The spelling/grammar nazi thread

I see a lot of spelling/grammar mistakes here and on the rest of the net. English is not my first language, so don't hide behind the fact that it isn't yours either; you can still improve your English. I'm sure I make lot's of mistakes too, so I'm not here to say what you all do wrong. This is a thread where we can all point out some common mistakes we all make, and try not to make them again.

So;

Then/Than:
Then is about time, than is comparison.
Examples:
My Rolex is shinier than yours.
I looked him in the eyes, then I shot him.

And then someone else can explain when and where I should use 's after words, and when I should use s. I never get that right :p

Is it color or colour.
In the UK it is colour but in the US it is color.

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Originally Posted by ihoss.com

So;

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semicolon? :confused:

I love semicolon; it can be used everywhere ;)

Your/you're

Your cat is dead.
You're the owner of a dead cat.

Definitely... there's definitely no damn "a" in "definitely".

And there's no such word as irregardless. It's a bad, bad word.

Apparently, in journalism school, they teach you to never use the term 'utilize' unless it is part of the work 'overutilize.'

On a side note, will GW Bush ever stop saying 'Nuc-u-lar?'

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ihoss.com

I'm sure I make lot's of mistakes too

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;) (at least you admit it!)

/me sits back and waits for the lolcats.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ihoss.com

And then someone else can explain when and where I should use 's after words, and when I should use s. I never get that right :p

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Ah. Now I see;) (reference to my post above)

's is used to express posession in the genitive form, e.g. "John's computer".
s is used to express that something is in plural (flertall), e.g. "John has many computer games".

You should of checked threw you're reply too pick up the error's, dont be hippocritical about there mistake's.

what`s with the of instead of have. you should have checked...is this some new reform? I`ve seen this for a year or so, and it makes me want to throw up, just sounds wrong to me.

yeah and if you threw some checks of a high enough value people might ignore your errors. of course you could have spell check run through your post even faster, and save some cash!

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Originally Posted by gerbick

Definitely... there's definitely no damn "a" in "definitely".

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Wow... definitely been guilty of that one. I just realised the other week that i've been spelling surprised as suprised for as long as I can remember! :yikes:

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Originally Posted by ihoss.com

I'm sure I make lot's of mistakes too

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You mean lots? :)

[edit]Actually, now that I think about it, lot's and lots are incorrect, huh? Shouldn't it just be a lot?

Not alot. That's a common mistake as well.[/edit]

It's = it is
its = possessive

You use an apostrophe if it's possessive and for an abbreviation of it is, PAlexC.

It is Toby's fault. It's Toby's fault. The fault is all Toby's. Toby is a problem. Toby's a problem. Toby has a few problems, but the one thing we can be sure of is that they are all Toby's.

Then there is the problem of possessive plurals.

Toby has a few friends. Toby's problem is with his friends. His friends have problems to. Their problems are with Toby. Toby's friends' problems are with Toby. Toby has one friend who likes another friend. That's their problem, just one friend. Toby's friend's problem is that they like another of Toby's friends.

It's sad when I comprehend code better than my own damn speaking language.

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

yeah I'm the king of grammar

Badger badger badger badger badger MUSHROOM MUSHROOM!

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Originally Posted by asheep_uk

You use an apostrophe if it's possessive and for an abbreviation of it is, PAlexC.

It is Toby's fault. It's Toby's fault. The fault is all Toby's. Toby is a problem. Toby's a problem. Toby has a few problems, but the one thing we can be sure of is that they are all Toby's.

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I think PAlexC was talking about the possessive pronoun.

asheep, is there no "tobys"?

Their/There/They're:
Their: something owned by a group of people
There: a place
They're something a group of people are doing
Example:
Their dog died
There is a dog-cemetary
They're having a funeral for their dog at the dog-cemetary.

who, who's, and whose

Who is going to reply to this thread?
Who's (contraction: who is) going to to reply to this thread?
Whose idea was it to create a thread on grammar? Oh yes, ihoss'.

BTW, can I say Ihoss's Norwegian? It sounds kinda strange :p

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I don't think you can make contractions like that (because it's easy to confuse it as being possessive). You have to say "Ihoss is Norwegian."

dont forget who/whom..

I still haven't figured out how to use who and whom..any pointers?

Thanks

To whom you're speaking to? Who did you speak to today?

Both are pronouns, one is interrogative (who) - who did, who does, who makes, who <verb> - while the other tends to be the target of a preposition or verb (whom) - to whom, from whom, about whom, <preposition> whom.

thank you gerbick. You seem to be very strong in English Writting. My compliments.

Also you are very patient when it comes to my postings; a lot of them should be edited.

All use guys are tin tin people.
I iz also tin tin sometimes.
Tin tin is good for some tin.
I tin.

"a" or "an"

"an" is used whenever the word starts with a vowel sound(!) not only a vowel (e.g. "an" can go before "honest" because the "h" is silent…)

applies to "a" in the case of "once", because there goes a "w" first, when pronouncing "once"

btw. when do you use "if" or "when"?

Hopefully someone can give a proper explanation for this (if there is one). I just had a good sentence example to share.

Example 1:

"If I go to the store, I will get some more bread."
"When I go to the store, I will get some more bread."

In this example, both sentences are describing an action that might occur in an indefinite amount of time.

Example 2:

"If I go to the store this evening, I will get some more bread."
"When I go to the store this evening, I will get some more bread."

In this example, I've added "this evening" to the sentence. While the first sentence is still indefinite ("If" is used to show an undetermined state. The speaker is not for or against something.), the second sentence is now definite.

If is something that may happen,
When is something that will happen or has happened.

e.g. If the US ever has a woman President life will be hell.
When England had a woman Prime Minister life was hell.

I was taught never to use the word GOT, I have or they have is to be used.

Non-errors: Things that aren't wrong. I like momentarily (The plane will land momentarily = the plane will land for a short time, then take off again) and near miss (it is actually a near collision, isn't it?)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ctranter

I think PAlexC was talking about the possessive pronoun.

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Ah, thank you. Sorry PAlexC.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ihoss.com

asheep, is there no "tobys"?

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The only correct usage I could think of off* the top of my head is:

I have two friends called Toby. I know two Tobys.

But that would probably be incorrect grammar, it should be.

I know two people called Toby.

As you shouldn't refer to the noun in that way, but I can't remember why, it's not something I've ever looked into.

*Of and off!

Of all the boxes in the world, I'd like to be pushed off the biggest. Off we go to Disney World, a land of magical plastic.

The Economist has a great Style Guide for helping people out, with a great section on Americanisms.

http://www.economist.com/research/styleguide/

American English uses 'er' at the end of words like 'center' and 'liter'. In British English, we use 'centre' and 'litre'.

This allows British English to have a 'meter' to measure your gas or electricity with and a 'metre', being 100 centimetres.

However, this is not the only exception. Words like 'letter' and 'diameter' are spelt 'er', as they have German origins, rather than French or Latin. (Hence why even in the US, the phrase 'double entendre' is spelt 're'.)

check and cheque? is cheque an actual word?......

I believe it is.

I checked in at the airport. I'm sitting in the airport lounge, writing out a cheque for £1,000. I check to make sure that's the amount.

Americans deviate on that as well. Check is also what you write from a bank.

http://board.flashkit.com/board/imag.../2001/06/1.gif

There i's a certain coffee lounger who seem's to feel that he ha's to use an apo'strophe before every 's that he type's. I find it very difficult to read hi's post's 'so I just 'skip them completely, e'specially as I'm also a complete apostrophe nazi. In fact there are a few folk's around the lounge who's po'st's I will often ignore... as 'soon as I hit the first their/they're/there I'm onto the next post - yes I need to get out more

My pet hates:

people who get confused when a word that ends in a vowel gets pluralised... argh!

plural video != video's
plural menu != menu's