Common grammar and usage errors

12/22/04 | Self

[georgiadevildog]

I am starting a grammar thread at the behest of Xenalyte and TheMom. Post your most irritating pet peeves of grammar or usage here.

[jellybean]

"Here, here" as a gesture of agreement to the comments of another, I don't know which to use.

How about "Hear here!!"?

[Chad Fairbanks]

I don't agree. Homophones played little, if any, role in our WWII victory in Europe. They may have played a small, albeit important, role in the Pacific Theatre, but only because they were forced to.

[Dan from Michigan]

Someone beat me to it!

I got that and responsed "What the hell is a looser?"

[georgiadevildog]

I was responding to a previous post. Guy said someone once called him a "looser." I determined that a "looser" must be someone who regularly looses something.

loose: verb: to free something

[escapefromboston]

Well Homophones fought bravely during the American Revolution and if it wasn't for them we might be speaking English right now!

[Tax-chick]

My 3-year-old demands "Kneaded Bicuits Plain!" for supper.

[Tax-chick]

None of those is really a "4," if you enunciate.

[headsonpikes]

Why are you giving homonyms a pass?

Homophones are all talk, but homonyms mean it!

[Chad Fairbanks]

Ha! No one has spoken English here in America for a long time. ;0)

Gnome sayin'?

[NRA1995]

I think "myself" is VERY badly misused; see following:

Myself should not be used as a substitute for the personal object pronoun me. This is a common mistake, as in the following example:

They gave presents to my brother and myself.
The correct form is:

They gave presents to my brother and me.
So, when should you use the word? The golden rule is that you should only use myself if the word I comes before it in the same sentence. When this is the case, the word is used in the following situations:

Firstly, when the subject and object of the sentence are the same:

I know myself.
I saw myself in the mirror.
Secondly, when you want to emphasise, or call more attention to the subject of the sentence:

I did the job myself. (Nobody helped me).
I ate all the cake myself. (Nobody else ate any).

[georgiadevildog]

Because "to eggs" refers to one concept....yes, I considered that, but I decided that the "to" were two many, not "to" was two many.

Confused yet? I am.

Sure am glad I started this thread. This is fun.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Don't even get me started on Homonyms. Filthy things.

[ItsOurTimeNow]

LMAO...that's awesome!

"What happened TO my preposition?
I took it ON an expedition.
Put it BY the thing I fish IN.
Got infected WITH a skin condition!"

[munchtipq]

Yes! The word "irregardless" should be stricken from the record, regardless of context and irrespective of usage.

I actually had a fight with someone about whether this was even a word. I said it wasn't, and I was wrong, it's in the dictionary, but it's a stupid word. Webster defines it as "a blend of irrespective and regardless". What kind of definition is that?

[Semper Vigilantis]

Please ad me two yore type-o ping list.
Eye cold rely us a chuckal from tyme 2 tyme.
Thanx. ;-)

[rocksblues]

From a Beatle fan?

[NRA1995]

I thought a homophone was queer phone sex.

[georgiadevildog]

Re: "myself":

Good one. Thanks for bringing this one to light.

I was once putting together a report for a college class. I was writing the report as part of a group, and my assignment was to write my section and put it together with their sections in the whole report.

One of my group members handed me his section of the report, and in it was the word "theyself." For example, "This design allows one person to perform the task by theyself."

I almost choked.

[Chad Fairbanks]

I never thought of that. It may be worse than I had imagined!

[Tax-chick]

Oh, I love that! It reminds me of a story I read in a home schooling newsletter. The mother was teaching a child grammar, and said, "The prepositional phrase is 'behind the bookcase'." A younger child walked out of the room, then came back and said, "No, it isn't! There's nothing behind the bookcase but dust-bunnies!"