"ECT" - Grammar Correction

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INRtest

INRtest

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 13, 2005
Messages
134
Location
Los Angeles, CA
VERY SMALL TALK ? My grammatical pet peeves:

I'm old enough now and have suffered enough in the past 3 years that I can put my foot down (gently). Please help me eradicate a couple of often misused abbreviations which pop up so often on various blogs including this, my favorite. Help make the world a healthier, better, more peaceful place.

Et cetera:
Correct: etc.
Incorrect: ect.


You are (abbreviated)
Correct: you?re
Incorrect: your

Thank you -- thank you.

Have a wonderful day, members!!!!
 
And don't forget the Homonym confusion over similar sounding words.

THEY'RE still confusing THEIR homonyms over THERE on VR.com

They're = contraction for "they are"
Their = possessive (their car, their valve, etc.)
there = location or calling attention to something or introducing something (there are many kinds of valves, etc.)

and of course

THEN vs THAN

THEN refers to another TIME
(ball and cage valves were used back THEN)

THAN is the correct word to use for COMPARISON
(my valve is better THAN your valve, etc.)

I hope I won't get banned from VR.com now :eek:

'AL Capshaw'
 
As the resident English teacher, I thought I'd chime in on four of my personal grammatical pet peeves:

1. Improper use of apostrophes: "I bought three apple's" instead of "apples." Apples, in this case, are plural, not possessive.

2. "Everyday" should be two words when talking about every single day, as in, "I take my beta-blocker every day." "Everyday" is an adjective, as in, "Students listening to their iPods in class is an everyday occurance in some classrooms."

3. Leaving out "-ed" endings on past-tense verbs, such as: "I walk to school yesterday." Much of this error is due to lack of enunciation in our speech that translates to writing.

4. Any formal writing (excluding VR.com posts) in which students write as if they're texting: "LOL," "2" instead of "two" or "to", and the like.

Teaching grammar is a lost art, and I'm happy to see that the English teachers at my school are coming together to teach more grammar in our classes next year. However, I'm afraid grammar instruction won't make that much difference as many middle school teachers in our district no longer focus on grammar.

Debi (debster913)
 
Thank you Debi & Al. Egregious misuse of the English language makes my heart flutter, my valve tick louder and my stomach ache. Proper grammar seems to be a lost skill, but I still try to nicely correct my friends and hope that they do the same for me.
 
History and safety lesson

History and safety lesson

History:
A long time ago, maybe three years? :D , this forum debated a similarly well intentioned thread. I think it was labeled My Pet English Peeves or something innocuous.

Safety lesson:
The thread did not follow its avowed course to serve as a mild admonition to be precise with the English language. :eek:
The thread DID become a battlefield . . . pot shots were taken by even the most mild mannered poster!:eek:
My parting words of advice to those posting to this thread, "Be Careful Out There!" :p :p :p
 
I must say that the ect. and your thing annoy me the most; however, I will say that, even as an anal grammatical person, I often make mistakes when typing posts. I read my posts before I send, but I still find mistakes after they're sent. For instance, in INRTest's post, I would say that there are some missing commas. In Al's post, homonym is spelled wrong in the second sentence, and there is an extra apostrophe in the same word. In Debi's post, the word occurrence is spelled wrong. My point is not to pick on these people, but to note that we all make mistakes, and sometimes our mistakes are the ones that drive other people crazy! In fact, in the previous sentence, I had originally typed "are mistakes"!

Now, don't look too close! I'm sure you'll find errors!
 
Mary: I wasn't around for that one, but I was just thinking the same thing myself. Here is one for laughs. We had a teenage Japanese exchange student, a beautiful girl & a person of great interest to the boys at the high school. They loved to tease her, especially about English. (And she loved their attention).

I remember her coming home one afternoon and telling me the boys were teasing her. When I inquired she repeated their ridiculous claim. "They say that you can say the house burned down and the house burned up-and they mean the same thing. Imagine her amazement when I told her these expressions are used interchangeably.

There is a particular grammatical rule that has always puzzled me. It is correct (in the USA) to say I go to college, but incorrect to say I go to Unniversity. I was interested in that one, and encountered explanations that went on for as many as 30 pages. Even after that research, I don't believe I ever found a satisfactory answer. Maybe this is my lucky day.

By the way, at least for Apple computers, the latest version of the Camino browser has a fully functional spell checker, i.e. it tells you what is wrong & offers corrections.
 
Dennis, I don't think the college/university thing is grammatical. I think it's regional preference. I think that we consider "university" more of a proper, or specific, noun when used in that sentence. "I go to college" is general. "I go to the University of Texas" is specific.

Mary, I do remember the thread from before. Again, although some things annoy me, I try to remember that we are all typing fast (some faster than others), thinking and writing at the same time, distracted with various things (children, phones, food, etc.), have differing educational backgrounds, and may even have differing primary languages. We all make mistakes.

I do wish that people would figure out etc., though!
 
Personally, I think when people turn to vr.com because they are scared out of their wits because of impending surgery, or a loved one's surgery, the last thing we want to be doing is nit-picking their spelling and grammar.
 
INRtest said:
Thank you Debi & Al. Egregious misuse of the English language makes my heart flutter, my valve tick louder and my stomach ache. Proper grammar seems to be a lost skill, but I still try to nicely correct my friends and hope that they do the same for me.
Click to expand...


Women have that effect on me:cool: :p :cool:
 
Let me just get some things straight for the record:
1. I am not suggesting by any means that I am a master grammarian. I, like everyone else, make mistakes.
2. In my post, I was not aiming my pet peeves at anyone on VR. I was only posting that these are my major peeves with my students. Posting on a web site is much different than writing an essay.
3. Anyone who wants to make a big controversy of this thread needs to relax. Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion.

Thanks,
Debi (debster913)
 
Hey Katy

Hey Katy

I don't expect this to be of interest to too many people, but I am almost positive that Otto Jesperson, a classic authority on English grammar felt there was a grammatical rule to describe the difference. I believe the British comfortably say "I go to university", or "I go to hospital".

At one time I had a serious interest in language acquisition-Noam Chomsky, the whole bit. Grammar is a big part of that field. Even the most "ungrammatical" among us demonstrates an amazing knowledge of thousands of rules. To this day, I don't believe any theory of the human mind can account for the tremendously difficult task of language acquisition. (And a big part of that consists of grammatical rules).

This is all especially relevant to me while I am in Puerto Rico with Ellie, our two year old grand-daughter. She is right in the middle of learning Spanish and English at the same time. It is fascinating.
 
The majesty of grammer:

The majesty of grammer:

I suspect I may be in a small minority, but I love discussions about grammar. Grammar is as important to our intellectual/emotional life as the wheel is to our systems of transportation. I have no particular argument with those who push for correct grammar. But I think we should always remember that everybody who can speak or write intelligibly has scored at least a 998 out of a 1,000. The types of grammatical issues we usually talk about involve the last two points of a 1,000 point scale.
 
Three brief comments, if I may:

1. No offence meant by this tread.

2. I would be the very first to admit that I often make grammatical & spelling errors, especially when posting on a blog.

3. I don't believe that there are any commas missing in my original post.

4. I started this thread not to attack anybody (we ALL make mistakes, see no. 2, above), but to point out a couple of common errors.

5. For future refrence, it is apporpriate to abbreviate "et cetera" as "etc" not as "ect." Whether you have many years of formal education or you are self-taught, a little new knowledge is a wonderful thing.

6. No offence meant by this thread... :)

I've got to get going to hospital, I don't hear my valve clicking OR ticking. ;)
 
The topic of spelling is interesting.....
How is it that national champion spellers are all younger and with less years of schooling than us oldies?
Many brilliant people just can't get the knack of spelling, no big deal:)
 
Yeah, Mary-

I remember that battlefield from years ago. It was HORRIBLE! And a few people left over it, I think the one who started it left. That person was very concerned about correctness of many things, including spelling and grammar, research and statistics, if I remember.

Lots of errors happen when people are typing too fast and not proofreading. I find myself transposing letters all the time.

I even misspelled my own husband's name in the header for the thread about his death. And I don't think I ever changed it.

People's minds are not on correct grammar when they are posting here. I do believe that Hank intervened at some point in that old, old thread, sort of telling us to be kind to one another and not too harsh in criticism of things that may be annoying, but are not the issues of Valvereplacement.com.
 
Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!

Even though Dorothy was warned of danger, she still undertook the journey!!

Mary said:
History:
A long time ago, maybe three years? :D , this forum debated a similarly well intentioned thread. I think it was labeled My Pet English Peeves or something innocuous.

Safety lesson:
The thread did not follow its avowed course to serve as a mild admonition to be precise with the English language. :eek:
The thread DID become a battlefield . . . pot shots were taken by even the most mild mannered poster!:eek:
My parting words of advice to those posting to this thread, "Be Careful Out There!" :p :p :p
Click to expand...
 
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