As an English/editing major, I hold a special place in my heart for grammar. I love diagramming sentences, identifying parts of speech, and studying punctuation. I love love LOVE the Chicago Manual of Style and at one point, I even had the thing practically memorized! Copy editing is one of my most favorite pastimes.My dreams of working as an editor for a gossip magazine have come and gone, but that doesn't mean I've let my love for grammar go. That also doesn't mean that I ALWAYS author posts that are grammatically correct.
The thing that I love about blogs is that you can be as formal or as casual as you want. With email, texting, social networking site, whatever, I hardly ever use proper grammar. Half the time, i dont even capitalize or punctuate correctly. Usually I'm in such a rush to send out an email or get a post up that I have a million typos in whatever I'm writing. Hell, this blog post probably already has like 90 typos. So don't worry. I'm not judging your texts, emails, or Tweets. I don't pick a part everything you type or write. I don't really care and I don't really have the time.
NEVERTHELESS...
There are a few flagrant grammar mistakes people make that aggravate the hell outta me and just make you look stupid. In no particular order:
Your/You're
AHHHHHH!!!! I can't stand when people get these two mixed up! What don't you get? One means you possess it the other means you are. Get it straight!
There/Their/They're
These are 3 different words, people. They're not meant to be used interchangeably.
Lay/Lie
Lie is an intransitive verb whereas lay is a transitive verb and requires a direct object. Too geeky for you? Try this: You lay your head on a pillow when you lie down. Your head is the direct object. Down is simply an adverb, describing where you're resting your head. Not that hard.
To/Too
Too is an adverb with two different meanings, 1. excessively, You're too stupid and 2. also or as well, He's stupid, too. On the other hand, to is a participle. To meets up with a verb to create an infinitive like to punch. Or, to can be used as a preposition as in I learned proper grammar by going to school.
Its/It's
Its is possessive, Hawaii is known for its beautiful women. (heehee!) It's is a contraction, meaning it is or it has, It's been a pain in my ass trying to read your grammatically incorrect term paper.
Do any of you share my sentiments when it comes to these grammatical errors? Or am I just anal? What are some of your grammatical pet peeves?
7 comments:
Your blog template doesn't give me the creeps at all. I like.
Dude!!! Thank you! Can we please post this on Craigslist and any comment forum on the internet? I am constantly amazed at the stupidity of people.
e.g.
Your awesome, Cali
Thanks Bama, you are to.
Lay/lie don't bother me that much, but your/you're, they're/there/their, and to/too/two bug the hell out of me.
I hate when people misspell "loose" and "lose". They are TWO ENTIRELY DIFFERENT words!
also..hmm, *thinking*...you already have named most of mistakes I hate already. lol
So true. So sad, and so true.
We saw a fancy schmancy car recently with a giant vinyl sticker across the back window that said, "Paying to much for insurance?" hahahahahaha
That picture unexpectedly left me laughing this morning.
Spell Check! It is practically hands free these days. Just use it people. I have relatives who blog and I cannot read them because of their spelling.
I too get annoyed by those exact mistakes!! Especially the first two and last. I mean, it's not THAT hard! But then I saw one of my older comments ons omeone's blog and I had swiched their with they're. Ack. So embarassing.
clothed much, a modest fashion blog
I'm not that much of a grammar nazi... when I type instant messages, I make soo many typos it's not even funny especially on my Blackberry.
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