Am I a Grammar Nazi? Though my students might say so, and perhaps The Lockport Union-Sun & Journal might say so, I'm not. I don't stop people in regular conversation to point out grammar errors, nor do I always speak or write in perfect English, but I do notice when I find errors in print. Student papers? To be expected. Professional newspapers? All hail the Grammar Nazi!
Please read the headline from this June 14, 2012 article and tell me what's wrong. I'll wait.
If you didn't barf a little in your mouth, you didn't notice. Reread, and this time read out the contraction... there's the barf.
Now read the large text meant to highlight the article's great wisdom. NOTE: this error is tougher to spot.
Did you notice comma splice making it a run-on sentence? Though, after the super basic "it's" vs. "its" error in the title, I wouldn't expect them to find a comma splice.
What grammar error annoys you the most? Have you actually found it in print? I'll keep posting them! Finding bad grammar in professional publications is becoming more a given than a hunt. I'm scared. Very, very scared. It's...its...it's...its... er... It is not funny!
I live in a small city surrounded by farms and trailer parks. This is the city that when you mention it by name in the "real" city nearby, people shudder and wonder how you could live so intolerably far away. This city has everything you'd expect in a big city: loud music thumping from pimped out cars, public urination, teenagers lurking on the sidewalks, "Mister Natural Ice" dumping his empties on lawns, gun violence. We also have stores specializing in camouflage and chicken feed, tractors slowing down traffic, the smell of manure and not a Starbucks in sight. This city even has a real newspaper: The Lockport Union-Sun & Journal.
I include for your inspection a picture and caption from the front page of the Monday, June 4, 2012 edition. I read it and my eye started twitching. What do you think? (Clicking on the picture will make it large enough to read easily.)
What irritated me the most:
- Ending a sentence with a proposition. In casual communications, whatever, but in a newspaper?
- The dryer actually made its way around the house? The dryer? *sigh*
- "...surrounding stuff..." Stuff?!? Why not "things" or "junk" or "like, whatever"? Can't think of a word? Don't worry, "stuff" works for all kinds of things!
What part of this caption irritates you the most? If you have your own irritating newspaper article, please feel free to send it to me and I'll post it here.
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