What you say drives me crazy.

[Pilgrim]

Try doing that but with writing from 10 year olds. I did this for 7 years and sometimes I had no clue what a story was about. Then try finding classtime to work with each of the children to go over their papers with them. Very difficult. But I also had some writers where I was just amazed at what they could write at such a young age. But you're right if you're doing graduate level work, you should be able to communicate clearly with minimal grammatical errors.

Certainly the level of writing is relative to the level of academics. 10-year-olds would obviously need a completely different kind of approach than graduate students. I have two daughters, so I've BTDT as a parent.

 

[Etienne]

L.D., spell check IS a great aid in correcting and mastering proper spelling! Diligent use of it when using the computer will certainly point out spelling errors (though not usage errors) and will help greatly. SEEING words spelled properly is half the battle!

 

[Dixon's Dame]

One of the things that bugs me most is the use of "in regard to" or "in regards to."

It's regarding!!!! One simple word, not three.

Drives me insane, and worse -- it's used all over the news by "respectable" people and so is actually becoming more popular and accepted, rather than less.

 

[Lady Day]

L.D., spell check IS a great aid in correcting and mastering proper spelling! Diligent use of it when using the computer will certainly point out spelling errors (though not usage errors) and will help greatly. SEEING words spelled properly is half the battle!

Tell me about it, I caught the boo boos in that post

I tend to spell things phonetically (wow I spelled THAT right! or would I say correctly?), no rules apply to me! Thats what gets me in trouble. Im sure if I just thought about what I wanted to spell, Id be much better at what I WAS spelling. What a novel idea!
But I think grammar is one thing that has to be learned from practice. Placing the correct comma, knowing how to use 'whom', and just understanding how to finish a sentence correctly.


LD

 

[Robert Conway]

Do you still have, like Valley Girls?
I just heard that song not too long ago, hilarious! lol
But is it an exageration, or do they actually talk like that all the time?

Depends on where you are in L.A.

In Beverly Hills etc many of the girls still talk like that, but in the actual Valley I think its being replaced by the hip-hop, rap, home-boy slang, which frankly I sometimes have a hard time understanding. I'm only about 10 years older than some of the young-ins I work with, but I sometimes feel like Danny Glover and Mel Gibson in that scene from Lethal Weapon, where Glover's kid says 'Word!' to them instead of 'bye' and they can't figure out what he means.

 

[ArrowCollarMan]

The english language is always changing. Saying, "Sally and I" sounds too formal and isn't used in daily life so to me "Sally and me" seems correct. Although, using "like" in excess is annoying and is also a habit I'm trying hard to break

 

[mysterygal]

sadly, I grew up on bad grammar. I was raised in a small 'hick' town that having good grammar was just not high on anyone's priority list Meeting my husband however, he came from a completely opposite background...I remember when dating, my word usage would absolutely drive him up the wall! With realizing just how bad I did sound, I took great pains in correcting my grammar. Like Lady Day said, in certain company, I do let my grammar get a bit sloppy, and I don't like it either...but, it is a bad habit that can diffinetely be corrected!

 

[Lady Day]

The strange thing is, I remember going home a few years ago, when I was in undergrad, and speaking as I normally do. I couldnt believe the number of relatives commenting on my 'proper grammar'. I was astounded.

It was:
"Listen to you, speakin' all good."
"You sound so educated."

[huh]

I call it the 'Colin Powell' syndrome


LD

 

[Lady Day]

The misuse of such adverbs as "luckily" and "hopefully". Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Correct, if somewhat awkward: "Hopefully she went to the job interview, trusting that she would get the job."

Incorrect: "Hopefully, she went to the job interview. She often forgets her appointments!"



.

I tend to debunk that awkwardness, by saying, "I hope she went to her job interview. She often forgets her appointments!"


LD

 

[ortega76]

"Can I ask you a question"
- What if I say "no"? Then you've already violated the give-and-take of our relationship. I usually respond "You just did but I'll give you another one."

At work (I help run a retail shoe store)-
me- "sorry, I don't have that in a 9 1/2 but I have a 10"
them- "so, you don't have that in a 9 1/2?"
How do I respond to this? First, I just told you the answer. Second, you used a negative in a sentence so when I say "Yes" to confirm your negative you'll stare at me blankly because you don't pay attention to the words that come out of your mouth. I generally have to respond "Correct."

People who duplicate a word to express an emphasis. My aunt asked if a store in my town carried "baby baby" clothes to refer to newborn clothes.

People who add "you know what I'm sayin" onto EVERY one of their sentences.

 

[Rosie]

The strange thing is, I remember going home a few years ago, when I was in undergrad, and speaking as I normally do. I couldnt believe the number of relatives commenting on my 'proper grammar'. I was astounded.

It was:
"Listen to you, speakin' all good."
"You sound so educated."

[huh]

I call it the 'Colin Powell' syndrome


LD

Ha! I get this ALL OF THE TIME. But, I'm just speaking as I normally do. I've also been told by many, many people that I enunciate (sp?) my words VERY clearly and I think that sets me apart from many people.

Two years ago, I went to visit an uncle of mine who lives in the boondocks, the backwoods of the backwoods, , they had dirt roads and no mailboxes, it was crazy, anyway, some man tried to strike up a conversation with me, when I spoke to him, he announced, "Woo Wee! Look at you and all that fancy talkin'!" I was, , speechless.

 

[harmonslide]

Grammar is one of those things I tend to be obsessive about. I used to frequently use netspeak (although I never did truly converse in "1337") on the computer all the time. Now, however, I make sure to use punctuation and capitalization. It certainly helps when requesting information from people; they take me more seriously.

Of course, having AP English certainly didn't hurt

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

I even try to use proper capitalization and punctuation in cell phone text messaging. With my big fingers, it can be quite a chore. lol

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Ever hear this one?

"Can I ask you a question"
- What if I say "no"? Then you've already violated the give-and-take of our relationship. I usually respond "You just did but I'll give you another one."

At work (I help run a retail shoe store)-
me- "sorry, I don't have that in a 9 1/2 but I have a 10"
them- "so, you don't have that in a 9 1/2?"
How do I respond to this? First, I just told you the answer. Second, you used a negative in a sentence so when I say "Yes" to confirm your negative you'll stare at me blankly because you don't pay attention to the words that come out of your mouth. I generally have to respond "Correct."

People who duplicate a word to express an emphasis. My aunt asked if a store in my town carried "baby baby" clothes to refer to newborn clothes.

People who add "you know what I'm sayin" onto EVERY one of their sentences.

When I was in shoe biz, people would grab a display shoe off of a table and ask me,..."Ya got this in my size?" [huh]
What am I? The Amazing Kreskin? How do I know what your size is??? lol

 

[Twitch]

Probably the only thing that really makes me impatient is when some one goes on and on with "like I was going to school and like this car like cut me off and so I like jammed on my brakes.....":rage:

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

The woman in the cube adjacent to mine has said "that's besides the point" twice now in one phone conversation. It makes me want to jump over the wall and...nicely...correct her?

 

[NewMexExpat]

... an' I'm like, "Get off your high hat!"...

'cause you're all like, "This drives me nuts!", an' I'm like, "Irregardless, I could care less.". -- -- -- Ya know? [huh]

 

[scotrace]

Don't do it.

She'll put some unhappy offal in your coffee when you're not looking.

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

Don't do it.

She'll put some unhappy offal in your coffee when you're not looking.

Ah HA! But tomorrow is my last day!

 

[ortega76]

When I was in shoe biz, people would grab a display shoe off of a table and ask me,..."Ya got this in my size?" [huh]
What am I? The Amazing Kreskin? How do I know what your size is??? lol

Yeah. I hate that one.