Sorry, can't take it any more

AMonger · Jan 21, 2012

Or if it begins with a vowel SOUND. As in, "My insurance guy recommends I join an HMO." HMO begins with aych, which is a vowel sound.

--

You know the problem with bad cops? They make the other 5% look bad.

Turtle · Jan 21, 2012

jaminjim said:
Some of my problems are when to use 'than and then', 'to and too' and 'affect and effect'.

Most here try to check our usage and me personally don't mind the correction if it is done with an explanation. Which reminds me 'a and an' is another issue for me.

An historical account, a history book.

Easiest way to remember "to versus too" is "too" has an extra "o". I know that sounds obvious and perhaps silly, but the word "too' itself means an "extra" or "excessive amount" of something. So, if you're talking about an extra amount, add an extra "o".

"Affect and effect" can be confusing, but basically affect is 'to have an influence on or cause a change in,' and effect is more or less a 'past tense result'. Affect is a verb, an action word, while effect is a noun, something real or tangible. Low rates affect (have an influence on) expediters, and the effect (result) is many of them go bankrupt.

zorry · Jan 21, 2012

If this continues, I may learn enough to get a job out of trucking.

jaminjim · Jan 21, 2012

Turtle
^
^^
^^^
^
^
That is what I'm talkin about!

highway star · Jan 21, 2012

For "a" or "an', for the most part, if it sounds right it probably is right. A while back I saw someone post something about "an Freightliner". How in the world do you do that and not realize that it sounds stupid?

jaminjim · Jan 21, 2012

highway star said:
For "a" or "an', for the most part, if it sounds right it probably is right. A while back I saw someone post something about "an Freightliner". How in the world do you do that and not realize that it sounds stupid?

Beer?

zorry · Jan 21, 2012

Just to hijack the thread momentarily. Does anyone know the differance between a Freightliner and a Jehovah's Witness ?

cheri1122 · Jan 21, 2012

zorry said:
Just to hijack the thread momentarily. Does anyone know the differance between a Freightliner and a Jehovah's Witness ?

No, but I know what a differEnce one letter can make....

I get frustrated by the really sloppy writing [compounded by lack of any proofreading at all] as much as anyone, and maybe more than some, as a recent query regarding whether a poster was describing freight or a record of burglary convictions [it wasn't clear to me at all, lol] attests. I'd like to see the worst offenses against spelling, punctuation, and grammar cleaned up - but I would hate to see the unique 'voices' made homogenous, because they're interesting.
And they're a dead giveaway when someone pretends to be other than who they really are.....

zorry · Jan 21, 2012

The differEnce between a Freightliner and a Jehovah's Witness is : you can close the door on a Jehovah's Witness.

Pilgrim · Jan 21, 2012

AMonger said:
And while we're at it, can we all learn the difference between YOUR and YOU'RE? If we can just get those few things down, I can live with other errors, even RESTARAUNT and BUISNESS and THIER. Oh, yeah, one more: it's ETC., not ECT. Let's nail that one down, too. Heck, I can even learn to put up with mixing TO and TOO if we can agree on loose/lose, your/you're, and etc/ect.

Let's not forget the most common error seen in today's grammar: the inability to differentiate between plural and possessive, using an apostrophe to indicate plural - this drives me nuts

I was in a restaurant the other night, and on the chalk board next to the entrance the had listed three "Nightly Special's" plus the "Soup's of the Day". No doubt this was written by some recent college graduate that hasn't yet found a job in their chosen field.

jansiemoo · Jan 21, 2012

Pilgrim said:
Let's not forget the most common error seen in today's grammar: the inability to differentiate between plural and possessive, using an apostrophe to indicate plural - this drives me nuts I was in a restaurant the other night, and on the chalk board next to the entrance the had listed three "Nightly Special's" plus the "Soup's of the Day". No doubt this was written by some recent college graduate that hasn't yet found a job in their chosen field.

There's a CVS at home that has "print your facebook photo's here".
I'm about to go complain to the mgr, but I realized- in their defense- if the apostrophe is replacing 'graph' in 'photographs', it's technically correct. I know in my gut, though, that it's just idiots placing apostrophes before 's'.

The Oatmeal has a nice collection of grammar comics:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apostrophe

Ragman · Jan 21, 2012

Pilgrim said:
Let's not forget the most common error seen in today's grammar: the inability to differentiate between plural and possessive, using an apostrophe to indicate plural . . .

Is it octopi or octopus's?

cheri1122 · Jan 21, 2012

Ragman said:
Is it octopi or octopus's?

It's both. Octopi is plural, octopus's is possessive.

One octopus's unblinking red eye
Freaked out the rest of the octopi.

Oboy - you're gonna find a pic for that, aren't you?

Turtle · Jan 21, 2012

I thought it was octopussies.

Ragman · Jan 21, 2012

Now i've got that song stuck in my head!

Rocketman · Jan 21, 2012

I've got an even better idea. How about I/we type it and you have a choice... read it or don't read it. That works for me.

pelicn · Jan 21, 2012

My excuse for spelling? I'm a dyslexic typer.... and from my software typer isn't a word. I type dyslexically? Nope...that isn't right either...
Ok, well crap, neither is OK according to my spell check/grammar check thingy.....Oohhh...thingy is a word but oohhh isn't. Go figure.
I think I'll give up because you're not going to read this anyway unless it's your day to be bored...LOL

mjmsprt40 · Jan 21, 2012

I have spell-check as part of the browser I use, so outright mis-spelled words get red-lined right away. However, it won't catch words that are spelled correctly in themselves, but are not correct in the sentence they're in. "Too", "to" and "two" are prime examples of this. If I write "There are two many people groaning about mis-spelled words", Spell Check will not catch that. Maybe it assumes only two people are unhappy about mis-spelled words so it doesn't bother about them--- your guess is as good as mine.

I could do with a checker that catches those types of errors, but until then I guess we make do with what we have.

cheri1122 · Jan 21, 2012

Whenever someone blames the mistakes on being a fast typist, I think the problem is more likely that they're a half fast typist.

Turtle · Jan 22, 2012

Rocketman said:
I've got an even better idea. How about I/we type it and you have a choice... read it or don't read it. That works for me.

Does it really work, though? Would you speak to someone who you wanted to hear and understand you in unintelligible mumblings? You might not speak the language perfectly, but you still want to be understood, to convey to the listener your thoughts. The same holds true for the written word. If no one can understand it or it takes too much effort to decipher it, your thoughts will fall on deaf eyes.

On the other hand, if your goal is to mumble for the sake of mumbling, and don't care if you are understood, then intelligible is irrelevant.