Grammatical errors that really drive you nuts.

[Sikeliot]

What are they? I have a long list I will type out later

[rhiannon]

Spelling errors get me more than anything.

[Diërker]

you are - you're............................................ ....

[Isleño]

Spelling errors

[Yehiel]

the ones who try to correct me

[arcticwolf]

Nothing does, I do not care as long as I can understand it.

I don't sweat the small shit.

[Sikeliot]

I get annoyed with slang.

[Svipdag]

Although I admit that English spelling is highly illogical, still I find spelling errors annoying because they seem to me careless. The gadget which stops a car is a BRAKE, not a break, though, if it fails to brake the car the result may break many bones. To, too, and two are so familiar that their misuse is usually, but not always, easily understood.

Buzz-words irritate me. "Hopefully" means "in a manner full of hope". It does NOT mean " I hope" or "it is to be hoped". Nobody has problems anymore; they're all "issues".

On the other hand, some old bugbears are pointless. Does it really make any difference to comprehension if one splits an infinitive ?
Is there anything really wrong with "To boldly go where no man has gone before." ?

"While" pertains to TIME and should not be used as a substitute for "inasmuch as". Would that we had a monosyllabic substitute for the tetrasyllabic "insmuch as" . I can sympathise with those who, in the interest of bevity, substitute "while" for "Inasmuch as".

One mis-pronunciation which grates on me is "Feb-you-ary" for the second month of the year. There is a reason for the "r". It comes from the Roman festival of expiation "febRua" which was celebrated at that time.

(BTW, any apparent spelling errors in my posts are typographical. My fingers do not always do what my brain tells them to.)

[arcticwolf]

Why do I always have to explain the obvious? I shouldn't really have to.

For many on here English is the second, or third language. They practice English by participating.

The MAIN point of a communication process is to understand the message, EVERYTHING else is secondary.

Why even bother sweating the small stuff?
Isn't obvious really obvious?

[Fortis in Arduis]

I like to think that I am Mr English Language Linguist, but I have much to learn, and a quick course in copy-editing would, most likely, reveal that. I find myself writing as I would speak casually, but not all of these are grammar problems. American spellings are fine, but non-English speakers using these forms is a little upsetting.

The loss of the impersonal pronoun, using 'you' quite meaninglessly, instead of 'one', is an irritation. Most of the obvious grammar problems are very obvious, but the little subtle mistakes that slip under the radar are the sneaky ones like split infinitives.

Here, a famous example:

"To boldly go where no man has gone before."

This should be:

"To go boldly where no man has gone before."

This error has become ubiquitous. Watching the BBC can be quite funny when presenters correct each other, but they also make errors.

Member of Parliament, Dianne Abbott was on BBC Radio 4 the other day, making all sorts of horrendous pronunciation errors that made me scream in correction. She sounded like an absolute idiot!

Not sure if non-Brits will be able to watch this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p018g2mw



Grammar has stopped being taught since the 1960s, according to Nevile Gwynne. Grammar does inform thought, and bad grammar sometimes constitutes a loss of meaning, and so, it is serious.

A look of disgust spreads across my face and a supersonic squeal erupts when someone says that they want to "know where I am at" or that they "hear me". This is a step too far. There are standards, some of which vary a little between countries, but there are no excuses for the condescending management-speak slang which is now spreading like blue-green algae.

Lastly, driving into Woodbridge, I was greeted with the following text on a road sign:

Welcome to Woodbridge

An Historic Market Town

"An Historic" sounds like anhydrous, and the error originates from the writer being one who drops his 'aitches' in speech.