Win! Grammar Rules: Writing With Military Precision
By Esther Goh,
Few things irk me more than a greengrocers' apostrophe (banana's anybody?). Except perhaps the perennial "free reign" that has infected our lexicon ... or a split infinitive.
Don't underestimate the importance of good writing. Craig Shrives knows what I'm talking about. His new book Grammar Rules: Writing With Military Precision deserves a permanent spot on your desk. Packed with examples of both basic and obscure conventions, it's the ideal reference guide for anyone iffy on the difference between a hyphen and a dash, appropriate use of commas and navigating the waters of US-British disparities.
WIN!
Get in to win a copy of the book (worth $24.99) by leaving a comment and sharing your grammatical pet peeves. Closes February 1, open to NZ residents only.
Remember:
Comments
KT
Book looks great. Pet peeves include badly proofed online articles and teachers who fail to correct grammatical errors or correct them incorrectly. My whole family would enjoy this book.
Dominique
My pet peeve is the misuse of apostrophes in plurals, especially when they're in supermarkets or stores. Signs that read “apple's”, or “vegetable's” etc. The apple's what? Another bugbear is misplaced commas. “Let's eat grandpa” has quite a different meaning to “let's eat, grandpa”.
Hilary Cook
I have many, many pet peeves when it comes to incorrect spelling and grammar, but perhaps one of the most irksome is the 'should have' 'should of' mix up. A frightening number of people clearly did not listen at school!
Elena
What a great looking book! I find my foreign speaking clients have much better grasp of English grammar than many kiwis - my pet peeves - firstly … and diarize … they so grate with me :)
Tony Patrick
My pet peeve is the incorrect use of your/you're and its/it's. A little effort from the writer and they can get it right.
Anny
Confusing 'loose' with 'lose' is my pet peeve! If you say them out loud, they don't even sound like each other!
Ben Green
When it comes to verbal communication, not many things irk me more than hearing someone replace “thing” with “think” i.e “somethink” or “anythink”!
“Somethink” as a word makes absolutely no sense at all - how come so many people get it wrong?!
Erana
My pet spelling peeve is people who spell “definitely” as “defiantly”. Can't they tell that they're completely different words?! Grammatically though, the misplaced apostrophe gets me every time.
Jess
So defiantly instead of definitely is common. Such an odd mistake. I have come across it before. Hilarious error: “could you be more pacific?” I'm Samoan so I love that one!
I am increasingly relaxed about errors due to iPhone/hand held devices. But what happened to 'an' before a noun starting with a vowel? A orange, a elephant, a umbrella. It hurts my ears!
Catherine
Oh lordy, I have so many pet peeves! What a pedant I am, and probably a hypocrite too (I need this book defiantly and definitely).
One pet peeve re misuse of words: specifically / pacifically (or may be they'd spell it percificly?). One is definite, special, distinct. The other is of, or relating to, a very large ocean. The one in brackets is nonsense.
Go on, let me have one more. Again, word use: weary / wary. Weary: fatigued. Wary: watchful. Hard to be both at the same time due to tiredness compromising acuteness of those senses that are doing the watching.
Grammatically, I'm with Erana; the misplaced apostrophe has ouch-factor. Also excessive and incorrect use of hyphens.
Shona
I read “sneak peak” in the MSM all the time…
Bonus peeves: They're vs. Their, Phase vs. Faze, Who's vs. Whose, Kiwi vs. kiwi, and any situation where an apostrophe isn't where it should b'e.
/2c
Matt
How about the misplaced apostrophe in the first sentence of this article? “…a greengrocers'…”.
Perhaps it's for comedic effect.
Everything mentioned so far grates me, but also the simplistic use of “and I”. e.g. “Please tell Tony and I how to speak English”.
Anna Gervai
Without a doubt it's the simple things that get me the most, such as 'there' and 'their' and 'they're' and of course 'your' and 'you're', also basics like 'to' and 'too' but top of my list is 'yous', as in 'what are yous up to?'!
Anna Gervai
Without a doubt it's the simple things that get me the most, such as 'there' and 'their' and 'they're' and of course 'your' and 'you're', also basics like 'to' and 'too' but top of my list is 'yous', as in 'what are yous up to?'!
Anne Walker
Pet peeves are apostrophes used incorrectly and people saying/writing 'period of time' instead of just period. The definition of period is 'a length of time' so people are saying, 'a length of time of time' it really annoys me.
Tina
My pet peeve is text language – it makes me die a little inside each time I see vowels abandoned from a sentence…
Ande
My pet peeves include text language and the classic your/you're and their/they're mix ups. Undeniably, my biggest pet peeve is when I make grammatical mistakes. Just posting this comment is making me nervous. Grammar Rules would be put to great use in my office.
Nigel Reyes
don't U jst h8 it wen ppl tink dey cn wrte U a msg az f dey wer on thR mob phones? wot iz d wrld comin to?
I fR 4 our futR generations ….
P.S. cn I win DIS book, pleeeeeassse ? i nd it.
Trudy
Homonyms - when people don't accept they've got it wrong.
Most of us would agree “the oil shake” should be “the oil sheik”, but what do you do when an online news source describes Audrey Hepburn's classic style as “chick” (not “chic”) and doesn't accept your suggested change (do they pronounce it “chick”?), or when you see an article describe a person's interest as being “peaked” (better than using “peeked”, I suppose).
Grr!
Nathan Champion
For me, it would have to be standardisation (and no, not standardisation vs. standardization). I can forgive the occasional misused apostrophe, spelling mistake, or misplaced comma, but writers should maintain consistency throughout a document rather than attempting every single variation and interpretation of a rule in the hope that one will be right.
E.g. Widgets Inc. have a wireless network in place. Widgets Inc. has requested a new a wireless network to replace the existing infrastructure. Widgets Inc. are very keen to progress this project as soon as possible. Widgets Inc. is looking for a high level proposal from their preferred vendors.
Paul
I literally explode when people misuse the word “literally”.
RugbyMother
The specifics of the problem are easy to fix - the underlying problem is the gross lack of care and attention to the way language is used - something which has been inculcated in the education system, both here and in other English speaking countries, for more than a generation. Bring back compulsory Latin, I say. For people to start paying more attention to the literal construction og their sentences, they first need to care enough, to put in the effort to know enough, to get it right. Twenty years or more ago, trainee English teachers were being taught that it doesn't matter whether the spelling and grammar is correct if the meaning is adequately conveyed. That, my fellow peeved grammarians, is the root of the problem.
Matt
Wow don't get me started! My late mother and I used to delight in proofing cafe menus & I still find myself doing it now ten years on!
Misused apostrophes are probably my biggest bugbear but the use of 'unique' in situations where clearly no singular difference exists runs a very close second. And the oxford comma. It is just plain wrong!
Lisa
I have so many. What really irks me is finding simple mistakes on mainstream media websites. They, of all people, should know the difference. The incorrect homophone use is something I pull people up on all the time - 'your', 'you're' etc. Also, 'brought' and 'bought'. I explain to people, quite simply, brought = bring and bought = buy, yet they still get it wrong. Lastly, is 'Hawke's Bay'. It has an apostrophe in it!
Trina
Looks like a fantastic little book! I'm not great at grammar - which is exactly why I'd need a book like this. My pet peeve is “its” and “it's” but I'd need the book to list more complicated pet peeves… ;-)
Nathan Champion
For me, it would have to be standardisation (and no, not standardisation vs. standardization). I can forgive the occasional misused apostrophe, spelling mistake, or misplaced comma, but writers could at least have the decency to repeat a mistake consistently throughout a document rather than attempting every single variation and interpretation of a rule.
Andrew
When should I be using grammtical symbols like ~ or the tilde? or 'single' versus “double” quotes?
Sabrina
I have to say as a second language speaker I am absolutely shocked at the amount of grammatical errors native language speakers make in daily conversations as well as in written pieces. I struggle myself with apostrophes and certain other things at times but at least I know when people have read their copies of this book and they're now more comfortable with the difference of “their” and “they're” :-)
Ele
Pet peeve: stray apostrophes in dates (the 80's and 90's) and in abreviations like MP's and GP's.
Nina
My grammar betes noires are far too many to list here, so instead I will merely invoke Hartman's Law of Prescriptivist Retaliation, which dictates that any text criticizing (is that z making you angry?) misspellings or poor grammar will itself contain such faults.
Judith Moore
I mourn the loss of the subjunctive. What's so outmoded about saying”If I were …”? It sounds right to me.
Of course I also loathe the obvious mistakes, such “your” instead of “you're”, which have become so commonplace.
I do find I have less respect for a business which uses grammar incorrectly.
Ed
People who say “would of” rather than “would have”.
And extra syllables added - 'knowen' instead of known (see today's Dompost front page, early in the article about Tiny), 'libarary' instead of library, etc.
Bonnie
'Should of' and 'Should have'
'brought' and 'bought'
Ollie Langridge
Misuse of apostrophes has got to be the number one irritant.
I used to have a collection of photos featuring grammatically public signage in NZ but it became so large I abandoned the project. This included mainstream billboards and the like, and a very famous one from DDB/McDonalds circa 1996.
People will shout me down for this, but having a solid grasp of Latin at an early age will help you not just with English, but with most European languages. Incorrect spelling on any site indicates you're a moron - spelling mistakes actually cost millions in online sales - check out an article here: http://www.netfilms.co.nz/blog/?url=/blog
TH
A grammatical error isn't a 'wind-up' for me personally - maybe because I too make an error here and there on occasion. But I do have a closely related Pet Peeve…
Individuals who take delight in identifying grammatical errors in a person's written work and then proudly and loudly share their discoveries with the author and others. (Editors, teachers excluded). Book pleaaaase….my colleague is driving me bonkers (anyway the others don't need it - they are clearly all experts:)).
David
What bugs me the most is when people use “there's”, which is a contraction of “there is” when they should use “there are”.
For example:
There's one dog (correct)
There are two or more dogs (correct)
There's three dogs (horribly wrong).
You can find examples of this grammatical blunder all over the place. In fact, it seems to have become so common as to have become part of NZ English. Beam me up!
Paul
My pet peeve is punctuation snobs.
Distinguishing between 'correct' and 'incorrect' punctuation is purely an effort to assert intellectual or moral superiority over someone else, based on the latter's failing to include semantically and lexically empty textual decoration.
The original writer is usually absent, and thus cannot defend himself or herself. But it is still bullying, which I find offensive.
If someone, as a reader, cannot distinguish between “Let's eat grandpa” and “let's eat, Grandpa”, then, I'm sorry to say, but grandpa deserves to be eaten, as he is probably in part responsible for his descendants' poor comprehension skills.
And, @Matt - of course it's ” a greengrocers' apostrophe”, you ignoramus. Good God, man. Given the song and dance you have made in your comments about 'proofing' (sic.), I thought you would have understood the fundamentals of English grammar, i.e. more than one greengrocer requires that greengrocer is in the plural form. Maybe you should buy the book.
(It's not nice, is it. Leave off those who have worked hard to master a difficult task, i.e. learning to write. No one likes a smartarse.)
Stephanie Liebert
I'm in a mischievous mood. So I'll launch an attack on those who say “mischievious” ( see I added an extra 'i' in the last syllable)including a few newsreaders I could mention.
And also, each year at the Cannes Film Festival, smug kiwi journalists report from “Carn”. It's NOT Carn, people, it's pronounced CAN. I nearly married a Frenchman once so I'm down with all that foreign stuff.
Marian Schembari
Want! While I'd like to think I'm pretty well-versed when it comes to grammar, sometimes I stare at an apostrophe for a good 5 minutes before deciding where to place it. That, and I definitely overuse commas.
This book would have a healthy and happy home on my desk!
SuperGram: with her big red marker and twink
Make it stop! People from all woks of life are spitting infinitives and abusing apostrophe's like a mangled metaphor. The irony of malapropisms literally has me beside myself.
Doris
Don't think anyone has mentioned it but effect/affect gets me every time.
If anyone has found a tactful way to correct your spouse's grammar please let me know - it makes me feel ill inside if I say nothing but providing helpful hints and tips almost never ends up well
Jacqui
I won't even try to write something witty - reading the comments above has depressed me that much! To the education system, the business community and the creative industry: spelling and grammar DO MATTER! Thank God for the blessings of fabulous teachers for English and languages, but I'm now cursed with an eye for the tiniest grammatical error.
Paul
My grammatical pet peeve? It's definitely … not definately!
Although it isn't a grammatical pet peeve, every now and then you'll come across a writer who appears to confuse someone who makes your coffee and someone who makes your day in court. Spelling mistakes can be deadly!
Raven
My pet peeve is 'should of' and 'would of'. It makes me cringe every time I hear it.
A spelling not a grammatical peeve, is the acceptance of the American spelling of words.
This looks like a great book.
Aimee
I am slightly afraid of some of these commenters! Best not set a comma astray in my reply…
Hyper-capitalisation has to be my pet peeve. Yes, yes, you are a Customer Account Executive and your client is expecting Key Progress Milestones to be met EOP. Sheesh!
Jane Young
People using compliment instead of complement.
Pearl
Effect versus affect. I don't know why, but it bugs me!
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