What's the most annoying common grammar error, and why is it using apostrophes to pluralize words?

[BrianL]

Seems appropriate for this thread:

 

[jdb in AZ]

We often watch t.v. with closed-captioning and several shows keep using "alright" instead of "all right." I realize "alright" is becoming more acceptable as people keep using it, but I'm old school.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/all-right-or-alright-which-is-correct

 

[sam_gordon]

We often watch t.v. with closed-captioning and several shows keep using "alright" instead of "all right." I realize "alright" is becoming more acceptable as people keep using it, but I'm old school.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/all-right-or-alright-which-is-correct

There's now "automatic" captions where a computer is using voice recognition to generate the captions instead of a script or a human transcriber.

 

[buzzrelly]

I have too many grammar pet peeves to list, but the worst offender is, "prolly!" I saw someone use it twice in the same post on FB yesterday, so I know it wasn't just a typo, ugh! And in case you don't know what I'm talking about, you prolly think it's a word too

 

[ronandannette]

Seriously though, I tend to keep my grammar opinions to myself. Oh, I judge, but I won't say anything.

What truly makes me sad, though, is to read emails and memos from corporate executives. Long gone are the days when a secretary would catch any mistakes before something was sent. Nowadays, executives will send out things themselves. I cringe when I see the obvious grammar and spelling mistakes. These are people representing their company.

Yes, just so. There are a few of my Construction Field Staff that I forbid from communicating with customers in writing. Unfortunately I can't do the same with our company's Vice-President...

 

[Allison]

I have too many grammar pet peeves to list, but the worst offender is, "prolly!" I saw someone use it twice in the same post on FB yesterday, so I know it wasn't just a typo, ugh! And in case you don't know what I'm talking about, you prolly think it's a word too

For the love of everything, stop! You are killing me with that (non) word.

 

[Huskerpaul]

Misuse of affect and effect.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I'm guilty of most of these, as I speak South Philly-ese in my daily life, which is a dialect all its own. It was a bit of a problem when I had to speak at meetings when I was working as an artist and designer. I cleaned up my grammar-I'm not a cave dweller. However, I could not disguise the very heavy Philly working-class accent. We would get reps from China who needed to know how a certain mold for a design should be made and how to interpret my drawings for that task. They spoke English very well, but my accent defeated them a lot of the time.

I am not uneducated, but when I'm around friends from the neighborhood, my sister and her family and the rest of my relatives I speak...well, most of you would be horrified. I'm a spelling nerd, so I hardly ever misspell or use a word incorrectly when I write or text. But my way of speaking is...let's just say, interesting.

 

[tvguy]

There's now "automatic" captions where a computer is using voice recognition to generate the captions instead of a script or a human transcriber.

Yup. And the one on YouTube things COVID is COBID. A lot of TV shows use this technology to generate closed captioning. I used to love watch TV at the gym while on the treadmill. If you think Jerry Springer, Fox News, CNN are entertaining with the audio up, some of the closed captioning is a scream

 

[fly girl]

I cannot judge as I make mistakes all of the time. Seriously, every day I post. I do a light proofread, but I am not in school anymore so the methodical check is not occurring. You will see edits on my posts occasionally if I catch a horrible one (your, you're), but for the most part I have learned to let it go. No doubt, I have enough mistakes out there that the grammar police on here has already had me incarcerated for life.

My favorite poster with grammatical errors, our beloved low-key. It wasn't a low-key post without some error, and that is what made it special.

 

[Moliphino]

I have too many grammar pet peeves to list, but the worst offender is, "prolly!" I saw someone use it twice in the same post on FB yesterday, so I know it wasn't just a typo, ugh! And in case you don't know what I'm talking about, you prolly think it's a word too

It was "prolly" my dad. My nephew said it when he was little and now my dad does it on purpose.

 

[AustinTink]

Every time this topic comes up, my answer is always the same. When people pronounce REALTOR as RE-LA-TOR, it's like nails on the chalkboard to me.

 

[tvguy]

The Army recently changed its correspondence regulation. They changed paragraph indentation from 0.5" to 0.25", and it barely looks indented at all now.

They also changed the number of spaces after a sentence from 2 spaces to 1, and I feel like anarchy has descended upon the land.

As someone retired after 46 years writing for a living, I understand usage changes, but not sure this is a necessary change as it just makes the printed word harder to read.

 

[JoanneAZ]

I think the use of apostrophes in plural words began with all of the tech acronyms, DVD, DVR, CD, etc. People weren’t sure how to pluralize them and started using the apostrophes. Apparently it was contagious.

 

[mickeyboat]

I agree with many PPs, and I'll add one more I see a lot in chicken and duck groups - skiddish instead of skittish.

 

[Christine]

I agree with many PPs, and I'll add one more I see a lot in chicken and duck groups - skiddish instead of skittish.

I just posted this but lost my internet connection and it didn't post. I'm belong to several "lost pet" groups and so many people think their dogs are "skiddish" rather than "skittish."

 

[Her Dotness]

I'm guilty of most of these, as I speak South Philly-ese in my daily life, which is a dialect all its own. It was a bit of a problem when I had to speak at meetings when I was working as an artist and designer. I cleaned up my grammar-I'm not a cave dweller. However, I could not disguise the very heavy Philly working-class accent.

Absolutely legitimate within your family-friends-locality. That's the purpose of dialects aka "group-speak", so nothing "guilty" about it within that context.

In the business world, international as it is, you realized you needed to employ Standard American English, the level of usage of more-educated Americans, that which is taught internationally.

As I used to tell students, the smart person wishing to relate among a wide range of English speakers will learn Standard American English (the grammar book one). With friends and family, you speak and write their and your dialect or may be thought "puttin' on airs" or "getting above your station."

What's crucial is knowing the differences and using each usage level appropriately. What you did/do, BlueStarryHat. Kudos to you!

 

[Tinkerbell58]

Anyways. I worked with a college educated person who used it constantly. You can't make an adverb plural.

 

[Kennywood]

An English professor was lecturing to his students and said, "A double negative might mean a positive, but a double positive will never mean a negative."

From the back of the room, a student replied, "Yeah, right."

 

[sheilafri]

Only real loosers do that.

Don‘t you mean only real looser’s do that?