Posted on 08/30/2015 10:38:18 AM PDT by B4Ranch
Proper grammar seems to be a thing of the past -- why stress about tiny technicalities, right? Wrong.
You should be a grammar stickler for many reasons. Do you want to risk turning off potential clients, employers and connections because of grammatical mistakes?
Many people are so concerned with what they are saying in an email or text message that they completely forget to pay attention to how they are saying it. If you chose to turn grammar mode off when you are communicating with friends, that is one thing, but there is absolutely no reason to send a professional communication that contains errors.
Here are six grammatical errors that are so simple, yet such common offenders. Make sure you aren’t making them.
This is probably the most common mistake I see on social media, in text messages and in emails. This one is real simple -- if you are trying to say “you are” then “you’re” is correct. If you are talking about something that belongs to you, such as “your car” then you use “your.”
Many people confuse these and don’t even realize they are doing it. It’s real easy -- “two” is a number, “too” is an adverb that means “also,” and “to” is a preposition used to express motion, direction, limit of movement, contact, a point of limit in time, purpose, intention and destination -- to name a few.
For example:
“I would like to become an entrepreneur.”
“I too would like to become an entrepreneur.”
What should have been squared away in third grade continues to haunt grammar police on a daily basis. The there/their/they’re mistake is common -- but it’s really simple to avoid.
Use “they’re” when you are trying to say “they are.”
“Their” should be used when you are indicating possession.
Finally, “there” needs to be used when referring to a location.
Example: "They're going to love working there. Their company culture is amazing!"
This one is really just pure laziness rather than a grammatical mistake. Texting has completely ruined grammar and you/u is a perfect example. I understand that “u” is perfectly acceptable if you are texting a friend and are in a rush -- but it’s not acceptable in a professional email.
Here is an excerpt of an email I received last week from a C-level executive who is in charge of a company that does business worth several hundreds of millions of dollars every year:
… that would be gr8! Talk to u soon!
He managed to nail two text slangs back to back like a champ. Again, if it was a text message, fine -- but a professional email is no place for this. This email is actually what sparked me to write this article, so thank you grammatically challenged C-level executive.
When you are talking about time you use “then” and when you are making a comparison you use “than.” It really shouldn’t be that difficult to distinguish what one to use:
“We are going to grab a quick bite to eat and then head back to the office.”
“This new software update is much better than the previous version.”
This one confuses a lot of people, mainly due to the apostrophe, which typically symbolizes possession. Use “it’s” when you are trying to say “it is” and use “its” when you are looking for the possessive form of “it.”
“I looked at its owners manual to get the correct settings.”
“It’s a beautiful day outside.”
What are some other grammar mishaps that drive you nuts? Share them in the comments section below.
Why the hell do I have to press "one" to get the language of MY Country?
On the top of the hour Blaze Radio News on XM, one gal reads every story in a weird present-past tense. Really takes me off the story.
“Bob Slinck dies Tuesday. He is born in Ohio in 1925 and marries after WW2. He develops the golden can opener in 1963 and survives assassination attempts in 1972 and 1998. His three children die in childbirth. “
If the spell checker accepts it, who am I to argue...............
Me and her went....
I think we are going to have a gibberish class until we decide that when laws can no longer be explained in layman’s terms, then the layman can no longer be expected to follow them.
I can think of other things as well, at least in some cases: here I'm thinking of baby forums that extensively use their own semi-secret acronyms and other coy phrases.
I haven't frequented those forums at all, but I've read about other things, such as odd choices for baby names, and sometimes the discussion drifts into talking about the language on baby forums. A search easily yields multiple complaints online that this style of writing makes understanding posts harder for beginners and other outsiders. I've speculated, and others have posted in discussions, that maybe part of using some secret language is precisely to create a sort of in-group. I sympathize a lot more, though, with the uninitiated parents who simply want to discuss a matter without having to learn a sort of second language, especially because it's simply unnecessary for plain discussion.
In fact, here's one example of using the same acronym in different ways. On those baby forums, "BM" can mean "breast milk." As you readers probably already know, "BM" is more often used for something rather different. If you're anything like me, you'll have great difficulty reading certain baby posts without bursting into laughter--and great difficulty understanding how anyone who knows the more common meaning of "BM" can use it to mean "breast milk" as well.
“An easy way to remember it is to think of an apostrophe as a missing letter.”
Unless it’s a possessive.
English is an exceptional language - there are more exceptions to most of its rules than followers of the rules.
By then, I’d had just about enough. And I thought that that’d be the end of it.
Yoda Cat
There be alot of them.
Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it in laymans terms, then you don’t understand it”.
I always take information with a grain of salt when I see simple grammar errors such as these.
Just pointing out the exception to the rule of plurals. LOL
And what about the word they’re. I see a plural and an apostrophe (choose one: there, they’re, their) ;-)
Sometimes rules are helpful and sometime rules confuse.
I’m thinking of people who don’t understand decimals who tell me the rules of decimals all work backwards to the right of the decimal. The worst rule ever.
It is a contraction, the other apostrophe use. “they are” is contracted to “they’re” with the letter “a” missing. I don’t use that one.
"Less than 10 items." No, "FEWER" than for numbers, less than for quantities.
"Gift for free." Wow. A double whammy. A gift is free. You get something "for nothing" OR "free," but not "for free."
Whoa!
I resemble that statement. ..
“There is no such thing as “concerning” in that context; it should be “of concern”. Fox people are using this more and more, and radio. I hate it.”
Agreed. What bothers me most is hearing it from the supposed “best and brightest”.
It is simply amazing the sort of questions a 101 student will ask, which forced us to learn more in order to be able to answer them.
It was also great training for explaining concepts in ordinary terms to people who were not in the sciences and had no intention of going there.
Welcome.
I will summarize:
If you are choosing between “who” and “whom,” do the following:
(1) Replace the word with “he” or “she.” If the sentence makes sense, use “who.”
(2) Replace the word with “him” or “her.” If the sentence makes sense, use “whom.”
(3) If neither makes sense, which often happens in the context of a question, write a sentence that answers the question and then do (1) and (2).
Example of (3):
Who/Whom should I vote for?
Try (1): He should I vote for? Sounds awful, so do not use “who” per step (1).
Try (2): Him should I vote for? Sounds awful again, so do not use “whom” per step (2).
OK, let’s try step (3):
Answer the question: I should vote for who/whom.
(1) I should vote for he. Again, awful.
(2) I should vote for him. WE HAVE A WINNER! Use “whom.”
Make sense?
Why did I bother with this exercise? Two reasons. First, I think this might be useful for you and others to improve your writing skills. Second, this addresses the point you raised about what Kerry said, namely the following:
“At its worst, the use of whom becomes a form of one-upmanship some employ to appear sophisticated.”
Well, as you can see from my explanation, choosing whether to use “who” or “whom” requires a certain discipline in thinking and use of logic. Those are the LAST things the leftscum want the population to have!
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