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| 20 common grammar mistakes | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 11 2012, 02:35 AM (801 Views) | |
| jon-nyc | Feb 11 2012, 02:35 AM Post #1 |
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Cheers
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http://litreactor.com/columns/20-common-grammar-mistakes-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong |
| In my defense, I was left unsupervised. | |
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| apple | Feb 11 2012, 04:15 AM Post #2 |
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one of the angels
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i found that interesting.. i don't really give a hoot about proper grammar usually. i am far more interested in conveying nuance by writing as if i were speaking out loud. I have worked as a proofreader, in editing and re- wrote a year's worth of patent applications. not fun at all. my dad taught Latin, Greek and other courses like psychology 401. we always talked about word usage, etymology and such around the dinner table. English is fascinating. |
| it behooves me to behold | |
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| John D'Oh | Feb 11 2012, 05:42 AM Post #3 |
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MAMIL
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If everyone makes the mistake, sooner or later it stops being considered a mistake. The 'affect' and 'effect' one irritates me, admittedly. I get that one a lot in technical reports I review. |
| What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket? | |
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| Aqua Letifer | Feb 11 2012, 06:17 AM Post #4 |
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ZOOOOOM!
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Yeah I can understand that, but that's just one particular style of writing. I don't have many new school ideals about writing but one of them is that style can be chosen and deliberate, and I want to be able to do everything. Literally everything. Poetry, prose, non-fiction, epistolaries, you name it. I often (actually, very often) break rules and standard conventions with my own writing, but in terms of understanding the rules I'm a complete and total insufferable pedant. Because acknowledgement of the "made up and agreed upon" nature of language does not give you a golden ticket to just do whatever the hell you want. Language was developed out of a need to communicate ideas. Downing a mammoth with the help of a couple of guys and spears is not an easy endeavor, it requires cooperation and the ability to quickly communicate using verbal signals the whole group can understand. When your hunting buddy tells you to tighten up your angle to corner the mammoth by the nearby escarpment, you don't start farting about with the definitions of those words or else you could get stomped to death. The entire point of language is that we all agree on meaning, or else what's the point? So I think that the rules exist as a basis for understanding, through which we should make informed decisions about whether or not to adhere to those rules. But how can you know if a language rule is arbitrary if you don't even know why we have it? T3h Bruce had a saying for this, as did many of his predecessors: you have to put the chains on first before you're able to take them off. |
| I cite irreconcilable differences. | |
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| George K | Feb 11 2012, 06:22 AM Post #5 |
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Finally
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Perfect. |
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A guide to GKSR: Click "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08 Nothing is as effective as homeopathy. I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles. - Klaus, 4/29/18 | |
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| Aqua Letifer | Feb 11 2012, 06:33 AM Post #6 |
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ZOOOOOM!
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You should see my writing notebooks. An excerpt: "Dan went to his cousin's place to get his porno stash. Whose porno stash is it? ---Avoid ambiguity due to lazy pronoun usage, sentence construction." And then there's the one I've already mentioned here many times: "Punctuation is not a frivolous thing! 'Let's eat out, Grandma!' " |
| I cite irreconcilable differences. | |
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| George K | Feb 11 2012, 06:38 AM Post #7 |
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Finally
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"Let's help my uncle Jack, off the donkey." |
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A guide to GKSR: Click "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08 Nothing is as effective as homeopathy. I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles. - Klaus, 4/29/18 | |
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| Aqua Letifer | Feb 11 2012, 06:39 AM Post #8 |
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ZOOOOOM!
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Well with that one I'd consider capitalization to be just as crucial.
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| I cite irreconcilable differences. | |
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| musicasacra | Feb 11 2012, 06:42 AM Post #9 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Reminds me of Inspector Morse. "Do you have a temperature?" "Everyone has a temperature. I have a fever." |
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| George K | Feb 11 2012, 06:43 AM Post #10 |
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Finally
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Reminds me of one of my teachers in medical school admonishing us to be thorough: "If you never take a temperature, you'll never find a fever." |
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A guide to GKSR: Click "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08 Nothing is as effective as homeopathy. I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles. - Klaus, 4/29/18 | |
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| Klaus | Feb 11 2012, 07:49 AM Post #11 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Buy this book. You will love it!
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| Trifonov Fleisher Klaus Sokolov Zimmerman | |
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| George K | Feb 11 2012, 07:57 AM Post #12 |
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Finally
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Just bought it for my iPad. I'd better f*cking love it, is all I can say! |
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A guide to GKSR: Click "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08 Nothing is as effective as homeopathy. I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles. - Klaus, 4/29/18 | |
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| sue | Feb 11 2012, 10:17 AM Post #13 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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That's a good one. Much like my pet peeve, dealing with 'weather' "we'll be getting some real weather this weekend", "we've got some weather coming our way", etc. Really? Really? Unlike this state of nothingness we've been suffering with lately, thank goodness. I've often wondered if perhaps this usage is just a local thing, where our weather is normally mild and predictable, and tv weather people (sorry, meteoroligists) get all excited when there's something different to talk about. |
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| jon-nyc | Feb 11 2012, 10:32 AM Post #14 |
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Cheers
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IOW, grammar is made up and agreed upon. |
| In my defense, I was left unsupervised. | |
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| Horace | Feb 11 2012, 11:05 AM Post #15 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Without looking, I bet that article is wrong about "moot", based on the definitions that appear in standard dictionaries.
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| As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good? | |
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| jon-nyc | Feb 11 2012, 11:09 AM Post #16 |
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Cheers
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Horace - I'd say that the usage one hears in the US legal system has gained sufficient currency here to be called an 'Americanism' rather than 'incorrect'. However in British publications the word is always used as the article states. (such is my experience anyway) |
| In my defense, I was left unsupervised. | |
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| jon-nyc | Feb 11 2012, 11:09 AM Post #17 |
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Cheers
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I'd be curious what the entire OED entry is - IT? |
| In my defense, I was left unsupervised. | |
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| jon-nyc | Feb 11 2012, 11:23 AM Post #18 |
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Cheers
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We're having the same discussion next door, where I posted this: The most recent use in the FT: "...contact between Glencore and Xstrata is sending a frisson of excitement through the global mining sector. But their $90bn mooted merger hardly heralds a wave of mining deals." The most recent usage in the Economist: "The mooted new airport is to the east of the capital." Americans might misunderstand both of those sentences. |
| In my defense, I was left unsupervised. | |
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| jon-nyc | Feb 11 2012, 11:26 AM Post #19 |
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Cheers
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My bad, the most recent usage in the Economist was this, re Eqypt: "That could become even harder if America responds to the prosecution of 44 pro-democracy activists, including 19 Americans, by cutting $1.3 billion in military aid, as has been mooted." Still, same usage. |
| In my defense, I was left unsupervised. | |
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| Horace | Feb 11 2012, 11:26 AM Post #20 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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"Mooted" is a sufficiently unique use of that word that I doubt it'd cause too many problems. But I bet both magazines are careful not to write something like this, which would be misunderstood: "The new airport, to the east of the capital, is moot." |
| As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good? | |
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| jon-nyc | Feb 11 2012, 11:28 AM Post #21 |
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Cheers
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Most recent usage of 'moot' in the Economist (i have to quote the preceding para, but its the same as typical British usage)
Next two are also that usage, not going to bother quoting though. |
| In my defense, I was left unsupervised. | |
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| jon-nyc | Feb 11 2012, 11:30 AM Post #22 |
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Cheers
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Interestingly, I can find the american usage in the FT - but only in op-eds written by Americans. |
| In my defense, I was left unsupervised. | |
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| Horace | Feb 11 2012, 11:33 AM Post #23 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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I would consider that to be a poor word choice and unnecessarily ambiguous considering standard dictionaries do list the "incorrect" definition of moot. At least, dictionary.com does.
Anybody else have a visceral reaction to that use of the word "is"? Pedantically correct in that "the vast majority" is singular, but it doesn't read as smoothly as "are" to me. |
| As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good? | |
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| jon-nyc | Feb 11 2012, 11:37 AM Post #24 |
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Cheers
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Again, I think its more an Americanism rather than 'incorrect'. But I wouldn't agree that just because the US usage has evolved differently than the British means the word shouldn't be used. |
| In my defense, I was left unsupervised. | |
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| jon-nyc | Feb 11 2012, 11:38 AM Post #25 |
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Cheers
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Just the people with sh1t grammar.
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| In my defense, I was left unsupervised. | |
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12:55 AM Jul 11