Ok first off let me state that I admit to being a bit of a linguistic purist if not a grammar nazi.
Secondly I want you to bear in mind that English is only my third language after Italian and French, and that in spite of this I do my best to write it in the clearest and most accurate way I can. This isn't much of an achievement, considering that English spelling, grammar and usage is a piece of cake compared to French and to a certain extent Italian.
Even so, I understand that spelling mistakes can occur here and there. What makes the vein on my neck bulge however is to see NATIVE English speakers - I couldn’t stress enough on the NATIVE part - repeatedly commit the most outrageous errors (as opposed to typos or willingly modified text spelling).
Here are a couple of the monstrosities I have come across :
- the use of the contracted form "you’re" in lieu of the possessive pronoun "your". Anyone who has made it past third grade must have learned that a pronoun defines and/or replaces a noun (hence the "pro" in "pronoun"). In the sentence "your grammar can be improved", the possessive "your" defines "grammar" and there is no way a VERB could replace it. Can’t you see that ?? The same goes for "it’s" and "they’re" which I see all to often used instead of "its" and "their". Sometimes "their" is also confused with the adverb "there". A gross albeit slightly less scandalous error. The Oscar for the most appaling mistake in this category has to go to the use of the averb and verb "how are" to say "our". ex : "How are spelling is terrible".
-The use of the abominable "could of", "would of" and "should of" in lieu of the conditional tense "could/would/should HAVE". Let’s start from the beginning. The modal verb "can" becomes "could" when used in the past tense. But just like his cousins "would" and "should", "could" can also serve as an auxiliary verb in the conditional tense. By definition, an auxiliary verb supports another verb. NOT a conjunction, which is what "of" is. Ex : "Had I known my auxiliary verbs, I would have used the conditional tense properly".
I can’t really think of other blatant mistakes at the moment and lack time to further search the forum, but if you find some more, post them here. Hopefully this thread will serve as a reference guide for the non native English speakers and optimize communication on the forum.
Secondly I want you to bear in mind that English is only my third language after Italian and French, and that in spite of this I do my best to write it in the clearest and most accurate way I can. This isn't much of an achievement, considering that English spelling, grammar and usage is a piece of cake compared to French and to a certain extent Italian.
Even so, I understand that spelling mistakes can occur here and there. What makes the vein on my neck bulge however is to see NATIVE English speakers - I couldn’t stress enough on the NATIVE part - repeatedly commit the most outrageous errors (as opposed to typos or willingly modified text spelling).
Here are a couple of the monstrosities I have come across :
- the use of the contracted form "you’re" in lieu of the possessive pronoun "your". Anyone who has made it past third grade must have learned that a pronoun defines and/or replaces a noun (hence the "pro" in "pronoun"). In the sentence "your grammar can be improved", the possessive "your" defines "grammar" and there is no way a VERB could replace it. Can’t you see that ?? The same goes for "it’s" and "they’re" which I see all to often used instead of "its" and "their". Sometimes "their" is also confused with the adverb "there". A gross albeit slightly less scandalous error. The Oscar for the most appaling mistake in this category has to go to the use of the averb and verb "how are" to say "our". ex : "How are spelling is terrible".
-The use of the abominable "could of", "would of" and "should of" in lieu of the conditional tense "could/would/should HAVE". Let’s start from the beginning. The modal verb "can" becomes "could" when used in the past tense. But just like his cousins "would" and "should", "could" can also serve as an auxiliary verb in the conditional tense. By definition, an auxiliary verb supports another verb. NOT a conjunction, which is what "of" is. Ex : "Had I known my auxiliary verbs, I would have used the conditional tense properly".
I can’t really think of other blatant mistakes at the moment and lack time to further search the forum, but if you find some more, post them here. Hopefully this thread will serve as a reference guide for the non native English speakers and optimize communication on the forum.
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