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AIBU?

to want to correct basic grammar / spelling mistakes on facebook and here?

53 replies

stinkypants · 12/11/2010 20:40

bet i've made loads of mistakes in my time!! but pet hates are:
'your' when should be 'you're'
'and i' when should be 'and me'
the incorrect choice of their / there / they're; likewise too, two, to

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nigglewiggle · 12/11/2010 20:44

You know you are setting yourself up for a fall don't you? Pedants' Corner is riddled with errors.

BTW 'and i' should be "and I". Wink.

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Sassybeast · 12/11/2010 20:44

Have a medal - you are much more cleverer than all the plebs Hmm

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onceamai · 12/11/2010 20:45

I've never quite got the and I and me thing. Could you explain please?

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OTTMummA · 12/11/2010 20:49

I prefer to have people point out my mistakes as i have always found spelling and grammar very, very hard.
However i do not like it being pointed out to me with a tone of contempt or disrespect, that is not nessecary, makes me feel like shit but also shows up the corrector as a self important arrogant twat.

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nigglewiggle · 12/11/2010 20:51

onceamai - the way to work it out (though most people wouldn't notice or care) is to take the other person out of the sentence and id it still makes sense then it is correct.

So - "My husband and I are going to have a shag tonight" is correct because - if you take "my husband" out of the sentence - "I am going to have a shag..." makes sense.

Whereas "My husband and me are going to ...." doesn't work without the husband Grin.

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stinkypants · 12/11/2010 20:52

he he he - i never can be bothered to capitalise because 'word' does it for me!
oh it's not that i think i'm clever; i am RUBBISH at loads of things, believe me. and my husband is HOPELESS at spelligj bu7t i still adore him.
it's just a little obsession of mine.
use 'and i' when 'i' would be appropriate oin its own, and 'me' when that would work on its own - i.e.
it's goodbye from dermot and me (cos you would say 'its goodbye from me' not 'it's goodbye from i')but dermot and i went for a walk becuase you'd say i went for a walk.
am littering this with typos and lack of punctuation - ha ha (:

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LaWeaselMys · 12/11/2010 20:52

Since I and lots of others are currently at the mercy of Apple's autocorrect function, you'll probably just piss off people who are already annoyed!

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stinkypants · 12/11/2010 20:52

ooh you explained that loads better!!

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Animation · 12/11/2010 20:55

Not convinced they are pet hates OP.

You don't form proper sentences yourself, or use capital letters.

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Mumcentreplus · 12/11/2010 21:02

ahh.. Stinky, life is too short..personally my pet hates are people in RL that add extra s's to words that don't exist or others who use words they don't quite understand in the wrong context.. everything else is forgiveable..i rarely correct myself on MN ..I'm sure people can get the gist (or is that a j?) Grin

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GoingToBonnieDoon · 12/11/2010 21:16

Despite getting an A* in English at school I have no idea about the use of the apostrophe.
Can someone give me the quick run down of where I am meant to use it? It always makes me Blush when I'm not sure.

I do have some standards though, I always get my judgy pants out if someone puts 'your' instead of 'you're', that drives me mad!!

So is it...

'that's' or 'thats' when you are saying 'that is'?? I think its 'that's'

What about when you are talking about something that belongs to someone? eg. Claires pen? Is it Claire's pen??

What if you are talking about a pen belonging to Mrs Stephens, is it Mrs Stephens's pen??

My English teacher has a lot to answer for.

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nigglewiggle · 12/11/2010 21:26

Going - You are right about "that's" - the apostrophe replaces the missing letter and that is the case with lots of other apostrophes - "He is going" becomes "he's going".
One confusion here comes with the use of it - "it is" (it's) and the posessive (its).

Claire's pen is correct and (as I understand it, though I'm not an English teacher) you can use either Mrs Stephens' or Mrs Stephens's though the former is neater.

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stinkypants · 12/11/2010 21:35

also with ref to apostophes - when more than one person owns someething, the apostrophe is after the s - as in the ladies' hats.
and it is never needed for verbs or plurals - lots of people seem to add them everytime they add an 's' - so you'll see them in phrases like Jenny like's chocolate or 'i love potato's'!

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nigglewiggle · 12/11/2010 21:40

Stinky - I think these have become known as the "Grocers' apostrophe".

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stinkypants · 12/11/2010 21:45

:o

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scottishmummy · 12/11/2010 21:48

online spelling pedantry=passive aggressive bullying

in the style of ah wis only sayin...

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2shoes · 12/11/2010 21:49

yabu
and if you correct mine I will tell you to go shag a sheep lol

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GrimmaTheNome · 12/11/2010 21:52

YABU.

Take your gripes to Pedants' Corner, that's what it's there for.

But when you do, please remember to capitalize; 'i' rather than 'I' is doubtless some pedant's pet hate.Grin

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scottishmummy · 12/11/2010 21:55

pedants corner,there's a place i never wish to visit

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Mumcentreplus · 12/11/2010 21:58

fuckin hell! sm me neither, they would pick my gramatically incorrect arse to pieces Grin

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GoingToBonnieDoon · 12/11/2010 22:00

niggle and stinky many thanks, that made sense!

So it would be 'the cat played with its ball' because the ball belongs to the cat?

And in the sentence 'put it down, its the cats ball'

If the ball belonged to one cat it would be 'put it down, it's the cat's ball'

But if the ball was for two cats to play with it would be 'put it down, it's the cats' ball'

Have I got that right??

No idea why my teacher couldn't get me to understand it if its that simple, also how did I get an A*???

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scottishmummy · 12/11/2010 22:02

cant imagine ever visiting pedantland.all that well moot point scottishmummmy but really can we address your punctuation...

unless i wish to send em into apoplectic haze of indignation

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thequimreaper · 12/11/2010 22:05

YABU. It is basically saying "look - I know something you don't know - aren't I great" when actually it just means you're the kind of twat who likes everyone to know what you know and doesn't mind if they make someone else feel like shit in the process. And most of the correctors make loads of mistakes themselves and are not nearly as clever as they think they are.

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scottishmummy · 12/11/2010 22:06

bad manners and indicative of low self esteem

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TanteAC · 12/11/2010 22:07

Really dislike pedantry on sites like this. Makes people nervous and overly apologetic, imo!

No need, just mean. It's either a typo or a genuine mistake, so what?

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