Grammer and Speaking - Pet Peeves

I heard it again today - from David Jeremiah! He said something like, "That was a hard time for Donna and I" instead of "Donna and me."

Really, people who are speaking publicly, especially on radio and TV, should know better. But this is not just a freak occurrence; I am hearing this mistake more often than hearing it said correctly, and often more than once from the same person.

We should have a National Grammar Day and let some English teachers go over common mistakes like this and correct them!

 

Another pet peeve...a moderator or administrator involved in a discussion putting in their last $.02 then closing a thread without giving anyone the chance to comment.

 

That has absolutely nothing to do with the OP.

 

Whilst I try to be grammatically correct, the most important thing, to me, is that the person speaking is understood.

Cheers,

Jim

 

What are your thoughts about someone who constantly use "ect", or I consider even worse is "ect, ect, ect"
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First, it should be etc. Secondly, it is meaningless to repeat the etc.

It is like people on the net who want to know where one lives. They ask; "Where are you from?" If one is from, he can't be at. Why don't they just ask, "Where are you?"

Cheers,

Jim

 

My only problem with that is that it is spelled "etc.", short for etcetera. :smilewinkgrin: :laugh:

 

Honestly, I don't get my knickers in a bunch over other people's grammar mistakes. I have enough problems of my own and I don't need to nit pick something so trivial over which I have no control.

The only time I would point out such mistakes is if I were editing or proof-reading for someone.

 

I agree. I've got more than enough to do keeping up with my own mistakes. There were things that at one time made me cringe. I actually remember cringing, but I can't for the life of me remember what words or phrases brought on that reaction.

 

This thread is crazy fun! I love it when people pick on others' grammar while making grammatical mistakes. In short, I agree with abcgrad.

I am getting much better with "its" and it's", but it has taken some time. You see, in my mind, apostrophes are for possessives as well as for words like "don't", "isn't", "won't", etc.

I will admit that terribly improper grammar and extremely poor spelling with turn me away (I won't read blogs like that), but I'm more peeved by self-appointed grammar police.

 

Well said. I prefer not to make a big fuss of grammar, although I used to do so in former days. Aside from atrociously bad grammar, a mistake doesn't even bother me.

I suppose some of my perspective is philosophical. I don't believe in prescriptivist grammar, and I believe that the evolution of the English language gives plenty of leeway to be less than precise on some of the elements of grammar.

For instance, I have no problem with a split infinitive.

 

Hot potatoes......you and my brother should get together, he is a tax law specialist, and I cannot understand any letter he writes...

 

Oh, carp, I lost my edit button (oh, DONNA....)

My last line is supposed to say "will turn me off", not "with turn me off". Good thing I'm not the Grammar Police. Snort.

 

Wait....

that post has an edit button but my other one doesn't. Somethin' freaky's goin' on here.

Dun dun dun

 

I do a lot of typos, but fortunately I catch most of them. My spell check helps, but it is sometimes wrong too. :BangHead:

 

I realize that bring corrected on one's grammar, spelling and punctuation could be offensive, but it's also a good way to get people to pay better attention to what they write--hopefully.

I don't correct anyone who is speaking and generally don't correct what someone writes (except in jest), but I will not attempt to read something that is unreadable because of a loooong post that is all one sentence with no punctuation, or a post with very little (if any) punctuation and is filled with misspelled words and poor grammar.

I realize that some people are not very well educated, but that doesn't help me to be able to read what they write. My parents weren't well educated and barely finished junior high school. My dad spelled everything the way it sounded to him--like "newmonia" for pneumonia. That is actually readable and decipherable, but too many people spell even worse than that, and it is NOT decipherable.

If I wrote that badly, I wouldn't try to force others to read it. I would either attempt to get more education or stay out of forums where writing is necessary. Of course, I'm not sure those who wrote so poorly are even aware of that fact.

 

I realize that being corrected on one's grammar, spelling and punctuation could be offensive. [I hope you don't mind.]

 

Sometimes we all just need to close our pie holes.