Just Thought You All Might Find This Interesting

Solar · April 19, 2011, 06:42:11 AM

I know I do, but then, I'm strange. :P

#4 is the one that surprised me, I had never thought about it before, but now it makes sense.
I just hope I can remember it.

I know T-Bone will find these interesting. ;)

1. ALL RIGHT vs. ALRIGHT

It is not all right to use "alright." In fact, you might even say it is "alwrong," and that if you make this error you are "alwet."

2. A LOT vs. ALOT vs. ALLOT

A lot of people make the mistake of writing alot when they mean a lot. Try not to be one of those people, because "alot" is not a word. There is, however, such a word as "allot," as in this sentence: I will allot you each twenty tickets to sell.

3. ALL TOGETHER vs. ALTOGETHER

Which you choose will depend on what you mean:

She just wanted to get the group all together on one side of the room to have their picture taken, but her tone of voice was
altogether too bossy and self-important, so everyone ignored her.

4. AMOUNT vs. NUMBER

Detergent comes in amounts. People come in numbers. Don't talk about a large amount of people, or books, or pencils, or anything else that can be counted. If something is measured rather than counted, then it comes in amounts. There is a large
amount of snow on the ground, but there are a large number of trees in the forest.

Similarly, things that are numbered must be described as being moreor fewer, not more or less.

~Correct: There are fewerpeople in Kansas than in Pennsylvania.

~Incorrect: There are less people in Kansas than in Pennsylvania.

http://grammartips.homestead.com/tenerrors.html

tbone0106 · April 19, 2011, 12:48:41 PM

Love it! Your article is all together alright, and I like it six times allot! :P :P :P :P

I think the current #1 grammar or usage screw-up is still "irregardless," but there are always new contenders vying for the top spot. I'm constantly surprised to hear that one even in "high places." Of course, hearing it is an order of magnitude more annoying than the proverbial fingernails on a chalkboard...

"Irregardless" puts me in mind of a fellow I worked for nearly 40 years ago who plugged his own special word into sentences apparently at random. His word was "whereabouts." He sometimes used it as a rough substitute for "whereby," but since his need for the word "whereby" was no greater than mine or yours would be, he mostly just tossed it in for fun, to sort of 'round out' his thoughts. Sometimes he could sneak that puppy into a sentence twice!

A sad (I think) tendency in recent years is that of dictionary publishers and other arbiters of the language to throw open their grammatical arms, so to speak, and welcome in some poor bastard like "irregardless." The argument, of course, is that "everybody's already doing it." My mother had a stock reply: "So if they were all jumping off a cliff, you'd be jumping too?" :P :P :P

Solar · April 19, 2011, 01:14:38 PM

LOL, Irregardless is rather reredundant, wouldn't you say? :))

My personal peve is "me and Him" instead of he and I, or me, myself.
When someone says these in a conversation, I literally never hear the rest of what they have to say, because I'm fighting the need to correct them. >:D

We can conversate on this at a later date. Hows that for butchering the English language? :D

Just Thought You All Might Find This Interesting

Solar

tbone0106

Solar