Sorry, folks, but I've got to put my Victor Meldrew hat on again here!! Maybe it's working from home which makes me think about random things, but I have another top ten list for you; 10 Grammatical (and Spelling) Errors That People Make And Don't Even Realise It And It Really Really Annoys Me (I would have put that in the title, but it was too long!): 1. You're or your?
OK. It's simple. Your = belonging to you. You're = you are. It's easy to distinguish the two as you're has an apostrophe (that's this little thing - ' ) which is in place of the 'a'. Yet I constantly see this: "I've got you're things here" or "your a bossy cow"....
2. Apostrophes in inappropriate places
This is a tricky one. For example, I have seen a lot of this recently "please attach cv's here". Now, strictly speaking, I guess you are missing out something there, but ACTUALLY, it should be "please attach CVs here", there should be no apostrophe. Not convinced? OK, another example; "watch online demo's of our products".. demo's?! belonging to demos?!! I don't think so.
3. Misspelling ridiculous
My close friends will know I hate this word anyway (it's a long story, maybe I'll blog on it sometime!), but so many people seem to spell it 'rediculous'... why?!!
4. Its or it's?
Along the same lines as your and you're. It's (see?!) simple. Its = BELONGING TO. It's = IT IS. Apostrophe = missing 'i'!
5. There, they're or their?
People seem to do this one a lot. So, three sentences for you:
I would like to go there
It's their place
They're on their way
Use 'there' for a place. They're' for they are (remember ' replaces 'a'). Their for belonging to - it's an anomaly, that one, it doesn't fit I know, but trust me, it's right!!
6. Who's or whose?
"Whose motorcycle is this?"
"It's a chopper baby"
"Whose chopper is this?"
"It's Zed's"
"Who's Zed?"
"Zed's dead baby, Zed's dead"
Apart from the fact that this is a classic piece of dialogue from the classic cult film, Pulp Fiction (If you haven't seen it, quite frankly, you haven't lived), this also demonstrates nicely the use of 'whose' and 'who's'. Same rule as ever, our little apostrophe friend is standing in for the 'i' which the writer (i.e. me, here), can't be bothered to write.
7. Me and Mrs Jones?!
As much as this is a good song. It's wrong, wrong, wrong. Firstly, you always put the other person first, so it should be Mrs Jones (whoever she is) and secondly, you should refer to yourself in this instance as 'I', not 'me'. HOWEVER, this is not always the case and sometimes people over use it, for example, "There was a parcel for Mrs Jones and I"... OK, rewind... take out Mrs Jones and who was the package for?! For I?! Forsooth, I say, 'twas for I, that parcel! Doesn't make sense, does it?!
8. Arguement or argument?
Sooo many people seem to misspell this one little, but very significant word! No 'e' after the 'u' folks, OK?
9. Loooong sentences which just carry on from one to another with no punctuation you feel really out of breath when you read and want to put a full stop in or a comma at least you know?
Now, I'll admit, I write and talk a lot. Sometimes I use long sentences. But I try so hard to break them up with some sort of punctuation. It astounds me how many people don't. They seem to be scared of putting just one little comma in, or some brackets (like that) or even a full stop. Like that. Need to breathe people!
Last but not least:
10. A limited number of [insert appropriate item here] is or are available
This is actually a tricky one, so this is open to discussion. The thing is, you are talking about A number, so should it be singular, i.e. 'is'? Or because you are talking about a plural amount ('a number'), should it be plural, i.e. 'are'? I used to work for a very prestigious art & antiques fair in London. The leaflets had a piece of copy in them explaining that there was a number of tickets available to purchase at a reduced price and you know what?! EVERY year for 4 years we had the same discussion; 'is' vs 'are'. I never did fathom which was best and we even asked someone who was an English professor and they couldn't tell us for sure... My advice? Just write "A limited number of tickets available" - easy peasy!
Thats it for the class today folk's enjoy have fun look after you're selves and don't be rediculous or have any arguements about what I just said just remember who's life it is anyway when me and you talk and a number of options is, no, are, no, is available!! :-)
