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Post by ellynmacgregor2024 on Apr 22, 2023 23:45:29 GMT
If you, like I, have a bone to pick with errors you spot in grammar, punctuation, spelling, or usage, this is the place to: Pick those bones Air your beefs Get on your high horse*
And rant away, as long as it concerns errors in any of the above areas.
Copying and pasting is permissible of a specific example found on the Internet... or if you have a more general complaint, e.g., some author's tendency toward splicing commas, that will also be fine. Remember, we're in the "I am outraged!" board, so no gripe is too sweeping or too nitpicking.
*No doubt some commenters will object to my use of clichés to make a point. Feel free to complain about that, too.
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Post by ellynmacgregor2024 on Apr 24, 2023 19:26:23 GMT
Just to kickstart this thread (this is on the "Stupid" board and the "I Am Outraged!" sub-board, after all), I'll give a few examples of things that tick me off:
Use of subjective case instead of objective Ex: Between you and I - Incorrect Between you and me - Correct
Use of a comma between two independent clauses (comma splice) Ex. I went to school, you went to work. - Incorrect This error can be corrected in a number of different ways. For instance: I went to school; you went to work. I went to school. You went to work. I went to school while you went to work.
Use of a wrong word (because you trusted that false friend, the spellchecker, too much) Ex. Someone needs to reign him in. Incorrect (though it sounds correct, it isn't). Someone needs to rein him in. Correct ("rein in" alludes to controlling a stubborn or runaway horse)
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Post by ellynmacgregor2024 on Apr 25, 2023 0:31:00 GMT
I apologize in advance for posting three times in a row--and for the length of this post...sheesh, you'd think this was a dissertation... but a friend of mine reminded me in a PM of a point I forgot to make. That friend said something about knowing proper punctuation but not always being careful about it online. Well, of course. When you're online--including email, unless it's addressed to a superior--or on your phone, the important thing is getting your point across in a concise fashion. As long as you're making yourself understood (and not confusing anybody), who cares what it looks like?
This whole thread was created as a venting/ranting area, primarily for people who: (1) spot annoying--and often recurring--errors, such as those in magazine articles or passages in published books (print or e-format), and we're not talking fictional dialogue or anything else intentionally informal; (2) have random issues with non-pinpointable mistakes.
Feel free to rant and rave and have a hissy fit about the most nitpicky stuff...this is the place for it!
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Post by Pippen on Apr 25, 2023 3:01:05 GMT
Commonly said: "It was so fun!"
Should be said .... "It was so MUCH fun !"
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Post by Pippen on Apr 25, 2023 3:02:51 GMT
"I should have went"
😡
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Post by Carl LaFong on Apr 25, 2023 22:35:24 GMT
Scotland is particularly bad for that .. especially its professional footballers!
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Post by Carl LaFong on Apr 25, 2023 22:37:03 GMT
This following one is ungrammatical but is fast becoming the norm in the U.K., even newsreaders use it:
I was sat .. or I am sat … instead of I was/am sitting …
It really boils my piss!
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Post by scream on Apr 26, 2023 16:43:41 GMT
My main irritation with Americans is the use of the word 'impact'. Too lazy to differentiate between 'affected' and 'effected', everything becomes 'impacted'. Wisdom teeth can be impacted - correct usage - a horse can have an impacted colon - and there can be an impact when a car hits a tree. But the new usage - asking someone how the outcome of a sporting event 'impacted' them, is incorrect. ellynmacgregor2024,
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Post by scream on Apr 26, 2023 16:50:18 GMT
I apologize in advance for posting three times in a row--and for the length of this post...sheesh, you'd think this was a dissertation... but a friend of mine reminded me in a PM of a point I forgot to make. That friend said something about knowing proper punctuation but not always being careful about it online. Well, of course. When you're online--including email, unless it's addressed to a superior--or on your phone, the important thing is getting your point across in a concise fashion. As long as you're making yourself understood (and not confusing anybody), who cares what it looks like? This whole thread was created as a venting/ranting area, primarily for people who: (1) spot annoying--and often recurring--errors, such as those in magazine articles or passages in published books (print or e-format), and we're not talking fictional dialogue or anything else intentionally informal; (2) have random issues with non-pinpointable mistakes. Feel free to rant and rave and have a hissy fit about the most nitpicky stuff...this is the place for it! Hey, I used to be a proofreader. My blood pressure goes up every time I read posts here, read an article online with a typo or see some other egregious error, like 'reign' instead of 'rein'. I hope it is okay for me to scream here!
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Post by ellynmacgregor2024 on Apr 29, 2023 4:33:00 GMT
Of course it is. In fact, I'll start one, just to encourage you: AAAAIIIEEE!!!Whew! Well, I feel better now. I know. Which reminds me of another gripe: people who confuse "affect" and "effect." Ex.: I felt strongly effected by that hard-hitting drama. Wrong I felt strongly affected by that hard-hitting drama. Right That stock market crash had a devastating affect on the economy. Wrong That stock market crash had a devastating effect on the economy. Right So you were a proofreader? I can relate. Back in the very early days of ebooks, I used to be an online editor (mostly copy-editing). Sometimes I enjoyed it...other times, not so much. Some mistakes I found highly amusing--particularly the remote or dangling modifiers or participial phrases. One of my favorites (that has stuck with me for over twenty years) is the following: Black and polished to a high gleam, the old man dragged the rocking chair into the attic.Now, since I knew the "old man" in question was Caucasian, and not in the habit of varnishing himself, I had to suppose the author was referring to the rocking chair--but her meaning would probably have been clearer if she had written something like this: The old man dragged the rocking chair--black and polished to a high gleam--into the attic. Of course, then it wouldn't have been nearly as funny.
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Post by Pippen on May 1, 2023 3:07:01 GMT
Poster's habitual usage of typing "too" when meaning "to" which happens so often that when they write "to", it seems like a typo !
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Post by Pippen on May 3, 2023 15:17:01 GMT
It is NOT it happened "ON" accident" it is "BY" accident !
😡
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Post by Nalkarj on May 3, 2023 22:36:26 GMT
I work as a copy editor, so I sympathize with these complaints! Pippen’s post about too/ to reminded me of something my cousin (usually totally uninterested in grammar) told me about a sign she used to pass on her way to work. The sign was for a thrift store and it was called something like “Things to You” (not the real name, if I’m remembering correctly, but close). But the sign didn’t read “Things to You,” it read “Things too You.” Cuz was irked by this. Clearly the sign meant “Things to You,” and she’d even understand if it were “Things 2 You,” as in texting. But nope, “Things too You.” I said English probably wasn’t the shop owner’s first language. Cuz agreed, but she still couldn’t get past that too. C’est tout! EDIT: Too annoyed my autocorrect even more than it did my cousin—autocorrect kept changing it to to.
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Post by Pippen on May 3, 2023 22:41:41 GMT
Nalkarjautocorrect is often not the friend that google can be and sometimes actually is !
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Post by ellynmacgregor2024 on May 8, 2023 8:48:37 GMT
Using "wave" when your meaning requires "waive."
Ex.: She decided to wave her privileges. Incorrect (even though she may be "waving" goodbye to those privileges) She decided to waive her privileges. Correct
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