I’ve been finding more and more grammar errors lately. On signs. On menus. On blogs and in the media. Even in books.
Maybe I’m more critical of these mistakes because I’m a writer, but I gotta admit they make me nuts. And they make me wonder: just why are people making these mistakes anyway? Coz, in my brain, these mistakes have become more prominent than ever.
FLICKR | copyright Steev Hise
Whatever the answer, I made a note of all the boo-boos I’ve seen over the past few weeks. And there were a bunch of ’em. Let’s see if you can pick them out.
Have at it and have fun. 🙂
- Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow. Six more week’s of winter ahead!
- You’re not handicapped so please move you’re car.
- Try it. What have you got to loose?
- I could of done that if I tried harder.
- After stinking up the kitchen, my mother brought out the garbage.
- In the passed, life was a lot more difficult.
- I think the dogs’ leg is broken.
- I like that blouse, but her’s is nicer.
- Cats and dogs For sale.
- Since you asked, I’ll tell you what I think. (this one’s tricky…do you know why?)
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Terri Herman-Ponce 
You’re right, Terri. The last one was a bit trickier than the others – perhaps because I’ve caught myself making the same mistake occasionally [hang head in shame]. Fortunately, those booboos don’t make it into print [I hope!]
I know the English language evolves, but what’s been happening lately feels discouraging, as if the integrity of our language is being chopped at from all angles. I lift my [virtual] glass to all who decry poor grammar.
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Yep, that last one IS tricky because you have to identify causality. 🙂
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I’m with you on that “language evolves” comment of yours. Coming home after getting milk today, I heard again one I’ve almost given up on, though it bothers me every time–that’s using “less” in places where “fewer” is correct. Unfortunately, it’s spread so deeply into professional use that it may have to be accepted–and considered acceptable.
At the same time, I’m very encouraged to see one grocery chain using “fewer than 12 items” in their limited item checkout counters. — Charlene (CB) Knadle
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Oh, the fewer/less than conundrum. That CAN be tricky, and it all comes down to counting!
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No, no, no, no, no, no, no – I will NEVER accept “less” for “fewer.”
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I feel the same way; however, I am sure that we have all made grammar mistakes, as I caught a few myself. Stephen Fry said it best: http://youtu.be/Ovi7uQbtKas
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Sometimes I make some of those mistakes myself…I’m thinking because I see them so often they’re burned into my brain somehow. Scary. LOL
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Terri, I got all the answers. Loved the challenge! I want you for my editor when I finish my next book! 🙂
I teach this stuff, and I notice lots in published books and newspaper articles–even an occasional one in a venerated one like the New Yorker. I blush to confess that I had to make corrections after the first printing of my own first book!
Part of the problem is the financial squeeze on print publication. Publishers might not be hiring the best editors, as they once did. Part of it is carelessness and haste. I sometimes receive student papers notated as “sent from my iPhone.” My own mistake was to read my novel only onscreen before preparing it to send to my publisher; I’d have noticed more if I’d printed it out and read it as hardcopy. The books I edited for others (from hardcopy) have no such mistakes.
Charlene Knadle, author of “Paper Lovers,” editor of “The Five Spines of Justice” and “Naked in a Coat of Armor”
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I hear you and then some, Charlene! I think most of us are guilty of not being able to see the mistakes in our own work. But geez, these booboos seem to be taking center stage in just about any printed work lately. Happy to see you “passed the test.”
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