Common Errors in English

Dylan · Post by **Dylan** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 12:16 pm

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/errors/errors.html

Looks interesting.

Post by **Denyer** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 1:00 pm

*bookmarks*

Looks useful, especially for second-language students.

Nice find!

Eline · Post by **Eline** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 3:07 pm

that is very useful!

I put it in my language bookmarks, together with the Swedish dictionary

Obfleur · Post by **Obfleur** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 3:13 pm

Eline wrote: together with the Swedish dictionary

Coolness!

If you need any help, feel free to PM me. Weee!

I cant acces that site from work. Dont know why

Post by **Denyer** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 3:26 pm

Try it without the :8080 port reference:

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

Obfleur · Post by **Obfleur** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 3:28 pm

It works. Thanks!

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 3:40 pm

Niftycool.

Glad to see that I'm not unjustified in getting annoyed whenever people say that they'll insure that something happens...

Dylan · Post by **Dylan** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 4:22 pm

Ah cool, appreciation for the English language.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 4:47 pm

He's buggered up, replacing apostrophes with right-hand double quotes throughout the site.

Amateur.

Dylan · Post by **Dylan** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 4:50 pm

The funny thing is that I found that site looking up the word "amateur".

Señior's Covenant · Post by **Señior's Covenant** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 4:52 pm

Dylan wrote:The funny thing is that I found that site looking up the word "amateur".

"amateur ________"?

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 4:59 pm

Metal Vendetta wrote:He's buggered up, replacing apostrophes with right-hand double quotes throughout the site.

Amateur.

Well, at least he's been consistant with it. Consistant? Consistent? I'm overthinking. Whichever. I was taught that it doesn't make a lot of difference which you use, so long as you stick with it throughout whatever you're doing.

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/quotation_marks.html

In American usage, single quotation marks are used normally only for quoted words and phrases within quotations.

Angela had the nerve to tell me “When I saw ‘BYOB’ on your invitation, I assumed it meant ‘Bring Your Old Boyfriend’.”
British usage tends to reverse this relationship, with single quotation marks being standard and double ones being used only for quotations within quotations

British usage reverses this relationship?! We invented the bloody language! Besides, it makes more sense to use doubles, as you'll get confused if the quoted text has an apostrophe. "It's Fred's" reads much simpler than 'It's Fred's'.

Blahblahblah.

Post by **Denyer** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 5:05 pm

Brendocon wrote:I was taught that it doesn't make a lot of difference which you use, so long as you stick with it throughout whatever you're doing.

Yeah, likewise: the aim is communicate meaning clearly. If that's achieved, all else is irrelevant.

Consistency's just part of that...

Dylan · Post by **Dylan** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 5:18 pm

You'd be surprised (or not) how many people write "amatuer". That just doesn't make any sense.

Then again, words never make any sense. Stare at the word "sound" for a while. How odd is that word? And it's a common word too.

I must say I personally prefer single quotes, looks sharper or something. Perhaps indeed double quote notation is clearer.

The annoying thing is that in Dutch a number of rules are reversed, especially when it comes down to hyphens, single or double word notation (should be a proper term for that?), apostrophe's (?!) and -ses (-s-es?).

The day I found out "its" is possessive meant joy and jubilation. For the rest, only plural is "-s" right? All other instances are "-'s"?

* blink blink *

Señior's Covenant · Post by **Señior's Covenant** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 5:30 pm

I find mispronunciations more interesting than mispellings (context or otherwise). I still get twinge when someone verbalizes the "f" in often.

I ******* HATE silent letters.

Post by **Denyer** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 5:36 pm

Wherever you see "it's" it will be short for "it is" in correct usage. "Its" is the equivalent of "his" or "her" for non-gendered instances.

Where you want a noun to show possession (eg, "the boomstick of the man") an apostrophe is used: the man's boomstick.

English is a bit more flexible with regard to grammar than, say, French. Taking the example above, depending on how the sentence is laid out either the man or the boomstick could be emphasised as being the main subject of the sentence. As far as I'm aware it's not common usage to slur "l'homme's boomstick" (or whatever shotgun is in French...)

edit: Is it just me or is this a lousy font for spacing between ' and " characters and words they enclose? Verdana is much clearer to read onscreen, I find. I suppose I should put my glasses on...

Señior's Covenant · Post by **Señior's Covenant** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 5:42 pm

Denyer wrote:English is a bit more flexible...

It's a flippin' elasticized tube tied in a pretzel in the USA.

Post by **Denyer** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 5:47 pm

Mostly because of attempts to merge pronunciation and spelling. This creates a complete mess, as English (rather than American English) uses spelling to encode groups of words with related meanings. You've got the worst of two systems to contend with.

Señior's Covenant · Post by **Señior's Covenant** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 5:50 pm

U shur got dat rite.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 8:34 pm

What I meant was that he'd actually buggered up his site by replacing actual apostrophes (like in the word it's) with double-quotes (so it actually read it"s) - the most notable was on the entry for bumrush --> bum"s rush but I emailled him about that one and he's changed it. There are a few more dotted around the site but I can't remember where they are now.

The actual single quote/double quote thing, well anyone who's read Eats, Shoots and Leaves knows about that one.

Redstreak · Post by **Redstreak** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 12:55 am

Dylan wrote:Ah cool, appreciation for the English language.

So glad to see that it's not just me with said appreciation.

These are the errors that make those voices in my head say kill.

Aaron Hong · Post by **Aaron Hong** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 1:24 am

Señior's Covenant wrote:I still get twinge when someone verbalizes the "f" in often.

Wait - that's not the right way to say it? Is it pronounced Obfleur or something?

Post by **Denyer** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 10:57 am

I think he meant "t" rather than "f". Either that or has a f*cked-up accent.

Señior's Covenant · Post by **Señior's Covenant** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 2:35 pm

Forgiveness please. The baby hasn't been sleeping very good for the past week. Tired.