The fact that so many people don't know the difference between licence the noun and license the verb. As my dear old father never once said "There's only two kinds of people that have driving licenses, Americans and illiterates.". And then there's people who go on to compound their ignorance by referring to 'license plates'. This is the UK, we don't even have licence plates, we have number plates or registration plates.
Pat
that’s very interesting. I honestly never knew because the stupid autocorrect always wants me to write ‘license’ instead.
There, their, they’re. It’s not that difficult to get right and it makes a sentence into gibberish when you get them wrong.
Also, people who use bullshit phrases to sound clever. I work with a guy who says ‘quantum’ when he means number or amount. I think that he thinks it makes him sound like a technical guru.
There, their, they're. It's not that difficult to get right and it makes a sentence into gibberish when you get them wrong.
Also, people who use bullshit phrases to sound clever. I work with a guy who says 'quantum' when he means number or amount. I think that he thinks it makes him sound like a technical guru.
monkimark
I’ve been wanting to start a thread similar to this for some time after seeing so many “your/you’re” mistakes but didn’t want to offend anyone by pointing out the mistakes. Nevertheless, the biggest ones that irk me are pretty much all the ones that have already been mentioned:
"Could of" instead of "could have"
People not knowing any difference between "they're", "there" and "their"
Same with "you're" and "your"
Misuse of apostrophes (how hard can it be to remember that 's is possessive and s' is plural?)
I'm, personally, very surprised that so many native(!) English speakers don't know the grammar rules of their own language. Maybe it's because I managed to learn 4 languages and I have a knack for it...
The fact that so many people don't know the difference between licence the noun and license the verb.
Pat
Although "licence" is also a valid spelling for the verb in British English, so you can just avoid errors by always spelling it that way and never using the -se version.
But that does not works for “practise,” which is the only way to spell the verb in British English, with “practice” for the noun. But just to make it annoying, American English though allows “practice” as a valid spelling for the verb.
All of which notwithstanding that there is no such thing as correct use of English. Neither the U.K. nor U.S. have any sort of official language guardian as some cultures do. The OED and Webster’s Third New International Dictionary are taken as unofficial guides to the correct use of English, however correct English is governed by usage rather than prescription and this is how both dictionaries are compiled. So if enough people spell it the “wrong” way it will end up in the dictionary as being correct.
Basically what Serrisan said. So whenever anyone wants to claim that one form of English is correct and another is wrong, they really should specify in which year they think the language should be frozen and cease evolving. After all, a large number of those “wrong” Americanisms started out as being British English, but the language then changed in the U.K. due to the influence of a French-speaking aristocracy.
Personally I always spell words the -ize way, simply because it is what I chose at school (we were told both ways are correct) so grew up with. And if you want to be pedantic, the OED lists words that way too with the -ise version as an alternative. Yet most people wrongly call that an Americanism.
So my pet hate is British spell checkers which do not accept -ize spellings and pedants who also claim they are wrong. And, not that I use the word as it is not British English, I do not take any notice of anyone who says “burglarize” is stupid as that just shows they are being self-righteous and have no idea what they are talking about.
When people speak with an inflection? Everything that comes out of their mouth sounds like a question? When it isn't even close to one? I want to punch myself for typing that.
ORBNOXIOUS
Hey Sleeper - Either a) There is something in that, and you’re far more intellectual than I am, as I cannot see it, or b) You just plain messed up. Happy to bet it’s a).
Not strictly English language point but there’s a strange new fashion for using multiplication where people mean fractions. For example: “We paid five times less than the advertised price” used when someone might be explaining they paid £20 instead of £100; the correct terminology would be “We paid one fifth of the advertised price”.
I’ve seen this oxymoronic usage in mainstream broadsheet newspapers.
People pronouncing the letter H as haitch.
Longshanks
So you hate catholics, eh?
hogtrumpet
I must be being thick. What is the connection ?
Longshanks
It is because that is how Irish catholics and their descendants pronounce that letter (or it used to be) and they learned to mimic their teachers, who were often Catholic nuns or priests.I learned the difference growing up in Australia, educated at a mixture of secular private schools and Catholic private schools.
Can anyone give me a positive answer on this: “A historic event…”, as opposed to “An 'istoric event”. I think the former is incorrect, but have been told “it is the exception which proves the rule”. Really?
[quote]
Can anyone give me a positive answer on this: "A historic event...", as opposed to "An 'istoric event". I think the former is incorrect, but have been told "it is the exception which proves the rule". Really?
---
Aceman
[/quote]
Whether a or an will follow how you pronounce Historic. If you drop your 'h's then it's 'an', but pronounce them, and it's an 'a'.
If writing, I'd think both were fine tbh. Unless you are an accent Nazi as well a grammar Nazi, in which case it's defo 'a Historic' :-)
bluelagos
I should have been more specific in my question, as I was asking about pronounced English. Surely in written English we can only write "A historic event" but it may be read as "An 'istoric event", which I think is incorrect, but easily understood.
