FYI there are 3 kinds of there.There, their, they're

[ratchiweenie]

There--place or position. Is she going there? Put the book over there.There are 3 ducks over there.
Their--possessive ownership. Their day was not going well, I think that might be their son. Would you take this to their car over there?
They're--contraction of They are--They're right over there with their children. When you remove one or more letters between two words it becomes a contraction and ' must be inserted to indicate it. They'd-- they would, we've--we have, etc.

Sorry, I'm not having a good day and it's just the old English major coming out in me. Not aimed at anyone. Just one of my pet peeves and I am very peevish today.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. No need to apologize.

I'm made crazy by people getting those words wrong.

The other is not knowing the difference between its and it's. It's means it is. The dog did not wag it's -- it is -- tail, but its tail, the tail belonging to it.

And don't get me started on lie and lay.

[2naSalit]

5. OR

Then and than.

[ratchiweenie]

21. That's a good one. If Frank has more candy than Eric, then Eric will have to go to the store,rather

than sit and stew.

[Disaffected]

14. Heh, "Make Your bed and lay on it".

My dirty old grade 5 English teacher used to make a joke of that.

And how about loan and lend?

[ratchiweenie]

20. Like nails on a chalkboard.

[wnylib]

22. I blame auto correct for a lot of misused words.

Mine constantly changes "its" to "it's." Most of the time I catch it. Sometimes I don't.

When I start a sentence with the word "In" with the "i" capitalized, my auto correct consistently changes it to "I'm."

"Were" becomes "we're" and "hell" becomes "he'll."

My phone offers choices at the bottom of the screen between those similar words, but when I'm typing a sentence or paragraph I don't often check the bottom of the screen, so auto correct makes its own choice. Sometimes after I make a choice and proof a post before pressing send, auto correct flips back to reinstate a typo or to choose an alternative version than the one that I had selected.

So I am constantly making corrections after posting something.

[piddyprints]

42. So true!

I feel like writing to Apple and asking them to please enlist the help of some 5th grade A students to help them out with their auto correct words.

They confuse "its, it's," "there, they're, their," and "were, we're" quite regularly.

[marybourg]

86. Turn off auto-correct?

[hamsterjill]

2. I'm judgmental as to language so thank you.

My auto correct sometimes gets overactive and I can understand mistakes at times. I do try to proofread.

But my pet peeve is the use of “a” in front of a vowel. Like “a apple”. I immediately think the person is not educated.

Same with “I seen”.

[2naSalit]

6. And the elimination of...

The infinitive, to be. Needs to be washed. Mostly I hear and see "needs washed" which is also annoying.

[wnylib]

27. Some of those word usages are due to regional and ethnic dialects

and not to people being uneducated. They might know standard English but slip into dialect.

[2naSalit]

39. I guess so...

My dearest friend spoke a language that had no articles, she had me proofread all her papers when she was getting her graduate degree in English which was her third language.

It's just an uncomfortable flow and it always distracts me.

[wnylib]

48. I taught ESL and most of my students were Native Spanish speakers.

In Spanish, the verb ending tells who is speaking. No need for a subject personal pronoun most of the time. Personal pronouns as indirect objects in Latin American Spanish do not distinguish gender. The possessive personal pronoun is also genderless. So native Spanish speakers sometimes misuse he, she, him, his, and her when speaking English.

[2naSalit]

52. I encountered that a lot...

When I was down near the border or dealing with Spanish speakers. My friend was a Slavic language speaker who also learned German in her communist country after WWII. I thought that was interesting since they use the Cyrillic alphabet.

Anyway, I get that many, probably most, don't speak perfect English, I don't. Just some of the linguistic oddities in American parlance is hard to move past when conversing sometimes, or reading.

[wnylib]

57. I took German in high school. The gendered articles

and noun declensions drove me crazy. I became convinced that the reason my great grandparents brought their family from Germany to the US was to escape the language.

Ironically, I had studied Latin for 2 years before switching to German with the idea that I'd like a modern language that I could actually speak. Latin also has gendered articles and noun declensions, but they were easier than in German because the noun endings in Latin are clues to gender. Not so in German where nothing about a noun indicates the gender. You just have to memorize the article for each noun. Really a nightmare of a language, IMO.

After that, college Spanish was a breeze.

[housecat]

74. Agreed, but lack of education (or motivation) explains many/most grammatical errors. When TV

anchors and journalists use inconsistent grammar, there is really no excuse.

[yardwork]

96. This one is regional, I think.

It's very common in the Midwest.

[ratchiweenie]

24. My grandson is well educated and he uses a apple, a Indian, etc. I keep telling him it

really does sound like he's not very smart.

[Permanut]

3. Somewhere along the line, you learned good!

Seriously, I'm right with you on simple grammar.

[Locutusofborg]

4. My grammatical pet peeve...

using an apostrophe when the word is just plain old plural. ie: "The boy's are back in town" vs "the boys are back in town."

[2naSalit]

7. +1

[Maru Kitteh]

8. Take a single breath vs. breathe in and out.

I lose my shit when I see people write things like "A man walked by wearing so much perfume we could barely breath." Bits of me die each time I encounter that.

[Swede]

9. Aww.

[ratchiweenie]

36. Thank you. I love DU.

[peacebuzzard]

10. teaching English as a foreign language is a challenge when it comes to the "th's"

these that the those and then the the words you mentioned above.
that would increase your peevishness.!

I spent many months trying to get those pronunciations corrected in the ESL classes I would teach, and then would have to explain phonetic issues repeatedly.

talking about challenges; thought I would mention this. English pronunciation and grammar is tough on the foreign speaker if it's their 1st foreign language to study.

[ratchiweenie]

26. That would be tough.

[erronis]

69. I'm sure you're referencing the 8+ pronunciations of 'ough'

Of course when typing my reply title, I first entered 'your' and unconsciously went back to correct it.

The human brain is an interesting mixture of learned automatic responses and some post-response corrections.

[ratchiweenie]

97. ough is a tough one and I wouldn't want to be trying to teach it to American kids much less

ESL or Foreigners.

[wnylib]

30. I've also taught ESL. English pronunciation can be

very difficult for English language learners, as you know. I had a Mexican student who could not hear the difference between "sh" and "ch" no matter how much we practiced. The "sh" blend does not exist in Mexican Spanish.

She also could not say the word "girl." It always came out as "grill." The "irl" combination also does not exist in Mexican Spanish.

I am from Erie, PA. Although it is in western PA, the pronunciations typical of rural places closer to Pittsburgh (like "y'uns" ) are not used in Erie. So I was surprised when I moved to Cleveland and people there said that I have a western PA accent because I do not distinguish the vowel sounds between "Don" and "dawn." They sound the same to me.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

70. I have a friend from Pittsburgh whose name is Dawn.

Or that's how Don pronounces his name. Makes me a bit crazy.

I was born in Utica, NY, lived there until age 14 when we moved to Tucson, AZ. I joke that I didn't have any friends for the first two years because no one could understand me when I spoke. Even my French teacher could only understand me in French.

Clearly, I exaggerate somewhat, but I eventually lost that accent, and now simply have a general American accent.

[2naSalit]

41. It is.

English is one of the more complex languages because it steals from other languages and is inconsistent in application of the rules that go with the words when they are appropriated.

[LoisB]

66. This is so true 2naSalit. It seems as if all our grammar rules have exceptions.

[2naSalit]

67. Have to agree.

[peacebuzzard]

90. English words as pronunced is the toughest part.

romance languages are pronounced practically as they are written. English, not so.

[2naSalit]

91. Another good point.

I think we are the garbage disposal of human language.

[peacebuzzard]

93. English is the most necessary language to know on our planet

to conduct international business especially digitally is a prime skill and a prerequisite for going global. Most of the U.S. output is in English, and predominately American English, even the garbage we speak is transformed into movies with huge budgets and profits, music perhaps even more so. American Rock music is a great export.
Years ago, I saw a kid who looked very poor standing on the sidewalk in front of an international airport in a foreign country. He was wearing tattered clothing but his hair was painted green. I wondered what was going on but then I remembered that a rock band was on my flight, the ones who performed "Green Day" (maybe that was the name of the group) with those high-powered musicians I forgot their names but they had a series of really popular music. The album "American Idiot" was released about the time Trump ran for president (and won). I will never forget that poor little kid with painted green hair (it was not a thing to do yet like it is now) who certainly arrived by bus and somehow thought he would run into the band. (he didn't)

[housecat]

79. It's amazing how some people speak multiple languages.

I tried to learn five, but didn't get very far with any. My husband didn't speak English when we met, and I didn't speak Spanish. Every day was like teaching ESL. Eventually he could beat me at scrabble which was the real test

[Journeyman]

11. There their they're . . .

[ratchiweenie]

28. Very clever.

[marybourg]

12. I can accept anything else, but this I cannot:

“Me and him went to the store”.

Why does “I went to the store” and “he went to the store” become “me and him went to the store” just because the two of you went together.

[Towlie]

17. Me is never the subject of a sentence.

And yet me is the subject of my title sentence.

[marybourg]

44. Properly, with quotation marks around it. Then it would be the word "me" as the

subject, not the corporeal you.

[ratchiweenie]

31. I have to stop and think sometimes about me or I. My 3rd grade English teacher told me to put I and

me with the verb or him and he with the verb, and you'll kinda know right away. He gave it to me not to I.

[piddyprints]

38. This completes it for me:

"Me and him went to the store to buy ice cream for he and I."
"It was really a great deal for my dad and I."


I've been hearing this more and more. Did they change the rules and forget to tell me?

[2naSalit]

43. I think...

It happened when I wasn't in school for a couple decades because I don't remember that part with the me and him stuff.

[piddyprints]

47. It's easier if you take out the second person.

In other words, you wouldn't say, "It was a good decision for he" or "It was a good decision for I." You would say, quite naturally, "It was a good decision for him" or "It was a good decision for me." Once you've worked out how it would go for just one, combine the two and you'll be correct: "It was a good decision for him and me."

[2naSalit]

49. I get that part...

I just don't recall that in grammar classes and I got As in those. I am always repeating little phrases to myself because I have to do double duty in spelling and grammar because I'm dyslexic.

[marybourg]

45. No, but there was a time when English teachers

were telling students not to start their sentences with “I” (so much). This is the result. Using “me” as a subject to start a sentence and using “I” at the end of a sentence as the object. Thanks English teachers of the late last millennium.

[piddyprints]

50. I had no idea!

That's pretty scary. My guess would be that the teachers were trying to encourage something different than just switching from "I" to "me."

I've heard this from older professionals who should know better. Perhaps they're just going along with the crowd?

[marybourg]

63. Yes, the intent was to encourage creativity

in writing, but unintended consequences ensued. Some people even switched to “ myself”, as in “myself and the wife went to the store” i
n a misguided attempt to avoid the dreaded “I”.

[erronis]

71. Nowadays we all want to use "them" or "us" to stay unafouled of the current PC.

While we (I) will have a hard time adapting these conventions, we think they will simplify some semantics.

We have several friends and family members that are very pronoun conscious. We find it (neutral) difficult to address them whether they are a singular or a multiple entity.

[marybourg]

84. I hope I never have to read a novel in which both a singular person

and several people are referred to as “they”.

We need to develop a new, gender-neutral individual pronoun, if that what people want, and not use the one we have designed for plurals.

Can anyone imagine reading “Pride and Prejudice “ or “Little Women” with the pronoun “they” used for both singular and plural referral? They ( the books) would be completely unreadable.

[brush]

13. There and their IMO have a slightly different pronunciation.

What say you?

[Disaffected]

15. I say yea eh.

[ratchiweenie]

32. Well they all three are pronounced a little different but in our fast language I don't

think we distinguish between them.

[brush]

89. Agreed. As to the word "their" though, I tend to pronounce...

the "eir' as "err" as opposed the "ere" in there as "air". And with the word "they're" it's almost two syllables.

It's all very subtle though.

[LiberaBlueDem]

16. More

Thems: as in thems peoples over thare

Thare: them people's over thare are sick

Know whatta I mean Vern?

[erronis]

72. Thems are perfectly great examples of good Vern-acular.

[Hekate]

18. Dear Peevish Today: a general post like this is inoffensive,but gone are the days when we could tell

… a troll by its grammar and spelling, and amuse ourselves by batting it around before the pizza came. “Spell Chekr Is Yore Frend” we would mock.

Then came auto-correct, which drove me so bonkers I had to turn it off on my new devices. I can now pretty much identify which DUers are stuck with auto-correct by the kind of errors it makes.

Then came texting from cell phones with their teensy weensy screens. I resisted until like the rest of the world I had to give in. Another exercise in humility — I learned to identify the probable errors of others writing from cell phones by the kinds of errors my own fingers make.

Finally, and gradually, a few in our community admitted to dyslexia. I have nothing to add to that except to say my first husband was very dyslexic. We met in college, and the reading and writing that were second nature to me were hard as hell for him. There wasn’t even a name for it then.

When it comes to DU, I trained my inner critical judge to chill out. Say a silent aargh and pass by. It’s not that it doesn’t matter — it will always matter to me in the way I write — but for many reasons this isn’t the place to tackle individuals on the subject. You did fine, imo, with your post addressed in a general way.

🌸🌸🌸🌸

[ratchiweenie]

35. Like I said, bad day and it was used more then once in the same message. Just set I off a little.

[Hekate]

37. I understand, I really do. We all have a bad day now and then

Some weeks back I lost control of my temper and laid what amounted to a curse on a female politician who wanted to ban all abortions no matter what. It was fairly comprehensive.

[FrankTC]

62. Totally Agree

Grammar errors in DU posts can get on my nerves, but over the years I’ve noticed that I make them too. Same with driving a car — the thoughtless dolt who doesn’t signal a turn is sometimes me.

[NowISeetheLight]

19. Upgrated

There was a house for sale in my community (55+). For the first six weeks the sign outside had an "UPGRATED" sign. They finally fixed it to UPGRADED. I cringed every time I drove by it.

[Xavier Breath]

23. That's in concert with signs I see every spring

saying something like "Congradulations graduates." Argh!

I'll also add my personal favorite: using "should of" in place of "should've." Lord, I see that all over the interwebs.

[NowISeetheLight]

25. Relate

I definitely can relate... but I also read a lot as a child and English was easy for me. I know my brother struggled with it. Still... If you're (Note YOU ARE) working in a field where your language skills are on display, you should be able to spell and grammar check.

[piddyprints]

51. Well, maybe the person who wrote the sign wasn't graduating?

Did you know that your call is "impordant" to us?

[ratchiweenie]

33. That is just so good. Bet you had a chuckle or a frown every day with that one.

[NowISeetheLight]

34. Discussion

My neighbors and I talked about it for weeks. We just laughed.

[Towlie]

29. In another thread, "While the media continues..." Media is plural!

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218277379

[John1956PA]

40. Agenda is also plural, but it is almost always used as a singular. n/t

I think it is an example of conformed definition by way of popular usage.

[2naSalit]

46. And the gradn poobah...

The Tomb of the Unknowns.

[piddyprints]

53. To lighten it up a bit:

Make sure it rhymes when you read it.

“O-U-G-H”

I’m taught p-l-o-u-g-h
Shall be pronouncé “plow.”
“Zat’s easy w’en you know,” I say,
“Mon Anglais, I’ll get through!”

My teacher say zat in zat case,
O-u-g-h is “oo.”
And zen I laugh and say to him,
“Zees Anglais make me cough.”

He say, “Not ‘coo,’ but in zat word,
O-u-g-h is ‘off.'”
Oh, Sacre bleu! Such varied sounds
Of words makes me hiccough!

He say, “Again mon frien’ ees wrong;
O-u-g-h is ‘up’
In hiccough.” Zen I cry, “No more,
You make my t’roat feel rough.”

“Non, non!” he cry, “you are not right;
O-u-g-h is ‘uff.'”
I say, “I try to spik your words,
I cannot spik zem though.”

“In time you’ll learn, but now you’re wrong!
O-u-g-h is ‘owe.'”
“I’ll try no more, I s’all go mad,
I’ll drown me in ze lough!”

“But ere you drown yourself,” said he,
“O-u-g-h is ‘ock.'”
He taught no more, I held him fast,
And killed him wiz a rough!

— Charles Battell Loomis

[k0rs]

54. ...

Your, you're

To, too, two

Its, it's

Anyway, anyways (ugh)

[erronis]

75. Anyhoo. That's a standard dismissive response.

[Skittles]

55. it's a pet peeve of mine

how can you go through life and not figure this out?

a coworker who reads extensively, collects books and attends book conventions all over the country will type to me YOUR WELCOME....I have advised her but it doesn't seem to sink in

WTF

[ProfessorGAC]

56. Their They're, You'll Be Fine.

Sorry, I just had to.

[AverageOldGuy]

58. My father . . .

. . . was born and reared in the Mississippi Delta. He was 12 when the Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927 all but wiped them out; 14 when the Great Depression hit. He graduated from high school in 1932, from a teacher's college in 1936, working while in school and in summers to pay his way. His degree was in education with majors in general science, math, and physical education. He taught in small, rural Mississippi school districts -- science, math -- and coached football and basketball. He loved teaching and especially coaching. Before leaving Mississippi in the 1960's, I would occasionally encounter one of his old football players -- they all worship "Uncle Joe".

His pet peeve was the word "get". Seems that his HS English teacher was death on kids who pronounced it as "git" -- which is the common Mississippi dialect, she had her hands full. Dad worshipped her -- he, too, was committed to "get". Even after he turned 80, he could recite poem after poem that she required her students to memorize. And grammar rules. And spelling.

My younger brother and I would roll our eyes at him when he gave us one of his regular lectures about the importance of good grammar, pronunciation, and spelling.

When I was 16, he was the dumbest man I knew. By the time I was 20, I was amazed at how much to old man had learned in four years.

We lost him in 2005. Not a day goes by that I don't hear him.

[Martin Eden]

59. My pet peeve: "loose" instead of "lose"

Loose rhymes with juice.
Lose rhymes with booze.

There there, now. They're not too clear on how to spell their words.

[Shermann]

65. "There there" is a weird saying which doesn't seem to mean place or position. nt

[Martin Eden]

73. A rather unique usage of the word.

"They’re there now" has a totally different meaning.

[appleannie1]

60. No need to apologize. That is just one of my pet peeves as well.

Where I used to work, almost everyone that typed up reports spelled no one noone. I grated my teeth every time I saw that.

[Layzeebeaver]

61. I did not read this entire thread, however...

I get riled up about "It's Its Its'" from time-to-time.

Also hyphens and ellipsis. OK I screw those up from time-to-time as well, but still we all need principles to strive for.

I'm (I am) no expert, however, even a bit of proper grammar and punctuation is appreciated. I can always gloss over a few minor lapses - no problem.

I just bought a book about the F-104 Starfighter. In the first 20 pages I found a dozen grammatical errors - including a photo that was reversed and inverted.

It's still a decent book, but I find myself frustrated. Especially when it's a simple catch to find and fix grammar, punctuation and pictorial issues. Who is the actual editor in these issues?

Ah well... I'll keep the book regardless* of the typos, it's a good reference.

*Not ir-regardless - oh god that one, it so pisses me off!)

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

64. LOL, another English Major here and I have given up and have decided to grin and bear it.

[housecat]

68. My pet peeve is mixing singular and plural."there's ten people" instead of "there are."

Last edited Sat Sep 16, 2023, 08:18 PM - Edit history (1)

Don't apologize for explaining something that many people didn't know.

[lambchopp59]

76. Unknown why that error makes me cringe as well.

The RW'er posts tend towards such atrocious grammar however, that particular foible is often rendered the least glaring.

[Lucky Luciano]

77. I'm sorry, your just going to have to deal with you're issues.

…and you don’t need to be an English major for this to be irritating. Finishing sixth grade should have the same impact.

[housecat]

85. lol

[stopdiggin]

78. this is a tough crowd

(and I'll refrain from also pointing to 'marginal' and 'endangered' )

I'd like to point out that I occasionally lapse on these just through lack of attention - even as I understand the differences and when they are appropriate perfectly well. English is my native language - and I've been called somewhat proficient in it all my adult life - and I still make mistakes. Same thing with spelling. I'm just not a real nuts and bolts kind of thinker apparently. And at this point ... I've kinda' made my peace.

And in my case 'spell check' is an absolute blessing - and 'auto-correct' is a tool of Satan ...

[housecat]

87. If it wasn't such a tough crowd it wouldn't be as much fun.

[trof]

80. Loser, looser

[struggle4progress]

81. "There's no their they're"

[mercuryblues]

82. For a moment I thought you were my brother

We had a long discussion about where, wear and we're.

We have a trumper cousin who is always mixing those up.

[beat.raven]

83. and then threre's also...

...merry, marry, and Mary, which my 11th grade English teacher (of sainted memory) pointed out were not only spelled differently but were also properly PRONOUNCED differently, even if us jack pine savages and wolverine stump jumpers said them all the same.

And I even managed to retain a marginal portion of that couth.

[BWdem4life]

88. There trying. They're grammar skills just aren't their. nt

[LuckyCharms]

95. *grammer

[area51]

92. Snoopy & Charlie Brown:

[DemocraticPatriot]

94. Yes, this is a pet peeve of mine too. As well as

improper use of to, too, or two

and

lose - loose



"They're right over there with their children."
That's good, I must remember that...

[Cha]

98. TY.. know the difference but

but sometimes even my fingers type something wrong.

Try to edit before it gets posted or soon after.

[Xavier Breath]

99. Improper use of the question mark.

People use it when they are not actually making an inquiry and are instead using it like a period.

This is the best thing I have ever eaten?

Wait, you're asking me if it's the best thing you've ever eaten? I have no idea what you've eaten so how would I know?