It's Atrocious!
Published on January 14, 2005 By TheFazz In Blogging
Few things bother me more than grammar or spelling mistakes. Sadly, very few have mastered the fine art of fine grammar. Many people also stumble on spelling. Perhaps an editor is needed to sort through some people's mess they call 'sentences.' While in the end, spelling and grammar mistakes don't really take away much from an article, a nicely polished piece of work is easier to read, therefore it makes its point more clearly. Some mistakes that I find to be especially annoying are listed.

Truly: It is not spelled Trully, Truely, Truelly, Trueley, or any other way you can think of! Yes, I know that 'true' has an 'e' in it, but you drop it for truly! This word looks just the same way as it sounds.

___'s: You don't use an APOSTROPHE (') and an S to pluralize something! Only use the S! There are certain cases where it may be acceptable, as in abbreviations and last names, but they are the exception. Why would you say, "The student's are going on a class trip"? This mistake is less frequent with younger writers (<35).

Your/You're: One is possessive--"Your dog barks at night." One is a contraction-- "You're letting your dog bark at night." They are not interchangeable. You cannot say "You're dog is annoying." That would be saying, 'You are dog is annoying.' That just doesn't make any sense.

Its/It's: As with Your/You're, one is possessive--"Its legs are broken." One is a contraction--"It's unable to walk because of its broken legs." If you said, "It's color is unique," you are really saying, 'It is color is unique.'

Goodbye: It is one word! Unlike 'Good night', this one is a single word. Look it up if you don't believe me.

Yea: It is not the same as 'yeah.' Yea sounds like hay and weigh. Not like yeah. Yea and nay are opposites, and sound alike. Congress does not vote 'Yeah' or 'Nay.' The best way I can describe 'yea' is to say that it has a long a. (ā)

I hope this has slightly enriched your grammar or spelling skills. Any help is welcome, I am sure. If there are any spelling or grammar mistakes in this, I will be sure to promptly shoot myself.

Comments (Page 1)
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on Jan 14, 2005
Wow. Glad I'm not the only one out there reading grammar books for fun. I love Eats, Shoots, & Leaves by the British lady whose name escapes me. It's been good so far.

But you know, your wild rant simply echoes into the cavernous void of apathy. There will still be "prolly," "2" substituted for to, two, and too interchangably, and "cuz" written on IM screens, blogs, and high school English papers all over the country.

And a heaping scoop of errant apostrophes sprinkles thereabouts for good measure.
on Jan 15, 2005
I always like reading these grammar blogs because I am snotty and don't make (most) of the mistakes I see in them. (Though occasionally one will slip past the internal editor. I should fire him.)
on Jan 15, 2005
Yes, I always did enjoy that Grammar Textbook. Maybe it should be mandatory summer reading for high school students.
on Jan 15, 2005
Grammer, vocabulary & the idiomatic usage of a language does change-- with individual initiative, too . For example, about three decades ago my brother (an Officer of the Indian Police Service) and I (a Commissioned Officer of the Indian Air Force) satrted ending our Demi-official letters with the words "With regards". At that time we could not find such an ending in any grammatical or English usage text-book.
Since he & I were in correspondence with many a vIPs internationally, this ending has now become a part of even Businee-letters written by Microsoft etc.
Prof. Gulshan Bajwa
(Themissociijuris blog at Joeuser)
on Jan 15, 2005
That is amazing, Themissociijuris. If this is true, you really made your mark on grammar. In fact, in school we are taught to use that as a closing. Very interesting.
on Jan 15, 2005
soorly sum simel miztakaks canot bee dat stezzing tu u kan thay?
on Jan 15, 2005
Awesome article, TheFazz.

You don't use an APOSTROPHE (') and an S to pluralize something!


Its/It's


Two of my pet peeves. Those drive me nuts.
on Jan 15, 2005
soorly sum simel miztakaks canot bee dat stezzing tu u kan thay?


ROAR

Awesome article, TheFazz.


Well thank you.

Two of my pet peeves. Those drive me nuts.


So I'm not alone! What I really hate about those mistakes is that they are so common.
on Jan 15, 2005
You never did like grammar mistakes. I think that's why I change my grammar when I talk to you.
on Jan 15, 2005
Thank you fazz for taking the joke in the spirit intended. Roar....... lol
on Jan 26, 2005
No time to read......AERYCK.JOEUSER here.....I updated the like and if you go there you should get here.....Link actually, seeing as the link is her just go there from here...whatever...this is funny....
my message was....Little Children, I love you......if you go there and check, "children of God" you will see the picture, sorry about the confusion....truuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuly......landlol

on Jan 27, 2005
...what was that all about?
on Jan 27, 2005
I'm a journalism major and the first thing professors do is have you write a paper. Then, an entire lecture revolves around breaking people out of those habits. One of the common mistakes was "its/it's," using archaic words like burnt and the like.

After those first few journalism classes, I'm really cautious when it comes to grammar. It was drilled into my head. Now, I'm like my own police officer of grammar regarding my class assignments.

I think bad grammar is hard to read. If I see something with too many errors, I'll lose interest and stop reading. A couple is normal but when the whole paper/screen is written like: "Be herre bye tommorrow wit da stuff." I'm going to want to read the person's writing.
on Aug 25, 2006
Get a life!!!!
on Aug 25, 2006
quote ---- Get a life!!!! -----end quote

aaargh capt'n guy we have a winner! me thinks we should shanghai this scurvy fella, shall I toss im in a sack for now?

My grammar has worsened over the years, tis not something I would deny!
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