English Corner

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Originally Posted by AmandaG

So, I actually have some questions. There are a few words that I avoid using, because I never managed to keep the rules straight. Lie and lay. Someone spell this out for me. I need a good mnemonic device or something, as the standard lesson doesn't seem to get retained.

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Amanda, you have no idea how many sentences I've restructured to avoid using those words incorrectly. :lol I'm usually a pretty big grammar freak, but there some things out there that just don't "stick", and that's one of them. :nod :lol Yeah, I learned it, yeah I've used it correctly before, but I've also sat there thinking, "hmmm...what is it again???"

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Originally Posted by greenie

Holy crap, I'm scared to post in this thread. :laugh

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Be ascared. Be very ascared. :laugh

I thought it was "ascairt"? ;)

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Originally Posted by GrammarGoddess

One of my other peeves, mostly related to business writing, is the use of "as per", which is incorrect. "Per" is correct and is short for "persuant to". I had a boss that insisted on using AS PER and I was just as insistant that he not. While I'm on a roll here, "with regards to" drives me nuts as well, when the correct usage is simply the word "regarding".

Ack, I might need therapy for this. Is it possible I manifest my inner obsessive-compulsions through correct grammar and spelling?

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Unfortunately "as per" is very common in business writing. Not only is it incorrect, as you suggested, but it's wordy and totally unnecessary to convey meaning. Why say "as per your request" when you could simply say "as you requested"? Business writing is supposed to be concise and as simple as possible, and the whole 'as per' usage defeats that purpose. I think that, more often than not, people use 'as per' to try and sound more important.

BTW, it's spelled "pursuant." :P

What irks me most is the fact that most people don't know the difference between "its" and "it's". It's not hard at all, and its usage is easy to remember! It's is a contraction, so if you replace it with "it is" you'll immediately see whether or not you're using it correctly. It all amounts to laziness!

Of course, you run into problems with posessive pronouns, Illustrious, but for that particular example, "it's" right.

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Originally Posted by Illustrious

BTW, it's spelled "pursuant." :P

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Heh heh...see? I told you, blessing and a curse. I type it wrong every single time, but in Word, I am automatically corrected. Autocorrect is a beautiful thing - but did you know that if you accidentally type "male boning" (as opposed to "male bonding"), MS Word does NOT read your mind and change that for you?

I have a souvenir wedding program to prove it. Yes, it was my own wedding, and no, I didn't catch the error until one of the best men involved in the alleged male boning pointed it out to me.

I don't deserve to be the Grammar Goddess anymore.

Sorry that it happened to you but I couldn't help but laugh. :laugh Well, if nothing else went wrong with your wedding you didn't do too bad.

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Originally Posted by hepcat

Sorry that it happened to you but I couldn't help but laugh. :laugh Well, if nothing else went wrong with your wedding you didn't do too bad.

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Nothing else went wrong - was just a little embarrassed to have that pointed out to me in the receiving line after 150 copies had been distributed. That, and we're not married anymore...but hey...was a heck of a fun party! :)

On a very local note, I notice this on the radio every morning. There is a street here in Denver called "Hampden", but everyone pronounces it "Hamden", without the "p". I've never figured out if they just don't see the "p", if they're too lazy to pronounce the "p" or if there's some history behind the pronunciation.

Hey, there's another pet peeve...pronunciation spelled "pronounciation" and mischievous spelled "mischievious".

I'm thinking about going out this weekend and trying to buy a life.

Have you ever heard English pronunciations of that kind of word? Like Derbyshire is Dar-bi-shur and Leicester is Lester, Shrewsbury comes out something like shrovesburrry. Birmingham is Burmeenum. So maybe Hamden is just imitating the Brits. :shrug

Since we're on the topic of not pronouncing letters, do you say the word "often" "off-en" or "Off-ten"?? And which way is right? Is there a right answer?

Oh and okay I know this will sound stupid but the word "Nuclear" is said "Nuke-leer" and not "Nuke-u-ler" right? Because I've heard a few people say it "Nuke-u-ler" okay maybe Homer Simpson was one of them :) Ugh.

One of my English Pet Peeves would be people who still can't tell the difference between "They're" "Their" and "There" Same with "Your" and "You're" :lol Seriously though! People in high school are still doing this! What is wrong with our English teachers.

Oooh thought of another thing (doesn't have anything to do with the English language) Okay so how come if we were all taught in elementary school to make our A's like this http://www.yandy.com/art/adobe-a.gif then how come some people do it this way? http://fonts.tom7.com/i/f/robot.gif (BTW, no idea why that says robot teacher.... I guess thats the name of the font?)
Thats just one of those things that confuses me.