What are the grammar mistakes that erk you the most?

[holtjv]

OK, grammar geeks/gurus, let's hear yours.

Mine, hands-down:

it's for "its"

I actually had a marketing person debate me on this saying that it was in the something-or-rather grammar handbook. She was fired shortly thereafter.

[IROC]

When someone doesn't spell "irk" correctly. :>)

[Overpaid Slacker]

IROC beat me to it...

Mine also involves an apostrophe -- using the singular possessive when what you mean is the plural:

"Banana's for sale".

GRRR.

A close second is the phrase "a whole nother". But that's another whole topic.

JP

[Wrecked944]

I freely admit I am "its-lexic". I need to review the rule about once every three to four months just to keep it fresh in my mind. And I still suspect I often get it wrong despite my best efforts.

The thing that annoys me most is the way print ads often put periods at the end of sentence fragments.

Big impact.
No doubt.
Still annoys.
The crap out of me.

EDIT: If anyone can give me an easy way to remember when to use "affect' vs "effect" I'd really appreciate it. I'm so paranoid about getting it wrong that I simply avoid using either word.

[GO DAWG GO]

My grammar and spelling woes are a direct result of typing in haist. Always to busy to take a second look to check my fumbling fingers. I do admit its been along time since grammar school and those APA reports in college. Worst of all spell check will make you an imbecile.
Nostatic will give you a full report on me... I even mispelled my own signature...Took a look later and caught it..Pretty bad...But I'm trying harder...Mercy...

[oldE]

On this board, I grind my teeth when someone has a problem with his 'breaks' (sic). Does that mean he is not getting brief times away from work?
Then, when his 'breaks', ' brake'(sic), I'm not sure whether they have functioned and have arrested the momentum of the car or whether they are, indeed broken.

Mode: 'Rant' : OFF


Les

[Jim Richards]

brake vs. break. Of course, this is understandable on a gear-head forum.

edit:
Damn! To(o) slow!

[GO DAWG GO]

Nostatic...Please chime in...Where is Superman....? Do the excessive periods annoy anyone?................

[Nape75'911T]

It scares me deeply that the person with the most formidable nuclear arsenal can't say the word........

[Overpaid Slacker]

it's is essentially the contraction for "it is". The sneaky part is that we're used to using an apostrophe for a possessive, where the possessive "its" does not have one. If you could write "it is" instead of whatever permutation if i t and s you're going to use, then it's "it's".

Affect = Verb -- I'd remember it like A is an upside-down V (for verb)
Effect = Noun -- Try "Side effect" -- obviously a noun, to remember that "effect" is the noun.

next week: rules for semi-colons.

JP

[cool_chick]

Using insure for ensure.

I even see it on government documents (I recently had a parking ticket and the statement for payment said "please insure you write your blah blah on the check". I'm not going to insure that paper, it doesn't need insurance!) Drives me nuts.

[Dantilla]

My wife's: "These ones" or "those ones" is never correct. it's simply "these" or "those".

[notfarnow]

Your all to fussy; and to criticle

[daepp]

could of
should of

I just can't stand it!

[GO DAWG GO]

"It scares me deeply that the person with the most formidable nuclear arsenal can't say the word........"

You mean: It didnt scare you the first time..But when his aids tell him "George, Its pronounced NEW-CLE-AR. The other way sounds unprofessional, hickish and just plain stupid, dont do it again" and then he continues to do it. Peggy Noonan and some other prolific speach writers have personally called him and said remember the N word you dip ****...Then he still does it...That scares me too.

[Super_Dave_D]

Your spelling is wrong

You’re killing me

[imcarthur]

Me vs I.

As in: Me and John went to the store.

My 22 stepson drives me nuts with this.

Ian

[GO DAWG GO]

Speach- Speech...sorry... fumble fingers

[notfarnow]

Anyone else notice the overuse of "would have" in the workplace?

"I would have met with the stakeholders yesterday to discuss the project requirements."

When they really mean:

"I met with the stakeholders yesterday to discuss the project requirements."

It drives me crazy. It makes them sound like a kid trying to "fluff" up their vocabulary. Our director does it, and now EVERYONE in our office is doing it.

BTW:

Sweet!

[The Gaijin]

Mixing up dhese, dhems & dhoose of course.