Common grammar and usage errors

12/22/04 | Self

[general_re]

Your = belonging to y'all

Reminds me of another one: lose/loose. I once got a post to me that said "Your a looser."

[dinasour]

I just hate it when sentences don't a verb.

[JennysCool]

Hugh has a hugh background story.

[Chad Fairbanks]

I'm looking at my keyboard and there is no way that the far too often used phrase "This is Hugh!" for "This is Huge" could be a typo!

I hope you weren't being series!

[Tax-chick]

My pet peeve is when people use numbers or single letters to represent words: "R U going 2 the store?" Makes me want to scream!

(p.s., I have the official typing, homophone, and all-around verbal mayhem ping list! "Typso Threw the Tulips and broke his shift key." Ping to get on or off!)

[Chad Fairbanks]

I'd like to be on that ping list, iff'n you'll have me.

[Tax-chick]

Your knew hear, rnt yew?

[general_re]

My pet peeve is when people use numbers or single letters to represent words: "R U going 2 the store?"

O I C what U mean.

;)

[georgiadevildog]

First: your / you're:

Your is always possessive. If the word is NOT designed to show ownership of something, "your" is the wrong choice.

You're is always a contraction of the words "you are." If you remove "you're" from the sentence and replace it with "you are," it should still make perfect sense.

Second: who / whom:

I must be honest. I still do not have total mastery of these two words and their usage. Most of the time, I can get them right. Other times, I can't decide which to use, and I wind up changing the sentence to eliminate the need to use the word. As a general rule, though, "who" is the subjective form of the pronoun, while "whom" is the objective. In other words, "who" would be used as the subject of a sentence, while "whom" would be used as the object.

Best example I know: "Who did what to whom?"

"Who" is the subject, and "whom" is the object.

Third: here / hear.

If your word has nothing to do with sound or the sense of hearing, then "hear" is not your word. That is the basic test. Still, on this one, I must admit a single weakness in usage. When I hear someone say, "Here, here" as a gesture of agreement to the comments of another, I don't know which to use.

[bassoonmoo]

ping!

[Chad Fairbanks]

O, U812? Well, I81B4U!

[georgiadevildog]

LMAO @ "looser."

What is it, exactly, that you loose on a regular basis?

The warden who releases convicts that have served their time would be a looser, I suppose.

[Tax-chick]

You're on! I've been sending out a ping two or three times a week. Typso (typing errors that say something really funny) and Homophunny are first level violations. "my kingdom for a shift key" and "THe Cat iS LYinG on MY sHIft Key" are secondary, like seat-belt tickets :-).

The list is at the bottom of my profile page, if you ever want to use it.

[Military family member]

I have the same problem with people who use "&" instead of "and", "thru", instead of "through."

[georgiadevildog]

Oh, you've gotta add me! My wife calls me a geek because I am so anal about grammar. She says she had to hire an editor to check her emails before she sends them to me. It's hilarious.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Thanks!

[Jack Deth]

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!

Nice ones, guys.

I've been FReeping here since September, Tax-chick.

I don't think that makes me "new".

Yes, I'm serious... And don't call me "Surely".

Jack.

[Senior Chief]

I thought those were homonyms...oh, my lexicon tells me that it's a synonym. Good thing there's not a (syn)tax on improper grammar.

[Tax-chick]

nite, lite, rite?

Right, write, rite, wright

What other words have four or more homophones?

[Mr. K]

Their, their... calm down