Conjugating Verbs

[mce99]

I find the autocorrect feature, while useful many times still requires an old fashioned review before send. Many times I look back and wonder did I really write that.

Schools today don’t stress enough spelling and grammar and watch any TV news program and look at all the mistakes being made in the ticker along the bottom.

[Ljwt330]

Originally Posted by Ehochuli85

First of all, thank you all for this very enjoyable conversation. I've gotten many laughs out of these posts, and my wife has had to endure my frequent shouts of "Amen!", and "I couldn't agree more!". But we also all know that not everyone had that in credibly determined 7th grade grammar teacher who kept pounding correct grammar into us. (Thank you Mrs. Sullivan!!!)

But let me add two things: First, please add "myself" to the list of words more often misused than correctly used . . . "My wife and myself want to thank you". And second, while I can certainly understand us regular folks misusing words, I do not understand national newscasters' terrible grammar. They are reading from a prompter, and the script has been reviewed multiple times by highly educated editors. If they can't get it right, I know Mrs. Sullivan is really rolling over in her grave.

Again, I agree with all of you, but most of all, thank you all for the laughs.

Note the bold in your quote. The first part of the sentence is true, but the second part is a questionable assumption.

To add one more error journalist and the like make continuously, one cannot ignore the misuse of the phrase, “begs the question.” It is almost universally used incorrectly to mean “raises the question.” Actually, it identifies a fallacious, circular argument in which a claim is “proved” by “evidence” that already accepts the claim to be true.

Incorrect use:
The deaths from vaping begs the question, what is in the vapor that is killing vapers?

Correct use:
To say, “Vaping can kill you because vaping is deadly,” only begs the question, it does not provide evidence.

I have a feeling this phrase will be another example of English being a “living” language and this misuse will become the accepted formal meaning as well as the current informal meaning.

[CMore]

I was a de facto editor for 25+ years. It started simple enough and became a curse. There are over 170,000 English words in current use, but most folks use only 20,000-30,000. These are free for you; take them and you will be rewarded. Like it or not, how you present yourself in these postings will project an image. You may be a brilliant engineer or have 40 years of diesel mechanic skills, but sloppy and inarticulate will suggest low education and thus, may affect the validity of your opinion. Unfortunately, the reverse is true. Just because it's well written doesn't mean it's right.

That said, "Loose" describes the screws in my head if I think I can correct someone's grammar without them asking. "Lose" describes my mind if I let it bother me. (And what I did with those two panel switches I bought from Tiffin before I could install them.)
-Dale

[LarryJB]

One thing that has always bothered me is the practice of turning a verb into a noun by adding "able" to the end, which would normally turn it into an adjective. In my line of work, the word deliverable is used as a noun all the time and it just drives me crazy. As in "What are the deliverables for this project?" I think it has been used so much in the IT world that it is now acceptable as an actual noun. I brought this up in a meeting one time and just got a room full of silent blank stares.

[rvpilot>]

My biggest pet peeve the last few years is the statement....

I would like to thank..., or
We would like to thank...

Well, if you would like to, then DO IT!

Say instead...

I thank..., or,
We thank..., or
Thank you to.....

Sheesh!

Every time I hear one of those I want to scream at the radio or TV “Then just do it!”

Back to stealth mode now...

[Mickster-D]

I, like many others here, want to thank the OP because I have so thoroughly enjoyed this conversation.

But just to throw in my 2cents, no one has mentioned my personal pet peeve, the dreaded, ready?, me and you, me and him/her, me and my . . ..

Or, because my 60-YO niece is the world's worst at employing this construction, maybe I should shut up while I'm ahead - this could be a rule applicable to an era antecedent to that of most posters here today.

[RatDog]

I dread the term “quid pro quo”, becoming a part of common conversation as in, “He did a favor for me so now I need to quid pro quo him back”.

It just occurred to me that, in my 40 years as a writer, editor, and teacher, I have never used the term, “”quid pro quo”. Oops, now I’ve done it twice <LOL>.

Steve

[cekkk]

Originally Posted by moneyslinger

Ok, but how do you explain conjugating visits in prison then??

Practice for marriage maybe?

[cekkk]

I must take this opportunity to ask all LEOs out there this question. Who teaches you to talk weird? As in "myself did observe the deceased female blah blah blah"

I heard hundreds of officers testify over 40 years and have wanted to ask that question almost from Day One.

[Ret.LEO]

Originally Posted by zigzagrv

Before I start, I want to declare I am NOT an English teacher. I just paid close attention in grammar school MANY years ago when we would recite by rote the verbs and their proper tenses.

I could go on and on with the examples, but I do not wish to bore you to tears, but these misuses of verbs drive me nuts!

(What say you?

)
That should have been.......What do you say?

[Ret.LEO]

Originally Posted by cekkk

I must take this opportunity to ask all LEOs out there this question. Who teaches you to talk weird? As in "myself did observe the deceased female blah blah blah"

I heard hundreds of officers testify over 40 years and have wanted to ask that question almost from Day One.

I'm retired but I never spoke that way.
Some Prosecuting Attorneys are very particular on how applications for a warrant are written. Painfully so.

[danhannah]

Originally Posted by cekkk

Your to picky in you're old age if y don't revert back to ur younger daze you'll loose your mind.

All that by the commoners is frustrating. But what really p$&-s me off is professional talking heads who misuse words that, if used correctly, sound impressive. My chain rattler is "acronym.". It ain't rocket science, as my aerospace engineer SIL might say. Acronyms are abbreviations. But not all abbreviations are acronyms.

I was surprised to hear Dana Perino refer to the USMCA recently as an acronym.

As for misspellings, autocorrect is often the problem, and few proof their posts. Should I?

I learned something today. Since you can't pronounce USMCA, it's not an acronym... Never new that!

[GeorgeandTheBear]

Originally Posted by danhannah

I learned something today. Since you can't pronounce USMCA, it's not an acronym... Never new that!

Knew...

[smp005]

All I can say is..............