Grammar mistakes that drive you crazy

[SpoiltMardyCow]

I have two:

He hung himself. Instead of he hanged himself.

It was so fun. Instead it was either "such fun" or "so much fun"

What are your grammar bug bears?

Kathman - an Oxford comma is a comma used before the last in a series of items, e.g.:

Apples, pears, and oranges

It's now commonly used in the USA, not The UK.

The second sentence you gave needs no commas - it's clear.

Aitch is spelled aitch in the dictionary. It's not a regional variant.

Gotten drives me nuts

A call taker at work actually put on a call about an 'ambo attending this arvo' Seriously Wtf? ??

That sounds like Aussie slang.

Not read the entire thread so apologies if it's been said previously, and its not grammar either. 'I was on tenderhooks' drives me bonkers. ITS TENTERHOOKS YOU IGNORANT ARSE!

And breathe... really not that important ... get a grip

The fashion for 'I am loving' rather than 'I love' is also beginning to grate. As in 'I am loving your hair'. Eurggh! Gerroff!

Baited / bated breath

And

Wet / whet your appetite

My father was an English teacher and all of the above make me cringe.

I hear "I would of loven to of done that" reasonably frequently.

Another one that gets to me is "X died of ...", usually heard on the news.

Oh, and using " Can I ..." instead of "May I ..."

People who say Thankyou as one word. People who say there when they mean their. SIL I'm looking at you!

Oh and the 'I went for councelling'

I know language is an ever-evolving thing but a lot of "new" uses I find really annoying:

FAIL used to be just a verb. Now it's a noun too - what happened to failure?

REFERENCE used to be just a noun. Now it's a verb and we "reference" things. What happened to "refer"? (Ditto TRIAL and TRY)

MILITARY used to be just an adjective - when did it become a noun? What's wrong with saying Armed Forces?

WELL used to be an adverb among other things, but it was never an adjective - how did that happen?

And many more.

Regional differences I always notice:

In Scotland we say "I was sitting". Some English dialects say "I was sat". I know the correct form is "I was seated" but it sounds too formal for everyday use.

In England something needs doing. In Scotland it needs done. That due to a different linguist heritage though. Just as "gotten" is acceptable to us but seems to annoy so many English folks.

Also we say "You had better..." but I've heard some English people say "You better had". I don't know how widespread that is though.

I'm trying not to let the current teen habit of "I'ma go to bed" get to me, but it's not easy.

I'm delighted to see some subs here. I afraid they're a dying breed in the local newspaper industry. I miss a good bawling-out across the room because I have written Oxdown registry office instead of Oxdown register office.

We are also always taught to write that instead of which, or nothing at all if it means the same without.

My pet hate (BBC I'm looking at you) is use of the word 'over' to mean 'more than'. The two are not always interchangeable.

Interesting Tarty because I had a job inserting thats into everywhere it was possible to have it. It was a difficult job because it often read well without it. Somebody had decided that (see what I did there?) it wasn't correct British English to not have the 'that' so we had to take it away when changing text from US to British English

My head would have exploded. I spend a lot of time writing articles on legal issues for non-lawyers. There is usually a strict word count of 1000 words or less. "That" is always the first word to go.

"Much favoured by people with affected, nasal, smarmy voices."

Solicitors offices I find

I am disappointed you find the type of person who misues "myself" in "Solictors offices".

It is not something I have come across but possibly because I deal with workers in "Solicitors' offices".

I know it is bad form to criticise grammar but if you are going to be snooty about a particular group's grammatical errors best not commit one yourself.

" but if you are going to be snooty about a particular group's grammatical errors best not commit one yourself."

It wasn't me who was criticising the use of myself/yourself. The sentence about smarmy voices came from someone else. As far as I remember, I just added that it often came from solicitors.
I don't think I've criticised any grammar on this thread and I don't agree with some of the criticisms as they're examples of colloquial language and dialect rather than mistakes (if used in spoken language).

"I know it is bad form to criticise grammar"

Yes, but I suppose you're allowed to on a thread like this

There is usually a strict word count of 1000 words or less

Fewer, surely?

Second that the "it needs washed" structure is acceptable and standard in Scotland. As is "can I get" which winds up a lot of people.
My father was a grammar pedant and when, as children, we would ask something like "Can I go to Susan's?" , he would reply " I am sure you can. Whether you may or not is another question"
The phrase 'Dinner is on the table" would merit a 'wouldn't it be better on a plate?". He was bloody annoying!

Well is, and always has been, both an adjective and an adverb.

I think I love your Dad demented!
PS, I think many namechanges ago I gave you some tips for your DD? Italy?
Apologies if I've remembered incorrectly!

Thanks dark . Another of his favourites was "the kettle's boiling."..." Surely it's the water in the kettle which is boiling!". ...he just did it to be annoying! The irony now is that he is in a care hom e and has advanced dementia and struggles to even know my name, let alone get arsy about grammar!
I don't remember exactly about Italy, although DD has done a fair bit of travelling round so you may well have done. If so, thank you

I've just remembered another one that drives me mad: disinterested being used when the speaker means uninterested.

cariad disinterested/uninterested boils my pee too.

But they seem to have become interchangeable.

Gifted is a perfectly correct legal term. It is used most often when money or parts of an estate are "gifted" to a beneficiary as a means to limit exposure to inheritance tax.

I see it on many legal documents. I haven't seen "given" used there at all. It is accepted terminology / jargon.

I wouldn't say though that I have gifted my children their pocket money. I would say I had given it to them.

"Can I" and "may I" are totally interchangeable in my book, though I would always use "can I" much more automatically.

Military has always been both noun and adjective as far as I am concerned. It is less of a mouthful than armed forces. Neither is wrong. Horses for courses there.

Sometimes these things are perfectly valid regional variations, in which the English language is extremely rich. I love most of them. They can be very descriptive and fascinating.

I got an A+ once, when I was about 13, for a short story I wrote in an exam with "I was sat" in it - written in my own Sheffield dialect I was very proud!

Jemima

"Me and DH are getting married" noooooooooo, it's "DH and I are getting married"

I think grammar is the least of your worries in in this situation. Whose husband are you marrying?

I mourn the gradual disappearance of the subjunctive. Often derided as being archaic, it adds clarity and depth to our language by making it plain that the speaker is exploring a hypothetical situation that is known to be false. For example: "If Jeremy Corbyn were Prime Minister, he would scrap the UK's nuclear deterrent. Were he to do so, the effect would be..."

Other gripes:
Incorrect use of "that" vs "which"
Absent or double negatives ("I could care less" drives me up the wall)
Numpties who argue that "language evolves" to cover up their ignorance. Sure it does, but if you get it so wrong that you alter the meaning of what you intended to say, that's hardly progress, is it?