Are you irritated by incorrect grammar.

You are not alone (see Pedants’ Corner). Barely a day passes without my commenting on the bad grammar I hear on television news. A frequent bugbear is hearing someone unable to decide in the space of a single sentence whether the body they are talking about should be referred to in the singular or plural.

Malorie Blackman was interviewed on Radio 4 yesterday and said ‘less’ when she should have said ‘fewer’.

I find it difficult to judge people for making grammatical errors in speech, as I find talking more problematic than writing if that makes sense. And if you are being interviewed/ recorded I would find it doubly stressful.
And there’s no edit button is there?

So yes, it’s irritating, but I don’t do the IQ thing.
I have spent my entire life being thought of as a bit thick due to my accent, so I’m more forgiving of others

No, I am interested in what is being said not how

Only faintly irritated. There's worse things to get seriously irritated about, imho.

Quizzer

I am all for regional accents, even though some can be mildly irritating.
However what really annoys me is blatantly incorrect grammar. On the news this morning I heard a senior politician using the phrases “you was” and “we was”. Unfortunately my brain automatically reduces my perception of the speaker’s IQ by about 20 points.
Am I alone in this, or are there any other glaring errors which really irritate you?

Quizzer I noticed that too, and I do exactly the same as you.

Who was it?

Although, I have lived in this country for 50 years, I still find some local accents impenetrable!
I must admit that although English and French are my first languages, I too am very irritated by the “less/fewer” thing was instead of were, “I done..” etc.
My worst pet hat3 is when on the news one hears “the football club were …” instead of was. ?

FannyCornforth

Who was it?

Angela Rayner

Oh, yes, her grammar isn’t great.

We keep hearing 'criminality'. Surely criminal activity? When did this become a word.
Language adapts and evolves so it seems just as I strive to improve my english they go and change the rukes. They being the young of course.
Perhaps it is "we was", innit...

Rules not rukes.

I'm an English teacher and examiner, and I'm with Anniebach. Yes a technically accurate piece of writing (or speech) is nice, but I'm interested in what the person is saying, rather than how, most of the time.

In one of the exams I mark, I am expected to underline every single error. I hate doing it because I feel for the poor student, IF they get their paper back (some schools pay to have them returned).

Rayner has just issued a statement or a tweet or something about being criticised for her grammar today.
James OBrien just read it out

I'm not irritated by it at all.

My MT is French, but I love all local accents, or at least I find them fascinating. And the grammar is often linked to the old local languages, oft brought in by invading tribes in the past. I used to live on the Danelaw border, and you could notice the influence of Saxon and Dane in local speech.

I lived in The Potteries, and got on much better with local accents than Surrey/London flat RP OH. And we then lived in Leicestershire, and same again.

I helped with a group of local people in the Estate near us- and I had no issue with the was/were- it was part of the people and the way they were brought up, and accepted as such, with grace and humour. One old guy was married to my French friend. She arrived in the UK to marry him when she was 55, with not a word of French. She learnt with him and his friends, all lovely people, and she uses the was/were inversion- which is hilarious.

ooops, with not a word of English!

Ilovecheese

I'm not irritated by it at all.

So much snobbery around! Angela Rayner has a really interesting past and path- listen to her achievements, courage, guts- I find her accent annoying, I must say- but who cares!

I'm for content every time. I chasten myself every time I do the pedant thing as it distracts me from the topic. I'm SO grateful to have had a wonderful education that I feel shame at criticising others who may not have been so fortunate. As for actually stating a correction...... I shudder at the very thought.

You wouldn't like it here in the NE, Quizzer. 'has went' and 'was sat' are very common.

I get more irritated by supposedly highly educated, literate, people misusing prepositions. You'd think that they'd have picked up correct usage from their extensive reading...

My problem is with ‘twenny twenny two’ ! Drives me nuts.

Or even '..you'd have thought that they'd...' (before I get picked up for mixing tenses... )

I’m very irritated by it. I was brought up that way, with parents who would correct every little mistake.

I’m particularly irritated by the confusion between I and me. I have even heard the Queen get this wrong, saying something like “He gave it to my husband and I”. She should have said me, not I, in that context. After all, you wouldn’t say “He gave it to I”, would you? It’s easy, really.

It does irritate me, however, I would never consider calling anyone out for using incorrect grammar.
As for commenting on a person's IQ, I find that unacceptable.

Oh yes Grandma70s, the I / me thing DOES annoy me! As does the 'should of' irritant! But I don't correct.