Abreviations and other things that are hard to remember!

If you have something to add to this please do. I'm only thinking of a couple right off the bat, but I know there are more!

Here's one: etc. is an abbreviation for et cetera, meaning and so forth. Consequently, the abbreviation for it is etc., not ect.

Another: When you say a sentence such as: "I wish I would have gone with my friend", if you abbreviate would have, it would be would've (you're taking out the ha to get your abbreviation, which leaves the ve. You put the apostrophe to stand for the ha that you took out), not would of.

Here's one that's sometimes confusing: Take the word see. If you look at a table of present and past usage This is how the word is used:
Present: I see
Past: I saw
Future: I shall see
Those are the main/most common usages of "see". If you use the word "seen" it always (or almost always) has to have a helping verb. So, you wouldn't say "I seen that," you would say, "I saw that." OR, to use the word seen, you'd have to use a helping verb, so you would say "I have seen that."

Just some things I know can be confusing sometimes. What things like this can you guys share? Remember not to get too detailed or it'll be too confusing (for me, anyway)!

 

One thing that always goes right up the back of my neck is when someone means "as such" but puts pursay or pur say instead of per se as it should be.

Another that just doesn't sit well with me is "all of THE sudden" when it's correctly "all of A sudden". Like when the kids say it happened "on a accident" instead of "by accident" or accidentally.

But maybe it's just my OCD-ness reacting....

 

It drives me batty when people say irregardless. It is just regardless people! Look it up!

Stupid I know but it also bothers me when I hear people say for instance - one hundred and seventy four. It is just one hundred seventy four. There is no AND!

Pacifically instead of specifically. And my dumb step half something or another sister in law says Levi Stratus instead of Levi Straus when talking about the jeans. No I don't correct her I just look at her like the idiot she is.

I also have a friend that pronounces tortillas with the LL's. Bugs the crap outta me but she does it anyway.

 

I have some pet peeves as well. For example, I cringe when I see 'seperate' or 'would of' instead of 'would have'. Yes, 'irregardless' is surprisingly common.

By the way, it is 'one hundred and seventy four' in British English, which is why you might hear some people say it that way.

 

How do you think the French feel when Chicagoans pronounce "Des Plaines" as "Dez Planes"?

 

I think it is funny when someone says, I could care less. Most of the time they meant to say I couldn't care less

Double negatives really bug me too.

One more that really gets me is when someone is trying to say they have had a change of heart about something and they say they have done a 360 instead of a 180.

 

See, this one confuses me, so I never use it. I couldn't care less, seems like a double negative which would mean they actually care more. But, I could care less.....hmmmmm, I don't know!

Yes, it IS legal to start sentences with But or And ON OCCASION.

Yeah, if they do a 360 they're headed the same direction they were!

 

Me too! I worked with a girl that said it at leat once a day. It just about drove me out of my mind.

It also drives me nuts when people use was instead of were - "We was going to a movie but didn't make it on time". Makes me want to scream.

 

Deena, The way a teacher explained it to a class I was in was like this... she wrote it out on the board without the contraction couldn't. "I could not care less", meaning I care so little now that I could not go any lower. She said saying "I could care less" meant you cared enough to be able to go lower. We were probably in 7th grade at the time and the class was not very interested in what she was saying but it stuck in my mind for some reason. I don't use the expression because it sounds so harsh to me.

 

A new expression that I don't care for is calling everything random. I guess I am just getting old and uncool.

 

THESE ONES.... I don't like that. I catch myself once in awhile say that & I cringe & correct myself. Anyways...anyway.

 

Many people believe that the last word in the phrase "I don't give a dam" contains an 'n' too, but it doesn't. A 'dam' was the smallest unit of currency in British India, so the phrase really means "I don't give a cent". Still, if I were to use it, I'm sure some people would be shocked!

 

thanks for the english lesson everyone. Nice way to start a Tuesday morning.

 

I know something that is easily confused-affect and effect.

 

I know when I taught I told the lil ones. Remember hear has ear that's what you use. Here is in the word there like I like to go here and there.

 

drives me nuts when people use the word ain't!

 

Aint is in the dictionary now, so people say since it's in there it can "legally" be used!

 

Yes but it still drive me nuts!

 

Some local law-makers in Britain have decided to drop apostrophes from street signs because they confuse too many people. For example, St. Paul's Way has become St. Pauls Way. Frankly, I find this an appalling decision and a sop to laziness.

 

Oh, man... I could go on and on in a thread like this! LOL!! Online, I don't really care about grammar. When it's something that should've taken effort, though? That ticks me off. I hate seeing ads or articles that are clearly written by a moron. Why even get into writing if you failed an English class or two?

Back on topic -

I think one that bothers me is lie/lay. People lie. Things don't know how to tell lies. That's how I always remember it. It's not "I'm going to lay down and take a nap." It's "I'm going to lie down and take a nap."