1. "Invite". Aaron insists this is not an appropriate substitution for Invitation. I insist that only cool people use it. :-)
2. "Febuary". That is the word February with out pronouncing the 'r' after the 'b'. This one created a lively discussion the other day at my house with some friends. Is the 'r' silent? You be the judge. The dictionary says no it is not.
3. "Supposebly". No, no, it's "SupposeDly"
4. "I'm waiting on you to finish reading your book" This one is not a word but more of a four letter phrase. Correct would be "I'm waiting FOR you to finish reading your book" Unless you are actually waiting ON top of that person- it's not right.
I married a grammar and spelling expert. Since I pretty much can spell at the level of a 4th grader it comes in handy ALL the time. He is my own walking talking dictionary and thesaurus. (Luckily my grammar is pretty good so I don't drive him crazy with that:-)
Some spelling tips that I've learned in the 5 years (we celebrated our 5 year anniversary last Thursday in Palm Springs. Post to come) of being married to my honey....
- Having a double consonant makes the vowel before it have a "short vowel" sound. Diner vs. Dinner. Super vs. Supper. This one helped me soooo much!
- "A lot" is not one word (ex. alot)
- Desert vs. Dessert. You always want more Dessert and that is why there are two s's
Those are the only ones I can think of right now. I'm pretty sure all of you already knew these tricks but just incase there is anyone like me out there, you're welcome. I know there are more tricks but those are the first three I could think of. I've also learned a bunch of new words...
Do you know where your acnestis is?
Do you or your family have any spelling/grammar pet peeves?
11 comments:
My father was reared (not raised, you raise live stock, not people) by an English teacher and both of my parents are teachers and I too married a grammar snob, so it has always been ingrained in my head. But still, thank heavens for spell check!!!
Wow! We are married to the same kind! I have always considered myself fairly excellent with grammar but Brigham finds every error. It drives me nuts. Haha
So jed doesn't ever correct my grammar but he corrects details. If there are four pieces of bread left and I say a few he always corrects me. He can't generalize, it drives me crazy so he doesn't do it as much anymore. He is so detailed oriented which is why he chose dentistry. But he can't spell worth anything.
I've always been a pretty good speller and ok at grammar... but I only recently figured out that alot isn't one word. Go figure. My pet peeves are to/too, there/their, passed/past, effect/affect and for crying out loud it is a "deserted island" not a "desert island". But I can't for the life of me figure out the whom vs. who thing.
Aaron can help you out with that Shawna :-)
I know the difference, but always mess up except and accept (as I did on facebook this morning)... My biggest problem is if things end in "ely" or "ley". It took me years to remember how to spell definitely.
I have so many grammar pet peeves I wouldn't even know where to start.
It drives me completely nuts when people say, "AcroSSED" instead of "Across". I'm getting worked up just thinking about it...
And the other one that drives me crazy is when people say,"AllS you have to do." There is NO "S"!!
I've been thinking about this post none stop! Some other confusing things are, got vs. gotten, use vs. used, and when to use "into" as one word or two.
Trena, I have to say I'm guilty of saying "raised" not "reared." Thank you for pointing that out.
Emily, it's a gift AND a curse.
Erin, I would want my dentist to be detail oriented, and I guess I don't care if he can't spell.
Shawna, that's a good list you've got going on there. For "who" vs "whom," try replacing them with "he" and "him." If "him" fits, then you should use "whom"; if "he" fits, then you should use "who." Sometimes doing this will require some minor re-arranging of the words.
Jodee, it helps if you remember the root of "definitely" is "finite" (pronounced figh-night). But I can certainly understand why a person might have difficulty spelling using the English language. There are so many exceptions to the rules! "Got" and "gotten" are too big to tackle here. Try to steer clear of "gotten" in general. I think it's safe to say that when "in" and "to" happen together, you can use them as one word, i.e., "into trouble." And if what you mean is "used to," as in something habitually done in the past, then spell it "used." Braden is pretty good with this stuff. Doesn't he help you out?
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