Comments | lia1031: Lia’s guide to writing and speaking good...er, well

lia1031

Lia’s guide to writing and speaking good...er, well

Oct 23, 2006 23:05

The world is full of them, and they are all around me. When I see them, I wince with excruciating pain. Their perpetrators should be jailed.

What are they? They are mistakes in grammar, spelling and word usage. And they’re everywhere.

Since I can’t take a big red pen and correct every error in sight or strike from the record everything anyone has ( Read more... )

Comments 9

anonymous October 24 2006, 05:45:01 UTC

Me talk pretty

beth

anonymous October 24 2006, 22:30:53 UTC

I always stick to your guidelines on decades/years; however, I think some style manuals are cool with 1970's. I definitely can understand the argument for "Steven always got good grades: As or Bs" turning into "A's or B's," but I know that's not cool.

Also, the fewer vs. less thing--a little tricky, isn't it?

that was seth anonymous October 24 2006, 22:31:41 UTC

sorry

Re: that was seth lia1031 October 24 2006, 22:44:02 UTC

Hi Sethie!

Whichever style manuals are cool with 1970's should die. These rules all follow AP Style, which, when you're in journalism, is your bible.

I never liked the A's and B's thing. It does get confusing because "As" (I got three As on my exams) looks like "as" (but not as many as my friend). I'm not quite sure what AP says about that, though.

I just hate when people use apostrophes to make things plural: I ate three apple's. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Just because a letter grade is, well, a letter, doesn't mean it should be allowed to become pluralized with an apostrophe.

The fewer vs. less concept is a little-known fact--most people don't know the difference. So, please, make the world a better place and correct people whenever possible. That's what I do. =)

Re: that was seth anonymous October 25 2006, 03:23:16 UTC

You know what's even worse than "apple's"? Ladie's bathroom. That's just too much, man.

Thread 6

septimus_hodge October 25 2006, 14:49:25 UTC

its two bad. you think your better then every one, because you write good, and because you make 100's of mistakes less than them. but your wrong, because mistakes, their bound to happen everyday, and people still understand what you say good no matter how you say it (and i knew this even when i was a freshmen).

fewer/less anonymous November 5 2006, 03:07:37 UTC

what about "fewer" for items that can be quantified and "less" for those that can't? -sethie