So, I’m not quite done with your pet peeves and other oddities you’ve noticed about word-related things . . .
- So, you don’t like beginning a sentence with so? So is a conjunction like and, but, and several other words (for, nor, or, and yet). The old rule is, “Don’t start a sentence with a conjunction.” But times have changed–or have they? There is never a real need to begin a sentence with and or but or so, but you might want to do it for a certain effect. It is fine in marketing writing, and I do it frequently in my grammar books. In a formal letter? I wouldn’t.
- Someone brought up that the words sell and sale sound the same spoken by someone with a Southern accent. (Note that alliteration with s!) But then, sell is a verb and sale is a noun, so you can probably figure it out from the context.
- A common problem: using the object of a prepositional phrase (rather than the sentence subject) to determine the verb (singular or plural). For example: A bowl of apples are on the table. The writer of that sentence used a plural verb (are) versus the singular verb (is) to make it agree in number with apples. But apples is the object of the preposition of; the subject of the sentence that the verb should agree with in number is bowl. Singular. A bowl of apples is on the table.
- Uncomfortable is a word. Uncomfortability is not a word.If it were, what would it mean? “Not able to be comfortable?” There is a noun meaning the state of being uncomfortable: comfortableness.
- Here is a geographical faux pas for Californians: apparently some people say they are going “to the peninsula” when they go to Santa Clara or San Mateo. But San Francisco is the peninsula. So they are actually going “down the Peninsula.” Beats me. Geography was never my favorite subject.
- Someone wrote that they didn’t care for training now being used by itself (as a noun), as opposed to with another word (as an adjective): for example, training program, training room, training department. Now we just say, I’m going to training. However, training is also a noun (a gerund, in fact), so it is fine to use by itself.
- Ten-year anniversary. Well anniversary implies years (from the Latin annus meaning “year”), so the phrase is redundant. How about tenth anniversary instead?
- Although some say that the distinction between less and fewer is disappearing (welcome to the dumbing down of the English language, probably mostly by Americans), some of us are happy that Whole Foods now has it right, and the sign above the express lane says, “Ten items of fewer.” In fact, I think most stores have finally learned the lesson and have replaced “Ten items or less” with “Ten items or fewer.” Once again, fewer is used with plurals and things that can be counted, like groceries. Less is used with singulars and things that cannot be counted (salt, sugar, etc).
- I think we have talked about no problem and no problemo in a previous post. Lots of people don’t like it– when a simple “You’re welcome” (not “Your welcome,” though) will do. I hear that the Australians say, “No wuccas.” It is short for “No wuckin’ forries” (spoonerism alert).
Thank you for your continuing submissions of your pet peeves and other weird things you see and hear! Today, I present ten more of them. Please keep them coming for future posts (and my amusement). But don’t worry. Next week, we will get back to more instructional/informational posts. But the peeves will be back soon.
Here are ten for this week:
- On BBC (don’t know if it was radio or television): ” . . . sit moments away from . . .” You can sit feet away from, and you can be moments away from — but can you sit moments away from? I think not.
- The old “I could care less” is apparently still around. Let’s think this through. If you could care less, that means you do care some. If you care some, you wouldn’t be saying this in the first place. I couldn’t care less emphasizes that you don’t care at all and is the correct idiom.
- There is often confusion between different than and different from. Which is it? Which preposition to use is a common issue in English, especially to those who are not native speakers. It is different from. Than implies comparison (taller than . . .) and different does not really imply a comparison.
- Momentarily is a tricky word. I am quite sure I have used it incorrectly. It certainly sounds as if it should mean “soon” or “in a moment.” However, its actual meaning is “for a very short time”: She momentarily forget her speech.
- Same goes for presently. It seems as if it should mean “now” or “at present.” However, it means soon: I am sure she will arrive presently.
- This one is likely regional: pronouncing didn’t as did-dent (I have heard it pronounced dint, which is a peeve of mine) and important as impor-dent.
- Sit and set are a verb duo much like lay and lie, in that one verb is transitive (takes a direct object) and one is intransitive (does not take a direct object). Lay takes a direct object; lie does not. Set takes a direct object; sit does not. However, sit and set, because of the conjugations in other tenses, is not as complicated as lay and lie (thank goodness): I sit on the chair. Please set the salad on the table. Not I was setting there.
- Like could of, should of, and would of, someone wrote to me about must of, also written as must’ve. It is must have.
- Is is singular or plural? According to what I have read, it is either, but usually singular. It is singular, when it means “not one of.” However, I cannot think of an example when it either (1) doesn’t mean “not one of” or (2) it isn’t obviously singular anyway. So, I don’t know when I would use a plural verb with it. Perhaps it can be plural (and take a plural verb) when there is a plural noun in a prepositional phrase following it. However, it still means “not one of”: None of the babies was crying during the movie OR None of the babies were crying during the movie. I would say was: Not one of the babies was crying during the movie. In a sentence like None of the cake is left, it is obviously singular because cake is singular and none doesn’t mean “not one of” here. Your thoughts?
- Anyways is not a word. Same for anywheres, somewheres, nowheres, etc. Take off the s.
As an aside, last night I was watching the news and I heard the commentator say, “But that is a whole nother story.” We all say it. Since when did nother become a word? Can we call it a split word — rather than a split infinitive? The word another is split and a whole is put in the middle. Like a doughnut.
Happy Earth Day! And keep those grammar, punctuation, pronunciation, usage, and oddities coming in!
Over the past couple of weeks, I have seen more than one “Top Grammar Mistakes” list, one by Microsoft and one, I believe, by a blogger. I didn’t agree with Microsoft’s, but I thought the blogger was on the mark. I don’t remember exactly what the list was, but I thought about it and came up with my ten.
Well, actually, being an overachiever, I came up with more than ten, but I whittled it down to ten for this post. I am sure many of you (and I know I am preaching to the choir with these) will comment with your own additions to the list.
So (drumroll), here is my list of the Top Ten “Grammar” mistakes I see and hear. I put quotation marks around grammar because some may not be exactly grammar, but fall into the broad category of “good writing and speaking.”
1. Confusion of I and me. Usually, I goes at the beginning of a sentence, and me goes at the end, but that is a non-grammatical explanation. I is the subject of a sentence; me is some type of object. The mistake generally occurs at the end of a sentence when there is another person mentioned: He told my brother and I. No. Just take out the other person. He told I? Obviously, it is me, with or without my brother.
2. Using myself in the wrong places. Ugh! Using myself in the wrong place does not make you sound smart! Myself is reserved for just a couple of occasions, and is usually used when the subject of the sentence is I: I did it myself. I myself did that. Not My friend and myself are going. Or, The book is about my brother and myself.
3. The ubiquitous mispronunciation of mischievous! It is not pronounced mis-chee-vious with the accent on the chee! The accent is on the first syllable; the second syllable is pronounced cha, and the last syllable vus.
4. Using the wrong past participle verb form. It is not I have went, I have ate, I have wrote, I have saw, etc. It is I have gone, I have eaten, I have written, I have seen, etc.
5. Confusing your and you’re. Yes, it is still a common mistake (or a lazy typo?). Easy to correct. All contractions have an apostrophe. You’re means “you are” and is a contraction. It follows the rule. Your or yours is possessive. None of the possessive pronouns has an apostrophe (ours, his, hers, theirs). That follows the rule too.
6. Confusing its and it’s. See number 5. Same rule. Same thing.
7. Confusing less and fewer. I heard that the distinction is going away, but you know how I feel about that. Less is used for singular nouns and things that cannot be counted. There is less sugar in this cookie than in that one. Fewer is used for plurals. There are fewer tablespoons of sugar in that cookie recipe.
8. Confusing number and amount. Similar to number 7. Amount is used for singulars and things that cannot be counted. The amount of salt in my diet is ridiculous! Number is used for plurals: The number of accidents on this road has decreased.
9. Flat adverbs. Many adverbs end in -ly, and if you take the -ly off you are left with an adjective. Adverbs describe verbs, and adjectives describe nouns. I drive slowly. Slowly is an adverb describing drive. That is a slow rabbit. Slow is an adjective describing rabbit. If you say, I drive slow, you have used what is called a flat adverb. It isn’t technically wrong, but flat adverbs are not considered good English. They actually used to be more common way back when.
10. The singular they. Before you shout at me that it is now okay to use the singular they, just be aware that some of us still don’t like it and would prefer to “write around it,” meaning rewrite to avoid it. The whole purpose of using the singular they is that we don’t have a singular pronoun that is not gender specific: we have he and we have she. What if we don’t know the gender of the person we are talking about? Okay. But what if we do, and we still use they. The girl brought their costume. Huh? Now that is just confusing and sounds as if she brought some other people’s costumes. And maybe she did, but if she brought her own, just use her.
I would love to hear any common grammar mistakes you think I have left off the list!
Two weeks ago I posted the first part of this topic — verbs that are exceptions to the rule in forming the past tense and the past participle. This post is the conclusion of the two-part series.
Verbs have several forms. Three of them are
1 The base, or what we use for the present tense — walk
2 The past tense, or what we use for simple past tense — walked
3 The past participle, or what we use for the perfect tenses — (have, had, will have) walked
The verb walk is regular. It simply adds -ed for the past tense and the past participle.
Obviously, if a verb already ends in e, we simply add the d — bake/baked. Still considered a regular verb.
If a verb ends in y, we change the y to an i before adding ed — study/studied. Still considered a regular verb.
Irregular verbs break those rules. Some irregular verbs have two different spellings for those three forms. The past tense and the past participle are the same:
• build/built/have built
• lend/lent/have lent
• lay/laid/have laid
Other irregular verbs have three different spellings for those three forms. Those are the irregular verbs that cause the most problems and that were the focus of Part 1 of this blog post.
• go/went/have gone
• swim, swam, have swum
• drink/drank/have drunk
• write/wrote/have written
This post talks about the other category of irregular verbs: those that don’t change at all from present tense to past tense to present participle. Here are some of those verbs:
• bet – I bet today/ I bet yesterday/I have bet every day.
• burst – The boy bursts his balloon/An hour ago the boy burst his balloon/The boy said he has burst his balloon.
• cost – It costs a dollar/Yesterday it cost a dollar/Every day it has cost a dollar.
• cut – He cuts his hair/Yesterday he cut his hair/Every month he has cut his hair.
• fit – I fit into a size 10/Yesterday I fit into a size 10/Every summer I have fit into a size 10. (But if your suit comes in at the waist, it is fitted. Go figure.)
• hit – She hits a home run/Yesterday she hit a home run/Every game this season she has hit a home run.
• hurt – She hurt my feelings/Yesterday she hurt my feelings/Every time we argue she has hurt my feelings.
• let – Let the cat in/Yesterday I let the cat in/Every night this week I have let the cat in.
• put -Put lemon in the cake/Yesterday I put lemon in the cake/I have always put lemon in the cake.
• shut – I shut my eyes/A minute ago I shut my eyes/I have shut my eyes and fallen asleep every evening.
• set – Set the flowers on the table/She set the flowers on the table/She has set the flowers on the table for you.
• shed – My dog sheds/This morning my dog shed all over my coat/My dog has shed all over the carpet since I got her.
• slit – Slit the top of the bag off/Yesterday she slit the top of the bag/Mistakenly she has slit the top of the bag.
• split – Split the donut in two/This morning I split the donut in two/Every morning I have split my donut in two.
• spread – I spread jam on my toast/A few minutes ago I spread jam on my toast/Every morning for as long as I can remember, I have spread jam on my toast.
Yes, some of those sample sentences sound a little odd, especially the present tense. We generally use the progressive present tense: I am letting the cat in. I am splitting the donut in two. Some of those present tense sentences actually sound like past tense. They are just examples to show the forms that do not change.
Then there are these verbs:
• knit — The past and past participle forms can be knit or knitted.
• rid — The past participle form can be either rid or ridded
• spit — The past tense and past participle can be either spit or spat.
• read — The spelling is the same for all three forms, but the pronunciation changes; in the past tense and past participle, the ea sounds like a short e (unlike lead, where the past tense spelling changes to led).
The difference in usage between the past tense and the present perfect tense (the second the third sentences in each example) has been covered in a previous post about tenses.
Don’t be misled by the title of this post. We are not talking about verbs that are so exceptional that you should use them. We are talking about verbs that are exceptions to the rule. And often there are more exceptions than rules!
Specifically, we are talking about the forms of a verb. They are used to create various tenses, but we are not talking tenses here. For more information about when to use each tense, refer back to The Best Little Grammar Book Ever!
Verbs have several forms:
- Present tense: for example, walk
- Present participle: for example, walking
- Past tense: for example, walked
- Past participle: for example have walked (had walked, will have walked)
The “rule” (to put it loosely) is to add -ed to a present tense to make a past tense and a past participle: walked.
If the verb already ends in an e, all you have to do is add the d: bake/baked.
If the verb ends in a y, generally we turn the y into an i and add -ed: study/studied.
Many verbs do not follow this rule. Many of them have some type of “other” form that stays the same in both past and past participle forms. Here are some of those:
- sit, sat, have sat
- lead, led, have led
- bring, brought, have brought (as a kid, I did think it was brang and brung!)
- hang, hung, have hung
- lay, laid, have laid
- teach, taught, have taught
- catch, caught, have caught
- build, built, have built
You get the idea. And most of the time, people don’t have a problem with these. However, there are many verbs that have three different forms. The present is different from the past, which is different from the past participle. And with many of these verbs, people keep using the past tense form for the past participle. My seventh grade students were big offenders, but many educated adults I know — or have heard speak — do the same thing.
You will know what I mean by this list. Here are some common of the more common mistakes:
- I ate, but I have eaten. Not I have ate some cake already.
- I began, but I have begun. Not I have began my speech.
- I bit, but I have bitten. Not I have bit into the cookie.
- I broke, but I have broken. Not I have broke the vase..
- I chose, but I have chosen. Not I have chose that dress.
- I drank, but I have drunk. Not I have drank all the water.
- I forgave, but I have forgiven. Not I have forgave her for lying.
- I froze, but I have frozen. Not I have froze the leftovers.
- I rode, but I have ridden. Not I have rode a horse before.
- I rang, but I have rung. Not I have rang the doorbell.
- I ran, but I have run. Not I have ran a mile.
- I sang, but I have sung. Not I have sangin front of an audience.
- I sank, but I have sunk. Not I have sank when I tried to swim.
- I spoke, but I have spoken. Not I have spoke to her about it.
- I stole, but I have stolen. Not I have stole the letters.
- I swam, but I have swum. Not I have swam every day this week.
- I wrote, but I have written. Not I have wrote him a letter.
- I went, but I have gone. Not I have went to work today.
Those are some of the common ones that people tend to misuse. And although I have used the pronoun I with all the examples, of course the verb is the same with you, he, she, they, them, it, and we.
Stay tuned for Part 2 next week. Or the week after.
