It's and its

Turn off predictive text!

My personal gripe is the misuse of "myself ". People seem loathe to use the word "me" as the object of a sentence.
E.g. I can give myself a pat on the back but my friend gives ME a pat on the back.
You hear people say " my friend gave myself a pat on the back "

It all irritates me!! My sister is a primary teacher - her English is awful, how she can teach others dumbfounds me. She tells me that the "trendy thing" now is to yet again abandon the rules in favour of "expression". If young people and some adults do not understand the rules and get corrected, then they fail to write or express themselves, so schools here have decided that it's more important for them to feel happy to express themselves in writing, than to worry about rules they don't understand.

their
they're
there

As a teacher, the misuse of all of these drove me nuts. That was just my colleagues using them. Most of the younger teachers insisted they had never been taught grammar at school and couldn't see what all the fuss was about.

Norose4..... I'm so in agreement with you. WHY ARE WE BOTHERED? I was fortunate to have a wonderful education in the 50/60s where a sentence was daily parsed to within a mm of its life. Great for me but I now realise 'in depth' has been watered down in favour of 'wider scope'. Right or wrong; who knows? I am regularly bemused by those who find it necessary to come back in and correct an error be it typo or predictive. Most of us have the nous to understand what was intended. I think the reaction to 'bad(?)' grammar is to inwardly shrug resignedly but live and let live. Happy days!

'Off of' and 'outside of' are two that make me want to e-slap anyone using them on the internet.
It's often estate agents - 'just off of the High Street' or 'outside of the town centre,' etc.

They're often fond of spacious accomodation and shower cubicals, too.
Oh, and flower boarders. ?

Last time I was selling, I made a point of using an agent whose blurbs were not littered with basic errors. To me it smacks of sloppiness and incompetence. Someone in the office should surely take a minute to proof-read, and if they can't or won't, either it means they can't be bothered or wouldn't know what's what anyway.

Mind you I can't say that the immaculately-spelt agent I chose was especially brilliant...

One of my pet hates is "should of" instead of "should have ".

I shout at the tv when I hear 'floor' used instead of 'ground'. Floors are indoors ground is outside.

"So fun" is another pet hate along with "yous"

Aargh!

One very good reason for young people to understand the importance of good SPAG, is CVs.
I've heard of more than one case of someone in a position to recruit, being faced with a load of very similar CVs, and having to weed them out somehow. And the easiest way has been to discard any with basic SPAG errors.
These 'weeders ' were not grumpy old nitpickers like moi, but a dd's friends in their 30s.

Anyone who implies to young people that these things don't matter any more, is IMO doing them a great disservice.

My pet hate is that the contraction of 'would have'(would've) has resulted in people writing 'would of'. Also 'should of', 'could of' etc!

My bit is the use of self.....
I hate when people say 'myself and my friend'....instead of my friend and I.
'I'll keep it for myself' is okay.....
But people don't seem to grasp the correct use of ...me...myself....and I....

'Location, Location, Location' often makes us suck our teeth.

My DH cannot stand it when people say sink when they refer to an upstairs bathroom basin and, yesterday we watched an episode where the landing of a house was referred to as a hall. Often ornate cornicing is called coving and the ubiquitous word, lounge, seems to stand in for any downstairs space.

Myself, I wince when I hear the newly minted expressions: 'forever home' and 'ticks all the boxes' even though I am pretty sure the house seekers are encouraged to use them for purposes of continuity.

When I was teaching English I used to say to the pupils that the language was more to be regarded as a surgeon's scalpel than a bludgeon. Nuance and precision are all.

However, I freely admit that being tetchy about 'forever home' is just snobbery.

Oh, and "for free" is another teeth grinding phrase.

Re house progs, it's "light flooding in", "blank canvas" and "putting our own stamp on it" that irritate me.

My pet hate is 'thank you' written as one word.

QUOTE: Sheilasue - not sure why there should be any confusion over these two without an example, though I realise they sound very similar.

"Bought" is the past tense of the verb "to buy".

"Brought" is the past tense of the verb "to bring".

So "bought" involves money - as in a bring and buy sale. You have to bring the items first before anyone can buy them. I hope this example helps. End of quote.....

i.e. ...someone brought them to the sale, so I bought them at the sale....

Drives me crazy too, especially on shop signs. I challenged the owner of a fruit and vegetable stall I use regarding his apple's, orange's etc. It became a bit of an ongoing joke e.g. I asked him if he knew there was a dentist at the local health centre and when he said yes I told him they do apostrophe extractions. Eventually as signs were rewritten the apostrophes disappeared and this was pointed out with pride. The day the last one disappeared I presented him with a large gold star which he keeps beside the till. We are great friends now. (he does get his own back with cheeky comments so it is banter, enjoyed by both - and the other customers)

Another one - draw instead of drawer.

Would of and should of and alright. Aaaaagh. And myself as the subject . Double aaaaagh. And the grammar teacher who said didn't ought to in adult literacy class and couldn't see any difference between faze and phase.

Does anyone find though, should they correct anyone on grammar or spelling, that is the exact time they themselves cock up? Usually its me typing so fast because I'm annoyed, I will post, then look back and see the other person is laughing at me because I have corrected them with an in-correction! Every bloody thyme! (Hate stoopid misteaks!)

I think teachers who say it doesn't matter if children get spelling, grammar or punctuation wrong should be sacked.

It matters when they write their cv for a job. They wouldn't get very far when there is so much competition these days.

I think text speak is great for mobile phones but you have to know about your own language surely?

Anyone else noticed how young people overuse the word "literally "? I could have screamed when my young neighbour told me that she had "literally died" !

The predictive text on a phone can be switched off. My problem is usually fat fingers. The expressions which annoy me are "bored of" instead of " bored with" and "fed up of" when it should be "fed up with". Although I must admit I don't understand why so many young people today are always complaining they are bored.

Less and fewer - less for things you cannot count and fewer for those you can but now even the newsreaders use less all the time!

'Get' e.g. a drink instead of 'have' when ordering.

Oh girls I love you, so glad to know that I'm not alone in finding all these hugely irritating.
My latest worry is that even Radio 4 commentators seem to confuse,"me" and "I"in sentences about two people:quite easy,"I went shopping" so "Mum and I went shopping":you wouldn't say,"me went shopping" so don't say,"Mum and me.."
Other pet infuriation is"you guys"
I am not male, nor do I wear a sign asking for a penny, I am not a guy, I am female!