With spell-check, auto-correct, and auto-fill, it's easier than ever to make mistakes in writing (these cause more errors than they fix, IMO). There are times I swear I've typed the word I wanted to use, yet when I go back and proofread it, it's wrong. I think the auto-fill gremlin changed it! Had I not checked, I would've submitted the report with a blatant grammar, spelling, or punctuation error. Or more than one. Or several. Some of which I've caused myself, without needing help from my computer.

I've seen many comments here calling out grammar errors that drive people crazy. Is anyone up for listing, in one thread, mistakes their phones or spell-check make, or things they just see on a daily basis that set their teeth on edge? I think being aware of common errors makes us more conscious when we write and proof our reports. And makes us better shoppers. Such as the all-too-common "you/your" error. It's so easy to leave off that "r" when typing....

Then there's their/there/they're, its/it's, than/then, etc. And "defiantly" instead of "definitely." Defiantly an auto-fill issue....

Might be fun to see what people's phones, for example, have changed words to. And a good reminder to all of us of things we might typically overlook or forget about.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2015 03:44PM by BirdyC.

Great idea, Birdy!

I've got one grammar issue that I have all the time:

Effect vs. Affect. I have been struggling with this for years. I literally have a post it note on my monitor right now that says "Affect - Verb. To Influence ; Effect - Noun. A Result". But, somehow, when I'm mid-sentence it still takes an embarrassingly long time to figure out which one I need. If the sentence is too complex to easily parse the part of speech that I need, I'll rework the whole sentence to avoid using it! I'm an OK writer, but this is my kryptonite. Anyone have any tips for me?

As far as pet peeves, I don't really have any. I think (especially on internet forums) I give people the benefit of the doubt and chalk a lot of typos and wrong word issues to auto correct. The only time I get annoyed is when the sentence is so choppy or misspelled that I have trouble figuring out what the poster was trying to say. Then I get grumpy: why is that person wasting my time with this nonsense?! I can see why the editors must be annoyed with us. Some of the posts on this site make me think my reports are some of the best they see. Then there are other posts that make me think mine are among the worst.

An issue that I personally have is with commas. I love them. Sometimes too much and sometimes not enough. Usually, I rely on the free version of Grammarly to keep me from messing up too bad.
My issue with other people's grammar issues: I see so many posts, not on here, that folks won't use a simple period. I just can't handle it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2015 04:22PM by sillysister74.

As an English teacher, I am doing my best to get my students' grammar and spelling up to par for their adult lives. But it saddens me everyday when I introduce a targeted skill for our journal which deals with one of the most common errors they all seem to commit. So many tell me they never were taught that "a lot" was TWO words and will even argue with me that autocorrect in their phones lets them use "gonna," "wanna," and "kinda."
I can only do so much! (I know when typing here, I make common mistakes. They embarrass me every time, yet me students don't make judgements or care simply because they probably do not even see the mistakes themselves, or "themselfs" as they often like to write!).
Oh, and one of the ones I have tried correcting for them, which gets me every time, is "should of, could of, and would of." Ahhhhh!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2015 05:39PM by ShopSouthTexas.

Other than the Grammerly browser plug in, here is a free one with a 550,000 word synonyms thesaurus to help your report when you read it and see you used the same adjective in the last four narratives.

Provided from Dictionary.com.

Firefox:
[addons.mozilla.org]

Chrome browser:
[chrome.google.com]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2015 06:03PM by scanman1.

Having two teenagers in my house, I am constantly concerned about their writing skills. I believe that the ability to write (and communicate) well is one of the most important skills to have in business and in life! I get concerned with the grossly informal writing that has largely crept into society since the advent of texting and the Internet. When I talk with them about the informal nature of their writing, they both tell me I'm a dinosaur and that everyone writes this way....

I don't consider posting to an Internet forum to be formal in any way. As such, I don't worry too much about making mistakes in my postings. No one is paying me to write these posts...lol! I also overlook other people's mistakes on an Internet forum. We come here to relax, unwind, and let our hair down...the last thing I want is someone criticing my writing warts...JMHO

I HATE, hate, hate the "would of, could of, should of" error. If people would read, they'd realize how wrong this is.

CallGirl, the "effect/affect" issue affects a lot of people! But, actually, grammar guides are wrong when they tell you that affect is always a verb and effect always a noun. (But I won't even get into that--LOL!) I think the best way to learn is to just keep looking it up when you're not sure which one to use. Soon it will be second nature.

A lot of people make the everyday error of using "alot," when that's not even a word!

I've been a professional writer for more than 30 years, and I make mistakes. I use the dictionary, thesaurus, and style guide every day. I don't understand why people don't look anything up. There's no excuse these days. Not when looking things up is easier than ever. I guess most people just don't care and/or don't know that they don't know.

Sillysister, I adore commas! I try to use them correctly and judiciously, but I admit to continuing to use them, for example, after short introductory clauses. Which isn't wrong, but the custom is outdated. I'm trying to eliminate them unless the sentence makes more sense with than without. But I find that people don't use them enough these days, or stick them where they don't belong. I'm not sure what things schools are teaching, but proper comma usage must not be one of them!

@scanman1 wrote:

Other than the Grammerly browser plug in, here is a free one with a 550,000 word synonyms thesaurus to help your report when you read it and see you used the same adjective in the last four narratives.

Provided from Dictionary.com.

Firefox:
[addons.mozilla.org]

Chrome browser:
[chrome.google.com]

A thesaurus is a must when writing reports! As tired as we get of writing the same word, imagine how tired editors must get of reading it!

I have an issue with not using quotation marks and other characters. It takes up to many characters then I end up reaching my max, never fails. So I don't use them and suffer the consequence from the editors. I might try that Grammerly you all are talking about.

I think my biggest pet peeve is when people use apostrophes to form plurals (the cases in which one can legitimately do that can be counted on the fingers of one hand) and leave them out of possessives. This is rampant on the internet! I don't understand why this happens. Related to that, and just as craze inducing, is the its/it's mix-up.

@BirdyC wrote:

I think my biggest pet peeve is when people use apostrophes to form plurals (the cases in which one can legitimately do that can be counted on the fingers of one hand) and leave them out of possessives. This is rampant on the internet! I don't understand why this happens. Related to that, and just as craze inducing, is the its/it's mix-up.

I ran into that issue today. Is it stores' or just stores when I am speaking about the plural possessive sense?

@sillysister74 wrote:

@BirdyC wrote:

I think my biggest pet peeve is when people use apostrophes to form plurals (the cases in which one can legitimately do that can be counted on the fingers of one hand) and leave them out of possessives. This is rampant on the internet! I don't understand why this happens. Related to that, and just as craze inducing, is the its/it's mix-up.

I ran into that issue today. Is it stores' or just stores when I am speaking about the plural possessive sense?

In some stores, the stores' security devices often capture our shopping, merchandising, and auditing behavior.

In that posh store, the store's detectives are more glamorous than Princess Kate.

Hmm... The stores are redundant but their presence is instructive.

*excuses self to conduct a quick language review*

The plural possessive of stores is stores': In the mall, the stores' signs have to be large to be seen.

Singular possessive is store's: The shoe store's sign is hard to see.

I think using a word in context to figure out what form of it is correct is probably the easiest way to get it right! That's probably why I talk to myself all the time.

Exhausting having to mentally correct grammar when I'm supposed to be listening to someone's story. Along with the other issues raised here, I would add "The dog belongs to Jim and I." Sometimes I even hear "Jim and I's dog". Do they no long teach the rule of trying the sentence without the extra person to confirm the choice of "I" vs. "me"?

*Flinches at all the land mines in that last sentence.*
* Awaits grammar police's arrival.*

@Threemom wrote:

Exhausting having to mentally correct grammar when I'm supposed to be listening to someone's story. Along with the other issues raised here, I would add "The dog belongs to Jim and I." Sometimes I even hear "Jim and I's dog". Do they no long teach the rule of trying the sentence without the extra person to confirm the choice of "I" vs. "me"?

*Flinches at all the land mines in that last sentence.*
* Awaits grammar police's arrival.*

OMG--that's another of my pet peeves (oh, I have so many....). They must not teach in school any longer how to figure out when to use "I" and "me." I'll bet most of us were taught to remove the other person and then say the sentence.

Add to that the annoying habit people have of putting the first-person pronoun first instead of last. Grrrr....

Threemom, I'm guessing you proofread the newspaper while you read it. I do, and that's why I stopped subscribing to it. It was driving me around the bend.

Well, this isn't related to mystery shopping, but....

For some reason, my phone's auto-correct keeps changing a certain swear word to duck no matter how many times I program the former word into the AI.

Yes! Books too. It's a sickness- I need help!

I am much more forgiving of the spoken word though. I frequently find my mind detours mid-sentence and the end has little to do with what I started out to say.

Commas are often a style choice, and I'm annoyed when someone not yet out of college corrects mine.

Pet Peeves:
Then when it should be than -- "more then five"
It's when it should be its. It's = it is. His, hers, its not hi's, her's, it's

My pet peeves are:

There, their, and they're.

Also, I've never seen it typed out, but my husband says "alls." For example: "Alls you have to do is..."
It makes me twitch.

It really drives me crazy when someone says they are family "orientated". The other one that gets me is when someone writes that they need "advise" about something. Don't even get me started!

There is an hilarious site that shows examples of how cell phones' auto-correct features changed wording. Just google it.

Or is that "a" hilarious site?....

What drives me crazy is when people mess up "I" versus "me." Example: "Me and Steve went to Red Robin for lunch" instead of "Steve and I went to Red Robin for lunch."

Another one: when people say "I could care less." No, it's "I couldn't care less."

I am trying to not split infinitives. I mean, I am trying not to split infinitives.

It's hard for me to type on my phone. I am always hitting the wrong key and having to backspace and correct. But, for me what's even worse than all the mistakes I see over and over online (like breath/breathe, affect/effect, its/it's, lose/loose etc.) is that the repeated exposure is making me lose track of the correct spelling myself. Sometimes I've seen it wrong so many times that I just pass over the incorrect usage.

@Threemom wrote:

Exhausting having to mentally correct grammar when I'm supposed to be listening to someone's story. Along with the other issues raised here, I would add "The dog belongs to Jim and I." Sometimes I even hear "Jim and I's dog". Do they no long teach the rule of trying the sentence without the extra person to confirm the choice of "I" vs. "me"?

*Flinches at all the land mines in that last sentence.*
* Awaits grammar police's arrival.*

Oh my goodness, okay, so I have taught some low students recently and when I teach them how to decipher when to use "me" and "I" THEY tell me that it doesn't sound right to ever say "me." I want to smack my hand on my forehead! These are the students who can't pass standardized tests telling me what doesn't sound correct. They will say "My mom and my's house" though and that apparently sounds great! Ugh!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2015 03:07AM by ShopSouthTexas.

Another great one "For Sell" instead of "For Sale!"

@ShopSouthTexas wrote:

Another great one "For Sell" instead of "For Sale!"

I didn't even know this confusion existed until just a few months ago. I find it incredibly hard to believe it happens, but I know it does! But why?

BirdyC - I think people just hear what they hear and go from there. Social media means I now read what I used to only hear people say, such as the "would've, could've, should've" which DOES sound like "of" is being used, when said aloud. So now I see a lot of "up and Adam!" posts on social media... or "up and atom!" Do these even make sense when written this way?! Apparently not because it's rare when I see an actual "Up and at 'em!" post.

@BirdyC wrote:

@ShopSouthTexas wrote:

Another great one "For Sell" instead of "For Sale!"

I didn't even know this confusion existed until just a few months ago. I find it incredibly hard to believe it happens, but I know it does! But why?

I do not understand the confusion either, but I see "yard sell," "garage sell" and "for sell" typed or written on a regular basis in my area. And the worst one of all is, "I gots this here thing fur sell."

I am not sure what went wrong during their primary school education, but something was obviously lacking.

This is probably a regional thing, but I never heard it when I lived in New York. People here interchange the words "leave" and "let" quite often. Instead of "Just let it be.", you hear "Just leave it be." Instead of "Please leave a message.", you hear "Please let a message." It drives me crazy. I also hear "Would you like some of these ones?" or "those ones", instead of "Would you like some of these?" or "those". One other that drives me to distraction is people who put an ad in Craigslist to sell their "dinning suit" instead of "dining suite". Or how about people advertising "rod iron tables" instead of "wrought iron tables"? It's like fingernails on a blackboard.