English Grammar Pet Peeves

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by Thomas

You hang up your clothes, but your mother used to tell you hang them up.

I turn on the light, but I turn it on.

Uh, there's nothing wrong with these sentences that contain phrasal verbs. Here are the rules for phrasal verbs that 1) are transitive, and 2) the particle can be separated from the verb:

The object can either go after the phrasal verb:
Hang up your clothes.
I turn on the light.
Or it can be placed in between the verb and the particle:
Hang your clothes up.
I turn the light on.

However, when an object pronoun is used, it can only be placed in between:
Hang them up.
I turn it on.

[caliber1]

Originally Posted by wrholt

That's what we all think....until we travel to someplace else and make a comment to a local resident about how quaint his or her accent is.

Yep. My mother grew up in Minnesota and she, in my opinion, doesn't have that Minnesotan/Dakota accent. Interestingly enough I am sometimes told I pronounce things like I'm from there and I have never been. For instance, "Sorry". Most pronounce it like "SAWrry". I pronounce it like "SOHrry" with the long "o" sound. So yes, though quaint, a slight accent is noticeable.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by Perikles

but I don't have any regional accent. .

Originally Posted by wrholt

That's what we all think....until we travel to someplace else and make a comment to a local resident about how quaint his or her accent is.

I'm surprised this comment has raised more than one eyebrow. It is not my assessment, just what everybody says - nobody has ever correctly identified which part of England I come from.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I absolutely love this thread! I think I don't make any of the mistakes in the list, but the comments on try to / try and, and on the phrasal verbs have solved many of my daily writing problems.

Thank you all!

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by Perikles

I'm surprised this comment has raised more than one eyebrow. It is not my assessment, just what everybody says - nobody has ever correctly identified which part of England I come from.

Notice, though, that I'm from the US: from my perspective, EVERYONE from the UK has a "regional accent".

[aleCcowaN]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

I absolutely love this thread! I think I don't make any of the mistakes in the list, but the comments on try to / try and, and on the phrasal verbs have solved many of my daily writing problems.

Thank you all!

Me too ... So do I. But I keep mixing up loose and lose (in fact, I've never done any effort to learn their pronunciation and avoid mixing them up )

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by wrholt

Notice, though, that I'm from the US: from my perspective, EVERYONE from the UK has a "regional accent".

Yes. I don't quite get the concept of how English can have an English accent, but I hear what you say.

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

Me too ... So do I. But I keep mixing up loose and lose (in fact, I've never done made any effort to learn their pronunciation and avoid mixing them up )

[Jessica]

I see too many people my age mix up it's/its (misuse of apostrophes too), you're/your and their/there/they're.

[Sancho Panther]

Originally Posted by wrholt

That's what we all think....until we travel to someplace else and make a comment to a local resident about how quaint his or her accent is.

Whilst it's not actually wrong, nobody in Britain would ever say "Someplace", it's always "Somewhere"!

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by wrholt

Notice, though, that I'm from the US: from my perspective, EVERYONE from the UK has a "regional accent".

This, from someone from "BAH-ston"....???