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Post by embonpoint on Jun 2, 2011 15:21:46 GMT -5
"Could of" instead of "could have". Illiterate punks! There's a girl who was in my class once (and I still have her on facebook) and her statuses are littered with this, as well as mistakes with your/you're and all those common ones. She's currently studying for a BA in Creative Writing... Maybe she's not being ignorant, but just 'creative' with her grammar? |
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Post by Silva on Jun 2, 2011 16:51:23 GMT -5
Does 'could of' come from the fact that 'could have' can be shortened to 'could've'? I think some research is in order for me.
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Post by embonpoint on Jun 2, 2011 16:57:03 GMT -5
Does 'could of' come from the fact that 'could have' can be shortened to 'could've'? I think some research is in order for me. Yeah, when people say it "could-uhve", sounds like "could of". I actually remember watching a kids' TV show once (it might even have been Teletubbies when they watch the video through one of their tummies, but I'm not sure) where they explained the difference, because a kid was writing a comic book and put "could of" so they corrected him. |
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Post by cyanea on Jun 4, 2011 9:38:08 GMT -5
Oh...was reminded of this when I went to the store last night.
"Where you at?"
Grit my teeth every time.
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Post by serpentheart on Jun 5, 2011 6:46:19 GMT -5
Less/fewer. It's everywhere! Today I saw it in a car advertisement: "There are no less than 18 seat positions.." *grit teeth*
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ovid
Armadillo Pup
Posts: 17
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Post by ovid on Jun 8, 2011 21:03:26 GMT -5
Incorrect use of a/an really trips me up. It just destroys any flow I had while reading something. This makes the British silent "H" really annoying for me too, the whole "an hundred" make my brain ooze out of my head. I was under the impression this was just an antiquated (and now pretentious) way of writing it and not technically incorrect. I've been reading a lot of literature from the 1600 and 1700s lately and all of them use 'an' before any word beginning in 'h'. I also had a coworker on a paper that absolutely loved when his writers used 'an h...', but he was also incredibly pretentious. My personal peeve is when people use 'sex' and 'gender' interchangeably. Sex asks the specifics of your genitals and gender asks how you identify within social constructs. |
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Post by moosethemoose on Jun 8, 2011 22:24:26 GMT -5
I came to this thread yesterday with one in mind, and read through everyone else's and got really angry about them all [particularly then/than and semicolons] but then forgot my own. But now I've remembered it!
Shot/shoot: at a bar with friends, someone buys you a 30mL drink and says, 'shot that!'
The drink is a shot, and you shoot it.
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Post by onlyaworkingtitle on Jun 8, 2011 22:35:52 GMT -5
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Post by KatjevanLoon on Jun 8, 2011 23:01:43 GMT -5
My personal peeve is when people use 'sex' and 'gender' interchangeably. Sex asks the specifics of your genitals and gender asks how you identify within social constructs. Ditto. Though my anger with this may be classified as more than a pet peeve. |
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ovid
Armadillo Pup
Posts: 17
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Post by ovid on Jun 9, 2011 9:51:53 GMT -5
I was reminded of this one today: when people capitalize both 'happy' and 'birthday' in a sentence. The same is true of 'the' and 'end' to conclude a story. Birthday and end are not proper nouns.
Neither/or. It's either/or and neither/nor. *eye twitch*
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Post by pjthefey on Jun 10, 2011 2:33:58 GMT -5
The word "ain't" really disturbs me. In fact I just twitched when I typed it.
Also, I really don't like double negatives and other grammar using negative words in pop songs. My distaste is usually somewhat delayed when I have to explain to non-native speakers that the songs may sound catchy, but should not be emulated.
"Tick tock on the clock and the party don't stop."
"Actually she should say 'doesn't' stop. The party doesn't stop."
"Why?"
"Don't applies to multiple objects, whereas doesn't is for just one thing. There's only one party so doesn't is the appropriate word for this sentence."
"So why doesn't she sing the song that way. "
"... because she's wrong and apparently doesn't know any better."
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Post by onlyaworkingtitle on Jun 10, 2011 2:35:28 GMT -5
The word "ain't" really disturbs me. In fact I just twitched when I typed it. ... I just twitched reading it. |
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andy
Young Armadillo
Posts: 80
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Post by andy on Jun 10, 2011 6:54:45 GMT -5
Incorrect use of a/an really trips me up. It just destroys any flow I had while reading something. This makes the British silent "H" really annoying for me too, the whole "an hundred" make my brain ooze out of my head. I was under the impression this was just an antiquated (and now pretentious) way of writing it and not technically incorrect. I've been reading a lot of literature from the 1600 and 1700s lately and all of them use 'an' before any word beginning in 'h'. I also had a coworker on a paper that absolutely loved when his writers used 'an h...', but he was also incredibly pretentious. Silent 'h's do exist in English because some words starting with 'h' were borrowed from other languages in which they were silent 'h' and it seems illogical to make them audible after they've passed into English. However, 'hundred' does not have a silent 'h', it has an audible 'h' so the correct form is 'a hundred', but, for example, it's 'an hour' not 'a hour' because 'hour' comes from the Old French 'houre' which like all French words beginning with 'h' has (a more or less) silent 'h'. The phrase 'grammar Nazi' makes me want to vomit, it's immensely offensive on several levels different levels. Genocide is not something we should make jokes about. |
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Umbvix
Young Armadillo
SCHLURP :B
Posts: 64
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Post by Umbvix on Jun 11, 2011 15:54:27 GMT -5
Angle/angel, rouge/rogue. These two drive me NUTS.
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Post by suffixedishness on Jun 11, 2011 19:12:47 GMT -5
Angle/angel, rouge/rogue. These two drive me NUTS. Along the same line as this, Calvary is not the same thing as cavalry! Calvary was the place where Jesus got crucified. Cavalry are military units on horseback. They are different and I want to strangle anyone who refers to a group of horsed warriors as calvary. Other than that, I hate comma splices a lot, although they don't bother me as much as they used to. I've gained a very deep loathing for commas after "and" or "but," as in, "He came home from school but, noticed he had forgotten his homework." Also, "got" instead of "have" is irksome. I do wonder, though, is "have got" correct? I usually see (and use) it as a contraction, though, as in, "I've got some lovely flowers growing in my garden." |
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