Are you irritated by incorrect grammar.

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?

No I am not interested, you post just shows snobbery, and anyone who states what you said goes down in my estimation. My grammar is not good,but my daughters is excellent, she is a journalist and also does proof reading and it does not bother her, but then she is confident in her own ability and does not judge others. Your comment about Angela Raynor was unnecessary.

My pet hate at the moment is Boris constantly saying t’ instead of ‘to’. I could not count the number if times he says ‘t’do’ or ‘t’day’. We all do this to a degree but he really puts emphasis on it.
I constantly hear, especially from sports reporters, adjectives used as adverbs, ‘played/ done good’ for example.

I have discovered another use of a word to annoy me, courtesy of Mrs. Rayner: the use of 'critique' as a verb.
' I've been on the media this morning so my accent and grammar are being critiqued'.
In my three dictionaries 'critique' is a noun, but online dictionaries quote it as a noun and a verb.
What is wrong with criticized, or criticised, whichever you prefer?

She was probably trying to sound posh eazy (totally impossible like).

I find 'different than' irritates me, although it seems to be accepted in American English. I was brought up with 'different from' and 'similar to'. Another one I dislike is 'disinterested' when 'uninterested' is meant.

I would never correct or think poorly of (well almost never!) anyone making grammatical mistakes, but when it is someone's job to be grammatically correct (such as teachers of English) I feel it is not acceptable.

Some people are good at English, grammar, and spelling, some are not.

I would not be critical of those that are not good at maths or cannot recite the kings and queens of England or any other subject that has been learnt.

How about Priti Patel dropping her ‘g’s?
I have 2 bugbears - using invite as a noun (it’s a verb, invitation is the noun), and ‘very unique’. If something is unique it’s unique- it can’t be ‘very’!!!

Kali2 - exactly, so what ?

I noticed Angela Rayner's 'slip' this morning, but I didn't for a second think that it betrayed a low IQ. To be honest, I think that anyone who links dialect with IQ can't be too bright - there is no link whatsoever.

To me, a sign of someone with a good education is that they have learned (or been taught) not to judge someone others by the way they speak, but by what they say, and there are several posts on this thread that I'm judging pretty harshly.

I get annoyed by apostrophes in the wrong place on public signs - Shopfitter's, etc.

But in general no, it doesn't bother me too much.

I absolutely cannot stand posters coming on and correcting people's grammar. You see this a lot on mumsnet. It's unbelievably rude. It's also usually misplaced.

I'm an English graduate and write for a living. When I'm writing a quick post I will often include typos or miss an apostrophe or comma.

I don't need some patronising idiot giving me a lesson in spelling and grammar, thanks.

Many years ago as a new teacher intent on ironing out Geordie accents when a boy said "Miss, X keeps 'ittin' us" I said "You mean "X keeps hitting me". Child looked at me mystified and said "No Miss 'e's not 'ittin' you."
Eventually I adapted and got to love the accent and there is a ;lot of "Yous was" or "Yous'll have to" in it.

Do you mean “who woz it”

Wo’evva

In a swift word..... YES

Innit

I’ve been known to write on posters in shops/banks etc the correct spelling/punctuation, much to my DH’s embarrassment.

Slightly off piste I listen every night to a sleep story on an app to help me fall asleep (and stop worrying). I chose a brand new one last night all set in an old fashioned book shop. It was very atmospheric until the reader said ‘the shop was a few blocks away’ surely that is an American description, followed by sidewalk instead of pavement. I did fall asleep but won’t listen to it again.

Yes, ‘we was’ would definitely grate on me, and it’d affect my opinion of the speaker.
I once worked with a qualified EFL teacher who said it, and refused to adapt when speaking to her (Arabic speaking) students, even though it was confusing them. She was a very arsey type though.

Ditto people dropping Ts all over the place. I sometimes think they’re actually instructed to do it, even on the Beeb, in order to sound un-posh.

Ditto leaving the ‘g’ off ‘ing’ endings. Goin’, bringin’, etc.

And while I’m at it, people writing kinda, sorta, too, though I don’t see that on GN - plenty on MN though.

Not in speech, particularly with different accents. And not on forum posts so long as I can understand what the poster means. But on official letters, forms, posters - yes.

The only time I would correct anyone's grammar is if they asked me (nobody does) or if some rude individual is hurling personal and ungrammatical insults at me on Facebook - which has happened a couple of times - because they don't agree with / like my point of view. I don't feel any qualms about being impolite to such individuals.

... I then wait for the inevitable response along the lines of the last rude individual who told me to "get a life, looser [sic]"...

Just heard on local radio that £350 were stolen from a charity box. It sounded wrong to me. I would have said £350 was stolen. It wasn't as if there were 350 individual pound coins.
Maybe one of gransnet's pedants can enlighten me.

Do you live in Yorkshire perhaps?

kathsue

Just heard on local radio that £350 were stolen from a charity box. It sounded wrong to me. I would have said £350 was stolen. It wasn't as if there were 350 individual pound coins.
Maybe one of gransnet's pedants can enlighten me.

I would say that you are correct, because it is one sum of money.

On the other hand:
Three hundred and fifty pounds were stolen ? Just asking……

eazybee

I have discovered another use of a word to annoy me, courtesy of Mrs. Rayner: the use of 'critique' as a verb.
' I've been on the media this morning so my accent and grammar are being critiqued'.
In my three dictionaries 'critique' is a noun, but online dictionaries quote it as a noun and a verb.
What is wrong with criticized, or criticised, whichever you prefer?

eazybee.

The verb form of critique is in my thirty-year- old Oxford Shorter dictionary. '

crazyH

On the other hand:
Three hundred and fifty pounds were stolen ? Just asking……

It's a confusing one, I know, but sums of money usually take a single verb.