Prepare for spelling skills to deteriorate even further! This past fall we received a letter from school that spelling lists would no longer be given, and spelling as a subject would no longer be tested. The children would learn to spell, "by using the words and learning general word structure." The thought behind this is that spelling tests add too much stress to the educational process.

It is months later and I am still upset. I know children are sponges, but "absorbing" spelling is expecting a bit much, isn't it?

One of the most famous TV tag lines is my grammar pet peeve. "To boldly go where no man has gone before." Split infinitive alert!

Hooray! Split infinitives! Can we talk about ending sentences with prepositions as well?

My grandfather was an English teacher, and liked the example: Why did you bring me this book to read out of for?

He also used to, in his later years, listen to the TV or radio news and mumble, "Off with his head" when he heard poor grammar. He was my hero!

As a teacher, I can't begin to describe how many educational theories are complete rubbish. I've decided that relying on the education system here in Australia to educate your children would be a big mistake.

now...im going to quickly get.....of the computer.....before i say anything else

Gah... gee whiz I want to scream! Just read a thread and wanted to be totally sarcastic with my answer, but decided to do it here, instead, where people really do care!.

you're, not u're
which one, not which 1
would, not wud
you, not u
should, not shud
your, not ur
see, not c
could, not cud
please, not plez

"Huge furniture sale!!!" always gets me. A sale of giant-sized furniture, or just a really large quantity of regular furniture..?!

In the same vein, don't you enjoy seeing a properly done sign? I saw a handwritten cardboard sign tacked to a tree a couple of weeks ago, saying "Ladies' Retreat". I thought of all the other possibilities "Lady's/ladys/ladie's retreet", and just enjoyed!

My son's favorite store name is the "Unfinished Furniture Mart." He theorizes that they sell chairs with only three legs, tables with no tops, etc.

(Raising her hand slowly from the back of the room). I'm guilty of the dot-dot-dot writing. But I actually TALK that way .... pausing for emphasis .... waiting to make a point .... speaking in sentence fragments. (It's part of my never-ending charm! )

If there was a way to add an southern accent so you could actually HEAR me say "y'all", I'd do it! And Lenette tells me, when we met for lunch, that hearing me refer to someone as a "dumbass" in person is way more fun that watching me write it on a forum!

However, even tho' I confess my sins, I just detest the intentional use of misspellings which promotes the illiteracy rate in this country! Pictures on a cash register does NOT enable the illiterate to get a job .... it tells them it's ok NOT to learn how to read!

(oops! There go those dots again!)

........

I agree - I try not to be too obsessive about it, I like to know I can do it properly when I need to. Actually, I find I arrange my thoughts better when I write in proper sentences, rather than the stream-of-conciousness way. Maybe it was the way we were taught 30 years ago... (which, by the way, are perfectly acceptable grammar:

Ellipsis (plural ellipses; from the Greek: ἔλλειψις, élleipsis, "omission") is a mark or series of marks that usually indicate an intentional omission of a word or a phrase from the original text. An ellipsis can also be used to indicate a pause in speech, an unfinished thought or, at the end of a sentence, a trailing off into silence.

The most common form of an ellipsis is a row of three periods or full stops (...). Forms encountered less often are: three asterisks (***), one em dash (), multiple en dashes (), and the Unicode Ellipsis symbol ().
(Source: Wikipedia)

Jamie, the second part of your signature line made me laugh a lot!

I completely agree with all of the above comments and have to add a related pet peeve of mine. Proofreading! DH teaches a class at the local university and requires a book report and class evaluation at the end of the semester. I can't believe how many students don't even bother to read over what they've written in order to fix stupid mistakes.

Usually it's omitting a word or phrase, but most of the problems mentioned above are also there. This is a selective university too where kids with a 4.0 can't always get in, so you would think they would be able to write a coherent sentence.

One day I had to take some supplies DH had forgotten out to his class. While I was there, I started chatting with a few students as they were working on a project and the subject of their papers came up. I mentioned to them that they should make sure to proofread their papers before they handed them in - just trying to be helpful. Two or three of them just shrugged their shoulders and said, "Oh, I never proofread anything!"

mommapaul3: Where does your husband teach?

Hey, I went there! But I studied art, not wilderness survival. Maybe his students think that they don't need to proofread to survive in the wilderness, but still...they should have learned that in high school!

There's a tailor's shop here and they have a sign in front of the building. Apparently they "alter pant's".
It's a dark sign with white letters and they colored in the apostrophe with pencil in the hopes that it would be less noticeable. I laugh every time I walk past there.

At least the made an effort! I've been known to discretely rub apostrophes off menu blackboards in restaurants advertising nacho's and taco's.

I went to dinner one night and there were two specials boards, one advertising 'sheppard's pie' and one 'shephard's pie'. I wondered how many goes they'd have to have before getting it right.

Oh yeah, apostrophes where they don't belong bugs the heck outta me too! What exactly belongs to those taco's and nacho's anyways??!?!

Jumping in the pool. It is anyway. No "s".

Oops, I probably do the anyways myself. NOT anymore!

"Anyways" and using the word "of" when it should be "have" are two of my biggest grammar peeves. I try to be very conscious of these. LOL

Now...................guy's stopp bing soo...................piky!!
if thees peeple coold of lernt how to speel n doe grandma propper im shaw thay, wood of.



Sorry. I couldn't help it.

I really don't know as much about literacy as you guys do, but if I pick up on something that I do know, it annoys me too. Although, I am also quilty of the...........................

man................i hOPe i spelld evrthing rite In that lasd sentinc


Edited to say: That's what I get for trying to be a Smarta$$. Please read quilty as guilty.

My biggest pet peeve is when people say, "I could care less" when what they really mean is, "I couldn't care less." If they'd just stop and think about what they're saying, they'd see the sense in it. (I also hate when people use sence instead of sense.)

My favorite T-shirt saying:
"there, their, they're...it's not that difficult!"

And if a CC poster tells you they're making you a "homade" cake, don't send your DH to pick it up.



Some of the posts on this board, particularly those asking for help, are so grammatically and contextually lazy that I wonder what kind of help the poster expects. I can't count the number of times I've seen a thread like the following:

HEEEELLLLPP!!!! (mandatory vague thread title that you have to waste time clicking on to find out that you don't have any interest in the topic.) followed by:

"I just started caking 2 weaks ago and am making DSs wedding cake due this satruday for 300 people plus lemon chocolate with fresh berries and cream...yummers!.... I have to work Friday at work so cant start til night before. How do I do the smbc if its too not the way a recipe says when I add the other stuff.???? HELLLPP MEEE!!!please!!!"

All that ever comes from these pleas are pages and pages that often read like this:

Helpful Harriet: (pulls tooth #1) what exactly are you having trouble with?
Vague Vivian: (keeping teeth clenched) lIt's not working when I mix it.
Helpful Harriet: (Places foot on Harriet's knee and gets a better grip on tooth) What's not working when you mix what?
Vague Vivian: The BC. What am I doing wrong? (I particularly love when folks ask us what they're doing wrong, when they haven't told us what it is they're doing, like we can read their mind and know what recipe they're using and how they used it.)
Concerned Connie: (steps in with bigger pliers) What's happening when you mix the BC?
Vague Vivian: (completely disregarding the question) Am I using too much butter?I
Miffed Mildred: (steps in with the nitrous at the ready)Well which recipe are you using and what do you mean by "not the right texture"?
Vague Vivian: the one from CC.

...and on and on until 14 pages later we discover that she substituted canola oil for the Crisco and we all feel like we've been through a root canal!

omg, arts, that was so funny! And so true!!!! If you and Doug ever put your writing skills together, my stomach will hurt for 3 days from the laughter!

And gingoodies, I'm am SO with you on the "of" instead of "have" (i.e. "She should of called first!"). aaauuuggghhhhH!!!!

OMG! I love you people!!

I agree 100% with all of the above. I get bashed by my husband for my nit-pickiness. I even nitpick the news!

Here are my pet peeves...

-ly come on now people, adverbs need these two little letters, how do we drive? carefulLY- so it's "drive carefully", not "drive carefu"l It's "drive safeLY" not "drive safe". My friends will hear me yell LEEEE (ly sound) from another room when they leave it off.

next- double subjects. I had to stop watching the news because the nighttime anchorman uses them with just about every sentence.... President Obama, he.... Michael Jackson, he..... Miss America she... the dog it...OMG

and- the incorrect use of words. I go nuts.

Remember when Jesse Jackson helped with freeing those hostages a few years back and he made that grandstanding speech on the tarmack???? He said it was" time for the speeches to end so the men could begin RECONCILING with their families" . Really? The hostages and their families were fighting while they were being held hostage????

Another local news lady once said that a tourist had "drowned in Lake Mead and when she was pulled into the boat, she was dead" NO WAY!! she drowned and she ended up dead? That's bloody amazing.

Michael Jordan made a speech once about being able to shoot with both hands so he was AMPHIBIOUS (instead of ambidexterous)

and one more- this one drives my students absolutely nuts. The use of CAN instead of MAY.

Student: "Can I use the restroom?"
Me: "That's really between you and your doctor don't you think?"

Student: "Can I sharpen my pencil?"
Me: "I'm not sure, does it require skills beyond your ability?"

Student: "Can I go to the bathroom?"
Me: "I hope so, I don't have the authority to call 911 from the classroom."

It takes them a while, but they get it. Then it's proper English in my class (until a new student arrives and then the fun starts again)

I also look at my students and say "Excuse me?" whenever they phrase a question wrong or end with a preposition, or say "Ya know..."

OH another pet peeve... using LIKE. Ugh! My students will begin explaining definition with "it's like a house..." I interupt them and ask "is it a house, or is it only like a house as in a tent?" It takes longer to rid that habit, but it is sooo worth it.

(yes, my classroom is a trip!)