I should of known...

[UnaCorda]

Yes, the title is deliberate - sorry to have been clickbaity.

Expecting to be flamed although am trying not to be offensive, but this has been bugging me. Can anyone suggest why certain otherwise apparently well-educated people make up their own grammar rules?

I'm thinking of things (all of which I've seen "committed" by numerous people) such as deciding "thank you" should be hyphenated, or separating sentences or clauses with ellipses rather than a comma/semicolon/full stop, or leaving a space before exclamation and question marks, etc. (there are probably others).

I'm not having a pop at anyone who is dyslexic, or didn't have access to a decent education or who is writing in a very relaxed way because the context is informal. More trying to understand why some people seem to follow their own special set of grammar and punctuation rules which are consistent, but wrong.

I see punctuation as a way of getting across the inflections that you can hear in speech, so I don't know why you would want to fuck about with that and make your meaning unclear in the process.

(And apologies that this isn't in Pedants' Corner, but there's hardly any traffic there.)

don’t* 😑

fudge I kind of get your point about not assuming gender.

But it still makes no sense as "his/her" is singular and "their" is plural. I think you may be right, though. .

I still find it weird and clunky. And it's still used even when the gender of the person is known.

I find the misuse of 'I' and 'Me' irritating. At school we were taught to omit the other person from the sentence and then the correct word would become obvious, e.g. 'My friend and me went for a walk' would not make sense if you said 'Me went for a walk', therefore 'I' is correct.
I was taught the same in primary school (aged 7) while learning English as a second language in a third world country - I found it such a simple thing to remember.

I'm astounded by some posters saying they have never been taught the rules of grammar relating to their own language.

I cannot bear to hear people saying 'I was stood', 'I was sat' or 'I was laying'
I hear this everyday on the radio including Radio 4.

In terms of what the OP is speaking about, that's advanced stuff. Writing could of, or confusing your/you're and there/their/they're is far more basic. Primary school level stuff. Some people haven't studied English language in any great depth which is fine, but everyone has that basic primary education of knowing that a noun is a naming word, a verb is a doing word and how to use the apostrophe.

I was at school during the 80s in Scotland and my grammar lessons were not on depth at all. But they did hammer home the basics and "red penned" mistakes. We didn't learn things about subjects/objects and clauses but certainly knew where to place an apostrophe.

Donkey you see I didn't learn the basics but I learnt that. I am realising how bad my English education was.

'I done it today' - Nooo! You DID it today. Also, bought/brought, take/bring and the complete ommission of 'to be' in 'The kids need fed'.

...and I spelt 'omission' wrong didn't i!

I can speak and write correctly but quite enjoy making lazy errors. It’s my own perverse rebellious streak.
My mum used to nag me about grammar and look down at people who ‘got it wrong’. I’m over grammatical snobbery, why should there be a ‘right’ way to communicate? It’s intellectual elitism, closely tied to classism.
For me, there’s no right and wrong, just formal / informal and academic / non-academic.
If I want to write an academic paper I can do so.
And if I want to say that me and my dog should of gone for a walk, then I can do that too and I will enjoy watching grammar snobs shudder as I say it

everyone has that basic primary education of knowing that a noun is a naming word, a verb is a doing word and how to use the apostrophe.

Ironically I only was taught nouns and verbs when I went to secondary school and learnt Latin!

I saw benefited spelled as "benefitted" in the analysis of last year's AQA GCSE English language paper today (gives up)

I appreciate clear and 'correct' grammar/language where it matters; I equally appreciate the 'playing with the form' that happens a lot on twitter, other forums etc, and has tended to evolve over the years.

'Language evolves' really irritates me though - it's just an excuse for lazy writing and/or justifying ignorance.

Clary
I saw benefited spelled as "benefitted" in the analysis of last year's AQA GCSE English language paper today (gives up)

www.grammarly.com/blog/benefited-or-benefitted/

It's school report time. I was sent a two-page list of instructions covering grammar and syntax that I had to observe in my reports.
I was quite that the SMT felt this was necessary.

Overheard in the staffroom:
Her; There's just enough water in the kettle for you and I.
Him: I'm so glad you said 'I' and not 'me'.

Again, I was .

: not ; (fat fingers)

"The thing IS is that...."

Why the second "is"??

Isn't there a well-known author who is known for never using them? Martin Amis? Kingsley Amis? Ian McEwan? (None of the above??)

Semicolons are not used much in fiction.

deedee I was always taught benefited was correct, Collins dictionary agrees with me which is good enough for me. Or myself perhaps 😂😂

I find the misuse of 'I' and 'Me' irritating. At school we were taught to omit the other person from the sentence and then the correct word would become obvious, e.g. 'My friend and me went for a walk' would not make sense if you said 'Me went for a walk', therefore 'I' is correct.

That is genius! I always worry that I get this wrong - now I won't!