My goodness, where do I begin. (That was a rhetorical question, so I didn’t use a question mark.)
First, there is the all-time fingernails-on-the-chalkboard use of I, me and myself.
Myself should never be the subject of a sentence.
Then again, I’m not so sure most people understand what a subject is.
Seriously.
Of course, a few days after I wrote this I made a subject-verb agreement error in a tweet that I caught only after I hit SEND. So perhaps I should be more forgiving.
But Grammar Slut is not.
The other day I saw a whole bunch of people individually respond to a group email
with “Here, here!”
They meant “Hear! Hear!”
Then, there’s “fewer” and “less.”
If you can count it, “fewer” is how you refer to it.
Fewer apples, less impatience. More men, less sex. That kind of thing.
Could’ve, would’ve, should’ve are correct.
Could of, would of and should of are not. The second word is have.
It’s probably not a MUTE point, it’s a moot point.
Oh, I can feel myself hyperventilating, already.
These are not even the harder ones. Those might be who/whom, whether and if, nor–things like that.
Do they even teach English any more, except as a second language?
Doesn’t anyone pay attention in class?
Who is grading those papers?
How do people get out of college without knowing proper grammar?
People. English is our primary language. Use good grammar for God’s sake.
Who’s grading the papers? People who graduated from college, have a teaching credential, and STILL don’t know crap about grammar. I had a BIG “discussion” (argument) with my daughter’s H.S. ENGLISH teacher when she corrected the grammar on my daughter’s paper, and HER corrections were incorrect. Daughter argued with her, was told the teacher was correct. So I tackled the situation. Cited chapter and verse of Strunk & White (which was THE manual the teacher said she graded against). Believe me, when we were done my daughter got FULL marks. But I really doubt that teacher — full of hubris as she was — learned a single thing.
I was an elementary school language arts teacher. I used to have my students write their poems and stories without worrying about spelling or grammar. I just wanted them to creatively express their thoughts on paper. After they read their creative writings to the class, I would sit down and go over the papers helping each of them with corrections. This method turned out to be a “win-win” class lesson.
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Who’s grading the papers? People who graduated from college, have a teaching credential, and STILL don’t know crap about grammar. I had a BIG “discussion” (argument) with my daughter’s H.S. ENGLISH teacher when she corrected the grammar on my daughter’s paper, and HER corrections were incorrect. Daughter argued with her, was told the teacher was correct. So I tackled the situation. Cited chapter and verse of Strunk & White (which was THE manual the teacher said she graded against). Believe me, when we were done my daughter got FULL marks. But I really doubt that teacher — full of hubris as she was — learned a single thing.
I saw mute for moot the other day and outwardly cringed.
Another pair of peeves? She stayed stationery. She bought some stationary.
Got a paper bag?
But where are your paragraphs? teehee!
Grammar Slut, I love that title!!
I was an elementary school language arts teacher. I used to have my students write their poems and stories without worrying about spelling or grammar. I just wanted them to creatively express their thoughts on paper. After they read their creative writings to the class, I would sit down and go over the papers helping each of them with corrections. This method turned out to be a “win-win” class lesson.