Are you irritated by incorrect grammar.

My pet irritation when chefs especially say “add a little BIT of water”. Should be drop, spot, etc., growing up we were always corrected to say the right words. It annoys my son ?

I've just returned to this thread and want to thank FannyCornforth, Marydoll and Doodledog for your kind and very supportive comments.

Quizzer: just came across this thread and must admit I agree with every word you wrote probably because I have been teaching English to Italians for over thirty years.

My profession (before giving it up to be a full-time mother) was that of trilingual executive secretary. In that capacity, I had great fun for several years arguing with my various American bosses about the correct use/spelling of the language: armed with my Oxford Dictionary and my boss with his Webster's. The misunderstandings and the laughs!

Have become fascinated by the subtlety of the English language when used correctly. Just think how Churchill used it to assassinate/amuse his opponents or friends.

The two ‘best’ I ever saw were both on the same day, in a local Asda. Both were printed, not handwritten, signs!

‘New Zeeland chedder’ and

‘Rasers are now in the shampoo aisle.’

What really gave me a start was that they’d spelt ‘aisle’ correctly! I’ve seen ‘isle’ in that context so many times.

My daughter once brought home a printed list of spellings to be learnt for the following week - one of them was spelt incorrectly!!

less/fewer

amount of /number of

greengrocers' apostrophes

I/me

All drive me crazy.

Pacific instead of specific is another very common one.

I particularly dislike “somefink” instead of “something”. As previous poster said above, my estimation of the person’s IQ drops significantly. My very big pet peeve.

When reading, the blatant misuse of your and you’re or they’re, their, there also drives me bonkers.

I can somewhat understand the confusion of definately for definitely but when someone uses defiantly for definitely, it makes my eyes hurt.

Yes they are Witzend but I have heard people describing themselves as anti social whilst saying that they are happiest on their own, when of course unsociable is what they mean.

It's easier to understand what someone means when they use correct grammar. It's especially important when advising or instructing others to use proper grammar so they won't get into difficulties. E.g driving instructor, solicitor, nurse, teacher, people who write instructions for flat pack furniture.

Re: the discussion around red ink.
Many years ago, when I was working in China, I learned why red ink was best avoided: www.nspirement.com/2021/07/08/red-ink-taboo-names-using-red.html
After reading this thread I was curious to know if there were any countries outside SE Asia where red ink is also taboo. I thought you might be interested in the only result I got after I did a spot of googling: www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/australia-says-39-no-39-to-use-of-red-pen-by-teachers-108120501065_1.html

JenniferEccles

It’s and its I am sure catch a lot of us out until we ask ourselves if the apostrophe is to replace the Missing letter i.

I’m always a bit reluctant to post on these grammar threads as I’m perfectly certain that I have made ( and will continue to make) many mistakes over the years but certain things do jump out at most of us.

It seems acceptable these days to say “I was sat” but it always sounds to me as if the person was picked up by somebody and plonked on the chair !!

To the retired English teachers on here, weren’t we taught “I was sitting”
or “I sat” ?

Language evolves though of course so perhaps it’s now deemed ok.

Just thought of another common one, anti-social used when it should be unsociable.

But ‘unsociable’ and ‘anti-social’ surely have different meanings?

To me they do, anyway - I certainly wouldn’t call them interchangeable.

GrandmaKT ?
Yes, it’s inevitable isn’t it?!!

JenniferEccles

There you are, I even made a mistake on that post with the capital M in missing ?

I should have kept quiet!!

Ha ha! Have none of you heard of Muprhy's Law?
It states that any post criticizing the grammar, spelling, or mechanics of another post will in itself contain at least one error!

There you are, I even made a mistake on that post with the capital M in missing ?

I should have kept quiet!!

It’s and its I am sure catch a lot of us out until we ask ourselves if the apostrophe is to replace the Missing letter i.

I’m always a bit reluctant to post on these grammar threads as I’m perfectly certain that I have made ( and will continue to make) many mistakes over the years but certain things do jump out at most of us.

It seems acceptable these days to say “I was sat” but it always sounds to me as if the person was picked up by somebody and plonked on the chair !!

To the retired English teachers on here, weren’t we taught “I was sitting”
or “I sat” ?

Language evolves though of course so perhaps it’s now deemed ok.

Just thought of another common one, anti-social used when it should be unsociable.

Oh yes- some simply jump out -“have I took”, “need advise” and the perennial complaints about trying to “loose weight” <sigh>

Gagajo, don't feel so bad. When I attended evening classes I loved the red ink. I was fascinated by the corrections. I was told that in the years I attended school there was less emphasis on teaching grammatical rules. My teacher once mentioned that when she moved North she noticed a differing grammatical emphasis in our speech. However I can't recall what it was.

I love regional accents, including my own. I still remember a time on holiday when I first heard a farmer speaking with a rolling type 'r' in Wooler, Northumberland. Absolutely wonderful. It goes hand in hand with the musical culture of the North East. I spent last night listening to traditional folk music on youtube: Katherine Tickell's, Rothbury Hills, Cushie Butterfield (Owen Brannigan), Alan Hull et al. I loved to hear the regional accents on 'Nationwide' many years ago. Today we are rarely treated to these voices on television. Fred Dibnah springs to mind but that's about it.

"I was reasonably competent at sewing so was a bit miffed to get only a C+ - ‘Neatness and accuracy are 2 skills which you must practice.’
I still think it was very forbearing of me not to point out that it should have been ‘practise’!"

That's probably why that particular teacher taught sewing and not grammar.

Upthread, it was mentioned that Melvyn Bragg lost his accent to climb the greasy pole. Really? He always sounds as if he should have his towel draped head over a bowl of boiling Vick water?

Marydoll

FannyCornforth

eazybee I always have to really think about practice and practise.

Does anyone know, is there a clever way of remembering which one to use?

A parent once wrote a message to me on his daughter's homework jotter, to reprimand me for spelling practice incorrectly.
I politely wrote back explaining that it was in fact he, who was wrong.

Practise, the verb
Practice, the noun.

Dd1 loathed sewing at school, so I ended up doing most of her cookery apron - the exact same thing I’d made at school 30 odd years earlier!

I was reasonably competent at sewing so was a bit miffed to get only a C+ - ‘Neatness and accuracy are 2 skills which you must practice.’

I still think it was very forbearing of me not to point out that it should have been ‘practise’!

Has anyone mentioned that the best place for this thread would be in Pedants' Corner?

I was copied into a solicitor's letter yesterday that contained the following sentence:

Further to the above matter, we have chased the Sellers Solicitors in respect of their clients current position

Has the apostrophe now died?

In US, it's always practice (noun and verb) and always license (noun and verb) but advice and advise (noun verb respectively). Canada appears to be a mixture of UK and US - 'tire centre' being held up as the perfect example.
I assume most computer software can be US or UK, but can it be Canadian? And does Australia have a similar issue?

That too FannyC