Are you irritated by incorrect grammar.

In fact, everytime I see the title of this thread, I am really, really irritated!

I used to be irritated by incorrect grammar, but I spent a large part of my working life working with young people and trying to teach it in sufficient amounts for them to pass a test.
I’ve grown to accept that language changes over time and communication of the message is the important thing.
However, the other day, I caught myself coming in from a muddy walk and saying, to the dog, ‘Right, show me them paws!’ Horrified!

Did the dog correct you, Ravelling?
That’s always mortifying!

FannyCornforth

In fact, everytime I see the title of this thread, I am really, really irritated!

I often hear people confuse LESS & FEWER. eg less cars on the road. Unfortunately I stop paying attention. Also, errors in parsing a sentence give a different meaning.

What is ‘parsing’?

Doodledog

FannyCornforth

In fact, everytime I see the title of this thread, I am really, really irritated!

Touché, Fanny. ?

What a brilliant name cooberpedi.

I've been thinking about this more overnight. I have always expected people to think I'm common because of the way I speak and the little I know about grammar (for instance, I had to look up parsing after reading the previous post). I'm used to that and it doesn't matter to me a bit. Shame on them really.

What I didn't realise is that they might stop paying attention or think I have a low IQ when I get it wrong. What a shock! I don't immediately think something is correct if it is well written so why should the opposite be true?

Because I've studied at a botanical garden I know the Latin names for plants. If someone calls a daisy a daisy I don't assume they know less about it or enjoy plants less than someone who calls it Bellis perennis.

Just because someone hasn't had the benefit of the education others obviously have, it doesn't mean they can't learn or have a lower IQ. Angela Rayner is bright as a button - she just didn't have the advantages some seem to assume are available to all. Believe me, my council estate comprehensive in the 1970s wasn't the place to learn about prepositions - rather it was a case of getting your head down, not getting your glasses smashed and looking forward to the day you could leave.

My mum's education was almost nil thanks to the war and ill health. When she retired from her job as a school cleaner she went to evening classes (which she called night school) to take O and A levels. She drank it all in an worked like a navvy. When she achieved an A in O level English I believe it was the proudest day of her life. We were so proud of her. Mum went on to have a book published which was sold and raised thousands for the charity Animals Asia.

Please don't stop listening just because someone doesn't get it right.

Thank you Doodledog and Mary
I’m surprised that it took, me included, four pages before we spotted it / passed comment!

I am when even the title of the thread can’t get it right??

The grammatical error in the title shows that no matter how pedantic we are, none of us are perfect!

I have a degree in English Language, yet yesterday, despite previewing, I still mixed up hear and here. My brain tends to work faster than I can type, so I often find I have transposed letters. My most frequent error is wsa for was.
That is why I would never judge a poster's spelling, nor grammar.

Marydoll. I once wrote to my friend Louise and addressed her as Louse on the envelope, so don't feel too badly about wsa .

p.s. Louse and I are still friends.

Coastpath, I hope you don't stop posting because of thoughtless and ill-informed comments such as some of the ones on this thread.

I for one, enjoy your posts, and don't think that they are at all ungrammatical. If you hadn't mentioned your insecurity I would never have thought you would be someone who would think like this, as there is no need.

Coastpath don’t worry about ‘parsing’ - I don’t know what it means either, and I’m perfectly secure in how clever and well educated I am, even if I do sound daft as a brush!

Coastpath, keep on posting. Content if far more important than being grammatically correct.

I wonder about Louse. Was it a Freudian slip? (Loose woman).?

I once picked up a leaflet from our local university, advertising a taught MA in English literature.
There was at least one basic mistake in the blurb!

I didn’t bother pointing it out, though I dare say more than one other did. I should hope so, anyway.

To me I must say it’s unacceptable for teachers at any level to make basic mistakes, and even more unacceptable for anyone in any sort of teaching-related role to say that these things don’t matter any more, except to nitpicking old pedants (like me ?).

A friend of a dd worked in HR and was frequently faced with a pile of CVs, mostly with similar qualifications and experience.
She said the only way she could weed them down to a manageable number, was by ditching any with basic mistakes.

The blurb won't have been written by the teaching staff on the MA.

I do think that everyone - however confident they may be about their 'excellent education' should get a CV proofread by a fresh pair of eyes, as anyone can make a mistake, and the closer we are to a piece of writing the less likely we are to notice mistakes.

Is 'To me I must say . . .' grammatically correct?

I do think people should take as much care as possible with grammar, spelling and sentence construction.

... but only because it makes it far more likely that others will understand what you are saying or writing.

I recently read a garbled rant on a social media site which had no punctuation whatsoever and half of it was written in 'text' speak. I was breathless simply reading it. I'm sure the person felt better for getting it off his chest, but I still have no idea what he was on about.

No-one is saying that these things don't matter. I admit to being a pedant and cringe sometimes, when reading posts. However, it is rude and unkind to point out a poster's spelling or grammatical errors (as has happened here on a number of occasions) on a public forum. Everyone should feel comfortable posting on this forum.

As for teachers not making errors, of course we should expect high standards from educators. However, we are all human and mistakes can happen.
I wish I could be as perfect, but not as smug-, as some posters on here.
This comes from a retired teacher, who specialised in working with pupils with dyslexia (my daughter included).

I understood the question asked in the thread title.

I do get irritated by incorrect grammar or spelling but not to the extent that I would embarrass someone by pointing it out. I also accept that, coming from NI, we often use words and phrases differently. My English, English-teacher husband and I have crossed swords on this for some 53 years. One of my three daughters is much more slapdash in her approach, but she is of the internet and mobile generation. Language changes and people use it differently. I do, however, know what parsing is. We were taught it in primary and secondary school in NI.

As said before, I am fascinated by regional accents, but somehow Angela Rayner's grates on me. So what, who cares ... it is my problem.

Stockport-raised MP Angela Rayner has been 'critiqued' on her accent and grammar - she's not having it

“I wasn't Eton educated, but growing up in Stockport I was taught integrity, honesty and decency. Doesn't matter how you say it. Boris Johnson is unfit to lead.” (Angela Rayner).

Coastpath makes the point that her mum's education was lacking, but writes that she seized the opportunity to improve her learning at night school, as so many did.
Angela Rayner considers she has no need to improve her grammar, or lack of education, which is shocking coming from someone who was for a time Shadow Secretary of State for Education.

Raynor has no need to improve anything.
She has done better than anyone on here, I would say.

Aaaand Rayner, not Raynor.