When the Grammar Nazi's strike!

[Haggis and tatties]

Grammar, i would not even know where to start, my education stopped when i entered secondary school, which was no more than a open prison were i spent the next 4 years from 9am till 4pm dodging the bullies, the drunks, the junkies and the just plain nasty, and that was only the teachers.

But i would have no idea what constitutes good grammar, so when people correct me i don't take offense because i have no idea if they are right or wrong.....I'm sort of in a ignorance is bliss type situation when it comes to grammar.

 

[bluedana]

I learned grammar rules from a high school teacher who was very by-the-book, and who would flunk your otherwise flawless paper if it contained even one run-on or fragment. I use more commas and semi-colons than most people, and I try not to split infinitives, but that is how I was taught. I see no reason to change at my age. Similarly, I learned to type on a typewriter, when the convention was 2 spaces after periods and colons. Again, I'm not going to re-learn my typing skills just because computer-age typists have decided that one space is enough.

Unless I am actually editing a document written by someone else or giving feedback on a speech or oral argument, I think it's rude to correct someone's grammar or usage. If someone corrects my speech, my reaction will range from, "Okay, thanks," if it's a private conversation, to, "Wow, that's kind of rude; do you mind if we get back to the actual topic now?" if it's more public and more likely intended to embarrass me. In casual conversation, correcting someone else's grammar or usage is generally more snotty than actually helpful. A more polite way to do it, if it is, indeed, necessary, is to use the word or phrase naturally and correctly as the conversation goes on.

Person A: I feel badly that I made you miss that train.
Me: Oh, there's no reason to feel bad. I can catch the next one.

 

[Deckerd]

Similarly, I learned to type on a typewriter, when the convention was 2 spaces after periods and colons. Again, I'm not going to re-learn my typing skills just because computer-age typists have decided that one space is enough.

It's a pain in the neck for me. A couple of people in our office do it in documents and when I'm putting them on the web, the software puts in a hard space every time.

 

[TorontoTrekker]

If I were to replace "but" with "however" in the compound sentence, I would in fact have a comma before and after the word:

I have no problem with starting a sentence with a conjunction as long as it's the best way to get the point across, however, there is no need for a comma afterward.

I don't know if it's technically incorrect or not, but I've always disliked the tendency many have to use "however" this way. To me, "however" needs to be preceded by a semicolon, or start its own sentence. To use it with just commas before and after makes it seem to me like a run-on sentence - probably because "however" isn't a conjunction.

 

[RoJoHen]

If I were to replace "but" with "however" in the compound sentence, I would in fact have a comma before and after the word:

I have no problem with starting a sentence with a conjunction as long as it's the best way to get the point across, however, there is no need for a comma afterward.

I don't know if it's technically incorrect or not, but I've always disliked the tendency many have to use "however" this way. To me, "however" needs to be preceded by a semicolon, or start its own sentence. To use it with just commas before and after makes it seem to me like a run-on sentence - probably because "however" isn't a conjunction.

I agree. I made a mistake when typing that, which was already brought to my attention.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I have told this story before but I think its worth repeating.

I once get a very nasty letter from a guy I had just broken up with. In the letter her called me a slut etc.

I took out a red pen and corrected his all of his spelling mistakes which were plentiful. I then gave the letter a score of 2/10 and a big F for fail and posted it back to him. I then posted the letter back to him.

 

[RJDiogenes]

 

[Lookingglassman]

My mom was a teacher for 37 years and is always correcting me.

 

[KJbushway]

If we are naming names I have one that did it during an arguement that we were having. He wasn't being so nice about it.

 

[scotpens]

Within the last half-hour, I’ve come across THREE posts in various Trek BBS forums in which the posters wrote should of, could of, or would of. I feel it is not only my right but my solemn duty to correct such blatant illiteracy. If you didn’t know how to use auxiliary verbs by the time you graduated from sixth grade, your education was seriously fucked up.

Just had to get that off my chest.

 

[Switch]

If you asked me what an auxiliary verb was I'd just stare at you. But apparently I still know how to use them.

 

[KJbushway]

Same here. I would of known if I was still in school.

 

[thestrangequark]

I have told this story before but I think its worth repeating.

I once get a very nasty letter from a guy I had just broken up with. In the letter her called me a slut etc.

I took out a red pen and corrected his all of his spelling mistakes which were plentiful. I then gave the letter a score of 2/10 and a big F for fail and posted it back to him. I then posted the letter back to him.

Just more confirmation of the fact I've come to trust: Miss Chicken is one of the coolest people I know.

 

[Kestra]

Within the last half-hour, I’ve come across THREE posts in various Trek BBS forums in which the posters wrote should of, could of, or would of. I feel it is not only my right but my solemn duty to correct such blatant illiteracy. If you didn’t know how to use auxiliary verbs by the time you graduated from sixth grade, your education was seriously fucked up.

Just had to get that off my chest.

I make mistakes like that. It's usually because I'm typing out what I would say in person.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I have told this story before but I think its worth repeating.

I once get a very nasty letter from a guy I had just broken up with. In the letter her called me a slut etc.

I took out a red pen and corrected his all of his spelling mistakes which were plentiful. I then gave the letter a score of 2/10 and a big F for fail and posted it back to him. I then posted the letter back to him.

Just more confirmation of the fact I've come to trust: Miss Chicken is one of the coolest people I know.

I wonder why I repeated that I posted it back to him? I must have been tired when I typed that post.

 

[thestrangequark]

^Don't worry, it does nothing to diminish your awesomeness.

 

[Sephiroth]

sometimes, on another forum i post on, I'll respond to a certain grammar nazi in 13375p34k

 

[LitmusDragon]

I'm OK with bad grammar (mostly) but if someone uses the wrong word or phrase from what they intended I find it really annoying. Like "looser" instead of "loser", "for all intensive purposes", things like that.

 

[KJbushway]

Yeah I can understand that. I sometimes do that, but atleast I try and go through what I write before I post.

 

[scotpens]

Yeah I can understand that. I sometimes do that, but atleast I try and go through what I write before I post.

“At least” is two words.