Something to worry about

[whisperfan]

"There are three toos in the English Language."

Which would be the correct one to place in the above example?

Silly - the proper way to write that sentence is, "There are three 2's in the English Language."

There - my work here is done!

[wsippola]

I did have to laugh when Harold misspelled "know" as "now" in his post #9434 back on page 3 of this thread rant on spelling & grammar.

Thought I better spell check the above. Sure enough I had misspelled misspelled as mispelled.


Wayne

[Harold_V]

I did have to laugh when Harold misspelled "know" as "now" in his post #9434 back on page 3 of this thread rant on spelling & grammar.

Heh! Doesn't surprise me a bit! Seems once I've read it and it passes my sniff test, it goes undetected. Sadly, I know the difference between those two works, and understand where each should be used. And still I manage to use them improperly!

None of these things come easily for me. I care, and really do try hard to present myself as if I had at least a modicum of upbringing, but it's not so easy when you lack the rules, which make it easy to make proper decisions. Lots of things still get past me---but I keep trying (and hoping) to do better.

Unlike many, I am not the least bit offended when I am corrected in matters such as these. How else will I learn? Going back to school, taking the classes that would pound it in to my head isn't an option----I have other matters that are important, too, but I can rely on those with skills and knowledge to keep me on the straight and narrow.

I'll go back and review the faux pas you mentioned. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Harold

edit: will I ever do better? The word above, works, should be the word *words*. <very heavy sigh>

[stevec]

Harold, et al, I was talking with my wife yesterday (hey, it happens) and we agreed (that happens too!) about things we "know" even if we don't know the "rules" and we think it's due to having been corrected many times by those who taught us.
I fear that lots of things we oldsters learned are not being passed on to the youngsters of today. I find it sad but maybe the "youngsters of today" have more to learn than we did.

[mklotz]

Here's one that's the grammatical equivalent of fingernails on the blackboard...

I will try and find it.

"And" is a conjunction, a word used to combine independent clauses or words in a series. It doesn't belong here at all. What is required is the infinitive form of the verb...

I will try to find it.

I suppose it's possible to write a grammatical sentence that contains the sequence "try and" but my experience is that, whenever I see it, it's wrong as in the example above.

Whenever you catch yourself writing "and" after "try", ask yourself if you're making a mistake. It's almost a sure bet that you are.

[Alchymist]

Here's one that's the grammatical equivalent of fingernails on the blackboard...

I will try and find it.

"And" is a conjunction, a word used to combine independent clauses or words in a series. It doesn't belong here at all. What is required is the infinitive form of the verb...

I will try to find it.

I suppose it's possible to write a grammatical sentence that contains the sequence "try and" but my experience is that, whenever I see it, it's wrong as in the example above.

Whenever you catch yourself writing "and" after "try", ask yourself if you're making a mistake. It's almost a sure bet that you are.

I will try and if I am making a mistake I will not try again.

That said, here's a list - figure out which words are misspelled, and which correct words are used in what particular:
angel angle
aloud allowed
all awl
artical article
arching arcing
allude elude
amature amateur armature
axel axle
accept except
advice advise
accually actually
affect effect

beleave believe
boaring boring
beleaver believer
berried buried
bare bear
brake break
barrow borrow



concent consent
chord cord
coarse course
caotic chaotic
courant current
censor sensor
conciousable
crome chrome
rake break
barrow borrow

duel dual
defiantly definitely
descreet discrete
decent descent

excepted accepted
enhansed enhanced
encluded included


fare fair
feinted fainted

grove groove
gall gaul
guard guard

heard herd
hostel hostile
hassel hassle
hear here

intacked intact
identicle identical
impliments implements
imminent eminent

jam jamb

loupe loop
leagle legal
lean lien

manor manner
mear mere
medal mettle metal

nozel nozzle

pouring poring
perminate permanent
poll pole
past passed
patients patience
pane pain
peace piece
pear pair pare
peak peek
poll pole


quiet quite

role roll
repel rappel
rode road

shear sheer
some sum
sence since sense
seguay segue
sight site cite
sheer shear
steal steel
sourse source
seam seem

threw through throw
there their
taught taut
then than
tear tare
to too two

viscous vicious
vain vane vein
verticle vertical
vise vice

wallah voila
weary wary
waste waist
wear where
wood would
weak week
wierd weird
your you’re

[mklotz]

I will try and try and try again.

Ok, I was wrong. It isn't that difficult to come up with a legitimate use of "try and".

One thing I don't see in that list is the use of "draw" for "drawer". Do people slur "drawer" so badly that it comes out "draw" phonetically?

[Harold_V]

.

One thing I don't see in that list is the use of "draw" for "drawer". Do people slur "drawer" so badly that it comes out "draw" phonetically?

Heh! Likely an East Coast (Boston?) thing. R's don't appear to exist unless you're speaking a word like Americer (America). Reminds me of the song from my youth, Standing on the Connah (Corner).

One of the things that drives me bonkers is listening to a sportscaster. "The team are". Don't think so, but it will take Marv to explain why. Seems to me the team is, but the players are. Again, a perfect example of me not knowing the rule.

The word *bring* has been so bastardized that it is now commonly misused. *Bring* it to the track. That may be correct if the person speaking is AT the track, but if he's not, wouldn't one *take* it to the track? *Bring* has replaced the use of the word *take* in almost all instances. Bring it to me. Take it to him. Bring me my lunch. Take him his lunch. Bring me his lunch and I'll take it to him. Sort of like that. What say you, Marv?

Harold

[wlw-19958]

Hi There,

The word *bring* has been so bastardized that it is now commonly misused. *Bring* it to the track. That may be correct if the person speaking is AT the track, but if he's not, wouldn't one *take* it to the track? *Bring* has replaced the use of the word *take* in almost all instances. Bring it to me. Take it to him. Bring me my lunch. Take him his lunch. Bring me his lunch and I'll take it to him. Sort of like that.

I find that "come" and "go" are often confused in a similar manner but to a lesser degree.
First off, a mother might say "I'm going to the store" and the child might respond "I want
to come too." Shouldn't it be "I want to go too?"

It also is a complement to your assertion mentioned above. If the person is at the destination,
he or she may ask "when you come, bring the radio with you" but if one is not at the destination,
it should be "when you go, take the radio with you." Although, it might be more difficult to choose
the correct form when the parties are planning to meet at a designated destination and neither
is certain as to which will get there first. My instincts inform me that "go" and "take" would be the
correct form but I will admit I have committed linguistic infractions in this area.

Good Luck!
-Blue Chips-
Webb

[stevec]

One thing I don't see in that list is the use of "draw" for "drawer". Do people slur "drawer" so badly that it comes out "draw" phonetically?

Do you remember "Nam" (Norm) Abrams of The New Yankee Workshop. I used to enjoy his projects, particularly the ones featuring "draws" (drawers)

[mklotz]

.
One of the things that drives me bonkers is listening to a sportscaster. "The team are". Don't think so, but it will take Marv to explain why. Seems to me the team is, but the players are. Again, a perfect example of me not knowing the rule.

The word *bring* has been so bastardized that it is now commonly misused. *Bring* it to the track. That may be correct if the person speaking is AT the track, but if he's not, wouldn't one *take* it to the track? *Bring* has replaced the use of the word *take* in almost all instances. Bring it to me. Take it to him. Bring me my lunch. Take him his lunch. Bring me his lunch and I'll take it to him. Sort of like that. What say you, Marv?

The number of the verb (singular/plural) should always agree with the number of the subject of the sentence. "Team" is singular so one should use a singular verb, e.g., "is". "Team" is what is known as a collective noun. There are many examples of such nouns in English - congress, army, board, faculty, majority, etc.

I'm fairly sure you're correct about the bring/take usage but I would have to do some research to sort out why.

[mklotz]

It also is a complement to your assertion mentioned above.

Wonderful! Someone who understands the difference between "compliment" and "complement". My compliments, sir.

Most of the time I see "complement" written where the writer should have used "compliment". It's another pair of treacherous English words one must watch closely.