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[Closed] Incorrect uses of the English language - what really gets under your skin?

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[#2597756]

[b]Can I lend your phone.[/b]
Sure, who do you want to lend it to?

[b]Ehh?[/b]

And anything to do with the incorrect use of comma's
👿


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 2:50 pm
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We're going to 'grow' our business.

No, no, no. Businesses grow. We 'nurture' or 'cultivate' or 'foster'.


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 2:51 pm
 Drac
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And anything to do with the incorrect use of comma's

Incorrect use of apostrophes.


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 2:52 pm
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comma's


That 🙄


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 2:52 pm
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I should add the use of 'good' as an adverb.


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 2:52 pm
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Starting sentences with "And".


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 2:53 pm
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(lol - that was deliberate)
😛

(Using the word 'comma' and putting the rogue apostrophe in that is).


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 2:54 pm
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Getting Wh mixed up with W/h


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 2:54 pm
 Kit
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kWh and kW/h 🙄

edit: molgrips you barsteward! 😉


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 2:54 pm
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Starting sentences with "And".

Sorry but starting a sentence with 'and' is perfectly acceptable.

[i]...if you're anything like me, for years and years you avoided using "but," "and," or "yet" to start a sentence. This often resulted in run-on sentences or short, choppy ones. The good news is that the rules are changing and it is now considered acceptable to start a sentence with a conjunction.[/i]


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 2:54 pm
 nonk
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my bad.

arghhhhhh.


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 2:54 pm
 mt
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the fact that I'm crap at writting my own language. I could blaim the teachers and that is one reason but the real truth is I was not listening.


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 2:55 pm
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Apostrophes and incorrect use of adverbs/adjectives (e.g. less instead of fewer), just for starters!

I also hate it when someone spots my errors and puts me right ... but I do make an effort 🙂

I am trying to get a life ...


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 2:55 pm
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(lol - that was deliberate)

I have a picture here of you with your pants on fire.


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 2:56 pm
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mastiles_fanylion - Member

Starting sentences with "And".

Sorry but starting a sentence with 'and' is perfectly acceptable.

Agreed. And I would include other conjunctions - such as 'but' - in that. But only if deployed with discretion.


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 2:56 pm
 Drac
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(lol - that was deliberate)

Oh that old chestnut.


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 2:56 pm
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I'll tell you what literally makes my blood boil...


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 2:59 pm
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Far more important thing's get under my skin.


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:00 pm
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people who say brought instead of bought!! drives me up the flipping wall


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:00 pm
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I think my #1 pet hate is professionally bad English. For example, glossy menus selling pizza's. Day to day I don't really mind the odd braino, no-one's perfect and I do it myself occasionally, but if you're a signwriter or a journalist, there's really no excuse.

#2 would be grammar pedants who pick up on other people's spelling mistakes and typos for an ad hominem attack when they're losing an argument.


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:00 pm
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Your and you're. And, anyone who publishes magazines with double spaces, grammatical errors, etc. Don't these publishing companies have people who proof read the material before they go out (proof read - or whatever the job title is of people who check these things).


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:01 pm
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Dropping the word LIKE into (like) every sentence


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:02 pm
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"Might of" etc rather than "might have".


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:02 pm
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Far more important thing's get under my skin

Like me, for instance 🙂


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:04 pm
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Not english as such, but american use of english. Specifically; when on a flight and the announcement comes over the tannoy 'please return to your seats, we will landing momentarily'

Will we really be landing briefly? And then what, lifting off again immediately afterwards? Momentarily means 'for a moment'. Sort it!


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:05 pm
 Taff
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Text speak in a work related email.

Dropping the word LIKE into (like) every sentence

I used to be horrendous with that


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:06 pm
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"Might of" etc rather than "might have".

+1 to that.


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:06 pm
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Text speak in a work related email.

Oh, work emails.

"Please do the needful." WTF?


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:08 pm
 hels
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The greengrocer apostrophe. At least once a day I have to correct "PC's".

And saying "actually" all the time.

"pecific" gets somebody off my friend list too, right up there with speeding in front of a school or failing to indicate correctly at a roundabout.


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:08 pm
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People who say 'pacific' when they mean 'specific'; using 'adverse' when they mean 'averse'; the use of 'advanced' instead of 'advance' which seems to happen all the time at work with admin workers typing up "advanced statements"
To me it demonstrates that a person doesn't read much as they've misheard a word and just repeated/typed what they think they heard. A pet one is a girl at work who refers to "gleaming information" about things. Arghhh!! I think I'm an uber pedant.


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:09 pm
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Hmmm... untraditional use of punctuation for no apparent reason..


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:09 pm
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"Could I get a....*"

I'm sure you probably could, yes. But what do you actually want, you cretin?

* insert appropriate words. Its invariably a skinny decaffe latte or some-such nonsense 🙄


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:11 pm
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Your and you're.

God yes. And (used again acceptable use for effect) 'there', they're, 'they', and 'their' used incorrectly.

The funny thing is that I failed English in quite spectacular fashion and had absolutely no idea about the difference between a possessive noun and a plural or any such thing.


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:12 pm
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People that use awesome when they should use Awesome!!!


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:13 pm
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"Could I get a...."

That's very much an Americanism that's crept over here. It's [i]very[/i] common in the US.


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:13 pm
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In fact I have noticed another annoyance from my OP - 'can' used instead of 'may'.

[b]MAY I lend your phone?[/b]

8)


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:15 pm
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I think I'm an uber pedant

That's "über-pedant." Amateur.


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:15 pm
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Except/accept if we're including malapropisms.

As in "No £50 notes excepted"


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:16 pm
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they're, there, their

hear, here

of off

txtlol speak

borrow/lend confusion

Owe, i'm shure their our many more...


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:17 pm
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Adding the last word of an acronym into a sentence ie The GMT time is


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:17 pm
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Oooh, oh, I've another.

Principle / principal. We have Principal Engineers at work. Except, according to about half the emails I get, we actually have Principle Engineers. Presumably they look after the network's moral fibre.


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:17 pm
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Adding the last word of an acronym into a sentence ie The GMT time is

PIN number. PAC code. Get in the sack.


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:18 pm
 j_me
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Incorrect [b]use[/b] [s]s[/s] of the English language

That's better.


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:20 pm
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Except/accept if we're including malapropisms.

Affect / effect is another. Two wildly different words that I've never, ever had a problem with confusing, or even known that anyone else did, up until the Internet; I've now read it incorrectly so many gods damned times that now *I'm* starting to get it wrong and having to watch out for it. FFS. You really [i]can [/i]catch stupidity.


 
Posted : 25/03/2011 3:21 pm
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