Thread: English Pet Peeves & Common Mistakes

Common Errors in English Usage

Originally Posted by Lampada

Common Errors in English Usage

This is a great site. You can get a free text version as well. Thanks for finding it. I've sent the link to my girls and some of their friends as they are all studying for college enterance exams.

04. is bizarre, following the wrong -> right format from the other entries. "You've got another thing coming" is correct!
24. "Hone in" is perfectly useful in the same sense, just from a different angle. As in, to hone in an edge (of a blade), as in, to make a highly accurate approach to something.
"Sorta" is cheating, it's just a slur of speech, just as it isn't incorrect to say something like "Me'n' my dad...".
Pedantry is fun!

"Old Timers'"

Originally Posted by kybarry

Ha, that song has taken quite a bit of heat. People say that in actuality, she doesn't describe anything ironic, which intrinsically, is ironic However, I'd contend that a fly in your Chardonnay is ironic. But rain on your wedding day; that's just unfortunate.

As a fan of Alanis Morissette I feel I need to come to the defense of the song.
As you alluded, the song itself is quite ironic. Given that (one of the definitions of) irony is to refer to, or call something by that which it isn't
A song that is called ironic and purportedly about irony yet contains no actual irony at all, is ironic.

Now whether or not this was intended by the artist herself is unknown haha.

Everybody shut up
Everyone listen up
Hey, hey, hey... hey, hey, hey... hey, hey, hey

If you can't write in the proper way
If you don't know how to conjugate
Maybe you flunked that class, and maybe now you find
That people mock you online
Everybody wise up

Okay, now here's the deal... I'll try to educate ya
Gonna familiarize you with the nomenclature
You'll learn the definitions of nouns and prepositions
Literacy's your mission

And that's why I think it's a good time
To learn some grammar
Now, did I stammer? Work on that grammar
You should know when
It's "less" or it's "fewer"
Like people who were never raised in a sewer
I hate these word crimes
Like "I could care less"
That means you do care, at least a little
Don't be a moron
You better slow down and use the right pronoun
Show the world you're no clown

Say you've got an I-T followed by apostrophe S
Now, what does that mean?
You would not use "it's" in this case as a possessive (no, no, no)
It's a contraction (yeah, yeah, yeah)
What's a contraction?
Well it's the shortening of a word or group of words by omission of a sound or letter

Okay, now here's some notes
Syntax you're always mangling
No "x" in espresso
Your participle's dangling
But I don't want your drama
If you really wanna, leave out that Oxford comma

Just keep in mind that be, see, are, you
Are words not letters
Get it together, use your spell checker
You should never
Write words using numbers
Unless you're seven, or your name is Prince
I hate these word crimes
You really need a full-time proofreader
You dumb mouth-breather
Well, you should hire
Some cunning linguist
To help you distinguish what is proper English

One thing I ask of you
Time to learn your homophones is past due
Learn to diagram a sentence too
Always say "to whom"; don't ever say "to who"
And listen up when I tell you this
I hope you never use quotation marks for emphasis
You finished second grade, I hope you can tell
If you're doing good or doing well
Better figure out the difference
Irony is not coincidence
And I thought that you'd gotten it through your skull
'Bout what's figurative and what's literal
Oh, but just now you said
You "literally couldn't get out of bed"
That really makes me wanna literally
Smack a crowbar upside your stupid head

I read your e-mail
It's quite apparent your grammar's errant
You're incoherent
Saw your blog post
It's really fantastic
That was sarcastic... 'cause you write like a spastic
I hate these word crimes
Your prose is dopey
Think you should only write in emoji
Oh, you're a lost cause
Go back to pre-school, get out of the gene pool
Try your best to not drool

Never mind, I give up
Really now, I give up

Do you ACTUALLY Know English?

Do you ACTUALLY Know English?

You're the Grammar Hammer! 16/16
That's a surprise, actually.
I think this test is only relevant for native speakers, who speak by heart, not by rules.
But it was interesting.

GrammarErrors.com: Top English Grammar Mistakes

Common Grammar Errors

10 Easily Confused Sets of Words and Phrases Explained - English Lessons in Brighton

English Pronunciation

The Chaos by Dr Gerard Nolst Trenité

British English?