recent news: more annoyances added, reply to others on the rantbox, contact should work...
rant box - let it all out
Craig Delahoy said Thanks for this site. I love it. I started to do something similar myself here:
http://english.october.com.au/
I have a number of current gripes. One is the making up of words to sound more important, and the politicians are the worst. Probably the most glaring example of this is the two invented words "incentivise" and "incentivisation" - neither of which should be rewarded or allowed. An "incentive" is something you use to motivate someone. Therefore the word these people should be using instead of making up "incentivise" is "motivate". Similarly, the noun they are looking for is "motivation".
(Please note the UK english spelling above, using "s" instead of "z". This is not a spelling mistake - I am Australian, and the Americanisation of my language is another of my gripes.)
RIB said Blasphemy. Do you have a college degree? Chill out on the exclamation marks and cut the 'OMFG.'
Somebody said I like the people who say "your an idiot".
Michael said People who tell me I'm ignorant when I ignore them. This is definitely the thing I hate the most. I can no longer ignore these ignorant people.
Cassidy said Right now a trending topic on twitter is #yournotmytype really? REALLY!? The worst part is it's more popular than the other trending topic #urnotmytype. Is it just me or is the second one not as terribly wrong, but still really really wrong.
Clair said Whenever I see someone make this mistake, my heart is overcome with rage.
RAGE.
James said What bugs me more is all lowercase. Ughhh.. Hahaha.
Blasphemy! said I don't really mind if uneducated people make grammar mistakes. I usually expect it. I absolutely hate it though, when college educated people make this kind of stupid mistake: "your pretty" - Excuse me? What about my pretty? UGH! Seriously?! You have a college degree?! OMFG!!!!
Lol said *shudder* ugh!
Laars Johnsen said Your out of you're mind!
Saulo said I live in Brazil and I've never been to any english speaking country. I learnt the language on courses + internet usage. I also happen to know lots of people that speak english over here.. Neither me nor them commit the your/you're mistake. That means we kinda understand the underlying structure of what we speak. Mostly native english speakers commit this mistake. Wich means they deserve more language classes! What do you think?
David Pugh said I have an excellent script on Adium (Mac's MSN portal) which allows me to link them to a variety of pictures explaining the differences between your/you're, its/it's and their/there/they're! My chance to bug them back for being wrong!
Dave said Notice how all these comments are written by women. Men don't care about the English language as long as their thoughts are passed across.
Sara said it's such a relief to see so many other people are irritated by this!! what always gets me is that the same people who can't use your/you're, to/too/two, or there/their/they're properly (not to mention the apostrophe abusers) are often the same people who state that to live in america you should learn the language.
Victoria said Haha! Mistake!
Victoria said I will marry the first man I meet who knows that "its" is not a possessive.
Beryl said really really really really really bugs me when people say use your and you're incorrectly!
DaphneDo said Just my kind of site! I cringe when I see these oh so common mistakes made. There's this lady on Facebook that friended me awhile back. She was a common apostrophe abuser. Such as "I can't wait to get home and play with my dog's!" I ended up deleting her because all I wanted to do was reach through the screen and slap her! Before I deleted her, I sent a link to this page. Did she get the hint? Nope. She was still abusing those apostrophes the day I deleted her. This is basic English, folks! Or is it folk's? ***shudders***
Anonymous said Thank you. Nothing annoys me more than seeing people make idiotic mistakes such as these that should have been demolished in elementary school. I love you.
Clive said Your all wrong!!!!! hahaha
Samantha said I love this site. My friends think I'm being overly analytical when I rant about the difference between "your" and "you're" but I don't freaking care. It's the easiest damn thing to learn, they teach you this in the second grade. If you have honestly never taken the time to learn the correct usage of these words, you are too stupid to live. It's even worse than when people don't know which form of to/too/two to use, which also infuriates me!
Lauren said god i love this site. <3
Barbara said I love the stick-figure picture at the top!
Daniel said I love this site; I really do! I'd like to contribute one thing to the apostrophe section, though. There's one thing that no one ever understands that I find really annoying: if a word ends in an s and is three or more syllables, the singular possessive form is simply > ' < not > 's <. In other words, Mephistopheles' desire was to control mankind. (Not Mephistopheles's desire) Socrates', Aristophanes', etc.
~Thank you very much for educating the masses, though!
@tashmac91 said I'm so happy about this website i might actually cry.
I completely agree with Diana as well, i can't stand "i would of..."
Nick said The problem is not so much being unable to read it; it's more that it's - in my opinion - offensive to be forced to try to interpret someone's meaning because they're too lazy or stupid to write it correctly.
Nick said I disagree with the definition of 'their' as a plural possessive pronoun, given that it can be singular if the gender is unspecified, eg. "Is that person a man or a woman? They're wearing a dress but their ungodly amount of leg hair suggests they shouldn't be."
Diana said My pet hate is could/should/would OF instead of could've etc. It drivesme crazy!!!!
Walkleyblade said Ooh, get her (him?)!!
Bull85 said I'm embarrassed for each bold political speaker who can't resist using "myself" instead of "me". I don't recall any public speaker ever using "myself" correctly.
What's wrong with the English Departments that send these bozos out into the world to set such a bad example?
Luke T said On the then/than page, surely instead of, "You're more ugly than everyone," you meant to say uglier?
Amanda said looooooooove this website... that video of Ross is hilarious too :)
Teapeagirl said What a wonderful page!
Great place to add your rants. I am Swedish and living in Australia. I couldn't possibly count the number of grammatical mistakes I have seen since my arrival two years ago. They pop up everywhere! In TV ads, newspapers, on road signs, in clothes shops, at the vegetable market... you name it.
The collective knowledge and usage of English in this country has actually been shocking. I mean it!
Just a few examples for you: Garage sale's, tomatoe's, cd's, trouser's. (Cringe!) A sign that I pass every morning as I drive in to Tweed Heads reads: Tweeds best pie's.
I try not to look.
Tez said May I add this to the Rant Board...
THERE IS NO VERB "TO GET" in the English language, in any of its Infinite varieties.
"Gotten" drives me to distraction!
Tamara said I'm thinking 'whether' and 'weather' is mistaken a lot, that should be one of the annoyances :]
Angelo said The worst: "Come over to are house"... "Thats are plan!"
Angelo said M3ta, while you're putting Anon down for his incorrect use of "your", please don't use a word
like "wrongly".
Sennacherib said Does it bother anyone else when others never capitalize any of their words?
Argh said I hate in songs when they sing "inside OF". NO. NO 'OF'.
Spelling Facist said The thing I can't stand is when this error is made on public documents. I saw a film with subtitles that used 'your' incorrectly. *crying and shaking*
Grammar Nazi Delta Squadron said Should of. *twitches*
Laar said @Rallory - No, "it's" is a contraction of "it is". There is no apostrophe, just like there isn't one in "his" or "hers".
Ernie said Fnord Fnord Fnord FnordFnord Fnord Fnord FnordFnord Fnord Fnord FnordFnord Fnord Fnord Fnord Fnord Fnord Fnord Fnord Fnord Fnord FnordFnord Fnord Fnord FnordFnord Fnord Fnord FnordFnord Fnord Fnord Fnord Fnord Fnord Fnord Fnord Fnord.
Erika said Continuing with retail, the stupidifying of the masses begins with their (look at that!)teachers. My friend works at an office supply store that gives teachers a special day every year. There was a HUGE banner in the front of the store announcing when Teacher's Day was taking place. Despite this massive clue, he still had a TON of teachers come to him and ask when Teacher's Day was. I rest my case...
Erika said I used to have a manager who used apostrophes on EVERYTHING that had an 's' on the end. She'd leave us a note, "straighten the shoe's". I always wondered what of the shoe's possessions needed straightening!! She was super sweet, but not the brightest crayon in the box... It was retail after all.
Em said Anon, seriously? Look at the site you're viewing. Were you tied to your chair and forced to look at this website? Do you also go to various religious sites and denounce their contents? Do you try to convince people on GameFAQs that video games are a stupid waste of time? Do you understand the point of having websites devoted to interests that you personally may or may not share? Be glad we're ranting here, instead of obnoxiously correcting everyone on your favorite forum were ppl talk liek dis.
M3ta said Hey you stupid anon: didn't you learn anything, stupid? you just used "your" wrongly. Illiterate.
Glenn said You'd be surprised at the number of people who think it's "all of the sudden" instead of "all of a sudden."
Anon said I think teh Grammar Nazis need to go through some sorta Nuremburg trial. If your that much of an elitist, gtfo. As long as u can reid it, gtfoi.
Jen89 said Revised: ...lack of awareness from some people who.....
(a tiny phone keyboard is not made for such lengthy statements)
Grammar_snob89 said Also, I hate it when people end sentences in prepositions! For example: "Where are you at?" should be "Where are you?" because obviously the word at is a preposition.
Rallory said But since the "it" is the object, you are just showing possesion, so it would be "it's". It's not the contraction, such as the one I just used. Right?
Sarah B. said Can we please disuss the use of a word that does not exist: nother. It disturbs me to no end to CONSTANTLY hear people sat, "That's a whole nother issue." Seriously, people, you sound SO stupid when you say that as if it were proper English.
Josephine C said How about the whole there/their/they're conundrum? It irritates me to distraction when I see these words used incorrectly!
W said No one has yet mentioned eating healthfully, as opposed to healthy. Food is healthful, not healthy. People are healthy (hopefully).
Farmboy said What about " I took its banana" Should it be " I took it's banana"?
Corkee said The first school at which I taught was a co-educational boarding school. There was a sign giving directions to the dormitories: boy's to the left, girl's to the right. Had I been a parent would I have written a cheque for $25,000 to have my child educated at this establishment?
M. Cranberry said We have several new words here in Bermuda...
axe/ask
pacifically/specifically
cut/cot
beer/bear
Sarah said One thing everyone seems to forget is "rain, rein and reign". A magazine I often read, and I will not name it here, usually gets that one wrong, and the funny thing is that they use it all the time, and they don't even make the same mistake each time!!
CHUDDERZ said YOUR STUPID LOL
Imapom said I totally agree. Even the BBC News does it here
Imapom said I totally agree. Even the BBC News does it.
Matt said destupidifying isn't in the dictionary. is that something we should get bent out of shape about too?
i teach english and run across a lot of mechanical issues, many of which would likely be considered much more severe than the your-you're mixup. the number of times that has actually affected my ability to comprehend a piece of writing is oh about zero. in fact, i'd argue that if it's really that big a problem for all of you, then that says more about your ability to read than a writer's ability to write.
besides, language can't be codified or standardized so readily. it's infinitely mutable, always in flux and subject to all kinds of variation, even within the course of a single day. i'm sure you can all find bigger issues to worry about, right?
Muzza said My pet hate is the misuse of less instead of fewer. For example, "there are less people here than last night". This should be "there are fewer people here than last night". Fewer should be used when there are discrete objects (such as people).
You don't say "there are much people here tonight". Instead, you correctly say "there are many people here tonight". Conversely, you can say "how much water is in that bucket?", but you shouldn't say "how many water is in that bucket?". So if everybody uses much/many correctly, why can't they use less/fewer correctly?
Beeadsjsh said your stupid its okay too do that
Katelyn said Is it really THAT hard to use correct grammar? Apostrophe abuse makes me want to jump off a cliff.
Eeee said WHY CAN'T PEOPLE SPELL DEFINITELY?!?!?! why do they feel the need to put and "a"?!
Abhishek said The "of/have" section is a real eye-opener. I had no idea that people say things like "I should of gone home" :|
YuckyChucky said BIG annoyance: using threw instead of through. YUCK.
WeirdedOutSocialite said I have recently come across many ugly people saying "yu" instead of "you". I don't know/understand why.
Dani said :) love.
Sugarpike said Please add affect/effect to your "annoyances" menu....even my boss misuses this. Just what good is a college degree these days....mumble, mumble, rant....
Matt said Additional things that belong on this website:
1) Subjunctive mood: "if I was ..." is wrong in American English, and it sounds stupid. My response: "Was you or wasn't you?" (My understanding is that British English differs in this regard, but I won't forgive US speakers when even George W Bush gets this grammatical feature correct.)
2) Proper use of the adverb "not". For example, I occasionally hear someone say, "All of us are not going," (Nobody is going!) instead of, "Not all of us are going," (Some of us *are* going!) which is what the speaker intended to say. This is particularly insidious because both are grammatically correct, but they mean different things!
Gemz said Want to see appalling spelling and grammar? Check out http://www.3dand4dultrasounds.com.au/index.html
It made me want to put my fist through the computer screen.
Corie said People who say " to not " instead of "not to."
For instance, " I decided not to do that today."
So often, I hear, " I decided to not do that today."
Hamlet did not say, " To be or to not be..."
David said actually, all the mixing up of your and you're can be solved by always using the brilliant abbreviation of ur. PROBLEM SOLVED. :D
:D said *Sigh.* You'd think simple grammar would be common sense. I understand when elementary-aged children get some of these mixed up. But high school students? And ADULTS? Are you kidding me?! It's just sad.
Jasmine said I would like to respectfully suggest that there be an added section on dangling participles, as well as the difference between lay/lie. These are mistakes that I see and hear all of the time, and they infuriate me beyond belief. I love that this website is a place where all grammar snobs can finally unite to educate the masses!
Rick Whitechest said Yes...it's a shame people exchange these two. Now I'm sending everyone who comits this fault to "youryoure.com". I don't care if I lose friends this way...it's for the sake of grammar.
Julia said I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who feels this way about the subject. I'd like to add one more annoyance if I may. I can't stand it when people write spell a lot as alot. It is always two words - there is no such word in the English language as "alot".
WordUppp said This website is my new best friend.
Gen said The easiest way to know if you're using "your" and "you're" correctly is to say the sentence replacing the your/you're with "you are" if that makes sense, it must be you're, and if it doesn't, must be your. Very little thinking required! Same goes with "it's" and "its" and so on.
Tim ;D said Your all stupid LOL ;)
Thumbtack said Dear G,
Don't be a dick, not all Americans have terrible grammar. Just most of us.
G. said This website is very helpful. I have been speaking English for about 1 year and I feel like I speak it better than Americans. It is sad to see people spelling words in crazy ways, but the most annoying is wHeN tHeEy TyYpeE lyYkKee dIZzz.
Michele said I could not agree more! Thank you for giving me a place to direct the masses.
Holhol said the worst is over facebook or other social networking picture comments. "your so pretty." pretty? what is this object pretty? i don't own a pretty, what could you possibly be talking about. It's YOU'RE. dumbass. x
Cindy said How about people who say, "I could care less" when they really couldn't care less. If you could care less, then you care more. If you couldn't care less, then you truly care the least possible. I think that's what you want to communicate, right?
Trent said I hate when people don't use bought/brought or woman/women correctly.
Dee said What about loaned and borrowed? I moved to Wisconsin from Florida and learned that up here they say "She borrowed her pencil to me." What's that all about?!?
Johnny? said Jesus people. "It" = genderless pronoun. Hmmm...isn't there a rule about that? Yes fuck tards. "Its" when indicating possession NEVER gets an apostrophe. "It's" + possessive context = you looking like an incompetent retard.
Sean said its and it's. Very simple. it's ALWAYS AND ONLY means "it is".
Kavi said I just remembered something that drives me nuts: the lack of the comma when directly addressing someone. Let's see...an example..."Get it right, guys!" Almost EVERYONE forgets this, even my professors (and I'm an English major)! "Hello, Spike" is right, not "Hello Spike." Just keep this in mind: there's a big difference between "You suck, Bob" and "You suck Bob." Don't want to make that mistake!
And the "t" denoting past-tense verbs ("spelt" and "dreamt," etc.) are grammatically correct in England. Yes, they are. Honestly!
Isn't it amazing how upset people get about wrong grammar, even in this little rant box? I can certainly understand it; I do, too, but we should really think about why we get so mad. Especially those who don't know enough about the differences between British English and American English to know that "kerb" is right, "spelt" is right, "realise" is fine, and many others! I think there should be more classes that teach differences in dialects and such so that mistakes like this don't get made. There was never a single time, a Golden Age of Perfect English Grammar (note: capitalization is done facetiously), when everyone agreed on the "right" way. Languages change constantly, and every generation bewails the fact that language is going to hell, but that is simply the way of it. Even self-styled grammarians now cannot agree on things. The truth about language is that context determines so much. I would not go to Compton speaking the Queen's English; I'd be beaten to death! And anyone who comes from a linguistically isolated community knows that, if she goes away and learns Standard English and comes back and tries to speak it in her community (which speaks a dialect) she'd be shunned and viewed as stuck-up. Heck, even an ex-boyfriend of mine told me not to use correct English because it made me sound pompous (although he didn't use the word "pompous"; that was too advanced for him). And I come from an educated, middle-class community! It's a shame that his insecurities would cause him to try to stifle my knowledge, and of course, I didn't stop speaking correct English (and I did suggest that he bring his language education up to something above a 4th-grade level), but he does illustrate an interesting point: that the environment, not a set of hard-and-fast, prescriptive rules, most often determines the register of language spoken. Sometimes it's totally appropriate to use "ain't" or double negatives or the objective case when the subjective is called for (e.g., "him and me went to the store") -- but that's usually spoken, not written (unless you're writing dialogue).
Mike said I believe that "spelt" is simply the British English way of expressing the past tense of "spelled"; am I right?
I mourn the loss of the apostrophe...so many possessives, so few apostrophes to denote them! Ladies night. Boys clothes. ARGH!
One of my pet peeves, though, is the old "lie" and "lay" issue. I understand it can be confusing, but people can learn it! I did. If I can, anyone can!
Oh, and capitalizing randomly...people capitalize " important" words. That seems to be the prevailing rule. (Or they're adopting some German rules and capitalizing nouns, perhaps.) There are actual RULES for what to capitalize! Emphasis is not one of them!
I teach freshman English, and, as I understand, formal grammar isn't really taught in California middle or high schools. (I just heard that somewhere.) So I can't really blame these poor kids. But the people who come onto sites like this and tell those of us who actually do use correct grammar and CARE how we use our (in many cases, at least) mother tongue to "get a life" or "get friends" or "get laid" -- those people piss me off. But then, I try to think of it this way: people who use obviously non-Standard English in an environment where Standard English is required (at a job interview or in a cover letter or applying for grad school, etc.) look stupid. It's true. They may not be stupid at all; they may be geniuses in other subjects. But grammar is status-marking, and it's a fact that people who use incorrect grammar have their intelligence questioned. So they get weeded out of the pool of possible applicants for a job or candidates. That means less competition for me. If I am charged with the task of going through resumes and cover letters before the hiring committee actually interviews people, I simply throw away any one that has a grammar, mechanics, punctuation, spelling, etc. error on it. Don't even look at it. If you cannot represent yourself properly with the one language we all speak here, what does that say about how you will represent the company? With all the resources on the Internet for educating yourself (or at least hiring an editor), there's simply no excuse for that kind of error.
So to all you morons who think that learning to speak your own language correctly is too nerdy for someone "cool" like you, you can just call me "doctor" when you're giving me my French fries!
Tangoking said THANK YOU FOR THIS SITE
Lomein said Love. it's love. not lurv.
and for the love of god....learn to type out things and stop replacing them with numbers. L337 speak is just simply retarded. If I see one more person write a 2 instead of to/too, I will lose it.
Tangoking said Seen this?
http://superawesomeguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/fail-owned-myspace-your-mine-tattoo-spelling-fail.jpg
Worldgirl said I absolutely loathe the use in the UK of terms such as "I was sat in front of the window" instead of "sitting" and "We were stood at the bus stop", instead of "We were standing". Of course this type of speech could be classified as dialect and criticising could be seen as snobbish, but still ... it even turns up in The Guardian, Times etc. I guess I am just a fossil. Also, since I am originally Canadian, the use of "gotten" doesn't really bother me, whereas the British always use it to prove North Americans can barely string a sentence together.
Failey said The misuse of two/too/to is also extremely frustrating! E.g. "Are you coming to?" Am I coming to what!?
OR the misuse of right/write! It's not that hard!
E.g. "It took me so long to right this e-mail."
Jessica said 'Thank you' is two words, people. Not one. Two.
HollyFraser said I agree with all of the above, but I have to admit that Typing Like This Is The Most Grammatically Retarded Thing I Have Ever Come Across.
It's like "I can't remember which word type you're supposed to put the capital letter on, so I'll put one on all of them to make me seem like I have a grasp on the English language and hope that no-one notices..."
At least people who type like "dis" are ADMITTING that they can't spell properly. Dumbasses.
Cz said my current pet hate- 'period of time'. I hear it on npr radio every bloody day. So what is it called when us Aussies insert the word bloody into the middle of a word- such as 'that's e-bloody-nough'? -cz
Thanks, Facebook. said I concur, this might be the worst site I have ever stumbled upon. and if there's something wrong with my grammar here, this is not english class, get some friends and off this website.
Haha, Losers. said oh wow. ohh jeez.
Tom Anderson said It's acceptable, and sometimes necessary, to use apostrophes for the sake of clarity. For example, in using acronyms, such as DVD's, you might induce confusion without the apostrophe, especially if the acronym is not commonly known. Wouldn't you agree?
Nonlegebal said i suck at grammar and spelling
Korin The Grammar Nazi said The creator of this website, whoever you are, I just want to tell you this:
I. Love. You. So. Much.
I promise I do know how to use punctuation I just really wanted to emphasize that point.
Arrghhhhh I can't STAND these sorts of mistakes... on Facebook is bad enough, but I work for a high profile world-wide corporation and I receive emails from executives and directors and even they do it. And it is even worse on printed publications... Doesn't somebody PROOF READ these things? My pet hate at the moment is definitely apostrophe abuse, it is virulent in Australia. My housemates and friends call me the Grammar Nazi.
Oh no, now I'm paranoid that I've made spelling/grammar mistakes in this post...
LostKitten said You know what pisses me off? Saying "Then" when the person means "Than". So, "She's more intelligent then me". No shit, Sherlock. Phonetics is bad, mkay?
Also, people throwing the Dyslexia card out EVERY DARN TIME they make a spelling mistake. Dyslexia is about more than just spelling the odd word wrong. Not being able to distinguish between different words and tipin lyk thisssss is NOT Dyslexia! It's just plain laziness.
/grammar nazi.
Nicola said My pet hate is the use of "yous", eg; Hey yous going to the movies?". Ugh! There is no plural for the word you! I find myself shuddering when friends use this!
MichelC said It's so funny. I'm a French Canadian, born and raised. I learned English in school because we had to. What I find funny is that I write at an equal level and even better then most Americans of my age. What gets me though is the use of the verb "was". I got into an argument with an online friend because he insists that "you was" and "we was" is the correct way of saying "you were" and "we were".
I stopped the argument and said that he must be right since, after all, English is his language, though I didn't really change my mind.
Anyway great site :)
Hope you make many people less stupid and ugly :)
Claire said I am seeing the use of ",,," instead of "..." in all of my teenage friends' writing.
It makes me want to punch kittens.
LB said I hate bad punctuation and grammar, but you are not making yourselves look very good. Your Facebook group name - If You Can't Differentiate Between "Your" and "You're" You Deserve To Die - is a travesty. If you can't differentiate between a proper noun and a common noun, please don't advertise proof reading or copy editing services.
Dry said i use your and you're interchangeably because im planning to pay people in india to dictate for me which would mean i dont need to learn all yall grammar rules.
Jg said "Getting it wrong makes you look stupid. And ugly."
And ugly? Since when did you apply and to the beginning of a sentence?
Shuki said regarding then/than page... y'know, uglier is a real word. Why "more ugly"?
Angus said A small observation. It would seem that poor grammer, punctuation and spelling are forbidden. However it would appear the use of extremely foul language is perfectly acceptable. If I was talking to a Vicar I suspect that a slip in grammer may be forgiven. But I am no so sure that "stupid fucking cunts" and "die please", may be frowned on.
JGorzy33 said One day I found an adorable surprise note from my boyfriend, except it said: "your my favorite." GAH!!!! Needless to say the romantic content was lost in that one grammatical error.
Brisque said I received a text from a daughter using the word "use" in replace of "yous". The mother then commented "Oh, I always forget to spell yous correctly too, it is just easier to spell it use because the phone won't allow me to put yous in". FACEPALM
Josh said "Can I lend that pen?"
"No thanks, I'm not in need of a pen right now. You can BORROW mine if you would like, though."
Jeffrey said Amy says: I tend to refuse to talk to them. Stupid fucking cunts if you're on of those people, die please.
Perhaps what she meant to say is: I tend to refuse to talk to them. Stupid fucking cunts if you're "one" of those people, die please.
I'm not sure wishing death on someone for being uneducated is the right thing here . . . but it IS frustrating when people misuse our own language.
Alex said Please, for the love of all things right and good in this world, include the correct format for denoting decades, centuries, and other number groups in the "apostrophe abuse" section.
I see it every day and it drives me nuts - "1970's", "1800's", "homes from the low 300's", etc.
Somebody needs to tell these people that the only appropriate use of an apostrophe when mentioning a year like that is if you're talking about something belonging to that exact year (i.e., "1970's best album was such-and-such").
Amy said I hate it when people use \'your\' instead of \'you\'re\' or vice versa, if people use \'your\' when they mean \'you\'re\' or vice versa I tend to refuse to talk to them. Stupid fucking cunts if you\'re on of those people, die please.
Morven said What annoys me greatly is when people say "yous" when they should only say "you." They seem to assume that there is a plural of you when there isn't. This may, however, only be used in the west of Scotland but is still exceedingly annoying!
JoSkiller said I h8 ppl who cain't spell stuf. It'd be nicly if do wain instain modder who kill der babbys' cuz der babby'z canot frigt back?
JofaceM said "Collage" as in an educational facility. Someone mentioned a collage town. That would be nice.
Akinimod said What annoys me the most (apart from they're/there/their and your/you're) is when people say his instead of he's. Unfortunately I know quite a few people who do this.
Drgulla said When you add a T to hear you don't get "there", you get...well, in fact, you don't get anywhere because what you get is "thear" which is not a word in any language I know.
Feitlebaum said Ack! I went through all that and made a very obvious blunder in my logic. Apologies, all :)
Feitlebaum said Here's a rule of thumb that I use to sepArate "they're," "there" and "their" (hold on, it's a bit of a ride, bear with me):
Q: Do you have ears? Can you spell "ear?"
A: E-A-R.
Good. Now: One HEARS with one's EAR. (Add an 'H') Not interchangeable with "here."
Here is here.
"There" is the opposite of "here." Add a 'T' to "here" and you have "there."
"There" is eliminated.
Now: They're is a contraction of "they are." Which is perfectly acceptable if you get lost with "there," "their" and "they're." When in doubt, use "they are."
"They're" is eliminated.
And now, only "their" is left.
Process of elimination.
Feitlebaum said Here's a rule of thumb that I use to sepArate "they're," "there" and "their" (hold on, it's a bit of a ride, bear with me):
Q: Do you have ears? Can you spell "ear?"
A: E-A-R.
Good. Now: One HEARS with one's EAR. (Add an 'H') Not interchangeable with "here."
Here is here.
"There" is the opposite of "here." Add a 'T' to "hear" and you have "there."
"There" is eliminated.
Now: They're is a contraction of "they are." Which is perfectly acceptable if you get lost with "there," "their" and "they're." When in doubt, use "they are."
"They're" is eliminated.
And now, only "their" is left.
Process of elimination.
Pete said Here is another, some \"stupid and ugly\" people get \'of\'\' and \'have\' confused, writing \'I should of picked the red one\', whereas the correct use would be \'I should have picked the red one\'.
But the general appalling state of education in Britain today is shameful, and part of the blame can be laid at the door of text messaging.
Shud is not a word.
Cud is not a word.
Coz is not a word.
ppl is not a word.
And the list goes on. These may be prudent in texts, but not acceptable in general usage.
Noko said Your all stupid.
Shaa said misspelling definitely as definitely, misspelling separate as seperate, misusing cease/seize...
get it right people!
C said It's rather annoying that there are so many on this website who complain about things as a result of their ignorance of there being an American English and British English. While the difference isn't staggering, IT IS STILL THERE. Examples are colour/color, dreamt/dreamed, learnt/learned, spelt/spelled, grey/gray, and most simply, even mum/mom. Words that end in ise/ize are also affected. If you're going to go all out to complain about people and their misuse of the language on your high horse, DO YOUR BLOODY RESEARCH FIRST. You've no idea how ignorant and pathetic you sound on this rant box when you're so incapable of this yourself.
Nats said What about the people that get 'OUR' and 'ARE' mixed up? You wouldn't think it's possible, but I think I'm the only person who's noticed the sign on a local tattoo parlour stated "Visit are website". Only a dumbass would want to get inked there.
Elissa said There is a sign that I constantly drive by, which has been up for about nine years running. Apparently there used to be a vegetable stand there (there isn't one any more, but they've kept the sign up anyway). And on the sign is this gem: "VEGIE'S." Wow. I'm not even going to bother asking who or what you are, but way to get possessive, Vegie.
This next sign has been taken down now, but I found it even more amusing. At a plaza near my school, there used to be a children's boutique called Alphabet Soup. Now, from the name, it sounds all right enough, but on the sign, it said "Book's, Toy's, and Clothing's for Children." All the unnecessary apostrophes are bad enough, but hey! Why not tack an 's' onto 'clothing,' which is already plural, and then throw an apostrophe in there just to spruce things up a bit?
Charley said Brilliant. Another one that really really goes through me is "definately". IT'S DEFINITELY! How hard is it, really?
Ken said Let's change this up! There are three words in the english language that end in gry...angry, hungry and ___?
Frass said Theirs is definitely a word as demonstrated so clearly by Amy.
Frass said Hey world! Stop saying you "feel badly" about something. You feel bad. Makes me crazy. If you feel badly, you're doing a bad job of feeling and that just won't do.
Sack said no. those are who these simple grammar and usage rules paid attention in middle school.
Kt said more than half of you are just as guilty as the people you're complaining about. cease and desist.
Tornado Girl said 3rd Grade California State Content Teaching Standards Spelling Standard 1.8 Spell correctly one-syllable words that have blends, contractions, compounds, orthographic
patterns (e.g., qu, consonant doubling, changing the ending of a word from -y to -ies when forming the plural), and common homophones (e.g., hair, hare, their, there, they're, your, you're)
Tracie Davis said THIS IS THE BEST WEBSITE THAT HAS EVER EXISTED!!!!! :-D
Dave said The tinyurl link on the right hand side doesn't work. It says "http://tinyurl.com/2ylpht/" but the url is "http://tinyurl.com/2ylpht/%22"
Richard Everett Planck said Even the complainers get it wrong. It's not spelled 'spelt'; it's spelled 'spelled'. I have given up because the light at the end of the tunnel no longer burns.
Michelle said Worst abuse of apostrophes I've seen... before AND after an 's'...just in case! ARGGHHHH!
Michael TC said A valiant cause, but I think most of the time - especially on the internet - the disregard of this most basic rule is simply a product of laziness, not ignorance.
OCDGrammarFreak said on mothers day, one of my friends said "happy mother's day to all the mother's out their".. it too me everything o have not to correct her.. and i even cringed writing it now..
Pretty Me :) said Addicting is a verb.. the food is not addicting.. the food is addictive. addictive. Its an adjective.
PimpMaster9999 said your all st00pid i cn tipe hoawrvr i wantz
Desmond Pereira said I love this website - when did it all go wrong? Was it Gen Y who started it?
Steve said Definately is not a word.... it just isn't... it never has been...
Dougal said My sister SMSed me and said "your going to be an Uncle again" I ranted to my kids for 10 minutes about how it should be "you're" not "your"... and only then remembered to tell them their aunt was pregnant
Dougal said I decided it was better to just let it go rather than correct a friend who posted "says your damned if you do and your damned if you don't." as a facebook status... but it still hurts
Tyler said Anyone tired of hearing the expression as well in every sentence? I sure am. At least mix it up, use something simple, a "too" or an "also." Most of the time people aren't even using the term correctly. STOP IT. I DON'T CARE IF YOU THINK YOU SOUND SMART. YOU'RE AN INSUFFERABLE DOLT, QUIT ABUSING "AS WELL."
Tyler said Anyone tired of hearing the expression as well in every sentence? I sure am. At least mix it up, use something simple, a "too" or an "also." Most of the time people aren't even using the term correctly. STOP IT. I DON'T CARE IF YOU THINK YOU SOUND SMART. YOU'RE AN INSUFFERABLE DOLT, QUIT ABUSING "AS WELL."
Iain said Add a few:
do/due
peak/peek/pique
principle/principal
Poyan said what about Where and Were??
Mia said please realize (realise) there are spelling differences between the queens english and american english
Gavin N Stacy said Would be good to see a page on the of/have debacle.
You should of, could of etc ;-)
Ally said THANKYOU, THANKYOU, THANKYOU!! And nice reference to Friends, too, I just love Ross. So sick of that misuse! And the "their, they're, there" fiasco! And ridiculous uses of apostrophes, or lack thereof... you're my hero! So frustrating how ignorant people can be, and lately I've seen it appearing more frequently in big corporations - is it THAT expensive to hire a proofreader? Thankyou for this! You legend. (fervently hoping I haven't made any errors in writing this...!)
Bigrob said No such word as "spelt". It's "spelled, y'all. Same with "learnt".
Teresa P. Peacock said Here's a severe pethate of mine: HOW difficult can it be to learn, once and for all, the difference between Stationery (paper, pen, sticky tape, office materials) and Stationary (standing still)? I'm Swedish and I learnt it many moons ago. Come ON gang!
Alice M. said I know you can't add too many spelling rules to the site, but I see a whole lot of people using "loose" to mean "lose". It really pisses me off. For God's sake, you're 25 years old and you learned this shit in first grade, you gibbering retard.
Nice site, by the way.
Katie said I can't believe how many people don't know this. It's so obvious. I agree with what was written above: it makes you look stupid. And ugly. :)
Mank said Nice!
Brightyellowjeans said wonderful, everyone gets that wrong, and it really bugs me - please learn, it's not even difficult...
Danni said I think this website should include something about people's unnecessary confusion with plural apostrophe placement.
Example: Where are my shoe's?
I don't know, probably hiding from you because you're so stupid. And ugly.
Len said Theirs is not spelt their's. Theirs is already possessive. Get it right.
http://english.october.com.au/
I have a number of current gripes. One is the making up of words to sound more important, and the politicians are the worst. Probably the most glaring example of this is the two invented words "incentivise" and "incentivisation" - neither of which should be rewarded or allowed. An "incentive" is something you use to motivate someone. Therefore the word these people should be using instead of making up "incentivise" is "motivate". Similarly, the noun they are looking for is "motivation".
(Please note the UK english spelling above, using "s" instead of "z". This is not a spelling mistake - I am Australian, and the Americanisation of my language is another of my gripes.)
RIB said Blasphemy. Do you have a college degree? Chill out on the exclamation marks and cut the 'OMFG.'
Somebody said I like the people who say "your an idiot".
Michael said People who tell me I'm ignorant when I ignore them. This is definitely the thing I hate the most. I can no longer ignore these ignorant people.
Cassidy said Right now a trending topic on twitter is #yournotmytype really? REALLY!? The worst part is it's more popular than the other trending topic #urnotmytype. Is it just me or is the second one not as terribly wrong, but still really really wrong.
Clair said Whenever I see someone make this mistake, my heart is overcome with rage.
RAGE.
James said What bugs me more is all lowercase. Ughhh.. Hahaha.
Blasphemy! said I don't really mind if uneducated people make grammar mistakes. I usually expect it. I absolutely hate it though, when college educated people make this kind of stupid mistake: "your pretty" - Excuse me? What about my pretty? UGH! Seriously?! You have a college degree?! OMFG!!!!
Lol said *shudder* ugh!
Laars Johnsen said Your out of you're mind!
Saulo said I live in Brazil and I've never been to any english speaking country. I learnt the language on courses + internet usage. I also happen to know lots of people that speak english over here.. Neither me nor them commit the your/you're mistake. That means we kinda understand the underlying structure of what we speak. Mostly native english speakers commit this mistake. Wich means they deserve more language classes! What do you think?
David Pugh said I have an excellent script on Adium (Mac's MSN portal) which allows me to link them to a variety of pictures explaining the differences between your/you're, its/it's and their/there/they're! My chance to bug them back for being wrong!
Dave said Notice how all these comments are written by women. Men don't care about the English language as long as their thoughts are passed across.
» Tim replied Nope, you're just an idiot.
» I replied This was linked to me by a guy…
» Jen replied The owner of this website is a guy...
Sara said it's such a relief to see so many other people are irritated by this!! what always gets me is that the same people who can't use your/you're, to/too/two, or there/their/they're properly (not to mention the apostrophe abusers) are often the same people who state that to live in america you should learn the language.
Victoria said Haha! Mistake!
» V replied Sorry. That was supposed to go elsewhere.
Victoria said I will marry the first man I meet who knows that "its" is not a possessive.
» Bridget replied Hate to break it to you, Victoria, but "its" is possessive. "It's" is not possessive. "Its" means that something belongs to it (The dog licked its paw). "It's" means "it is". So before you go marrying Mr. Right, please make sure you learn your grammar if that is what really bothers you.
» Mr. Sir replied bridget, I love you.
» Danny replied Bridget, can I marry you?
Beryl said really really really really really bugs me when people say use your and you're incorrectly!
DaphneDo said Just my kind of site! I cringe when I see these oh so common mistakes made. There's this lady on Facebook that friended me awhile back. She was a common apostrophe abuser. Such as "I can't wait to get home and play with my dog's!" I ended up deleting her because all I wanted to do was reach through the screen and slap her! Before I deleted her, I sent a link to this page. Did she get the hint? Nope. She was still abusing those apostrophes the day I deleted her. This is basic English, folks! Or is it folk's? ***shudders***
Anonymous said Thank you. Nothing annoys me more than seeing people make idiotic mistakes such as these that should have been demolished in elementary school. I love you.
Clive said Your all wrong!!!!! hahaha
» Jason replied I love being a Grammar Nazi.
Native speakers who fail at their own languages deserve to die.
Native speakers who fail at their own languages deserve to die.
Samantha said I love this site. My friends think I'm being overly analytical when I rant about the difference between "your" and "you're" but I don't freaking care. It's the easiest damn thing to learn, they teach you this in the second grade. If you have honestly never taken the time to learn the correct usage of these words, you are too stupid to live. It's even worse than when people don't know which form of to/too/two to use, which also infuriates me!
Lauren said god i love this site. <3
Barbara said I love the stick-figure picture at the top!
Daniel said I love this site; I really do! I'd like to contribute one thing to the apostrophe section, though. There's one thing that no one ever understands that I find really annoying: if a word ends in an s and is three or more syllables, the singular possessive form is simply > ' < not > 's <. In other words, Mephistopheles' desire was to control mankind. (Not Mephistopheles's desire) Socrates', Aristophanes', etc.
~Thank you very much for educating the masses, though!
» Nick replied There is much debate about this rule.. Personally I was taught that if the word ends in 's', the possessive doesn't add an extra 's'; but I found one source that said that in Australia, the official government policy is that the extra 's' is added, UNLESS it's a significant religious figure ie. Jesus, Moses, etc..
Yes, I live in a backwards country, but I don't think there's any universally accepted rule for this, or else I'd have pointed it out myself.
Yes, I live in a backwards country, but I don't think there's any universally accepted rule for this, or else I'd have pointed it out myself.
» Barbara replied I live in Arkansas (I LIVE here, I'm not FROM here), and at one point a couple of years ago there was actually a debate on whether the possessive of Arkansas should be officially Arkansas' (correct), or Arkansas's (stupid)...
@tashmac91 said I'm so happy about this website i might actually cry.
I completely agree with Diana as well, i can't stand "i would of..."
Nick said The problem is not so much being unable to read it; it's more that it's - in my opinion - offensive to be forced to try to interpret someone's meaning because they're too lazy or stupid to write it correctly.
» Nick replied This rantbox is stupid and ugly. That should've been a response to another post, but I accidentally hit the rant button before filling out all the fields, so it decided to post a standalone comment.
Nick said I disagree with the definition of 'their' as a plural possessive pronoun, given that it can be singular if the gender is unspecified, eg. "Is that person a man or a woman? They're wearing a dress but their ungodly amount of leg hair suggests they shouldn't be."
Diana said My pet hate is could/should/would OF instead of could've etc. It drivesme crazy!!!!
Walkleyblade said Ooh, get her (him?)!!
Bull85 said I'm embarrassed for each bold political speaker who can't resist using "myself" instead of "me". I don't recall any public speaker ever using "myself" correctly.
What's wrong with the English Departments that send these bozos out into the world to set such a bad example?
» Shitbrix replied last night barack obama said, "I give MYSELF a solid B+"
he's a pretty damn good public speaker.
he's a pretty damn good public speaker.
» Colin replied fail.
Luke T said On the then/than page, surely instead of, "You're more ugly than everyone," you meant to say uglier?
Amanda said looooooooove this website... that video of Ross is hilarious too :)
Teapeagirl said What a wonderful page!
Great place to add your rants. I am Swedish and living in Australia. I couldn't possibly count the number of grammatical mistakes I have seen since my arrival two years ago. They pop up everywhere! In TV ads, newspapers, on road signs, in clothes shops, at the vegetable market... you name it.
The collective knowledge and usage of English in this country has actually been shocking. I mean it!
Just a few examples for you: Garage sale's, tomatoe's, cd's, trouser's. (Cringe!) A sign that I pass every morning as I drive in to Tweed Heads reads: Tweeds best pie's.
I try not to look.
» Nick replied As an Australian, I'd just like to say: I am so, so sorry. But at least you don't have to suffer the shame of sharing your nationality with these people.
» Nicework replied make like oedipus & gouge out yr eyes, see if that helps
Tez said May I add this to the Rant Board...
THERE IS NO VERB "TO GET" in the English language, in any of its Infinite varieties.
"Gotten" drives me to distraction!
Tamara said I'm thinking 'whether' and 'weather' is mistaken a lot, that should be one of the annoyances :]
Angelo said The worst: "Come over to are house"... "Thats are plan!"
Angelo said M3ta, while you're putting Anon down for his incorrect use of "your", please don't use a word
like "wrongly".
» Yandow replied Wrongly is in most English dictionaries. What is wrong with using an accepted word, unless used wrongly? It's main definition is "the opposite of correctly"...
» M3ta replied Angelo? What is that, some sleazy Italian name? You some wannabe Venetian gigolo?
Sennacherib said Does it bother anyone else when others never capitalize any of their words?
» Dillfucka replied yeah it's really obnoxious. doesn't everyone know that you capitalize the first letter of every sentence? i mean, come on! i am also a little aggravated at the mofos that don't capitalize the word i. it's just disrespectful, and i don't know how to brace myself towards such savage treachery.
Argh said I hate in songs when they sing "inside OF". NO. NO 'OF'.
» Yandow replied It depends on the usage of that pairing of words... Sometimes it is a grammatically correct pairing.
We were inside the house.
The inside of the house was beautiful.
Maybe quoting a precise lyric would make you seem less obtuse and reactive.
We were inside the house.
The inside of the house was beautiful.
Maybe quoting a precise lyric would make you seem less obtuse and reactive.
Spelling Facist said The thing I can't stand is when this error is made on public documents. I saw a film with subtitles that used 'your' incorrectly. *crying and shaking*
» Fascist replied Shame you can't spell Fascist.
» Anon replied Shame you two support the supression of groups of peoples.
» Yandow replied It's a shame you're a moron.
Grammar Nazi Delta Squadron said Should of. *twitches*
Laar said @Rallory - No, "it's" is a contraction of "it is". There is no apostrophe, just like there isn't one in "his" or "hers".
Ernie said Fnord Fnord Fnord FnordFnord Fnord Fnord FnordFnord Fnord Fnord FnordFnord Fnord Fnord Fnord Fnord Fnord Fnord Fnord Fnord Fnord FnordFnord Fnord Fnord FnordFnord Fnord Fnord FnordFnord Fnord Fnord Fnord Fnord Fnord Fnord Fnord Fnord.
» OriginSearcher replied I don't get the reference....
» Anon replied I couldn't have said it better myself. Bravo!
Erika said Continuing with retail, the stupidifying of the masses begins with their (look at that!)teachers. My friend works at an office supply store that gives teachers a special day every year. There was a HUGE banner in the front of the store announcing when Teacher's Day was taking place. Despite this massive clue, he still had a TON of teachers come to him and ask when Teacher's Day was. I rest my case...
Erika said I used to have a manager who used apostrophes on EVERYTHING that had an 's' on the end. She'd leave us a note, "straighten the shoe's". I always wondered what of the shoe's possessions needed straightening!! She was super sweet, but not the brightest crayon in the box... It was retail after all.
Em said Anon, seriously? Look at the site you're viewing. Were you tied to your chair and forced to look at this website? Do you also go to various religious sites and denounce their contents? Do you try to convince people on GameFAQs that video games are a stupid waste of time? Do you understand the point of having websites devoted to interests that you personally may or may not share? Be glad we're ranting here, instead of obnoxiously correcting everyone on your favorite forum were ppl talk liek dis.
» Anon replied Yes, yes I do. And actually, plenty of Grammar Nazis disseminate into the internet forums, so I figure the least I can is troll the Nazi HQ and fight for the right of freedom of speech which you lot seem against.
M3ta said Hey you stupid anon: didn't you learn anything, stupid? you just used "your" wrongly. Illiterate.
» Anon replied Says the person with a 3 in their name. More hypocrisy plz.
» Nick replied Pwned.
Glenn said You'd be surprised at the number of people who think it's "all of the sudden" instead of "all of a sudden."
» Sennacherib replied You'd be surprised at the number of people who think "all of a sudden" is a grammatically correct phrase. O_o
Anon said I think teh Grammar Nazis need to go through some sorta Nuremburg trial. If your that much of an elitist, gtfo. As long as u can reid it, gtfoi.
» Nick replied The problem is not so much being unable to read it; it's more that it's - in my opinion - offensive to be forced to try to interpret someone's meaning because they're too lazy or stupid to write it correctly.
Jen89 said Revised: ...lack of awareness from some people who.....
(a tiny phone keyboard is not made for such lengthy statements)
Grammar_snob89 said Also, I hate it when people end sentences in prepositions! For example: "Where are you at?" should be "Where are you?" because obviously the word at is a preposition.
Rallory said But since the "it" is the object, you are just showing possesion, so it would be "it's". It's not the contraction, such as the one I just used. Right?
» Angelo replied Rule 9. Never use an apostrophe with possessive pronouns: his, hers, its, theirs, ours, yours, whose. They already show possession so they do not require an apostrophe.
» Angelo replied Wrong.
Sarah B. said Can we please disuss the use of a word that does not exist: nother. It disturbs me to no end to CONSTANTLY hear people sat, "That's a whole nother issue." Seriously, people, you sound SO stupid when you say that as if it were proper English.
Josephine C said How about the whole there/their/they're conundrum? It irritates me to distraction when I see these words used incorrectly!
W said No one has yet mentioned eating healthfully, as opposed to healthy. Food is healthful, not healthy. People are healthy (hopefully).
Farmboy said What about " I took its banana" Should it be " I took it's banana"?
» Vanessa83 replied @Farmboy: Would you ever say "I took it is banana"? Right. So it's "I took its banana".
Corkee said The first school at which I taught was a co-educational boarding school. There was a sign giving directions to the dormitories: boy's to the left, girl's to the right. Had I been a parent would I have written a cheque for $25,000 to have my child educated at this establishment?
» Nope replied when using they term boy's they mean boy's dorm, in which case boys (dorm) would be incorrect.
M. Cranberry said We have several new words here in Bermuda...
axe/ask
pacifically/specifically
cut/cot
beer/bear
Sarah said One thing everyone seems to forget is "rain, rein and reign". A magazine I often read, and I will not name it here, usually gets that one wrong, and the funny thing is that they use it all the time, and they don't even make the same mistake each time!!
CHUDDERZ said YOUR STUPID LOL
» Me replied Good one.
Imapom said I totally agree. Even the BBC News does it here
Imapom said I totally agree. Even the BBC News does it.
Matt said destupidifying isn't in the dictionary. is that something we should get bent out of shape about too?
i teach english and run across a lot of mechanical issues, many of which would likely be considered much more severe than the your-you're mixup. the number of times that has actually affected my ability to comprehend a piece of writing is oh about zero. in fact, i'd argue that if it's really that big a problem for all of you, then that says more about your ability to read than a writer's ability to write.
besides, language can't be codified or standardized so readily. it's infinitely mutable, always in flux and subject to all kinds of variation, even within the course of a single day. i'm sure you can all find bigger issues to worry about, right?
» Matt replied oh shit did i split an infinitive?!
» Echo'sWolf replied @ Matt:
For an English teacher, you have incredibly poor grammar. It is one of thee single most annoying things when teachers write in exceptionally poor English.
To claim that the difference is not worth worrying about is ridiculous. You might as well ignore all rules completely.
bUT. th3n, w?e wud end up torkin an ritin lyk dis, wich iz not gud, r3elle.
As an English teacher, you could not possibly advocate such a thing, surely? Because that would make you a hypocrite, wouldn't it?
For an English teacher, you have incredibly poor grammar. It is one of thee single most annoying things when teachers write in exceptionally poor English.
To claim that the difference is not worth worrying about is ridiculous. You might as well ignore all rules completely.
bUT. th3n, w?e wud end up torkin an ritin lyk dis, wich iz not gud, r3elle.
As an English teacher, you could not possibly advocate such a thing, surely? Because that would make you a hypocrite, wouldn't it?
» Matt replied first, i don't claim that the difference isn't worth worrying about. i claim that the extent to which that mixup affects comprehension is negligible, at least in my experience. because the impact is so small, dwelling on mechanical blemishes — however frequent they are — is just petty. but if we're going to insist on making your-you're a big deal, a better way to address the problem (in my mind) would be to petition dropping the contracted form altogether and let a single visual signifier (i think they're calling them homonyms these days) stand in for both words.
second, the conclusion you draw (ignoring all rules leads to "ritin lyk dis") is absurd. it simply does not follow; one does not lead to the other. further, even in your effort to illustrate what such lawlessness might look like, you still manage to present a sentence i can read. (and just as an aside, there's a big difference between breaking a rule actively and doing it passively). this actually hurts your argument: even a sentence deliberately riddled with "error" serves languages' primary function, which is to communicate.
finally, i'm a bit irritated you begin this asinine comment with an assault on my writing without ever qualifying that attack. according to you, my writing is not just poor, but "incredibly poor," even "exceptionally poor." can you back that up? or does mastering plurals and possessives come at the expense of learning how to make cogent arguments?
second, the conclusion you draw (ignoring all rules leads to "ritin lyk dis") is absurd. it simply does not follow; one does not lead to the other. further, even in your effort to illustrate what such lawlessness might look like, you still manage to present a sentence i can read. (and just as an aside, there's a big difference between breaking a rule actively and doing it passively). this actually hurts your argument: even a sentence deliberately riddled with "error" serves languages' primary function, which is to communicate.
finally, i'm a bit irritated you begin this asinine comment with an assault on my writing without ever qualifying that attack. according to you, my writing is not just poor, but "incredibly poor," even "exceptionally poor." can you back that up? or does mastering plurals and possessives come at the expense of learning how to make cogent arguments?
» Jen89 replied it is not a question of understanding the point someone is trying to convey, it is the irritating lack of awareness that some people that continue to make these errors on simple matters that even a small child should know. Furthermore, if it goes unnoticed and uncorrected how are these people going to learn, which can lead to further breakdown of the English language.
Being an English teacher you should know this. Do you not notice people not knowing when to use a and an or people writing in 'text speak'? I certainly do.
Being an English teacher you should know this. Do you not notice people not knowing when to use a and an or people writing in 'text speak'? I certainly do.
» Anon replied Jen89, you fail to acknowledge the fact that America is a country full of households that don't all run in and speak English. If a teenager can read/write in two languages, albeit not entirely correctly, how does that put him at the knowledge level of a "small child", as you seem to suggest? You are completely ignoring all other pieces of information. While that may work for economics, I assure you, it does not work on social issues.
Muzza said My pet hate is the misuse of less instead of fewer. For example, "there are less people here than last night". This should be "there are fewer people here than last night". Fewer should be used when there are discrete objects (such as people).
You don't say "there are much people here tonight". Instead, you correctly say "there are many people here tonight". Conversely, you can say "how much water is in that bucket?", but you shouldn't say "how many water is in that bucket?". So if everybody uses much/many correctly, why can't they use less/fewer correctly?
» Haaa replied I AGREE
the less and fewer thing absolutely kills me :|
the less and fewer thing absolutely kills me :|
Beeadsjsh said your stupid its okay too do that
Katelyn said Is it really THAT hard to use correct grammar? Apostrophe abuse makes me want to jump off a cliff.
Eeee said WHY CAN'T PEOPLE SPELL DEFINITELY?!?!?! why do they feel the need to put and "a"?!
» Eeee replied by and, i mean an :)
Abhishek said The "of/have" section is a real eye-opener. I had no idea that people say things like "I should of gone home" :|
YuckyChucky said BIG annoyance: using threw instead of through. YUCK.
WeirdedOutSocialite said I have recently come across many ugly people saying "yu" instead of "you". I don't know/understand why.
Dani said :) love.
Sugarpike said Please add affect/effect to your "annoyances" menu....even my boss misuses this. Just what good is a college degree these days....mumble, mumble, rant....
Matt said Additional things that belong on this website:
1) Subjunctive mood: "if I was ..." is wrong in American English, and it sounds stupid. My response: "Was you or wasn't you?" (My understanding is that British English differs in this regard, but I won't forgive US speakers when even George W Bush gets this grammatical feature correct.)
2) Proper use of the adverb "not". For example, I occasionally hear someone say, "All of us are not going," (Nobody is going!) instead of, "Not all of us are going," (Some of us *are* going!) which is what the speaker intended to say. This is particularly insidious because both are grammatically correct, but they mean different things!
Gemz said Want to see appalling spelling and grammar? Check out http://www.3dand4dultrasounds.com.au/index.html
It made me want to put my fist through the computer screen.
Corie said People who say " to not " instead of "not to."
For instance, " I decided not to do that today."
So often, I hear, " I decided to not do that today."
Hamlet did not say, " To be or to not be..."
David said actually, all the mixing up of your and you're can be solved by always using the brilliant abbreviation of ur. PROBLEM SOLVED. :D
:D said *Sigh.* You'd think simple grammar would be common sense. I understand when elementary-aged children get some of these mixed up. But high school students? And ADULTS? Are you kidding me?! It's just sad.
Jasmine said I would like to respectfully suggest that there be an added section on dangling participles, as well as the difference between lay/lie. These are mistakes that I see and hear all of the time, and they infuriate me beyond belief. I love that this website is a place where all grammar snobs can finally unite to educate the masses!
» Victoria replied "You cannot say "to lay down" unless you mean to copulate with feathers."
- Lorrie Moore, Anagrams.
- Lorrie Moore, Anagrams.
Rick Whitechest said Yes...it's a shame people exchange these two. Now I'm sending everyone who comits this fault to "youryoure.com". I don't care if I lose friends this way...it's for the sake of grammar.
» Anon replied You would prefer correct grammar over friends?? You, sir, are a sad, sad man. Perhaps those long nights reading the "newest" MLA format would have been better spent discovering and refining you're lacking social skills.
Julia said I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who feels this way about the subject. I'd like to add one more annoyance if I may. I can't stand it when people write spell a lot as alot. It is always two words - there is no such word in the English language as "alot".
» Julia replied Okay, I realize I need to make a correction. I made an error on my previous post. I'm sure it will be picked up immediately. Proofreading is essential and I failed in that task. Perhaps this addendum will redeem me in the eyes of those who view it.
WordUppp said This website is my new best friend.
Gen said The easiest way to know if you're using "your" and "you're" correctly is to say the sentence replacing the your/you're with "you are" if that makes sense, it must be you're, and if it doesn't, must be your. Very little thinking required! Same goes with "it's" and "its" and so on.
Tim ;D said Your all stupid LOL ;)
Thumbtack said Dear G,
Don't be a dick, not all Americans have terrible grammar. Just most of us.
G. said This website is very helpful. I have been speaking English for about 1 year and I feel like I speak it better than Americans. It is sad to see people spelling words in crazy ways, but the most annoying is wHeN tHeEy TyYpeE lyYkKee dIZzz.
Michele said I could not agree more! Thank you for giving me a place to direct the masses.
Holhol said the worst is over facebook or other social networking picture comments. "your so pretty." pretty? what is this object pretty? i don't own a pretty, what could you possibly be talking about. It's YOU'RE. dumbass. x
Cindy said How about people who say, "I could care less" when they really couldn't care less. If you could care less, then you care more. If you couldn't care less, then you truly care the least possible. I think that's what you want to communicate, right?
Trent said I hate when people don't use bought/brought or woman/women correctly.
Dee said What about loaned and borrowed? I moved to Wisconsin from Florida and learned that up here they say "She borrowed her pencil to me." What's that all about?!?
Johnny? said Jesus people. "It" = genderless pronoun. Hmmm...isn't there a rule about that? Yes fuck tards. "Its" when indicating possession NEVER gets an apostrophe. "It's" + possessive context = you looking like an incompetent retard.
Sean said its and it's. Very simple. it's ALWAYS AND ONLY means "it is".
» Diana replied Or "it has"!!!!
Kavi said I just remembered something that drives me nuts: the lack of the comma when directly addressing someone. Let's see...an example..."Get it right, guys!" Almost EVERYONE forgets this, even my professors (and I'm an English major)! "Hello, Spike" is right, not "Hello Spike." Just keep this in mind: there's a big difference between "You suck, Bob" and "You suck Bob." Don't want to make that mistake!
And the "t" denoting past-tense verbs ("spelt" and "dreamt," etc.) are grammatically correct in England. Yes, they are. Honestly!
Isn't it amazing how upset people get about wrong grammar, even in this little rant box? I can certainly understand it; I do, too, but we should really think about why we get so mad. Especially those who don't know enough about the differences between British English and American English to know that "kerb" is right, "spelt" is right, "realise" is fine, and many others! I think there should be more classes that teach differences in dialects and such so that mistakes like this don't get made. There was never a single time, a Golden Age of Perfect English Grammar (note: capitalization is done facetiously), when everyone agreed on the "right" way. Languages change constantly, and every generation bewails the fact that language is going to hell, but that is simply the way of it. Even self-styled grammarians now cannot agree on things. The truth about language is that context determines so much. I would not go to Compton speaking the Queen's English; I'd be beaten to death! And anyone who comes from a linguistically isolated community knows that, if she goes away and learns Standard English and comes back and tries to speak it in her community (which speaks a dialect) she'd be shunned and viewed as stuck-up. Heck, even an ex-boyfriend of mine told me not to use correct English because it made me sound pompous (although he didn't use the word "pompous"; that was too advanced for him). And I come from an educated, middle-class community! It's a shame that his insecurities would cause him to try to stifle my knowledge, and of course, I didn't stop speaking correct English (and I did suggest that he bring his language education up to something above a 4th-grade level), but he does illustrate an interesting point: that the environment, not a set of hard-and-fast, prescriptive rules, most often determines the register of language spoken. Sometimes it's totally appropriate to use "ain't" or double negatives or the objective case when the subjective is called for (e.g., "him and me went to the store") -- but that's usually spoken, not written (unless you're writing dialogue).
» Anon replied Hint: If you write a lot on a blog, no one reads it.
Mike said I believe that "spelt" is simply the British English way of expressing the past tense of "spelled"; am I right?
I mourn the loss of the apostrophe...so many possessives, so few apostrophes to denote them! Ladies night. Boys clothes. ARGH!
One of my pet peeves, though, is the old "lie" and "lay" issue. I understand it can be confusing, but people can learn it! I did. If I can, anyone can!
Oh, and capitalizing randomly...people capitalize " important" words. That seems to be the prevailing rule. (Or they're adopting some German rules and capitalizing nouns, perhaps.) There are actual RULES for what to capitalize! Emphasis is not one of them!
I teach freshman English, and, as I understand, formal grammar isn't really taught in California middle or high schools. (I just heard that somewhere.) So I can't really blame these poor kids. But the people who come onto sites like this and tell those of us who actually do use correct grammar and CARE how we use our (in many cases, at least) mother tongue to "get a life" or "get friends" or "get laid" -- those people piss me off. But then, I try to think of it this way: people who use obviously non-Standard English in an environment where Standard English is required (at a job interview or in a cover letter or applying for grad school, etc.) look stupid. It's true. They may not be stupid at all; they may be geniuses in other subjects. But grammar is status-marking, and it's a fact that people who use incorrect grammar have their intelligence questioned. So they get weeded out of the pool of possible applicants for a job or candidates. That means less competition for me. If I am charged with the task of going through resumes and cover letters before the hiring committee actually interviews people, I simply throw away any one that has a grammar, mechanics, punctuation, spelling, etc. error on it. Don't even look at it. If you cannot represent yourself properly with the one language we all speak here, what does that say about how you will represent the company? With all the resources on the Internet for educating yourself (or at least hiring an editor), there's simply no excuse for that kind of error.
So to all you morons who think that learning to speak your own language correctly is too nerdy for someone "cool" like you, you can just call me "doctor" when you're giving me my French fries!
Tangoking said THANK YOU FOR THIS SITE
Lomein said Love. it's love. not lurv.
and for the love of god....learn to type out things and stop replacing them with numbers. L337 speak is just simply retarded. If I see one more person write a 2 instead of to/too, I will lose it.
» 1337 replied Aw, you h8 it 2? n00b!!!
Tangoking said Seen this?
http://superawesomeguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/fail-owned-myspace-your-mine-tattoo-spelling-fail.jpg
Worldgirl said I absolutely loathe the use in the UK of terms such as "I was sat in front of the window" instead of "sitting" and "We were stood at the bus stop", instead of "We were standing". Of course this type of speech could be classified as dialect and criticising could be seen as snobbish, but still ... it even turns up in The Guardian, Times etc. I guess I am just a fossil. Also, since I am originally Canadian, the use of "gotten" doesn't really bother me, whereas the British always use it to prove North Americans can barely string a sentence together.
» Victoria replied Those are just matters of dialect.
Failey said The misuse of two/too/to is also extremely frustrating! E.g. "Are you coming to?" Am I coming to what!?
OR the misuse of right/write! It's not that hard!
E.g. "It took me so long to right this e-mail."
Jessica said 'Thank you' is two words, people. Not one. Two.
HollyFraser said I agree with all of the above, but I have to admit that Typing Like This Is The Most Grammatically Retarded Thing I Have Ever Come Across.
It's like "I can't remember which word type you're supposed to put the capital letter on, so I'll put one on all of them to make me seem like I have a grasp on the English language and hope that no-one notices..."
At least people who type like "dis" are ADMITTING that they can't spell properly. Dumbasses.
Cz said my current pet hate- 'period of time'. I hear it on npr radio every bloody day. So what is it called when us Aussies insert the word bloody into the middle of a word- such as 'that's e-bloody-nough'? -cz
» Victoria replied I think you mean "we Aussies".
Thanks, Facebook. said I concur, this might be the worst site I have ever stumbled upon. and if there's something wrong with my grammar here, this is not english class, get some friends and off this website.
» Kavi replied See? This is what I mean. (Lots of comma splices here, too, Mr. Too Cool for School!) Why is it that people so disparage others' desire to use correct grammar and our profound frustration that so few people do? Plus, what the hell does having friends have to do with being here? I have many friends. If I were, in the words of someone else on this site, a gibbering retard (I also like "mouth-breather" and "slack-jawed yokel"), I would likely not have too many friends. At least, none worth talking to. I mean, who wants to talk to someone for whom you have to dumb everything down and use monosyllabic words? Not I! So, pal, go read a book! And look up "comma splice" online.
» Anon replied Kavi, give up now. He didn't say he "disparages" proper grammar, he just doesn't like it when people outside of school correct his grammar. And is it possible to be more of an elitist? Even the less sharp tools in the shed can understand multisyllabic words, like your sycophantic friends.
Haha, Losers. said oh wow. ohh jeez.
Tom Anderson said It's acceptable, and sometimes necessary, to use apostrophes for the sake of clarity. For example, in using acronyms, such as DVD's, you might induce confusion without the apostrophe, especially if the acronym is not commonly known. Wouldn't you agree?
» Sohzq replied no.
» Sohzq replied Actually, maybe, if the font you're using is ambiguous and/or your font spacing is screwed up.
» Sohzq replied However, the apostrophe won't be better than just tweaking your settings.
» Alvareo replied No.
DVD's won't confuse you less than DVDs.
DVD's won't confuse you less than DVDs.
» YourYoure replied No.
Nonlegebal said i suck at grammar and spelling
» Kekeke replied Massive pet hate - people using could of/would of/should have etc. IT'S HAVE. NOT OF. RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.
Korin The Grammar Nazi said The creator of this website, whoever you are, I just want to tell you this:
I. Love. You. So. Much.
I promise I do know how to use punctuation I just really wanted to emphasize that point.
Arrghhhhh I can't STAND these sorts of mistakes... on Facebook is bad enough, but I work for a high profile world-wide corporation and I receive emails from executives and directors and even they do it. And it is even worse on printed publications... Doesn't somebody PROOF READ these things? My pet hate at the moment is definitely apostrophe abuse, it is virulent in Australia. My housemates and friends call me the Grammar Nazi.
Oh no, now I'm paranoid that I've made spelling/grammar mistakes in this post...
» Sohzq replied Yup, you have.
Nah, just kidding.
Nah, just kidding.
LostKitten said You know what pisses me off? Saying "Then" when the person means "Than". So, "She's more intelligent then me". No shit, Sherlock. Phonetics is bad, mkay?
Also, people throwing the Dyslexia card out EVERY DARN TIME they make a spelling mistake. Dyslexia is about more than just spelling the odd word wrong. Not being able to distinguish between different words and tipin lyk thisssss is NOT Dyslexia! It's just plain laziness.
/grammar nazi.
Nicola said My pet hate is the use of "yous", eg; Hey yous going to the movies?". Ugh! There is no plural for the word you! I find myself shuddering when friends use this!
» Cindy replied Most common in New Jersey. It's the plural of "you." Many languages have a "you all" word (Usted becomes ustedes in Spanish). English doesn't. Just occurred to me it might have originated in Italian neighborhoods on the East Coast for this very reason.
» Kavi replied This one cracks me up because I have never heard "yous" (youse) being used outside of a 1920s movie! I didn't know people still speak this way!
» Caitlin replied Youse. Makes me so, so angry. Its and it's I have some sympathy for, though. If you've never been taught otherwise and you're following the possession = apostrophe convention, then you'd think they were both "it's". But beyond a certain age, you'd expect people to have picked up on it.
» Irritated replied I know a 42 year old man who claims to be a Grammar Nazi, but I've yet to see him correctly use "it's" and "its". I had to EXPLAIN to him the difference between the two, and the way they work... and I'm half his age, and in comparison, undereducated!
MichelC said It's so funny. I'm a French Canadian, born and raised. I learned English in school because we had to. What I find funny is that I write at an equal level and even better then most Americans of my age. What gets me though is the use of the verb "was". I got into an argument with an online friend because he insists that "you was" and "we was" is the correct way of saying "you were" and "we were".
I stopped the argument and said that he must be right since, after all, English is his language, though I didn't really change my mind.
Anyway great site :)
Hope you make many people less stupid and ugly :)
» Sadie replied See then/than.
» Tim replied @MichaelC in Canada: You are (you're) correct, your American friend in not correct. You WAS & We WAS are not proper English. HOWEVER, there do be Thems who be tellin' you all 'bout Ebonics, and in Ebonics anything that is said the same way by more than two people in your 'hood is acceptable Ebonics.
Claire said I am seeing the use of ",,," instead of "..." in all of my teenage friends' writing.
It makes me want to punch kittens.
» V replied Don't punch kittens.
LB said I hate bad punctuation and grammar, but you are not making yourselves look very good. Your Facebook group name - If You Can't Differentiate Between "Your" and "You're" You Deserve To Die - is a travesty. If you can't differentiate between a proper noun and a common noun, please don't advertise proof reading or copy editing services.
» YourYoure replied It's title case, jackass
Dry said i use your and you're interchangeably because im planning to pay people in india to dictate for me which would mean i dont need to learn all yall grammar rules.
Jg said "Getting it wrong makes you look stupid. And ugly."
And ugly? Since when did you apply and to the beginning of a sentence?
» EggyEddy replied JG, you can use 'and' at the beginning of a sentence and not worry about it. And that's all there is to it. Bill Bryson clears this up for us in Troublesome Words.
Shuki said regarding then/than page... y'know, uglier is a real word. Why "more ugly"?
Angus said A small observation. It would seem that poor grammer, punctuation and spelling are forbidden. However it would appear the use of extremely foul language is perfectly acceptable. If I was talking to a Vicar I suspect that a slip in grammer may be forgiven. But I am no so sure that "stupid fucking cunts" and "die please", may be frowned on.
» YourYoure replied It's "grammar", fucknuts.
JGorzy33 said One day I found an adorable surprise note from my boyfriend, except it said: "your my favorite." GAH!!!! Needless to say the romantic content was lost in that one grammatical error.
» :D replied That makes me shudder just thinking about it.
Brisque said I received a text from a daughter using the word "use" in replace of "yous". The mother then commented "Oh, I always forget to spell yous correctly too, it is just easier to spell it use because the phone won't allow me to put yous in". FACEPALM
Josh said "Can I lend that pen?"
"No thanks, I'm not in need of a pen right now. You can BORROW mine if you would like, though."
Jeffrey said Amy says: I tend to refuse to talk to them. Stupid fucking cunts if you're on of those people, die please.
Perhaps what she meant to say is: I tend to refuse to talk to them. Stupid fucking cunts if you're "one" of those people, die please.
I'm not sure wishing death on someone for being uneducated is the right thing here . . . but it IS frustrating when people misuse our own language.
Alex said Please, for the love of all things right and good in this world, include the correct format for denoting decades, centuries, and other number groups in the "apostrophe abuse" section.
I see it every day and it drives me nuts - "1970's", "1800's", "homes from the low 300's", etc.
Somebody needs to tell these people that the only appropriate use of an apostrophe when mentioning a year like that is if you're talking about something belonging to that exact year (i.e., "1970's best album was such-and-such").
Amy said I hate it when people use \'your\' instead of \'you\'re\' or vice versa, if people use \'your\' when they mean \'you\'re\' or vice versa I tend to refuse to talk to them. Stupid fucking cunts if you\'re on of those people, die please.
Morven said What annoys me greatly is when people say "yous" when they should only say "you." They seem to assume that there is a plural of you when there isn't. This may, however, only be used in the west of Scotland but is still exceedingly annoying!
JoSkiller said I h8 ppl who cain't spell stuf. It'd be nicly if do wain instain modder who kill der babbys' cuz der babby'z canot frigt back?
JofaceM said "Collage" as in an educational facility. Someone mentioned a collage town. That would be nice.
Akinimod said What annoys me the most (apart from they're/there/their and your/you're) is when people say his instead of he's. Unfortunately I know quite a few people who do this.
Drgulla said When you add a T to hear you don't get "there", you get...well, in fact, you don't get anywhere because what you get is "thear" which is not a word in any language I know.
Feitlebaum said Ack! I went through all that and made a very obvious blunder in my logic. Apologies, all :)
Feitlebaum said Here's a rule of thumb that I use to sepArate "they're," "there" and "their" (hold on, it's a bit of a ride, bear with me):
Q: Do you have ears? Can you spell "ear?"
A: E-A-R.
Good. Now: One HEARS with one's EAR. (Add an 'H') Not interchangeable with "here."
Here is here.
"There" is the opposite of "here." Add a 'T' to "here" and you have "there."
"There" is eliminated.
Now: They're is a contraction of "they are." Which is perfectly acceptable if you get lost with "there," "their" and "they're." When in doubt, use "they are."
"They're" is eliminated.
And now, only "their" is left.
Process of elimination.
Feitlebaum said Here's a rule of thumb that I use to sepArate "they're," "there" and "their" (hold on, it's a bit of a ride, bear with me):
Q: Do you have ears? Can you spell "ear?"
A: E-A-R.
Good. Now: One HEARS with one's EAR. (Add an 'H') Not interchangeable with "here."
Here is here.
"There" is the opposite of "here." Add a 'T' to "hear" and you have "there."
"There" is eliminated.
Now: They're is a contraction of "they are." Which is perfectly acceptable if you get lost with "there," "their" and "they're." When in doubt, use "they are."
"They're" is eliminated.
And now, only "their" is left.
Process of elimination.
Pete said Here is another, some \"stupid and ugly\" people get \'of\'\' and \'have\' confused, writing \'I should of picked the red one\', whereas the correct use would be \'I should have picked the red one\'.
But the general appalling state of education in Britain today is shameful, and part of the blame can be laid at the door of text messaging.
Shud is not a word.
Cud is not a word.
Coz is not a word.
ppl is not a word.
And the list goes on. These may be prudent in texts, but not acceptable in general usage.
Noko said Your all stupid.
» Kirsten replied ....My stupid what?
Shaa said misspelling definitely as definitely, misspelling separate as seperate, misusing cease/seize...
get it right people!
C said It's rather annoying that there are so many on this website who complain about things as a result of their ignorance of there being an American English and British English. While the difference isn't staggering, IT IS STILL THERE. Examples are colour/color, dreamt/dreamed, learnt/learned, spelt/spelled, grey/gray, and most simply, even mum/mom. Words that end in ise/ize are also affected. If you're going to go all out to complain about people and their misuse of the language on your high horse, DO YOUR BLOODY RESEARCH FIRST. You've no idea how ignorant and pathetic you sound on this rant box when you're so incapable of this yourself.
Nats said What about the people that get 'OUR' and 'ARE' mixed up? You wouldn't think it's possible, but I think I'm the only person who's noticed the sign on a local tattoo parlour stated "Visit are website". Only a dumbass would want to get inked there.
Elissa said There is a sign that I constantly drive by, which has been up for about nine years running. Apparently there used to be a vegetable stand there (there isn't one any more, but they've kept the sign up anyway). And on the sign is this gem: "VEGIE'S." Wow. I'm not even going to bother asking who or what you are, but way to get possessive, Vegie.
This next sign has been taken down now, but I found it even more amusing. At a plaza near my school, there used to be a children's boutique called Alphabet Soup. Now, from the name, it sounds all right enough, but on the sign, it said "Book's, Toy's, and Clothing's for Children." All the unnecessary apostrophes are bad enough, but hey! Why not tack an 's' onto 'clothing,' which is already plural, and then throw an apostrophe in there just to spruce things up a bit?
Charley said Brilliant. Another one that really really goes through me is "definately". IT'S DEFINITELY! How hard is it, really?
Ken said Let's change this up! There are three words in the english language that end in gry...angry, hungry and ___?
Frass said Theirs is definitely a word as demonstrated so clearly by Amy.
Frass said Hey world! Stop saying you "feel badly" about something. You feel bad. Makes me crazy. If you feel badly, you're doing a bad job of feeling and that just won't do.
Sack said no. those are who these simple grammar and usage rules paid attention in middle school.
Kt said more than half of you are just as guilty as the people you're complaining about. cease and desist.
Tornado Girl said 3rd Grade California State Content Teaching Standards Spelling Standard 1.8 Spell correctly one-syllable words that have blends, contractions, compounds, orthographic
patterns (e.g., qu, consonant doubling, changing the ending of a word from -y to -ies when forming the plural), and common homophones (e.g., hair, hare, their, there, they're, your, you're)
Tracie Davis said THIS IS THE BEST WEBSITE THAT HAS EVER EXISTED!!!!! :-D
Dave said The tinyurl link on the right hand side doesn't work. It says "http://tinyurl.com/2ylpht/" but the url is "http://tinyurl.com/2ylpht/%22"
Richard Everett Planck said Even the complainers get it wrong. It's not spelled 'spelt'; it's spelled 'spelled'. I have given up because the light at the end of the tunnel no longer burns.
» V replied Actually, spelt is in the dictionary, as is learnt and dreamt. British English.
» V replied I meant "as are". Haha.
Michelle said Worst abuse of apostrophes I've seen... before AND after an 's'...just in case! ARGGHHHH!
Michael TC said A valiant cause, but I think most of the time - especially on the internet - the disregard of this most basic rule is simply a product of laziness, not ignorance.
OCDGrammarFreak said on mothers day, one of my friends said "happy mother's day to all the mother's out their".. it too me everything o have not to correct her.. and i even cringed writing it now..
» Maika replied Yet you said, "on mothers day" -- are you leaving out the apostrophe to make up for the extra one your friend put in? I say it again, we're losing our apostrophes! So sad!
Pretty Me :) said Addicting is a verb.. the food is not addicting.. the food is addictive. addictive. Its an adjective.
PimpMaster9999 said your all st00pid i cn tipe hoawrvr i wantz
Desmond Pereira said I love this website - when did it all go wrong? Was it Gen Y who started it?
Steve said Definately is not a word.... it just isn't... it never has been...
Dougal said My sister SMSed me and said "your going to be an Uncle again" I ranted to my kids for 10 minutes about how it should be "you're" not "your"... and only then remembered to tell them their aunt was pregnant
Dougal said I decided it was better to just let it go rather than correct a friend who posted "says your damned if you do and your damned if you don't." as a facebook status... but it still hurts
Tyler said Anyone tired of hearing the expression as well in every sentence? I sure am. At least mix it up, use something simple, a "too" or an "also." Most of the time people aren't even using the term correctly. STOP IT. I DON'T CARE IF YOU THINK YOU SOUND SMART. YOU'RE AN INSUFFERABLE DOLT, QUIT ABUSING "AS WELL."
Tyler said Anyone tired of hearing the expression as well in every sentence? I sure am. At least mix it up, use something simple, a "too" or an "also." Most of the time people aren't even using the term correctly. STOP IT. I DON'T CARE IF YOU THINK YOU SOUND SMART. YOU'RE AN INSUFFERABLE DOLT, QUIT ABUSING "AS WELL."
Iain said Add a few:
do/due
peak/peek/pique
principle/principal
Poyan said what about Where and Were??
Mia said please realize (realise) there are spelling differences between the queens english and american english
Gavin N Stacy said Would be good to see a page on the of/have debacle.
You should of, could of etc ;-)
Ally said THANKYOU, THANKYOU, THANKYOU!! And nice reference to Friends, too, I just love Ross. So sick of that misuse! And the "their, they're, there" fiasco! And ridiculous uses of apostrophes, or lack thereof... you're my hero! So frustrating how ignorant people can be, and lately I've seen it appearing more frequently in big corporations - is it THAT expensive to hire a proofreader? Thankyou for this! You legend. (fervently hoping I haven't made any errors in writing this...!)
Bigrob said No such word as "spelt". It's "spelled, y'all. Same with "learnt".
» Sally replied Bigrob and Jordo, the words "spelt" and "learnt" are perfectly good words, just different spellings of "spelled" and "learned". It is used in England quite often.
Teresa P. Peacock said Here's a severe pethate of mine: HOW difficult can it be to learn, once and for all, the difference between Stationery (paper, pen, sticky tape, office materials) and Stationary (standing still)? I'm Swedish and I learnt it many moons ago. Come ON gang!
» Maika replied Here's a way to help tell the difference. "StationEry" (the paper and such) has the E, and you can remember that because "E"nvelopes are considered stationery. Just remember the envelopes!
Alice M. said I know you can't add too many spelling rules to the site, but I see a whole lot of people using "loose" to mean "lose". It really pisses me off. For God's sake, you're 25 years old and you learned this shit in first grade, you gibbering retard.
Nice site, by the way.
Katie said I can't believe how many people don't know this. It's so obvious. I agree with what was written above: it makes you look stupid. And ugly. :)
Mank said Nice!
Brightyellowjeans said wonderful, everyone gets that wrong, and it really bugs me - please learn, it's not even difficult...
Danni said I think this website should include something about people's unnecessary confusion with plural apostrophe placement.
Example: Where are my shoe's?
I don't know, probably hiding from you because you're so stupid. And ugly.
» Jomohomo replied HAHAHAHAAAA!!! I LOVE IIIIT!!!!
Len said Theirs is not spelt their's. Theirs is already possessive. Get it right.
» Matt replied Len... spelt is spelled... and theirs is not a word... THEIR is already possessive, yes, it is also already plural!
» Amy replied Spelled and spelt are both perfectly acceptable words. As are dreamed and dreamt/learned and learnt.
'Theirs' is also a word. "It's not mine, it's theirs" "Are you a friend of theirs?" "Theirs is the largest house on the block".
Pretending to know grammar rules and lecturing people about them (when you're wrong) is just as bad as people who use incorrect words due to plain ignorance.
'Theirs' is also a word. "It's not mine, it's theirs" "Are you a friend of theirs?" "Theirs is the largest house on the block".
Pretending to know grammar rules and lecturing people about them (when you're wrong) is just as bad as people who use incorrect words due to plain ignorance.
» Frass replied And on the spelled and spelt thing? It's British and they do indeed write spelt and learnt. It looks odd to us - a little less odd to us Canadians, but odd nonetheless.
» Jordo replied Len, it's also not SPELLED spelt. Get it right.
» Sledge replied http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/spelt?r=75
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/learnt?r=75
Actually, they're both words.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/learnt?r=75
Actually, they're both words.
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