NationStates Jolt Archive

Being unable to avoid talking about one of my pet peeves, I hereby submit this guideline for use of certain words:

"They, their, they're"
... "They" refers to a group of people, viz. "They really ticked off the mods this time!"
... "Their" refers to a group of people who possess something, viz. "Their posts made no sense at all."
... "They're" is a contraction of "they are" and refers to something a group is, viz. "They're a bunch of raving lunatics!"

"Its, it's"
... "Its" indicates posession or description, viz. "I saw its new coat of paint."
... "It's" is a contraction of "it is" and explains what something is, viz. "It's a new thread."

Got any you'd care to share?

Your and You're.

Your= Your toy.
You're= You're (You are) a fool.

w00t! finally! misuse of the apostrophe is something that really bugs me!

join the Apostrophe Protection Society!! http://www.apostrophe.fsnet.co.uk/

http://members.rogers.com/zeppo_marx2/images/spelling.gif

Hi! my name is Zep, and I have been known from time to time to press "Submit Reply" without proofreading first....

Their is no point in this thread. :) People doing that gets on my nerves too. I've seen their/there switches even in professional publications.

My pet peeve is people speaking with no respect for euphony.. it doesn't matter online, but in the world, it's essential.

My pet peeve is people speaking with no respect for euphony.. it doesn't matter online, but in the world, it's essential.

Some people are incapable of euphony; they just don't have the voice for it. :headbang:

http://members.rogers.com/zeppo_marx2/images/spelling.gif

Hi! my name is Zep, and I have been known from time to time to press "Submit Reply" without proofreading first....

ICK! :rolleyes:

I wrote a poem about this a couple of years back, when I discovered super happy 8-beat rhythm. Let's see if I can dig it up...

...

The diff'rence between its and it's
Sends many people quite to bits
Their and there are 'like enough
To make their usage fairly rough
That is, apparently, at least
And they're is just as strange a beast
A curse that hounds the human race
Possessives in a plural's place,
It permeates the internet
Where people who can't spell, well met
Type jibberish at one another
Ignore spellcheckers, never bother
To check their use of to or too
(that's something you should always do)
And before they hit the 'post it' link
I wish they'd use their brains and think
That maybe we would rather not
Wade slowly through their waist-high rot

Every time I reread it I want to add in a line mentioning 'two', because people abuse the crap out of that too. Silly people.

And yes, I know a few lines are actually 7 or 9 beats instead of 8 - shut up, I don't give a toss.

I wrote a poem about this a couple of years back, when I discovered super happy 8-beat rhythm. Let's see if I can dig it up...

...

The diff'rence between its and it's
Sends many people quite to bits
Their and there are 'like enough
To make their usage fairly rough
That is, apparently, at least
And they're is just as strange a beast
A curse that hounds the human race
Possessives in a plural's place,
It permeates the internet
Where people who can't spell, well met
Type jibberish at one another
Ignore spellcheckers, never bother
To check their use of to or too
(that's something you should always do)
And before they hit the 'post it' link
I wish they'd use their brains and think
That maybe we would rather not
Wade slowly through their waist-high rot

Every time I reread it I want to add in a line mentioning 'two', because people abuse the crap out of that too. Silly people.

And yes, I know a few lines are actually 7 or 9 beats instead of 8 - shut up, I don't give a toss.

Hey ... KEWL! I like it! :D

'A man was shot in the street yesterday.'
Where exactly do we hide our street? Is it near your arm? Or was the news reader lazy and meant to say 'Yesterday, in the street, a man was shot.'?

Hey ... KEWL! I like it! :D

Yeah it's awesome. That should be famous. :p

Effect and Affect get my goat. ;)

'A man was shot in the street yesterday.'
Where exactly do we hide our street? Is it near your arm? Or was the news reader lazy and meant to say 'Yesterday, in the street, a man was shot.'?

Real Headline: "Woman shot in lovers' nest; Bullet in her yet!"

Um ... exactly where on a woman's body is her "yet?" :D

'A man was shot in the street yesterday.'
Where exactly do we hide our street? Is it near your arm? Or was the news reader lazy and meant to say 'Yesterday, in the street, a man was shot.'?The first one sounds a lot better than the second one.

Effect and Affect get my goat. ;)

That's one of the more difficult ones to get right. "What is the effect of putting soap on the toilet seat?" "Does it affect your ass?" :D

That's one of the more difficult ones to get right. "What is the effect of putting soap on the toilet seat?" "Does it affect your ass?" :D

Poor donkey, how'd he get into it? Unless he sat on the toilet?! :p



Seeing words misused is just so aggravating. No, wait, it's not. It's irritating.
;) People misuse aggravate as well -- what it means is to cause a pre-existing condition to become worse.

Poor donkey, how'd he get into it? Unless he sat on the toilet?! :p



Seeing words misused is just so aggravating. No, wait, it's not. It's irritating.
;) People misuse aggravate as well -- what it means is to cause a pre-existing condition to become worse.

Oh. You mean like "exacerbate?" :D

Yeah it's awesome. That should be famous. :p

If only I had an excuse to post my omg-communism-good-democracy-bad poem... or the one about teenage girls...

Stupid rules against spam :mad:

I kid, I kid

Being unable to avoid talking about one of my pet peeves, I hereby submit this guideline for use of certain words:

"They, their, they're"
... "They" refers to a group of people, viz. "They really ticked off the mods this time!"
... "Their" refers to a group of people who possess something, viz. "Their posts made no sense at all."
... "They're" is a contraction of "they are" and refers to something a group is, viz. "They're a bunch of raving lunatics!"

"Its, it's"
... "Its" indicates posession or description, viz. "I saw its new coat of paint."
... "It's" is a contraction of "it is" and explains what something is, viz. "It's a new thread."

Got any you'd care to share?


Well, I've actually met people who are certified by Sun as Java and J2EE experts who can't tell the difference between final, finally, and finalize.

The other day, I managed to type "know" when I meant "no". Don't ask me why, I guess I was just really fond of k's and w's that day.

If only I had an excuse to post my omg-communism-good-democracy-bad poem... or the one about teenage girls...

Stupid rules against spam :mad:

I kid, I kid

Post them, they rule. I can prove that it's not just my idle flattery then :)

This one really gets to me, too. But not as much as 'your' seemingly being an acceptable replacement for 'you're'. Drives me to distraction.

Post them, they rule. I can prove that it's not just my idle flattery then :)

They're uber-off-topic though... and the communist-esque one is too long for people to scroll past without being annoyed.

I'll just wait until some poor, misguided soul starts a poetry thread.

They're uber-off-topic though... and the communist-esque one is too long for people to scroll past without being annoyed.

I'll just wait until some poor, misguided soul starts a poetry thread.

That's what I meant, start one yourself. :p

They're uber-off-topic though... and the communist-esque one is too long for people to scroll past without being annoyed.

I'll just wait until some poor, misguided soul starts a poetry thread.

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=8143349#post8143349 ;)

There, Their, and They're are what drive me nuts.

When I come across a sentence reading something like, "There still angry at me." my blood starts to boil.

Worse is "Its over They're"

Argh! The one that annoys me most is the misuse of the word "less". I always hear people saying "there are less people", "there are less cars" but that's wrong! You can say "there's less butter" because that's one solid mass; but when you refer to things that can individually counted, like people, you say "fewer".

"there are fewer people" NOT "there are less people"
"there is less butter" NOT "there is fewer butter"!! :headbang:

Grrmuch!

I dislike it when people are at war with grammar, or correct spelling. I don't mind the odd typo, and my grammar is not perfect, but when people refuse to acknowledge their existence... especially full stops. It makes a sentence seem incomplete without a full stop.

On the variant spellings, I very occasionally get the their/they're wrong, but I tend to notice it and change it, or edit it if I'm too late. It's more just to do with the way I type, than anything else.


Other than that, I'm quite forgiving when it comes to inadequate spelling, mainly because it doesn't overly bother me.

Well, I've actually met people who are certified by Sun as Java and J2EE experts who can't tell the difference between final, finally, and finalize.
You mean finalise. ;)

I dislike immensely the exageration used in media reports. How often do we hear: "The whole town is in shock"?
Well, no it isn't. Many are most likely stunned and upset, a few genuinely afraid about whatever incident's being reported, but to say an entire population have gone into shock is asinine. Shock is medically defined as "a severe condition that occurs when not enough blood flows through the body, causing very low blood pressure, a lack of urine, and cell and tissue damage."
Really, is the entire town needing to have this done to them:
http://health.allrefer.com/health/shock-shock.html
I don't think so.

Other than sounding pedantic, I think it also reduces the strength and power of these emotive words, and when something truly shocking happens (the Asian Tsunami for e.g.), we no longer have words powerful enough to convey the true horror of what has happened. As a result, there's the very real chance that we, as the general public, will (or have) become immune or indifferent to large scale tragedies when they do occur.


Though I don't mind split infinitives. To Boldly go sounds so much cooler than To go Boldly.

worse/worst (and better/best)

worse - used when comparing two things (and only two things)
(Tom is WORSE than Jerry at catching mice)

worst - used when comparing more than two things
(Gregory is the WORST of the bunch)

----------------

irregardless -- not a proper word. It's mainly used when people are meaning to say, "regardless".

----------------

the apostrophization of non-possessive plural words:

examples:

I love Saturday's. (correct: I love Saturdays OR SIMPLY I love Saturday)

You bitches are ho's. (correct: You bitches are hos)

I love the 80's. (correct: I love the eighties OR 80s OR '80s)

APOSTROPHES ARE ONLY USED TO:
1)Show possession (The dog's bone is meaty... the dogs' bones are meaty)
2)Take the place of a letter or letters in a word (I can't go anywhere... to be cont'd.)

and that's it.

------------------

Wrong: Orientated
Correct: Oriented

Wrong: Empathetic
Correct: Empathic (should be anyway... since the noun is not "empathety")

------------------

stuff like that. hehe

Though I don't mind split infinitives. To Boldly go sounds so much cooler than To go Boldly.

One of the episodes I really liked of Absolutely Fabulous had Saffy and her geek friends talking about Star Trek, and their attempt to say the famous line "to boldly go".

Constrained by their intellect, I suppose, they couldn't get the line out without fixing it - over and over again.

I hate it when people mix up to, too, and two.
That's one of my grammar pet peeves.

Wrong: Orientated
Correct: Oriented


Either is correct.

So, in summary....

Two many people hear think that they're complaints will cause less grammatical errors being seen on the board - irregardless of the number of times this has been brought up before.

I no that there well-meaning, and I know to that the worst it get's the more its bugging them.

So too everyone who'se grammar is worse than perfect, please no the affect you are having on they're poor delicate psyches, and try to watch you're spelling and grammer more carefully to spare them there mental anguish.



There - Did that cover it?

So, in summary....

Two many people hear think that they're complaints will cause less grammatical errors being seen on the board - irregardless of the number of times this has been brought up before.

I no that there well-meaning, and I know to that the worst it get's the more its bugging them.

So too everyone who'se grammar is worse than perfect, please no the affect you are having on they're poor delicate psyches, and try to watch you're spelling and grammer more carefully to spare them there mental anguish.



There - Did that cover it?

LOL......

Wrong: Empathetic
Correct: Empathic (should be anyway... since the noun is not "empathety")

------------------

stuff like that. hehe


neither of these are incorrect.

So, in summary....

Two many people hear think that they're complaints will cause less grammatical errors being seen on the board - irregardless of the number of times this has been brought up before.

I no that there well-meaning, and I know to that the worst it get's the more its bugging them.

So too everyone who'se grammar is worse than perfect, please no the affect you are having on they're poor delicate psyches, and try to watch you're spelling and grammer more carefully to spare them there mental anguish.



There - Did that cover it?


Hahaha :D

So, in summary....

Two many people hear think that they're complaints will cause less grammatical errors being seen on the board - irregardless of the number of times this has been brought up before.

I no that there well-meaning, and I know to that the worst it get's the more its bugging them.

So too everyone who'se grammar is worse than perfect, please no the affect you are having on they're poor delicate psyches, and try to watch you're spelling and grammer more carefully to spare them there mental anguish.


There - Did that cover it?

Irregardless is not a word.

=)

Irregardless is not a word.

=)

I'm not sure if you're joking or simply missed his point :)

Although...

[Probably blend of irrespective, and regardless.]
Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.

Irregardless is not a word.

=)


And if you were to two examinate post 31, you might conclude that I no that already... it's at the top of this page.

People using adjectives when they should be using adverbs. This is real annoying.

There - Did that cover it?
I believe you mean "their".

Either is correct.

Maybe, but the "-at" in "orientated" is unnecessary.

I get bugged the most by people mixing up "then" and "than."

"Than" compares amounts, "then" denotes time.

I drove faster than you, therefore, I got there first, and then you got there afterwards.

Like "orientated" I can't stand when people say "observate" or "conversate."

Also when people say "state" to mean "said" in everyday conversation. "I stated to you that I want the orange one." ngghhh!

Then / Than.


I see this one EVERYWHERE.

D'oh! Someone beat me to it!

Wrong: Empathetic
Correct: Empathic (should be anyway... since the noun is not "empathety")

------------------

stuff like that. hehe

Wellll .... actually, "empathic" is the quality of being able to have empathy. EG: "She has great empathic skills."

"Empathetic" is what you are being when you practice empathy. EG: "She was very empathetic when he broke down and began to cry."

Not quite on this exact topic, but people misspelling definitely. It happens ALL THE TIME.
DEFINATELY? NO. DEFINITELY.

I hate it when people use an apostrophe for plurality. Sign on business where I live :

Chicken, Rib's, and More


There should be a law.

Don't forget that there are many people on here that do not have English as their mother-tongue.

So, please don't always criticise our English. I for one certainly try to maintain a high-standard of English when I write in it, but I'm sure I make mistakes quite often because it's my second language.

Don't forget that there are many people on here that do not have English as their mother-tongue.

So, please don't always criticise our English. I for one certainly try to maintain a high-standard of English when I write in it, but I'm sure I make mistakes quite often because it's my second language.

It's my third language, and (online) I have had to correct native speakers very often ... pretty sad actually, especially when they try to ignore it by saying it's slang

It's my third language, and (online) I have had to correct native speakers very often ... pretty sad actually, especially when they try to ignore it by saying it's slang

Yes, I do know what you mean. Sometimes I find slang difficult to understand.

But then, this is an online message forum, so I don't really think it's meant to be a grammar and spelling competition. Of course, I don't mean I'd like to see it degenerate into SMS speak, but I think generally most people on here post in comprehensible English.

Yes, I do know what you mean. Sometimes I find slang difficult to understand.

But then, this is an online message forum, so I don't really think it's meant to be a grammar and spelling competition. Of course, I don't mean I'd like to see it degenerate into SMS speak, but I think generally most people on here post in comprehensible English.
yeah, here I rarely correct people, because either the entire post is misspelled, and I'm not going to spend an afternoon making it readable, or it's just a minor thing ... only things I really get nitpicky((I actually don't know if there is a correct spelling for this word :p )) about is when people use 'I could care less' or when they misspell expressions borrowed from French