Comments on: poor grammar ain’t funny

By: Harriet

Harriet — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:39:21 +0000

Sign on a McDonald’s:

TACO SALADS IS BACK!

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 13 May 2008 05:19:27 +0000

Very true.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Tue, 13 May 2008 04:39:33 +0000

Another common grammatical mistake: you’re vs your.

By: John

John — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 01:44:21 +0000

I meant to say, “Are you suggesting that Microsoft does not need to check their spells?”

See what happens when you don’t proofread! Point taken! Poor grammar makes poor humor even less humorous!

By: John

John — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 01:38:51 +0000

“Spelled” is the correct past tense of “spell” in English. “Spelt” would set me off because I am not British, and that is where that form is most commonly used.

Are you suggesting Microsoft does need to check their spells?

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 17:12:36 +0000

“No one is perfect, so proofreading is a good way to catch your mistakes. A spellchecker is also helpful, especially if you’re a habitually poor speller.”

I would have thought that a ’spellchecker’ would be of most use to one who uses spells, eg Witches and Harry Potter etc. Those of us who write would use a spelling checker. It’s a Mircosoft thing I suppose - we have got used to their terminology. It also annoys me when they use ’spelled’ rather than ’spelt’, but maybe that’s just me !

By: dan

dan — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 17:01:18 +0000

Answers.com explains its history.

By: heiden

heiden — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:53:59 +0000

i cant understand the form Ain’t ? . i have seen it in the title of songs such as Aint it funny ? and one Alicia keys song . can u explain it to me ?

By: jason

jason — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

My spelling and grammar mistakes usually pop up out of laziness or just going to fast, but sometimes I see a word that I’ve typed and it just doesn’t look right. I could have typed it a thousand times before but for some reason, at that particular time, it looks completely foreign to me. From the list you’ve given, I would say “effect/affect” is probably the one that makes me pause most often.

By: dan

dan — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

I agree, affect vs. effect often has me rewording the sentence so I don’t have to figure out which one to use. By the way, I got another submission yesterday with a common one that I forgot to list: Your vs. You’re. I hope that it’s people’s laziness, but I have a sneaking suspicion some people don’t know the difference.