mean, "correctly".

[aleCcowaN]

If you don't mind me ... my ... saying, this topic deserves a whole nother forum.

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by Cloudgazer

Hearing news anchors and journalists say "your" for "you're" is very provocative for me. In my formative years, the two words were usually spoken with distinct sounds for the "ou" diphthong: the "ou" in "your(s)" sounding like the "o" in "yore" and the "ou" in "you're" sounding like the "ou" in "you". Nowadays, I often hear them pronounced identically.
@Native English speakers: Are these two words pronounced the same way in your area?

I've never heard of "your" and "you're" being pronounced differently. I grew up in the Buffalo, NY area. We have lots of pronunciation quirks of our own.....

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

If you don't mind me ... my ... saying, this topic deserves a whole nother forum.