To offer some grammar tips to anyone who might want them?

[UnaCorda]

I sincerely hope this doesn't come across as either rude or patronising - it genuinely isn't meant to. It's also not intended as a pedants' thread.

I just thought it might be useful to list a few common mistakes, with an explanation, so that anyone who isn't very confident with their written English might be able to correct errors which, for example, could perhaps count against them in a job application or when used in a professional context.

I'll start with three:

1. "Your" shows that what you're referring to (probably a person or object) belongs to whoever "you" is in the sentence; for example, "Your brother showed me your book". If you mean "you are" you need to write "you're".

2. "Non" is not a word on its own - it is negating something, such as in "non-stick" or "non-committal". ("None-stick" would be incorrect, as would "non of them".) "None" means there aren't any. "How many cakes are left?" "Sorry - none." Or, "How many of the children finished the test?" "None of them."

3. "Alot" is not a word and the same goes for "abit", "infront", "incase" and "inbetween". Instead use "a lot", etc., just like "a little".

Hope I haven't made any mistakes myself...

@UnaCorda ooooh thank goodness 😄

This is a very constructive and helpful thread to have started. Nice work OP. Up with this sort of thing!

@Eeeeeeeok

I can't imagine how much head space (or is it headspace?! Oh wait I don't give a fuck) people have to be able to be bothered about this on a forum.

People are writing on their phones, with auto correct which will often make chouces about your / you're. Life's too short to care about this stuff. Just relax.

Mumsnet is full of things that are totally inconsequential!

Although personally I don't think using "you're" (and not "your") to mean "you are" is any less important than learning that 3 x 3 = 9, not 6.

I know you knew! But I still want to know if there's anything in standard grammar. Do you know?

I bet some languages do have distinctions. German has polite forms of 'you,' so I bet somewhere has a polite verb form.

@christmasfluff I love the way you want to be all laissez faire and unfussed and still can't resist a hill to die on, because that is exactly how I am.

Anyone who addresses me as "yourself" kills a little piece of my soul. It happens a lot, so I'm hanging on by a string here.

My cousin (this could out me, but meh) is a sweetie who likes to point out on her social media when people incorrectly say, as an example "so-and-so and me went to the shops". Great, but she also writes "so-and-so gave it to Johnny and I". I can't say anything that would humiliate her, she's my cousin and she means well. I just have to cringe into my late night bowl of chocolate breakfast cereal.

@ChristmasFluff I do see your point but it easy to get reductionist about these things. What's the point in having any rules at all given that many/most people get so many of them wrong?

If only there were less rules...

JOKES! It's FEWER, FEWER RULES FFS 🤣

@SarahAndQuack

American (southern) English still distinguishes between two types of you, doesn't it? You and y'all.

I don't know for sure, but I suspect "y'all" is informal and wouldn't be used in a professional context, or written down (unlike, say, "vous" and "Sie").

Do not rely on spell check! It kept putting an apostrophe in its (as something belonging to) as though it was a contraction of it is - it's
However sometimes people are writing about a problem & (whoops!) are in an emotional state or they are not fluent in English, or, alternatively they may be writing for an effect ie humour.
I seem to remember something about Churchill talking about split infinitives - that they can sound very clumsy even if they are accurate.
"Go where no man has been before!" for instance????

Reign = something the Queen does.

Rein = something attached to a horse's head in order to control it and to 'rein it in'.

mumwon, wasn't it Churchill who said (I forget the context) "Up with which I will not put"?

@FortunesFavour

This is a very constructive and helpful thread to have started. Nice work OP. Up with this sort of thing!

Thanks.

I've never worked out where to place my commas if someone wants to explain.

I've also not got my head round whether when people say they can't bare/bear something which it is. Bare like a bottom or bear like polar?

Think of bare as naked.

@SarahAndQuack

I know you knew! But I still want to know if there's anything in standard grammar. Do you know?

I bet some languages do have distinctions. German has polite forms of 'you,' so I bet somewhere has a polite verb form.

Oh, sorry!

Well the verb form always has to match the type of "you" being used - so "Peux-tu...?", but "Pouvez-vous...?" Is that what you mean? But other languages have more complex grammar still, including nouns that decline, more tenses, etc. Czech and Russian both do, I think.

I can't think of anything in English apart from perhaps more use of the conditional when trying to be polite ("can", rather then "could", for example). Otherwise it's more vocabulary and phrase structure, rather than a specific tense or verb form.

So it’s bear with me or I can’t bear it

I've also not got my head round whether when people say they can't bare/bear something which it is. Bare like a bottom or bear like polar?

Bear, like 'bear a burden'.

No, that wasn't what I meant.

I meant, are there languages that have two distinct verbs to indicate greater degrees of formality?

I may be thinking about the joke about conjungating the verb 'to be convinced': 'I am firm, you are stubborn, he/she is pig-headed' - something where you'd just never use a certain verb form in a polite context, but you would in a colloquial one?

@Puffalicious

It's not wrong Nanny it's the way I was taught and still acceptable.

Evidence please.

Taught where? In what grammar books?

@wagtailred

I've never worked out where to place my commas if someone wants to explain.

I've also not got my head round whether when people say they can't bare/bear something which it is. Bare like a bottom or bear like polar?

Can't bear.

(Unless you mean you want to bare your soul.)

I've always struggled with...

"james and i" vs "james and me"

"me and james" vs "myself and James" etc

Please can you help, but also explain why each one is correct/not correct

(I think the first example in those two examples are correct, but sometimes end up saying "myself" and it never sounds correct in any sentence !)

Thank you in advance

@SarahAndQuack

No, that wasn't what I meant.

I meant, are there languages that have two distinct verbs to indicate greater degrees of formality?

Japanese definitely makes linguistic changes related to the level of formality, but I'm not sure whether it's the verb that is altered or another part of speech.

Although personally I don't think using "you're" (and not "your") to mean "you are" is any less important than learning that 3 x 3 = 9, not 6.

^^This

Thank you. Now i know, I wonder if it will annoy me when people use the wrong one.