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Their, There, and They're (1 Viewer)

Christ Reynolds

Senior HTF Member
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May 6, 2002
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CJ
i cant stand when an apostrophe is used when something is plural. "this dealership has 50 car's". and i think it is funny that AOL's 'catch phrase' "you've got mail" is grammatically incorrect. they are basically saying 'you have got mail'. it may sound silly, but it makes more sense to say you've mail, if you wanted to use you've. or how about this.....you have mail? i dont think this is very difficult. but then again, i dont work for AOL :)

CJ
 

Dave Gorman

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jul 22, 1999
Messages
538
i cant stand when an apostrophe is used when something is plural
Agreed. And I find errors such as this to be most appalling when they are made by businesses in advertising material or signage. I saw a truck with its business sign on the doors and back with "tree removal" spelled "tree removeal". There is an auto shop in the area with a sign listing some of its services and "exhaust" is spelled "exast".
 

cafink

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 19, 1999
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3,044
Real Name
Carl Fink
i cant stand when an apostrophe is used when something is plural. "this dealership has 50 car's". and i think it is funny that AOL's 'catch phrase' "you've got mail" is grammatically incorrect. they are basically saying 'you have got mail'. it may sound silly, but it makes more sense to say you've mail, if you wanted to use you've. or how about this.....you have mail? i dont think this is very difficult. but then again, i dont work for AOL
 

Joe Wong

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 8, 1999
Messages
2,663
My pet peeve is "off of", as in "I jumped off of the table."

The best way I explain to my wife (who uses "off of" often) that it sounds wrong (and she did English in college!) is to use the opposite of "off" in the sentence... "I jumped on of the table" sounds very wrong to me...:)

Joe
 

Carl Johnson

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 6, 1999
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Carl III
Off of sounds odd but I don't think that it is improper. The opposite would be on to rather than on of. You'd never consider saying I jumped off to the table would you? :)
 

John Watson

Screenwriter
Joined
Jul 14, 2002
Messages
1,936
A propos of almost anything about language use and abuse, as WC Fields would say, "Pardon my redundancy"

:D
 

KerryK

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Mar 3, 2003
Messages
214
My latest pet peeve is mixing up weary and wary. As in, "I was weary of eating that mouldy cheese." Weary means tired, not cautious.

A really anal thing that bugs me is the use of the superlative to compare two things. For example, we walk on the sunnier side of the street, not the sunniest side, because there are only two sides of the street. I know this is stupid and I should get over it, but it really bugs me.

And don't get me started on, "she is taller than me." :angry:
 

Bill Kane

Screenwriter
Joined
Feb 5, 2001
Messages
1,359
Michael,

I'm old school, too, and my ears object to the populace now saying,

"people that read these forums..." instead of "people WHO read..."

I learned that refers to inanimate objects while who is used for people or sentient folks.

But the current usage of "people that..." now appears irreversible.
 

Christ Reynolds

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 6, 2002
Messages
3,597
Real Name
CJ
It is futile to protest that "near miss" should be "near collision." This expression is a condensed version of something like "a miss that came very near to being a collision" and is similar to "narrow escape." Everyone knows what is meant by it and almost everyone uses it. It should be noted that the expression can also be used in the sense of almost succeeding in striking a desired target: "His Cointreau soufflé was a near miss."
forgive me if i dont hold too much faith in this website after i read this. "everyone knows what it means and everyone uses it" is the reason why this isnt an error in our language. maybe it isnt an error, but i'll need more evidence than that.

CJ
 

rin

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Oct 24, 1999
Messages
233
I would like too give some advise too all the people that have contributed too this thread. Your to harsh! Don't loose you're mind over a little thing like this. Their is no reason for you too get all uptight about some people cuz there English isn't better then your's.:D
 

Christopher P

Supporting Actor
Joined
Dec 28, 1998
Messages
564
I can't understand why people say ACROSSED/ACROST when they mean ACROSS.

The baby threw his toys acrost the room

I don't recall that word ever having a "T" in it.

Chris
 

Ted Lee

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 8, 2001
Messages
8,390
i'm all about "irregardless" - that one drives me nuts.

from dictionary.com
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.
by the way, what's the rule for using punctuation marks next to quotes? i think i was taught they always go to the left of the quote mark? as in

ted said, "what is your name?"
 

John Watson

Screenwriter
Joined
Jul 14, 2002
Messages
1,936
Michael Reuben : Are you insinuating, intimating, hinting, tacitly suggesting, or meaning that anyone could possibly be confused about the differences between infer, assume, conclude, construe, deduce, derive, extract, extrapolate, gather, presume, surmise or understand, and imply?

I just love dipping into my Thesaurus!

rin - couldnta sed it betterer!!!


PS I don't suppose anyone here remembers the lyrics to US BONDs' "Dear Lady Twist" ? :

"Get up off of your chair, Dear Dear Lady"

Ya gotta love rock'n roll syntax!


:D
 

Joe Wong

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 8, 1999
Messages
2,663
Carl,

I know where you're coming from, but I wouldn't need to have the "to" in "I jumped on to the table"... as "off" or "on" already implies position. Therefore I don't need to say "I jumped off to the table" as the opposite.

Or am I wrong??? :)

Joe
 

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