Comments on: Gross Writing Errors Found on the Web

By: Leigh

Leigh — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 04:18:34 +0000

Wonderful site! Like many others, I used a pleasant hour reading the comments and digressions. However, I came onto the site hoping for a succinct discussion of the frequent use of “Me and (name) did this” or “(Name) and me went somewhere.” A very charming young friend sent us a New Year’s letter in which he used this terminology several times. How can I kindly correct his misplaced modesty? (Which, by the way, drives me crazy whenever I see it.) Is it included in your on-line Grammar Book?

Also enjoyed Seven Writing Errors That Aren’t. By the way, Kate Turabian’s book of style, referred to by some as the “[University of]Chicago Style Book” was the standard style guide when I was in graduate school.

By: Confluence: Software Engineering Training

Confluence: Software Engineering Training — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:25:44 +0000

Copywriting…

Schedule Topic Subtopics Duration Don’t Simply Write, Write Simply! Clarity using active voice, ditching dangling participles, picking the right pronoun. Simplicity Start with the key point, structuring information for impatient readers…….

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 12:53:38 +0000

Well, it would in many ways be more wrong — grammatical gender is not sex; the “neuter” pronoun “its” doesn’t apply to people; it’s “neuterness”[*] isn’t a substitute for the indeterminate sex of the pronoun’s referent. “His” is formally correct; “their” is widely used and has a history, so while I still complain about it sometimes, it’s not “WRONG” in capitals; at most it’s “(wrong)” in parentheses and tiny little letters

[*] It’s not really clear to me that the concept of gender applies to modern English.

By: George Craig

George Craig — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 21:28:03 +0000

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. WRONG! If you are offended by the grammatically correct but politically incorrect: “Everyone is entitled to his opinion”, why use the plural “their” instead of the neuter pronoun that has been part of our language for many more years than I. Would it really offend you more to say: “Everyone is entitled to its opinion” more than it offends us to hear: “Everyone is entitled to their opinion”?

By: Stultus Scelestus

Stultus Scelestus — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 03:45:33 +0000

“you might as well ask if less men enter nursing because there are less men in nursing” – Less men? Fewer men you mean! Less is used for uncountable things, like less sugar or less money. For plural things (countable), you must use fewer, like fewer cars.

This is American nonsense. In proper English, “less” can indeed be used. (In fact, that exact phrase, “less men”, is given as a usage example in the OED!)