I solve my grammar problem by sending my posts to grammercheck.com and they send it back fixed for 5$ per 300 words

Yes. Ireland, I’m pretty sure.

But, isn’t it still wrong…I mean, grammatically. It’s certainly wrong to my ears and to my eyes. I don’t know if I could keep going. hee.

The good and well thing kills me!!!!

This slipped out of my mouth at work once in response to “Where are you at?”

Me: “Behind the at.”

WHOOPS.

i had no idea anne enright was two people.

Maybe that is the way the character speaks though? I mean do you only read books where the characters speak and think in perfect grammar? Just a question, it really doesn’t bug me either way if you quit reading a book for that. My grammar is horrible but I am a science person.

I was just reading The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman; wonderful book, interesting ideas, engaging characters, good narration.

Unfortunately for me, the editor apparently couldn’t spell. And I’m talking every other page. A dropped “s” here, an extra “d” there… whole meanings changed by misspellings. “Weaves” and “Waves” are not the same thing. It was extraordinarily frustrating.

I am glad that I soldiered on and read it though, I would have missed out on a good story otherwise.

Ahh! The Weird Sisters! I LOVE that book! So quirky and strange, but an awesome read. Surprisingly, when this was a book club selection, I was the only one who liked it, even just a little.

I am horrible with the double spacing after punctuation. I was taught to do so by all of my high school English teachers. I never knew it was wrong until I entered college but by then the habit had already been formed.

I….um…am a lawyer who double-spaces! Strange to say but I think this practice of double-spacing is pretty widespread. I was always taught to double-space after the punctuation mark and the habit stuck; from the previous commenter I am presuming there are lots of us out there. There are a lot of grammatical errors out there that make me want to gouge my eyes out with a sharp apostrophe though. The misuse/abuse of contractions in particular makes me tear up.

obviously that should say NOW computer fonts are not monospaced.

I too let things go when I read because of colloquialisms. Because let’s face it, I know the right way on most occasions, but if you here me speak in person or how I write on my blog, I make glaring errors all the time. Just this last weekend someone called me out on it.

Also, the “where you at?” is a very Midwestern/Chicago thing. I end every sentence with a preposition. And you can’t convince me it is wrong. 🙂

Thanks for not pointing out that I apparently don’t know the difference between HERE and HEAR.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Midwestern speech patterns FTW!! I’m from Kansas and everything ends in a proposition. I try so hard in my professional writing and conversation to not do this, but it’s such a hard habit to break.

I hate to comment on grammar, because I’m so likely to make stupid mistakes. However, most grammar pet peeves still make me crazy.

Also, the reason that Irish people use the different grammatical patterns when they speak is that they are more direct translations from the native language. Most are bilingual speaking both Irish and English and so have developed some ways of speaking that may sound odd to other english speakers. However, they very rarely, unlike English english speakers, use these spoken patterns when writing.

so, this is a super simple explanation of the differences:
hyphen…used for compound words like open-mouthed kiss or sister-in-law
n-dash (width of the letter N)…used for ranges like ages 0–9 or 1984–1999
m-dash (width of the letter M)…used for a sudden break in the thought like She hit her knee—and her ego—when she fell.

It probably doesn’t make much sense…I just get bothered when people use hyphens when they should be using m-dashes. I love m-dashes. They look so lovely in print.

God I’m a nerd…

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One of my biggest pet peeves — besides apostrophe problems on business signs and in newsletters from my childrens’ school — is the misuse of real/really. It sounds wrong, but it’s so prevalent I was beginning to doubt myself. So I asked an English/linguistics teacher. eg. It’s real hot out there. No, it’s not. It’s really hot out there.

The other one isn’t grammatical, but pure oral laziness. There is an R in library. It’s not a fruit.

When would you EVER use “might could.” I can’t imagine that working whether you were a grammar queen or not. Seriously, I need an example. It that a Canadian thing?

I’ve noticed a lot of people lately who seem to use the word “myself” when they’re trying to be more formal, and they just sound like idiots.

I CANNOT TAKE IT when people use apostrophes in plurals. Even many people who are supposed to be educated in these things do it with capitals/abbreviations (such as CD’s or DVD’s). I took a red marker to a box my mom packed and labeled during my recent move. I’m such an asshole. “Thanks for your help, mom! Now I’m going to shit on your efforts!”

Oh, how I relate (and am totally self-conscious about the grammar in this comment right now)! I remember WAY BACK we went to The Keg, and I was in hysterics because the waiter kept calling everyone “Yourself” — i.e., “Would yourself like some soup with your salad?”

A misused “myself” drives me bonkers to the point of giggles, yes. 😉

I’m with you on the grammar pet peeves, but the quote you posted looks like the novel is narrated in the first person, which means that depending on the time frame and the character’s education, all bets are off when it comes to proper grammar.

That said, it would still annoy the shit out of me.

Mistakes are one of the things we have to take note in life..Make sure that we never make it again…learn from it…

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