Could of should of would of

Don't forget pacifically when people actually mean specifically, how do they even think that makes sense? Ana, I always thought that it's" is a shortened form of it is, so why wouldn't you put an apostrophe in? Just asking, not being pedantic. (Just had to check I had spelt specifically correctly, you know there are some people who don't own a dictionary!)

Oh, I'm worried now, was my grammar correct!

I think it is arrogant to publically correct other people because it is so judgemental and a clear attempt to appear superior, but that doesn't mean errors don't grate. My current pet hate is using 'alternate' instead of 'alternative', an Americanism which is creeping into British speech. For my sins I'm a professional editor so written errors seem to jump out and hit me in the eyes. Unfortunatly that doesnt make me imunne to making errers of my own.

How lovely to find all you kindred spirits here in Pedants' Corner!
All of the above cause me pain, plus the one that has me shouting at radio/tv/printed matter: the wrong use of MAY when what is meant is MIGHT. I've noticed this a lot in books now so thank you Grannybuy for the proof-reading insight above - obviously a case of the blind leading the blind, a generation of proof-readers who don't know what's right and what's wrong. And don't get me started on LESS and FEWER ....

Should we care? Yes,definitely, because at least there are some still, small voices which just MIGHT be heard!

I agree. I find it really annoying when people use grammar incorrectly. My 12 year old GD showed me her new school planner/diary last week and said she was really annoyed by the heading which reads "HELL hath no fury like an exam question answered wrong ......" Several rules are then listed for answering exam questions carefully!!!! No one seems to care about adding "ly" to adjectives when talking these days but to find this mistake has been printed in over 1,000 school planners for pupils from 11 - 16 years is really worrying. GD says the same title was printed in last year's diary too! This is in a recently rebuilt, posh Academy, not a failing old school!

I then turned to the previous page and found 8 more glaring errors in an article about understanding the teachers' marking system. The subheading says "READ, ACT, LEARN". So far so good BUT the first paragraph reads " You may think marking is a little useless, what does it matter if we don't check what our teachers have written?" Note the use of a comma instead of a full stop and lack of a capital letter for "What" . The next paragraph contains the following sentence, copied as printed, " Sounds simple right? well maybe we havn't (sic ?) always been clear....." No primary school child would get away with such bad spelling and poor grammar in my day! The paragraph ends with the suggestion that students must take "responsibility for your learning" but who is taking responsibility for the teachers' bad examples? Should I complain to the Headmistress with page numbers and photographic examples? If I don't, the mistakes will simply be repeated again and again, ad infinitum! Apparently my GD often corrects the boys at school for their bad grammar. I don't know where she gets it from!

I had to get a borrow off my freinds laptop to right this mine as gived up the gost

I find it a bit annoying but I expect I make mistakes sometimes too. I think there are far more serious things to weep about.

I find misused apostrophes the most annoying error. I don't correct people on FB but printed materials and in particular shop signs with errors are very annoying.

I hate ' I'll try AND do this' or ''You must try AND improve your spelling. 'To' and 'too' are often used in the wrong places, and as for 'discreet' and 'discrete' - well!. One of the problems is that a whole generation went through an education system where correcting spelling apparently 'stifled creativity'.To their detriment it also created a situation where they could be misunderstood in both verbal and written communication. Not their fault - too much fiddling with curriculum and too little time for the important basics, as pointed out by grannybuy. Poor and sloppy speech doesn't help either - how many children have estuary vowels and then have no idea how to spell a word they cannot pronounce correctly? As we walked past two women having a friendly chat outside the local butcher one enquired of the other 'Aincher gotcher meet?' OH commented that he wondered how a foreigner might translate that!

I suspect that my popularity is waning in our very local restaurant where I delete unnecessary apostrophes on their menu blackboard.
Probably all those could ofs come from not understanding the apostrophe in "could've ".
And I agree that the inability to correct typos on gransnet is very frustrating.

Even newsreaders on the BBC say things like "he was sat", rather than "sitting"! My particular pet hate is "less" when they mean "fewer". This is also regularly used by people who should know better!

I love to be a pedant, but I'd also hate to put people off posting just because they write as they speak. I have a friend who always says pacifically for specifically and know others who say would of, could of, sometimes even wudder, cuddle and shudder or different than instead of different from. They may ask me to itch their back or ask to lend a book but is it my job to correct them?
I do think they should be taught the correct form at school.

My pet hate is when somebody says "you and I" when it should obviously be "you and me" as in "my sister invited you and I to her wedding" - yet you would never say "my sister invited I to her wedding". Big gaffe. We even get this in adverts sometimes!
But perhaps not all children are bored with their English lessons. Recently, I was with two of my grandchildren and we were kidding around. I said, trying to be funny, "they was people". The six year old shot back "were, nana - they were people". Boy, was my face red, lol.

Hi Smurf, that made me smile.
Academies are supposed to be an improvement on existing schools.

Different TO ... Used widely (and incorrectly) in the media. Were all these so called educated people not taught Similar to, different FROM?

Maggieanne, you are right that it's has an apostrophe when the meaning is it is or it has. There is no apostrophe when used as a possessive, e.g. "the tree lost its leaves."

We are a pedantic family. My dad used to find stray apostrophes very annoying and I do too. My children have inherited the same complaint. My eldest daughter was irritated by the incorrect punctuation on some posters advertising a local event and her husband said, "What are you going to do? Go round with a felt tip pen?" She said she would have done, if they hadn't been laminated...

In reality, none of us would correct another person's grammar or punctuation. We would just grumble quietly to ourselves.

Ironic indeed - hence the !!

'Box set' for 'boxed set'.
'Text' for 'texted' (As in 'I text him it...)
'Pacifically' for 'Specifically'
'Swaths' for 'swathes'.
'Disinterested' for 'uninterested'.

Sorry, missed the punctuation mark, 'I text him it'.

I did find it rather depressing when I heard Nick Clegg talk about 'myself and David Cameron'.

The one I don't like is confusion of 'less' and 'fewer.' Particularly in supermarkets where an aisle is '10 items or less.' Apparently there is a supermarket in Cambridge where they get it right and their aisles are marked '10 items or fewer.' Well, they should get it right in Cambridge!

Like, I wonder if you can like, guess what like, winds me up.

As I earned a living teaching English to O and A Levels and beyond you may expect me to be as horrified as many of you are at monstrous mangling of our language especially by so many otherwise intelligent and amiable broadcasters who have considerable influence.
I achieved my PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education) in the late 1960s and early 1970s when there was a considered effort by training colleges to shift English teaching away from instruction in "correctness" which was assumed to have been the prevailing model and towards joy in self-expression.
This was accompanied by the BBC especially employing speakers with regional accents (which I often love), and as well as the influence of my parents, I owe my fluency to absorbing the BBC Accented radio speakers of my childhood.
The BBC also began recruiting former practitioners especially in sports to commentate and comment on their specialisms - many of you may recall in school that sporty types concentrated on becoming more successful in their sport than achieving academically.
If millionaire footballers can get by without being "correct" it is little wonder that children mimic their heroes.
I remember a mature student telling me that in school he "just stopped listening" when every week he had marked exercises returned full of red ink, and I stopped correcting other than totally glaring errors from that point on.
I never "correct" English in Facebook posts - that's a certain way to lose Fb Friends very quickly !

I hate the sign that says "this door is alarmed" always wonder what alarmed it

I hate 'myself' when it should be 'me'.