Grammatical errors that drive you bonkers

Uncle Gizmo

Uncle Gizmo

Founding Member
#22
#22
I have been using speech transcription software to convert my speech into text, must be getting on for 15 years!

Speech transcription software generates its own unique brand of typos! It is initially very difficult to spot this new breed.

I was also very amused when I discovered that speech transcription could write down words which I had no idea how to spell myself! This has significantly increased my written word vocabulary because I no longer have to choose the words to fit in with my lexicon.

And here we have a situation brought about by this new power, I often find myself using words of which I am unsure of the exact meaning!

I do find all uppercase somewhat annoying, and also "text speech" but then you don't have to read it do you.

I am acutely aware that some people have great difficulty in putting pen to paper so to speak, I used to be one of these people! Hence I object to people publicly criticizing the writings of these people. It would be much better to contact them privately.

To my mind the most important thing is communication, and that to me, should be available to everyone, even people with limited linguistic ability.

Preventing people attempting to write by criticizing is just not cricket!
 
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Bee

Bee

Founding Member
#23
#23
I agree, Uncle. And I hope you know that my grammar corrections are just a little joke between Jon and me.

Anything that improves vocabulary is a good thing.
 
T

The_Doc_Man

Founding Member
#24
#24
My own writing skills were OK before I took up hobbyist writing while my mom was sick. Proofreading what I wrote has drastically improved my awareness of grammar and vocabulary. Having to write government reports that were often critiqued by non-technical grammarians really got me upset, though. Some common speech forms are simply not de rigeur with the government. Trying to use a common phrase to say "from one extreme to the other" just doesn't work. Of course, "rags to riches" is not formally acceptable, but they also didn't allow me to use "from plethora to paucity" even though it was accurate in context. I had to eventually settle for "within a wide range of variation" and they let that one pass.

Every now and they they used to give me a hard time about using technical words but my counter to that criticism was "Hey! I paid a lot of money to get a college education and I'm damned well going to use it!" When I was in a somewhat less combative mood, I might have said, "I paid good money to larn them big words and I intends to use 'em." The latter phrase, when used, was always spoken with a thick Deep South accent. Usually after that, they gave me a wide berth.
 
F

fatmt

Member
#25
#25
The inability, for many people, to differentiate between its and it's.

The rule is very simple: if it means it is or it has then you can use it's. If it doesn't mean either it is or it has then it can only be its.

Which is why it's puzzling why many people get it wrong.
 
Jon

Jon

Administrator
Staff member
#26
#26
I am one of those people, despite having written 6 books. I have a theory on it too. Something similar happened to me regarding choosing between unleaded green and leaded red petrol. I had a car that took leaded petrol. I changed to a car that took unleaded. Then I got a car that took leaded petrol again. So, on that last car, I was getting confused at the pump! Which does this car take again? I see it as neural pathways getting a bit mixed up.

Here is my analogy...

Imagine you are walking a route in long grass. If you keep walking along that route, you trample down that grass with each successive trip. Then imagine that you have to take a fork in that grass for a while, carving out a new route. At some stage, it is just as easy for you to walk down path A than it is path B. The same happens in a neural sense. You want to write "it is", but use the abbreviation instead. So you say "its", or is it "it's"? You get a kerfuffle in the brain, just like I had earlier even thinking about it! I imagine in my neural wiring, the fork in the grass has actually become more like a crop circle! I've been thrashing around in all sorts of directions over the years, unsure of which path to take that I've ruined the farmers crop and cause all sorts of damage. And because I still didn't know which "it" I should use, "it" continued. I eventually have drilled myself into a well of confusion out of which I will never emerge.
 
Jon

Jon

Administrator
Staff member
#28
#28
They are (or were) in digital format. The one that did the best was The Instant Computer Consultant. I actually sold it as a kit. Came with a bit of software for a client database, reports, sales letters etc. $97 per copy. Bargain!

I wrote a book on remortgaging, online marketing, Smart Productivity Hacks for getting productive, IT Marketing Secrets, which was an upsell for my ICC book, etc.
 
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