Comments on: Five Grammatical Errors that Make You Look Dumb

By: Grammatical Sabbatical « idoitsguidetotheinterwebs

Grammatical Sabbatical « idoitsguidetotheinterwebs — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:45:42 +0000

[...] make when writing. Check it out. Sometimes it is just silly mistakes you make while typing http://www.copyblogger.com/5-common-mistakes-that-make-you-look-dumb/. Never the less, make you look like an [...]

By: Andre Hartslief

Andre Hartslief — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:24:48 +0000

Man, that was entertaining, those comments Kraked or is it Krakked? me up completely. What a totally enthralling piece, thank you for sharing.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 06:07:25 +0000

I’m an writer/editor and so is my husband. We think it quite normal to spend quality time (whatever that means) discussing (okay, arguing about) grammar and editorial style. Here’s a short clip about how to react when someone “corrects” you incorrectly: http://www.wimp.com/correctyou/

Down with the use of “myself,” as in “You can call myself at….” Oh aargh.

By: MarVeena

MarVeena — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:01:13 +0000

Nice article, I am blushing though. Guilty I am sure!
Thanks for sharing!

By: Richard

Richard — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:11:24 +0000

Lose and Loose

By: Marney Duckworth

Marney Duckworth — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:17:26 +0000

After some thought, I would also add Then vs. Than.

By: Jack

Jack — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 06:21:54 +0000

Those are very obvious errors that I do make sometimes especially with its and it’s. I used to grapple with this problem in my school days until one fine day my english teacher thought enough was enough and she gave me a full long one hour lecture on how to use it properly. Since then, I’ve never used it wrong

By: Warsaw Will

Warsaw Will — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 10:13:18 +0000

When Yves said “as well as us” , he was only saying what many competent native speakers (including me) would say in similar circumstances. Perhaps by ‘ the current vernacular’ , you mean normal spoken English? Incidentally the most formal version would be “as well as we”, which is still a prepositional form. In any case, according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage, commenters are divided on this issue.

And are you sure ” as well as we do is synonymous with “but? Analagous perhaps, but hardly synoymous.

As regards your next comment – “when we were living” is past continuous (or progressive), not past simple, and the appropriate tense to use with it would be past simple, rather than past perfect, as madge and Laura have pointed out.

I also don’t mean to be nitpicky, but when people start criticising other people’s English, I think they should be careful to do it from a solid basis, not from one based on personal peeves.

By: Frank

Frank — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 00:42:17 +0000

THEN instead of THAN.

That is the worst one in my book, and you see it everywhere. People even pronounce THEN when they mean THAN.

By: Debra Russell

Debra Russell — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 22:37:18 +0000

Ah, yes – I love that you did this, because it makes me crazy, too! But I will say, that affect can also be a noun when talking about someone’s demeanor – as in “The Detective became suspicious because Jane’s affect was all wrong for a supposedly grieving widow.”

Just because it’s OK to do this on twitter in order to fit that 140 character constraint doesn’t make it OK to do it on your blog, in your emails or on your website. I completely agree!