Just to thank you for your post to hujo regarding the use of apostrophes. Unnecessary apostrophe use is one of my biggest pet peeves :) There is a business located in my area that both my daughter and myself get annoyed about when seeing their vehicles with the name emblazoned: Red Rock Spa's. Just reading it is like the proverberial Fingernails on a Chalkboard to me! I do hope your lesson for hujo(and to whomever else was in the dark about this)was effective and taken to heart! I suppose further posts will be proof :)

Don't click this.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/gallery/2014/may/13/bad-grammar-rogue-apostrophes-and-bizarre-spelling-in-pictures

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/12/2022 04:41PM by caffiend.

I can understand how a teacher of English can find it hard not to correct errors in grammar when they present themselves. I have lived long enough to have forgotten most of the rules of grammar I was taught so long ago and have given up on most of the grammar battles that used to be so important.

The hardest one to give up on was the use of mixed tenses that are standard in American newspapers. I was always taught that reported speech always uses the past tense. Example: The visiting Prime Minister said he was happy to be in Washington. This becomes in American newspapers: The visiting Prime Minister said he is happy to be in Washington. The often cited excuse for the mixed tenses (said and is) was usually "but her is still there", which ignores the fact that the sentence reports something said in the past and has no bearing on where the PM is when the reader is told what he said on his arrival perhaps hours or days before.

I never look at the newspapers because I heard newspapers will lie.

Even worse, they lie with bad grammar. The internet is much safer on both counts.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/04/2021 04:16PM by Lot's Wife.

All I ask, by all that is unholy, please teach your kids the difference between their and there.

Grammarly is your friend.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/04/2021 06:26PM by Susan I/S.

You can add "they're" to the list. Those three homophones are the bane of educators everywhere.

your kidding right ?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/08/2021 10:49PM by Dave the Atheist.

Poor spelling and bad grammar is the equivalent of presenting a photo of yourself in an unkempt and messy condition.

I know many don’t care about the image they present in any form, but others are very conscientious regarding how they are perceived.

We will never all be on the same page in so many ways.

Grammar and spelling is one example.

Ha! And here I thought I being sent to time out. Normally I try to restrain myself, although I've been known to occasionally fuss about grammar to the trolls who pass through.

I figure Hujo is young enough to not take offense.

Another pet peeve of mine is the confusion between lose and loose. I promise not to "loose" my mind if I see one more apostrophe used before a plural -s, but I might very well lose it.

I do make my own errors as well, of course.

Dear Summer, I'm with you on all your peeves :-)

Okay, okay. I've been resisting the impulse to make this comment for what seems like ages but can no longer hold back.

> I figure Hujo is young enough to not take offense.

"To not take offense."

Physician, heal thyself before I loose my wit's.

Took me a minute but OK, it should be "young enough not to take offence" (?)

I notice grammar and spelling errors too but it's supposed to get overlooked here (as being outside the scope of the board! and also so as not to be criticizing fellow posters about language,spelling, grammar or anything at all really).

My biggest personal issue at the moment (re posting, anyhow) is forgetting my 'z's & 's's - due to the British English we speak and write in Canada (supposedly) being different from the US English we read from the majority of posters here. I think it should be criticise for those of us north of the border while it's criticize for those south of it.

However, both spellings are used in British English, apparently, so whew, I'm OK on that one.

I cannot give up favour, flavour or neighbour though as that's my mother tongue. Even though I note that increasingly the US spelling is taking over here in Canada too. Especially as computer programs default to US spelling and many Canucks don't even notice the computer whisking away our 'u's right under our noses.

Eventually in life, I find, it's definitely easier to go with the flow. But to date, I'm hanging onto my 'u's at least as if they're the last preserve of civilization or something.

Oh no. There's another one: should be civilisation for us. Spell check, however, points it out as an error.

Same with colonisation/colonization. This one is ironic.


PS: I love that kentish included 'theatre' in the mix. Theater looks very wrong to me, even after all my years in North America (having emigrated from England, not having any say in the decision at the tiny age of 3). I like the 'r' done the British way.

And yes, I have **many** other far more important tasks to be getting on with (work, for instance) but this thread distracted me.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2021 06:38PM by Nightingale.

I'm glad, in an impish way, that I distracted you!

Yes, I was teasing Kentish the other day about "civilise," but could also have used "indutrialise" or any number of others. I remember the first time I encountered "civilise" in a book by the British polymath Joseph Needham. Such nerdish things are always at the "centre" of my mind.

Infinitives are tough. Surely there is a point at which we should abandon truly arcane rules. A lot of publications no longer distinguish between "who" and "whom," which is a bit farther than I would like to go, but rules based in dead languages might be a bit too far.

Anyway, it's all in good fun.

>>Physician, heal thyself before I loose my wit's.

My students delight in pointing out my errors. :) I don't mind, because I figure that means I've been doing my job. Sometimes I will pause instruction to consult a dictionary or grammar source, and I figure that models for them what to do if they are not sure. For younger students, I will sometimes orally sound out words as I am writing, which shows them the thinking process behind spelling correctly. I want them to know that writing with correct spelling and grammar is an ongoing process.

And Lottie, you will never loose your wit's. :D

I am sure you are a great teacher.

It's more interesting than you would think. I've almost never been bored.

I've taught all grades 1-6, and 7th grade math for a few months. Right now I'm in a specialty area. My major area of interest is in teaching literacy to young children, focusing on 1st and 2nd grade.

Literacy, summer.

A gift that will last a lifetime.

I still remember one of my primary schoolteachers, Mrs. Hopkins, (and I'm bad with names!) She was Australian so her accent stuck with me but also her sparkling auburn hair and the music she performed for us on an instrument I hadn't heard before (and unfortunately can't recall the name of at the moment). It was one she held in her lap and it had a beautiful sound.

I also remember a Gr 9 teacher whose eyes sparkled with pleasure as I answered questions about Shakespeare when a lot of the kids were just goofing off. I wasn't cool enough to know I should just goof off too! I remember the teacher but not much Shakespeare.

I'm pals with a few neighbourhood kids (originally from Syria). I sometimes wonder if they'll remember me when they're all grown up and looking back. Hopefully there'll be a few good memories. Maybe they'll tell their kids there was this lady who took us to the aquarium and helped with our homework. (But not the math stuff!)

As long as someone remembers you, you live on. It's rather bittersweet to think of as I'd rather just still be here, haha.

During a work session today (working on Sunday - eek!), I typed:


"Your File No.:"


and Spell Check popped up wanting me to change it to:

"You're File No.:"


Wow.

It's presaging the end of the world as we know it!

Imagine then trying to unlearn correct spelling when I moved from Britain to the US. Words like colour, theatre, calibre, etc. Lol.

You made the civilised choice and should be honoured for your various labours.

Hey, I noticed what you did.

Yes, it was hardly a subtle manoeuver. But I did nonetheless endeavour to pull it off lest you lot continue to exercise hegemony over the common language that divides our two nations.

I love the "s" in civilised. I just do.

Zexy isn't it. Sise matters.

Perhaps it is more civilized(s)

I still confuse gray vs. grey. Where am I, again?

Panda Eats, Shoots, and Leaves...

Panda Eats Shoots and Leaves

*, * makes a difference

PS: OP, can you visit 'Rocks' and encourage apostrophe removal?

moremany, my daughter actually thought about giving them a call on the phone but then decided against it. I had to agree with her that it would likely be fruitless. She is determined,however, that if she and my SIL decide they would like to add a Jacuzzi adjacent to their swimming pool, they would definitely not hire that company and that, at that point, she would be tempted to call them and explain why they wouldn't be getting their business.

That's funny... I recommend it. I hope she does. What fun!

The problem with English teachers is the fail to realize we speak Americun here, not English.

There ain't no nuthin wrong with my edumacation!

I blame texting for part of this issue. Few young people text full words, and their writing style follows. I’ve been scoring standardized testing and need a text to English translator to help.

one of my favorites is your and you're

your in -

          you're in -

                     urine

When I was still a drinker, I wrote a rather bitter song which ended with the words: "... and the urine you're in is your own".

Whatever your temperance has cost the world, I'm okay with it.

I think I peed a little.

Did you see "Sleepless in Seattle?" That movie had a cute joke about this momentary common and confusing mistake.

Say web, wiper, will, or well and you'll notice how your mouth puckers a bit as if you're about to say letter Y. Anyone with a phonics understanding could easily understand this.

Only some typos happen because letters are together on the keyboard. I'd bet most do not.

If someone says they committed a typo, I'd likely believe them. They'd know better than someone trying to find fault.

I wrote a novel which is selling well and I make typos and mistakes often when I write as do many fine authors. It's about form and substance and substance needs to be the priority.

I'm glad that your novel is selling well, Cheryl! I can usually pick up typos because the letters are close together on the keyboard.

If Yall, Y’all, you all, all of you, all of yas, think English grammar, grammar, gramma, is annoying, and you all have English as your you’re first language, think how it is for someone who tries to learn English as a second language.

I’m relearning German, but I still can’t, cannot, pronounce an
O umlaut correctly, but it’s, it is, okay, okee dokee, A okay, with me.

I speak German. Remember, when trying to do an Umlaut, shape your mouth like the predominant vowel, in this case, O-oh. Then actually say U-oo (in German). Hope that helps.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2021 12:34PM by Heidi GWOTR.

Back when corporal punishment was a thing, you could have pointed toward the paddle and said, “How would you like a Summer breeze?”

I' hardly' ever use' them'there' things'

Whoever first proofed Hitler's speeches was the first grammar Nazi. A possible candidate:

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/082609db1b651682dc80dc85dc33092dd9b4b0aa458c7fa1e10c594175e746eb.jpg?w=600&h=246

I worked with a person with a last name of Alway. Spell check always want to add the "s".

The only app I found was in MS Word that allowed the dictionary to be modified.