Grammar Nazi

[sms001]

I read the story, and clicked on the guy's blog. Either he got hacked, or he got busted!

Yeppers. Reads to me like a court ordered apology. oops!


On topic, what I admire most about our language is its flexibility. If I'd misplaced an apostrophe in the possessive 'its' my meaning would still have gotten across. But it does drive me bat shit crazy when people who are PAID TO CONVEY MEANING - newscasters, professional speakers, reporters, etc. make common errors. Jeez folks, it's your JOB!

[RecoveringKinkoid]

This is what I'm talking about right ch'ere.

[protege]

Well, while we're on the subject. Y'all is the correct contraction of you and all.

Except in Pittsburgh... around here, quite a few people say "Yinz"

[Food Lady]

*sigh* I would hope (in the event I ever get something published) I will be able to remember that grammar was never my strong suit and leave that to the professionals.

You're grammars' fine; deer.

[shenzee]

I saw a sign that said We now except credit cards as well. It was on a Dairy Queen about 2 blocks down from a University. At least they had a sense of humor because about a week later it said, "Yes, we do accept credit cards".

Mikoyan, we must be talking about the same DQ on Washtenaw in Ypsi! They did change the sign a week later, but it said "Your right, we accept credit cards" so it still had a grammar error!

[Mark Healey]

I don't know what a grocers apostrophe is but a lot of the schoolbook punctuation rules don't make sense. I refuse to use an apostrophe unless someone can tell me what it is standing in for. Yes, I did just end a sentence with a preposition.

Now I have to make fun of you. You Wrote "which had inslaved them". Neener Neener Neener.

[technical.angel]

Grocer's Apostrophe, from Wiki.

Apostrophes used incorrectly to form plurals are known as greengrocers' apostrophes (or grocers' apostrophes, or sometimes humorously greengrocers apostrophe's). The practice comes from the identical sound of the plural and possessive forms of most English nouns. It is often considered a form of hypercorrection coming from a widespread ignorance of the proper use of the apostrophe or of punctuation in general. Lynne Truss, author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves, points out that before the 19th century, it was standard orthography to use the apostrophe to form a plural of a foreign-sounding word that ended in a vowel (e.g., banana's, folio's, logo's, quarto's, pasta's, ouzo's) to clarify pronunciation. Truss says this usage is no longer considered proper in formal writing.[41]
Multiple apostrophe abuse

It is believed that the term was coined in the middle of the 20th century by a teacher of languages working in Liverpool, at a time when such mistakes were common in the handwritten signs and advertisements of greengrocers (e.g., Apple's 1/- a pound, Orange's 1/6d a pound). Some have argued that its use in mass communication by employees of well-known companies has led to the less grammatically able assuming it to be correct and adopting the habit themselves.[42]

The same error is sometimes made by non-native speakers of English and this hyperforeignism has been formalised in some pseudo-anglicisms. For example, the French word pin's (from English pin) is used (with the apostrophe in both singular and plural) for collectable lapel pins. Similarly, there is an Andorran football club called FC Rànger's (after such British clubs as Rangers F.C.) and a Japanese pop punk band called the Titan Go King's.[43]

The widespread use of apostrophes before the s of plural nouns has led some to believe that an apostrophe is also needed before the s of the third-person present tense of a verb. Thus, he take's, it begin's, etc...

While the greengrocers' apostrophe is more likely to be found in small retail businesses, the UK's largest supermarket chain, Tesco, omits the mark where some guides require one. Its in-store signage advertises (among other items) mens magazines, girls toys, kids books and womens shoes. The author Bill Bryson lambasts Tesco for this reason in his book Troublesome Words, stating that "the mistake is inexcusable and those who make it are linguistic Neanderthals".[44]

[Shironu-Akaineko]

While we're on the topic...

People that claim to go to college but insist on spelling it "collage".

It drives me bonkers.

[Seshat]

The Grocer's Apostrophe, also known as "oh no! here comes an S!"

If any of you are lucky enough, or work hard enough to be published: accept that there are multiple correct forms of English.

I was raised with the Oxford comma. (He bought apples, oranges and pears.)
My publisher uses the Chicago style guide. (He bought apples, oranges, and pears.)

The Chicago style annoys me. But guess who was publishing me? So guess who wins?

Yup.

When a book is returned to you for final proofing, that's what you should give it. Check it for glaring errors of fact, check to see that the printers haven't goofed and printed page 42 upside down, check to make sure noone left out a chapter...

It's too late to decide that the third sentence of paragraph 5 on page 321 could be written better. The time to correct that sentence is looong past.

So I COMPLETELY understand BookBint's frustration!

[Andara Bledin]

I don't know what a grocers apostrophe is but a lot of the schoolbook punctuation rules don't make sense. I refuse to use an apostrophe unless someone can tell me what it is standing in for. Yes, I did just end a sentence with a preposition.

Actually, you didn't. In that position and usage, it's part of a verbal phrase.

^-.-^

[FredKlein]

"Five items or less".

OR LESS THAN WHAT?

Less than 5 items. :-)

http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=less says:

(adj) less ((nonstandard in some uses but often idiomatic with measure phrases) fewer) "less than three weeks"; "no less than 50 people attended"; "in 25 words or less"

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/less says:

usage The traditional view is that less applies to matters of degree, value, or amount and modifies collective nouns, mass nouns, or nouns denoting an abstract whole while fewer applies to matters of number and modifies plural nouns. Less has been used to modify plural nouns since the days of King Alfred and the usage, though roundly decried, appears to be increasing. Less is more likely than fewer to modify plural nouns when distances, sums of money, and a few fixed phrases are involved <less than 100 miles> <an investment of less than $2000> <in 25 words or less> and as likely as fewer to modify periods of time <in less (or fewer) than four hours>. [emphasis mine]

Language changes, evolves. So, Meh.

[McGoddess09]

Now,this thing drives me nuts and I see some of my teachers doing this.

Which is the correct way?

He wanted to do this, and that.

He wanted to do this and that.


I lean towards the second one, but I have seen people who are in advanced english do the first one.

Which is it?!

[Crab]

Well, if you're of the view that the only correct way of speaking English is as written by inbred Victorian degenerates who thought Latin was the perfect language and all language continually degenerates such as generations of English teachers and other people with too much time on their hands, then "He wanted to do this and that." If not, either is acceptable as a comma before conjunctions (the so-called 'oxford comma') is common usage (although in this case as, in the way I speak at least, there's no natural pause there I wouldn't put a comma)

Also, on the passive voice: Yes, writing an entire book in the passive voice is almost certainly an awful, unreadable mess. But if a sentence or passage has been written in the passive, it might be for good reasons, such as to deliver emphasis, or as part of a relative clause, or because the agent is unidentified.

*pant*

ooh, the notion of 'proper' English gets me riled.

[pile of monkeys]

I was raised with the Oxford comma. (He bought apples, oranges and pears.)
My publisher uses the Chicago style guide. (He bought apples, oranges, and pears.)

Curiosity- isn't it the other way around (the Oxford comma is the final one before the "and")? That's the way I learned it, and now I'm afraid I'm being incorrectly pedantic.

[Crab]

Monkeys - you're right.

"The serial comma (also known as the Oxford comma or Harvard comma) is the comma used immediately before a grammatical conjunction (nearly always and or or; sometimes nor) that precedes the last item in a list of three or more items. For example, a list of three countries might be indicated by the phrase "Portugal, Spain, and France", which is written with the serial comma, or by the phrase "Portugal, Spain and France", which is written without it."~Wikipedia.