I’ve been called worse things than a grammar nerd. One of my sisters posted on Facebook, “This is you dear brother.”
But am I, REALLY?
1. The little I text I’m willing to use “2” for “to” or “too,” mostly because I’m a worse typist on that device than on a computer. My fingers cramp up, which is one reason I HATE texting.
2. I suppose I am an “honorary proofreader” for AmeriNZ and Jaquandor and SamuraiFrog, and they do the same for me.
3. It is true that I know the difference between affect and effect.
4. I DON’T correct public signs, but I’m sorely tempted. Also, and I’ve done this since I was a kid, I find “End Work Zone” signs uproariously funny. I visualize people picketing the fact that people are working. Now “end of work zone” wouldn’t have that affect, I mean effect.
5. I’m mortified by typos, yet it happens often enough that I just grind my teeth and move on. This, I will attest, is likewise true of some of my blogging colleagues.
6. Oxford comma: generally unnecessary, unless it is. But speaking of commas, I would have put one between “you” and “dear” in the sentence at the top of the page.
7. I’ve been to Grammarly, but don’t follow it.
8. I don’t do a lot of hashtags on social media, and the ones I do are work-related.
9. I find double negatives less cringe worthy and more confusing, especially as an interrogative.
10. I DO edit magazines and newspapers I read. Oh, and when I see one of those funny things on Facebook, and something is misspelled – it’s usually “weird” – it takes me out of it. And I almost never SHARE it, for that reason alone, even when I would otherwise re-send.
Worst problem, of course, is its/it’s. Apostrophes in general are misused.
And I HATE it when “they” misspell Binghamton, my hometown, as Binghampton. I remember seeing that on a map of Pennsylvania, which the city is near. It was spelled CORRECTLY on the New York State map.
Are YOU a grammar nerd?
It’s the triple negatives that throw me.
And my site slogan — “I couldn’t possibly fail to disagree with you less” — actually makes my head hurt when I think about it.
Your not a grammar nerd? Are you cringing?
Not bad – I only scored six out of ten! Worse than affect/effect confusion are those who use appraise when they really mean apprise. Fortunately, this is something that doesn’t happen too often. Oh, and the growing habit of using the of instead of have, both in speech and increasingly in writing.
My turn for a type – that should have said: ‘using the word of…’
I wonder why the Grammarly “signs” are presented in block capital letters. That seems wrong to me. Furthermore, as someone who has never sent a text message in his life, I find the assumptions contained in Signs 1, 7 and 8 both thoughtless and alienating.