Monday, July 27, 2009

Grammatical Errors

We all make grammatical errors, especially when we're dashing off a blog post or some other update online. But there are a few that get under my skin, like the proverbial nails on a chalkboard.

There's the obvious, "you're" vs. "your." I've caught myself on occasion using "their" when I mean "they're." There are lots of grammatical errors and mispellings I can forgive. I don't even mind "irregardless."

But the one that really gets to me is when someone uses the word "loose" when they mean "lose." "Lose" is a verb. "Loose" is an adjective. I suppose I can just tell myself the "o" button sticks, but when I see this error it literally makes my heart rate go up. I don't know why.

Which ones bug you?

7 comments:

Stacy said...

Oh yeah, and then there's the one that set me off this morning: "bare with me." It's "bear with me." You're not asking people to get naked with you.

Stacy said...

Also, it's "heroine" for the lead woman in your novel. I don't want any "heroin," feisty or otherwise, thanks.

Sarah Laurenson said...

Greatful/grateful and all you mentioned are good examples.

My number one grammar peeve: the phoenetic non-contraction - should of, would of.

fairyhedgehog said...

All of them. I hate it when I catch myself doing one. It's especially bad when you can't edit what you've written.

Although "bare with me" could be fun - it depends who's writing it!

laughingwolf said...

[sarah told me of your name change]

agree with all those, esp the ones sarah mentioned grrrrrrrr

not grammatical, but still pisses me off: a light year is a measure of DISTANCE, not TIME!

Robin B. said...

Irregardless gives me instant fury - probably because the person who says it/writes it, is seemingly so sure of their chastisement of whatever it is they are 'irregarding' with the old self-righteous ass rod going on.

Stacy said...

Oh yeah - great examples, Sarah.

Hah - I hadn't thought of it that way, FHH! I guess it depends for me on who's using it . . .

Laughingwolf, I'm proud to say I've known for a long time that a lightyear describes a distance, not a length of time. Sheesh, don't any of these people watch Star Trek?

Oh, yeah, Robin. But when that error is made along with a snotty tone, it makes me giggle.