Comments on: When smart people use bad grammar

By: Luke, Tulsa, OK

Luke, Tulsa, OK — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:19:18 +0000

I’m way late to the party here, but in case anyone’s still reading, I just want to point out that “presently” can be used as a synonym for “currently,” and in fact, that was its original meaning. In other words, it’s not technically incorrect, though I can see how it could lead to confusion.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:59:31 +0000

I work in a law firm and shudder when I hear “Where’s it at?” My father (who was a trial lawyer) was well known for correcting grammer. Receptionists learned quickly. They would ask “What was your name?” He would respond, “My name was, is and will remain Clifford.” Tell me your thoughts. Nutritious food is NOT healthy, it is healthful. Correct?

By: Grammar Freak, NC

Grammar Freak, NC — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 02:02:18 +0000

Trysch from Calgary: I stopped reading your comment after I read, “persons intelligents.” It should be “person’s intelligence.”

By: Grammar Freak, NC

Grammar Freak, NC — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 01:56:00 +0000

Jay in San Diego, you also used “then” when it should be “than.”

By: Rosie Tewksbury MA

Rosie Tewksbury MA — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:51:09 +0000

Oh my, what is worsse is that people are beginning to use “myself” in place or “you” or “I”. More annoying than telling me to “submit the form to Bob or I” instead of “me” is when they say “submit the form to Bob or myself”. This has become way too prevelant and is permeates the written as well as the spoken. Makes me crazy. Drives me mad!

By: Robert Galvan, Long Island NY

Robert Galvan, Long Island NY — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 05:12:24 +0000

My dear friend Robert Schainbaum should learn that it is a repp (two p’s please) tie.

By: AT, LA, CA

AT, LA, CA — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:36:21 +0000

I actually know several educated, thoughtful people who say and write I’s or mine’s instead of just using the word MY. It is infuriating.

By: Bing

Bing — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:12:11 +0000

Bad grammer is different than voice.

By: D. Mann, Saskatoon, SK

D. Mann, Saskatoon, SK — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 05:28:56 +0000

Ironic that you wrote a column chiding people for bad grammar, but wrote all your anecdotes in the present tense. I know it’s fashionable these days, but stories of things that already happened, when told in the present tense, are themselves grammatically incorrect.

By: Bea, Norwich, CT

Bea, Norwich, CT — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:54:23 +0000

“I’m sitting at a lounge last week in Los Angeles with a top business reporter. True, we’re drinking, but that doesn’t really explain what happens next.” This anecdote speaks of a past event and should have been written in the past and imperfect.

By: Bing

Bing — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:05:03 +0000

Well put.

By: wendell madison wi

wendell madison wi — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 02:51:47 +0000

ummmm grammar nazi much ur a grammar nazi lol

By: Glenn, Richmond VA

Glenn, Richmond VA — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:00:52 +0000

There’s hardly a scripted TV show on the air nowadays (and for the past decade or more) on which you won’t hear “between you and I” or “for her and I” or just about any prepositional phrase possible with compound objects that doesn’t use “I” instead of “me”. Do we have a whole generation of TV writers who skipped the 4th grade? Seems like. When supposedly smart characters use really bad grammar, that sort of destroys their supposed intelligence. One would think that a professional writer would know better. Obviously not.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:19:36 +0000

Your article is very timely and necessary. I am thoroughly obsessed with grammar. I read grammar books in my spare time for fun and knowledge. I cannot stand bad grammar. I realize that grammar usage changes based on various social situations, but certain grammar blunders (using “me” as a subject, trying to use a subject pronoun as the object of a preposition, subject-verb agreement, etc.) are unacceptable.

By: Dennis, Thaxton, VA

Dennis, Thaxton, VA — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:02:48 +0000

I am not sure when bad grammar became acceptable but it sure seems as though it is. It permeates our lives and no one seems to care that our English language is turning into something that definately isn’t what it was. I have been taking a tax course offered by Jackson Hewitt and I have to hope they know more about taxes than they know about their native language. I can barely read the lessons because every sentence abuses the singular/plural rules of Englinh. Some are so bad they border humorous if not fot the fact that it demonstrates a lack of knowledge or we have let political correctness turn us into Neanderthals. One glaring example is as follows: “In this case, the taxpayer can use MFJ as their filing status on a tax return for themselves and their deceased spouse”. I wonder if I can force myself to complete the course of if I will be driven crazy by this horrible writing.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:14:19 +0000

Why is precision important only in math or science? Will this balcony hold 1 person or 100 people? Who cares… it’s just a couple of zeroes! Will this dose of painkiller keep the patient alive by preventing shock, or will it kill him? Who cares, it’s just words. When that guy said, “you can’t put too much water in the cooling tower of that nuclear reactor” did he mean “no amount is too much” or “too much will blow the core?”

How many arguments about the 2nd amendment stem from imprecise language? Or is the genius of that document that very imprecision.

Yes, language changes, but attempting to communicate clearly by using it as precisely as possible helps all parties involved. If your clothes make an important statement about you from which people form their opinions of you, why wouldn’t your statements?

By: Samuel Thomas, Somers, CT

Samuel Thomas, Somers, CT — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:56:01 +0000

By the way, if I see one more “’til” written anywhere I will lose my mind. It’s “till”. Same goes for “okay”; it’s “OK” or “O.K.” because it’s an initialism of “oll korrect” which is a humorous misspelling of “all correct”. “OK” is not from “okay” which supposedly came from an native American word similar to “Okeh”. “Okeh” existed, but “OK” comes from a Boston newspaper which was known for humorously misspelt initialisms. This is the last of my rants.

By: Samuel Thomas, Somers, CT

Samuel Thomas, Somers, CT — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:32:37 +0000

Cannot is a word, and it is preferred to can not because the second “n” is not said in speech.

By: Samuel Thomas, Somers, CT

Samuel Thomas, Somers, CT — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:31:22 +0000

I almost completely agree with you, but the split infinitive is not a real English rule. It was made up by one clergyman trying to Latinize English. It makes sense in Latin, because the infinitive is one word, but English has an infinitive marker, “to”. Sometimes moving an adverb from between “to” and the infinitive drastically changes the meaning. This rule is as bogus as the rule against ending a sentence with a preposition, a rule made up by the same clergyman. However, one still shouldn’t say, “Where are you at?” because “where” means “at what place”, and therefore “at” is redundant, but “What meeting are you at?” is as logical as
“At what meeting are you?”, and the former has been in use longer in English. I too abhor “between you and I”, but I hate hypercorrection even more.

By: Name, City and State

Name, City and State — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 03:20:26 +0000

Smart people do not use bad grammar. Smart people do not misspell words. Smart people know that can not is two words, not one.