Grammar Thread

[n0Mad]

Share your pet peeves, tips and hints, etc. Here's some stuff from a couple other threads to get us started:

less v. fewer--if you can count it, if it is NOT a partitive noun, use FEWER. FEWER calories, LESS fat, FEWER pounds, LESS weight, FEWER bullets, LESS ammunition, FEWER politicians, LESS bullshit, FEWER virtuosos, LESS music. I know that when it comes to abstractions, this distinction is more difficult, but please try.

[creatureofthenyte]

Well, to start off with, it's spelled nazi, Not natzee.

[n0Mad]

Well, to start off with, it's spelled nazi, Not natzee.

Yeah, I pulled "natzee" from the graphic Scary Guy posted. Plus, I know some people get offended by the word "nazi" when it's used to describe anything other than the actual Nazis from WWII.

[Guest greyhalo]

I'm a grammar and punctuation Nazi.

Many people on DGN need to learn how to spell and use proper punctuation.

[StormKnight (1)]

Well, I try to maintain proper grammar and spelling. It is very painful for me to read a post (or anything,) with poor spelling and grammar. Really, it gives me the worst headaches. Also, with every post I read with poor grammar and spelling, there is something inside me that screams, "Language rape!!!"

So, where do I sign up for my jackboots and black Commissar uniform? I can't goosestep; it would kill my knees.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

I've been improving over the years. I still suck. I realize proper spelling, grammar and punctuation's importance in communication. I used to be in the "damn the Nazis" camp, but have long since converted to the army that supports them even if I couldn't even find myself actually joining their ranks. I'm not for an overvaluation of proper writing, as sometimes I think good punctuation is confused with intelligence, which are two separate skills. Clarity is important and if the writing is too sloppy, it looks like just that, slop.

WEN I READ A POST... LIKE THIS... THAT IS TRYING TO MAKE SOME POINT THAT MIGHT BE WRITTEN BY SOMEONE THAT IS ACTUALLY SMERTT IN REAL LIFE IT SEEMS OBVIOUS TO ME THAT... THEY SHOULD TAKE THE TIME TO TRY AND IMPROVE THERE WIRTING SKULLS AS THEY SEEM LIKE MORONS REGARDLESS OF HOW'D THEY MIGHT BE IN REALS LIFE.

[Guest greyhalo]

Love this comic:

http://www.explosm.net/comics/1578/

[Simon Bar Sinister]

My English Composition prof allowed 1 grammatical and 1 punctuation error...on the 1st paper. Any mistakes after that on subsequent papers got you an immediate F on the assignment.

Best teacher I ever had.

Edited March 26, 2009 by SpammerOvTheGods

[Nightgaunt]

I'm not a perfect grammarian or speller, but I do try my damnedest. What really frustrates me is the number of people that use an apostrophe to denote plurality: car's, book's, etc. Every single memo and sign at work is full of these, from upper management on down. I counted 19 spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors in the CEO's Christmas letter to the employees...and it was only a paragraph long!

Here's another one: it's vs. its. Aaarrrrrggggg!

It's (it is) your mother tongue! Learn it! All hail the Reich!

[Destroit]

People that don't know another language and type phrases from said language as if they ARE fluent, and spell those phrases wrong. Namely German and bits of Japanese because that's all I know to pick up on, but if you don't know a foreign language, don't pretend like you do.

Such as people that say "kannichi wa" when it's definately "konnichi wa". Or I've read SO much butchered German in my life it's ridiculous...

[Msterbeau]

Grahmer. You cannot haz it.

[TitsMcGee]

I will openly admit, that most of the time I suck at spelling and using the correct grammar.

[TygerLili]

My brain will interchange certain words when I'm typing. I'll end up typing "not" when I mean "now" or "the" when I mean "then". I'll catch these occasionally if I go back over a post later, and assume you all think I'm stupid because what I typed doesn't make any sense.

My spelling has also gotten much worse over the years, but I do make a conscious effort to look up the correct spelling if a word doesn't seem right to me.

A couple of errors are pretty easy for me to ignore, but when there are multiple errors per paragraph it's pretty hard for me to actually want to read the post.

Also, nothing irritates me more than when the discussion starts getting heated in the topics about politics or current events, and people start posting insults using atrocious grammar. That's when I want to start correcting people. If you're going to be a jackass, at least be a grammatically correct jackass.

My biggest grammar pet peeve is when people use "your" instead of "you're".

Edited March 27, 2009 by TygerLili

[the eternal]

I find it interesting that the people on here who say they suck, are among the least of the board's offenders.

There was one DGNer, who shall remain unnamed, who was so absolutely, comically, ridiculously awful, that I started looking forward to his posts.

bean and I would be on the lookout for his classic musings

He only posts occassionally now, but for some reason, he went away completely for awhile and when he returned, his posts were almost devoid of errors, and I have to admit,

it mayd mee mis teh oled days wehnhee youset ah spel liek theisss.

[Nightgaunt]

Here's one that I've noticed more and more in the last couple of years. People type "would of" or "could of" instead of "would've" or "could've". The "'ve" is a contraction of "have", thus "would have" becomes "would've".

Heil.

[hunhee]

It's (it is) your mother tongue! Learn it! All hail the Reich!

Engrish isn't my mother's tongue..

Honestly, English is not my first language, I always tease and say that all the time. "Engrish is my second language and I can't remember my first."

I have problems when people use their/there/they're, to/two/too (and a whole SLEW of other words inversely.

Edited March 27, 2009 by hunhee

[Rev.Reverence]

Engrish isn't my mother's tongue..

...not your fault deary...just put these marbles in your mouth..it'll make you talk slower..so we can understand you properly......& those extra "Rs" will clear up soon enough...just remember to take the marbles out when you eat..or sleep...or.....you know

[DJ Nocker]

I could care less about my spelling on forums and what not. Unless its for something important (something for work or school) I dont care, in fact I usually find it funny when people get into arguments online and resort to making fun of each others spelling errors. You know you have lost the argument when you cant say anything but " learn to spell".

Also, the whole people being offended when the word "nazi" is used to describe something other than the actual nazi movement would be known as "Godwin's Law"

[TheOsakaKoneko]

It bothers me that our company's Quality Policy has errors. Customers never see it, so it doesn't matter, but it just doesn't sit well with me. Gives me shudders. But it can't be changed so easily...

I hate when people, use too many commas. I also hate when people make really long sentences that should have commas but don't and they just seem like run-on sentences even though they could be a perfectly grammatically correct sentence and easy to understand if they just used more commas. Both of these are my pet peeves.

Also, the Oxford comma... Either way is correct, but I love me some Oxford comma, and I hate when people don't use it. Even though it's perfectly accurate and fine not to. That silly book "Eats, shoots and leaves" bothered me because while she correctly argued that it should be "Eats shoots and leaves", and in its incorrect form meant that the panda would eat something, shoot something, and then leave, in my mind, that would be written as "eats, shoots, and leaves", so the original title is wrong for either case in my mind. I have no idea why I love the Oxford comma so much, but I do. I call him Oxey for short and we have brunch every Sunday morning. (Okay, maybe not....)

The apostrophe's for plural's bother's me too. DX

In general, it doesn't bother me too much when people make grammatical mistakes on forums, on LiveJournal, or in any other casual format. It does, however, piss me the hell off when formal publications make mistakes. Ooooooooh it makes my blood boil. Hence why our Quality Policy pisses me off so much.

Who gives a fuck about an oxford comma?

I've seen those english dramas too

They're cruel

So if there's any other way

To spell the word

It's fine with me, with me

I GIVE A FUCK DAMMIT! Don't know why tho...

[TheOsakaKoneko]

People that don't know another language and type phrases from said language as if they ARE fluent, and spell those phrases wrong. Namely German and bits of Japanese because that's all I know to pick up on, but if you don't know a foreign language, don't pretend like you do.

Such as people that say "kannichi wa" when it's definately "konnichi wa". Or I've read SO much butchered German in my life it's ridiculous...

I totally understand this pain, and at the same time, I hate it when people talk about how much they "hate it when people throw in little bits of Japanese just to sound cool when they probably don't even speak it to begin with", because a lot of times I accidentally throw in Japanese - not to sound cool, but because it just comes out, and I often get people irritated with me for it...but I'm not pretending to speak it, and I'm not trying to sound cool...I just suck at the English and I put in the wrong language by accident.

BTW I hope you know it can just as accurately be written "konnichiha"

(Side note: I hate the phrase "on accident" - it's just wrong!!)

Engrish isn't my mother's tongue..

Honestly, English is not my first language, I always tease and say that all the time. "Engrish is my second language and I can't remember my first."

I have problems when people use their/there/they're, to/two/too (and a whole SLEW of other words inversely.

You know what's bad though? It *is* my first language, and I so often speak as though it's not... My English sometimes loses the ability to sound like it's my first language. It's not so much incorrect as just WRONG. So it's like you say: "***is my second language and I can't remember my first." Just that the languages are different. My second language is not perfect, and my first isn't either anymore!

(Though you could argue (correctly) that with my 'accent', I was never completely natural/fluent-sounding in any language. )

[Troy Spiral (13)]

I find it interesting that the people on here who say they suck, are among the least of the board's offenders.

There was one DGNer, who shall remain unnamed, who was so absolutely, comically, ridiculously awful, that I started looking forward to his posts.

bean and I would be on the lookout for his classic musings

He only posts occassionally now, but for some reason, he went away completely for awhile and when he returned, his posts were almost devoid of errors, and I have to admit,

it mayd mee mis teh oled days wehnhee youset ah spel liek theisss.

hah.

[candyman]

People that don't know another language and type phrases from said language as if they ARE fluent, and spell those phrases wrong. Namely German and bits of Japanese because that's all I know to pick up on, but if you don't know a foreign language, don't pretend like you do.

Such as people that say "kannichi wa" when it's definately "konnichi wa". Or I've read SO much butchered German in my life it's ridiculous...

It is easy to butcher german...and according to many my uncle Waldi butchers it...but he has spoken German all his life. Spelling can be something to pick on, but it depends on what language, what region the language that the person learned is spoken in, and the skill of the person at typing. I could easily sit down and relearn all the German that I have lost, but I either type what I remember which is a complete bitch, or I can quickly translate. When I was in Latvia we talked about learing languages and a few of them told me that German was hell to learn but English was alot easier. However, I do not care what people think of me when it comes to languages, spelling, and grammar because I work with my hands and like be remain silent...so people can walk up to me and say that I spelled something wrong...I can then nod and hit them with a wrench...simple.

[TheOsakaKoneko]

Gah let me just say, as it's on my mind RIGHT NOW, that I hate how most engineers and people in the automotive industry write... Just please, take 10 seconds to read what you wrote and see if it makes sense. Please. I beg you. Especially if you know some poor girl (me) will have to sit down and try to understand it and translate it into another language... If it doesn't make ANY SENSE it is very difficult for me to do so!!! D:D:D:

::vent vent::

[candyman]

Gah let me just say, as it's on my mind RIGHT NOW, that I hate how most engineers and people in the automotive industry write... Just please, take 10 seconds to read what you wrote and see if it makes sense. Please. I beg you. Especially if you know some poor girl (me) will have to sit down and try to understand it and translate it into another language... If it doesn't make ANY SENSE it is very difficult for me to do so!!! D:D:D:

::vent vent::

We write so we can understand it. Everyone else can deal with it. You may want me to change, but I will put up more resistance than tires on a hybrid!

[TheOsakaKoneko]

We write so we can understand it. Everyone else can deal with it. You may want me to change, but I will put up more resistance than tires on a hybrid!

Only if "we" = "the individual who wrote it", not other engineers. It's not technical terminology I mind. It's things that just Do Not Make Sense. From seeing you write on here, you probably aren't one of the guilty ones, but trust me, most of the time other engineers don't understand it either.