The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary. -- James Nicoll

DCHaru

Alexander Wrote: You'd be amazed how little English grammar is taught in schools to English natives.

Yeah. Like zero. They don't teach penmanship either. The new cool way to teach in America is to just give'em a pencil and have'em go at it, with the premise being that rigor stifles creativity.

It also creates kids who can't read cursive and adults who can't write tweets.
Go figger. 🐉

I consider myself really lucky that my 7th grade English teacher considered sentence diagramming something that really should not be neglected, so she crammed the basics of it into her course around the state curriculum requirements.


Here's another set of commonly confused words: dominate, dominant, dominants, dominance
Dominate is the verb: Sports team X dominates sports team Y every year.
Dominant(s) is the noun/adjective form: An alpha wolf is the dominant member of a pack.  That alpha-hole Joe only fancies himself a dominant.
Dominance is the abstract quality:  The laws of country Z have dominance in the 5 miles of water around its coast, but past that international law applies.

The use of "presently" to mean "in the present," rather than "soon," is really the only stupid thing that still bothers me. For grammar, people refusing to get the subject/object distinction of me vs. I right in sentences such as, "He gave the assignment to Karl and I," is a cliche, but also can be annoying--because it's not like some other insane rules in English (I'm looking at you, lay/lie). It could hardly be simpler, so long as you remember...that you use the same word to refer to yourself as you would in any other context, sans the other person. No one would ever say, "He gave the assignment to I," and you sound like a caveman if you write, "Me gave the assignment to him." Most grade schoolers can comprehend this. There's really no excuse, except English as a second language, in which case sounding horribly wrong is less effective as a reminder. 

"Him/her and I" is another stupid mistake that's very common. I love it when I say, "Him went to the store!" 

Does it count if it's myself?

I think half of my where and were are wrong used for some reason. English ain't my mother language and haven't wrote so much in English before starting that misunderstanding on my signature......

So yeah. Grammar......grammar will be the death of me

I love that thing. I'd hang it on my wall if it came in as a poster. 🐟

Alexander Wrote: Isn't it wonderful?

Consider also to lie, as in "to be intentionally dishonest":
I LIE
I LIED
I'm LYING
I've LIED

Yeah. It's kind of funny when people say stuff like, 'The dog lied down on the floor.'
I mean, everybody says it. And it's wrong. 🐠

ArDeeBurger Wrote: Yeah. It's kind of funny when people say stuff like, 'The dog lied down on the floor.'

I avoid the word altogether because I've accepted that I'm never going to remember which is which.

JurassicClark Wrote:

ArDeeBurger Wrote: Yeah. It's kind of funny when people say stuff like, 'The dog lied down on the floor.'

I avoid the word altogether because I've accepted that I'm never going to remember which is which.

Ha ha. Yeah. Me too. Plus saying 'The dog laid down' just sounds... wrong. 🐶

sunset and sun sets

Even Grammarly gets this wrong. (it says sunsets)

when the sun sets, we shall watch the sunset together.