OK, I just have to get this off my chest...

PLURAL DOES NOT GET AN APOSTROPHE.
POSESSIVE GETS AN APOSTROPHE.
CONTRACTIONS GET AN APOSTROPHE.

Wrong:
My wheel is 18 inch's long
I have four seat's in my car
I like the Nordic Greenz sparkle's
Those are the rule's.

Right:
Nick's wheel is 18 inches long
I've got four seats in my car
I like the Nordic Green's sparkles.
These rules' honor is challenged every time someone adds an apostrphe where it doesn't belong.

The only exception to these three rules is the three letters in a row i-t-s. In this specific case, you allow the apostrophe for the contraction "it is" and leave it off for the posessive "belongs to it". Notice that neither of these exceptions allows for an apostrophe for plural.

ARGH!!!

OK, now back to your regular, scheduled programming.

Originally posted by DisneyDestroyer

Right:
Nick's wheel is 18 inches long


How do you measure the length of a circle? Shouldn't it be "Nick's wheel is 18 inches in diameter"

You forgot the "your/you're" mix up that I see people interchange ALL the time. Drives me bananas. Personal pet peeve. :D

Ah, the good old "Butchers' apostrophe." Gets on my wick, too.

And while we're about it, how about another small English lesson:

"There" is a preposition; it defines a place.
"Their" is the third person plural possessive; it defines ownership.
"They're" is the contraction of "they are."

An example of correct usage would be: "They're playing with their ball over there."

Don't they teach this sort of stuff in schools any more?

NO

Originally posted by eccles
"There" is a preposition; it defines a place.
"Their" is the third person plural possessive; it defines ownership.
"They're" is the contraction of "they are."

ARghghgh!! I forgot about this one! Close second. :D

no, grammar isnt taught after 8th grade, and even 8th and prior do not put much emphasis on it.

the current cirruculums are mainly concerned with writing, however bad it may be, however the genius that thought this up apparently had a flaw in his logic, because you cannot write well without proper grammar

spelling is also almost completely ignored...
________
WEED VAPORIZER (http://weedvaporizers.info/)

this one girl i used to date long ago had such poor grammar. I dropped her one week after i realized just how bad her grammar was. I wish i saved all the letters she wrote that displayed her poor writing style, just for kicks. I had to read the letters at least three times to understand what she was saying.

aside from the normal mistakes in grammar mentioned in this thread, she also had a bad bad bad spelling habit. for example, "options" was spelled "opshuns"

I get used to it in the forums. The only thing that bugs me is the wrong usage of brake/break.

Originally posted by DisneyDestroyer
OK, I just have to get this off my chest...

PLURAL DOES NOT GET AN APOSTROPHE.
POSESSIVE GETS AN APOSTROPHE.
CONTRACTIONS GET AN APOSTROPHE.


OK, now back to your regular, scheduled programming.

I do this stuff for a living- imagine how *I* feel on here sometimes!

I used to have extremely bad grammar. I was searching through my old posts on the RX-7 Club and found how idiotic everything was written in the sense of ending plurals with z's and writing in some type of "slang". You'll get a much better response with proper grammar and spelling than you will with poor skills.

Originally posted by downshift
I get used to it in the forums. The only thing that bugs me is the wrong usage of brake/break. And let's not forget folks who incorrectly cite things that they've sighted on a web site.

i know there are alot of older folks here that dont really use AIM or some form of instant messenger but i frequently use it.

the thing that annoys me to no end is the certain vocabulary that some ppl use. I can def. deal with common stuff like "lol" and "ic" and "ttyl" and things of that nature but when people take it too far by typing something like this:

"hey, dats kewl! NEways, i need 2 get bak 2 skewl"

and this was from a person in college :eek:

Another one is when people put 'would of' instead of 'would have'....


-andy-

Oh good... I like this thread. The thing that has been driving me crazy lately is "134t 5p34k" I don't even understand half of it because everyone who types it, types it differently. So it takes longer to write and read than regular writing. What's the point?
and "roxors" How the hell does that mean rocks? Owned is not spelled with a p as in
"p\/\//\/3D" Ahhhh! I really hope this fad in writing is not long lived.

Let the flaming begin... just do it in "134t" please, that way I can't read it.

- JiM

:grin: OK, makes me happy now, I'm glad I'm not the only grammar freak of the bunch.

Quick_lude, I guess I forgot you're example over their. Sorry about my mistake's. Maybe its just more excepshun's that pruv the rulz.

;)

I've got a bit of writer/tech writer in my blood...

My favorite is when people call someone else out on account of "bad grammer"

For the most part I don't even use abbreviations on my messenger conversations (some slide by here and there). I figure the more typing practice, the better I get at typing. Of course in today's GUI world that's not a concern anymore :)

This is a good thread.

Internet forums are a great place to identify semantics. We are witnessing the evolution of the English language.

The majority of the language has remained stagnant, and altered very little over the last 150 years. I'm not in anyway endorsing the incorrect usage of 'their' vs. 'there'. But the use of 'that' vs. 'which' has changed much in recent history. For example, 'which' should only be used to signify physical location - nothing else. 'That' applies to all other everyday usage.

Well, since we're segueing into English usage, one Americanism that grate on me as a recent import, is "different than."

I was always taught that something is always different from something else. It could be "brighter than" or "more modern than" another item, but both of those comparisons illustrated that it differed from the other.

Spanish is my first language but we're forced to study English all the the way up to the first two years of college! I'm talking about grammar as well as phonetics and technical writing. The only thing I critizise about it is that people end up being good readers and writers but when it comes to actually speaking it's a different story. I polished my English speaking skills by taking an intership in the States and being forced to speak, cable tv helps too. ;) I'm a grammar freak myself but I sometimes just forget the word I'm trying to use, I know it in Spanish but the English word just slips my mind. :D

One question, is "ain't" an appropriate term?

generally "ain't" is not considered good vocabulary. although i heard that it was now in webster's collegiate dictionary but i do not know if that is true.

on another note:
These rules' honor is challenged every time someone adds an apostrphe where it doesn't belong.

"rules' " is used possesive in this case because the sentence is refering to the honor of the rules, correct?

Originally posted by zoom44
"rules' " is used possesive in this case because the sentence is refering to the honor of the rules, correct?

yup, in the case of multiple possesives, the apostrophe comes after the "s".

...on the internet though, i find that it's more fun to use my own voice, and attempt to spell things colloquially (as correctly as possible :p)

for instance, i like to write "s'true" instead of "it is true", as i would normally slur the beginning of the word if i was talking quickly... writing sentances out, 'specially when you gotta use a buncha small ones. :p

"rules' " is used possesive in this case because the sentence is refering to the honor of the rules, correct?
Plural posessive.

My favorite is when people call someone else out on account of "bad grammer"

I agree, that's why I've been holding it in so long I had to start a separate thread to vent without taking it out on anybody else in particular.

Normally I let most things slide. I can deal with misspellings, I can deal with bad capitalization, I can deal with bad sentence structure, I accept colloquial speech in text because it's a chat board. But for some reason there's just a few things that really stick in my craw. Apostrophe usage is the big one (I know there are others, but I can't think of them right now).

I also have no problem with colloquial writing.

In the South, 'ain't' is has been proper for many years.

My main pet peeves from other writers are repitition of any kind, or the excessive use of adverbs. Repitition is only acceptable to emphasize a point.

Never was a good speller.

Absolutely. Misused apostrophe's and they're/their/there are too things I've seen far two often too mention. Its a red flag that often causes me to ignore somebodys post because it's author is an idiot.

Splitting infinitives is another thing to studiously avoid, comma splicing and ending sentences with prepositions is another thing to watch out for.

I think I'll shut up now.

SGC

Absolutely. Misused apostrophe's and they're/their/there are too things I've seen far two often too mention. Its a red flag that often causes me to ignore somebodys post because it's author is an idiot.

I hope your joking. :)

<sigh> OK, if we're going to TRY to misuse grammar, let's at least cover as many things as possible at once...

<digs through humor mailbox>

Rules for Writeres
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1. Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat)
6. Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.
7. Be more or less specific.
8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually)
unnecessary.
9. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
10. No sentence fragments.
11. Contractions aren't necessary and shouldn't be used.
12. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
13. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it's
highly superfluous.
14. One should NEVER generalize.
15. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
16. Don't use no double negatives.
17. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
18. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
20. The passive voice is to be ignored.
21. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words
however should be enclosed in commas.
22. Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.
23. Kill all exclamation points!!!
24. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
25. Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth
shaking ideas.
26. Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not
needed.
27. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate
quotations. Tell me what you know."
28. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: Resist
hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.
29. Puns are for children, not groan readers.
30. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
31. Even IF a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
32. Who needs rhetorical questions?
33. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.

And finally...

34. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.

Originally posted by DisneyDestroyer
<snip> OK, makes me happy now, I'm glad I'm not the only grammar freak of the bunch.

<snip>

;)

DisneyDestroyer, wouldn't the preceding sentence begin with; Ok, not OK? ;) jsut wundring? :D

By the way, how do "smilies" fit into this whole proper grammer on the net thing?

Ok, I'll shut up now!!

-Bern

Originally posted by j1mb0x99
Oh good... I like this thread. The thing that has been driving me crazy lately is "134t 5p34k" I don't even understand half of it because everyone who types it, types it differently. So it takes longer to write and read than regular writing. What's the point?
and "roxors" How the hell does that mean rocks? Owned is not spelled with a p as in
"p\/\//\/3D" Ahhhh! I really hope this fad in writing is not long lived.

Let the flaming begin... just do it in "134t" please, that way I can't read it.

- JiM

If that bothers you, don't use this internationalized version of google ... http://www.google.com/intl/xx-hacker/ :D

An okie ended up at Harvard, somewhat out of his element. One day, while studying in the library, he needed to use the bathroom. He walked up to the nearest person - a grad student -- cleared his throat and said, "S'cuze me, do you know where the bathroom's at?"

The grad student kept reading and didn't even look up. Thinking he wasn't understood, the okie cleared his throat a bit longer, and said in a loud voice, "S'cuze me, do you know where the bathroom's at?"

Finally, barely glancing at him, the elder student replied, "At Hahvahd, one does not end sentences with a preposition."

The okie mulled that over for a minute, cleared his throat one last time, and bellowed out, "S'cuse me, do you know where the bathroom's at -- ASSHOLE!!"

Originally posted by 8_wannabe
An okie ended up at Harvard, somewhat out of his element. One day, while studying in the library, he needed to use the bathroom. He walked up to the nearest person - a grad student -- cleared his throat and said, "S'cuze me, do you know where the bathroom's at?"

The grad student kept reading and didn't even look up. Thinking he wasn't understood, the okie cleared his throat a bit longer, and said in a loud voice, "S'cuze me, do you know where the bathroom's at?"

Finally, barely glancing at him, the elder student replied, "At Hahvahd, one does not end sentences with a preposition."

The okie mulled that over for a minute, cleared his throat one last time, and bellowed out, "S'cuse me, do you know where the bathroom's at -- ASSHOLE!!"

LOL, that's funny 8.

This thread is demonstrably dumb. Why would you waste your time grammar and spell checking threads here? Speaking for myself, I don't have time to consult my spell checker so I can appease the few members that give a damn. I automatically assume that most members here can spell and write better than they commonly post.

D-san

Originally posted by j1mb0x99
Oh good... I like this thread. The thing that has been driving me crazy lately is "134t 5p34k" I don't even understand half of it because everyone who types it, types it differently. So it takes longer to write and read than regular writing. What's the point?
and "roxors" How the hell does that mean rocks? Owned is not spelled with a p as in
"p\/\//\/3D" Ahhhh! I really hope this fad in writing is not long lived.

Let the flaming begin... just do it in "134t" please, that way I can't read it.

- JiM

fad? heh. This sorta thing has been around sicne BBS days 20 years ago my friend. It aint going nowhere.

Another thing that bugs me is lose/loose. You LOSE your keys. You have a screw LOOSE.

These bug me in the UK - do any make it to the US?

'I'll learn you...' . err, maybe it's... 'I'll teach you and you will learn'?

or...

The misuse of adverbs by generally not using the 'ly' when it should be there. eg 'I drove it quick.' AAARRGGHH!

STU

A new posting in another thread has just reminded me of another of my pet linguistic peeves: "Me and my friend drove an RX-8 yesterday."

Argh.

The simplest way to figure out whether to use "I" or "me" is simply to remove the other person from the sentence and see if it still sounds right.

Would you say "Me drove an RX-8 yesterday"? Of course not. (Or if you would, then why are you even reading this thread?) The correct usage, of course, is "My friend and I drove an RX-8 yesterday."

Similarly, you wouldn't say "The dealer gave I a test drive," so you shouldn't say "The dealer gave my friend and I a test drive"; in that case the correct term is "my friend and me."

Subject; object. I despair for our youth sometimes.

I believe what DisneyDestroyer is trying to say is that we should all read Strunk and White's book on writing style to learn all the basic rules.

And for the record DisneyDestroyer, "irregardless" is not a word.:p

:D

Wow, go away for a weekend and people still have fun.

Hmmm, let's see if I can remember any other goodies from CPEG (College Prepatory English Grammar) back in high school.

"Just" is short for "Justice." If you mean "only" or "simply" then say that.

"Affect" vs "Effect" - One is a verb, one is a noun (except when the verb is a noun, but the noun is never a verb).

"That" vs "Which" is the biggest grammar problem that I personally still have. There's no good rule or way to remember which is which (if anybody knows, please advise).

"How are you doing?" "I'm doing well."
"How are you?" "I'm fine."
If you ask how I'm doing, you're looking for an adverb. If you're asking for a description of myself, you're looking for an adjective.

If you count a specific number, there are "more" and "fewer." If it's a general approximation, there are "more" and "less."

PS: Red Devil, every item in that numbered list contained the problem that it described. In the instant case, "irregardless" was the faux pas.

Disney,

My fault, after the first few I skimmed the rest - I liked the list, though.

As for 'that' vs. 'which', again, 'which' should only be used to describe physical location.

'That', should be used in all other cases.

As far as I'm concerned, grammatical/style arguments depend more on the nature of what is being written and the intended audience. Newspaper and Legal writing are among the more strict, while fiction allows for much of the rules to be bent.

I agree that circumstance can definitely dictate the required strictness of the grammar.

Unfortunately, I'm seeing some of these issues (especially the appostrophe one that started this thread) much more frequently, especially in professional advertising campaigns and in commercial print (newspapers and major magazines).

So are the editor's lazy or have they forgotten they're grammar book's at home? :p

I would lean towards saying the editors are incompetent, but that is nothing new.

I worked for a publishing company one semester in college as a research assistant. They had me leafing through newpapers from before the turn of the century, and the writing quality was very poor. Some things never change.