I am awful about critiquing writing I see everywhere, from blogs to actual websites, from email to snail mail, from cereal boxes to children's books. Anything that is meant to be professional is critiqued more harshly, but I still have issues with basic grammar, spelling, and punctuation found in casual writing. The only two media that ever really escape critiquing from me are instant messages and text messages. It's pathetic of me, I know, but I seriously can't help myself. I don't understand how it can be so difficult for people to know the basics, or to let spell check work for them. I understand spell check won't catch words like
your and
you're, but it will catch many other mistakes.
Of course, this isn't to say I'm perfect when it comes to my
grammar, spelling, or punctuation. I know I make mistakes, some of which I'm sure I'll never catch. I have no problem with someone pointing out my mistakes, and wish more people would. I know a lot of my attitude about basic writing skills stems from teaching it for so long. Sadly, I've made mistakes while teaching (big mistakes, like teaching "it's" and "its" incorrectly!) and I'm probably overly cautious now because of this.
I know I have several complaints about various abuses that annoy me to no end, but my major annoyances are listed below:
- imput - This word does not exist. The correct word is input.
- should of - This includes might of, could of, and others. The second word is not of, it's have.
- all the sudden - I know this is an idiom and I'm sure this usage is most likely regional, but I simply can not accept all the sudden as being correct. This is more personal preference than anything. The only thing that sounds right to me is all of a sudden.
- they're, there, and their - I am amazed at how many people honestly don't know the difference between the three. I understand honest mistakes (I've made plenty myself), but some people just don't know it.
- they're - contraction of they are
- there - not here but over there (shows location)
- their - belonging to them
- whose, who's - This one always makes me stop and think, so I understand how someone might make a mistake with these two words.
- whose - belonging to someone
- who's - contraction of who is or who has
- it's, its - I know this one very well, especially after teaching it incorrectly to a group of third graders years ago.
- it's - contraction of it is or it has
- its - belonging to it
- who vs. that - I make this mistake more when I'm tired than any other time and sometimes I miss it when proofing. Who refers to people while that refers to things or groups. I know I'm being vague, so here is an example:
- correct: "I am a mother who does not work outside the home."
- incorrect: "I am a mother that does not work outside the home."
- who vs. whom - I make mistakes with this all the time as well. I was taught a neat trick years ago that helps, though. If it is possible to replace the word with him, then the correct word is whom. I'm not entirely positive this works in all situations, but from what I can tell, it does.
- wierd - Plainly put, weird is not spelled wierd.
- alot - This really is two words (a lot), not one.
- good vs. well - Good is an adjective (and a poor one at that). Well is an adverb.
- correct: I am well. My dog eats well. The dinner was good.
- incorrect: I am good (while it might work, it does not mean the same thing). My dog eats good. The dinner was well.
- ect - I assume when people type ect they mean et cetera (etc.).
- misuse or abuse of punctuation - Commas and apostrophes are the two most abused punctuation marks in my experience. Some people feel the need to use more of both of these marks than necessary.
- ending sentences with prepositions - I make this mistake a lot, especially when I'm speaking. I think this might be partially due to region. It's easy to confuse prepositions with phrasal verbs, but a sentence typically does not end with a preposition.
- correct: "Where are my keys?"
- incorrect: "Where are my keys at?"
Useful links:
The purpose of this post is not to offend. I understand that personal blogs can be just quick journal entries and don't necessarily need to be proofread. My biggest gripe is with anything professional that allows poor grammar, spelling, and/or punctuation. This post was prompted by a poorly written children's book in Sophie's collection. I really need to remember to contact the publisher of this book since this is how children wind up learning poor habits.