We ran across this tweet from Business Insider recently:
Watch out for these common grammar mistakes pic.twitter.com/Hald3qTFRP
— Business Insider (@businessinsider) April 21, 2019
Category Archives: Grammar
New Yorker’s Comma Queen
Our group came across a Ted Talk presented by Mary Norris, The New Yorker’s copy editor. It was a charming talk about some of the letters and comments she’s received in the past about perceived errors found in The New Yorker. It was recorded this past February. Watch:
We must be jerks
Came across this article the other day called People who constantly point out grammar mistakes are pretty much jerks, scientists find.
They tested 83 participants and had them read email responses to an ad for a housemate. Some had no errors and some had typos and grammatical errors. The 83 subjects judged the person who had written the email based on what they felt about intelligence, friendliness, and other attributes as to what type of housemates they’d be. They were also asked if they spotted any errors and if they did, how bothered they were by it. Those with errors were judged more harshly. However, they found that extroverts were more likely to overlook the errors than introverts.
Ok. We’re jerks. This article had a typo I cannot let get by! They spelled extrovert as “extravert”.
Missing comma gets woman out of a ticket
In West Jefferson, Ohio, there is an ordinance that states: certain types of vehicles cannot be parked longer than 24 hours, including “any motor vehicle camper, trailer, farm implement and/or non-motorized vehicle.” If you look closely, you can see that there is a comma missing after “motor vehicle.”
A woman named Andrea Cammelleri used that to her advantage when she was cited for parking her 1993 Ford pickup for more than 24 hours. She claimed her pickup didn’t fit into any of the categories listed. Although the village says the meaning is clear, the judge sided with Andrea and let her off. The judge said they should amend the law if they want to enforce it.
About grammar
Ran across this funny video about grammar by none other than Weird Al Yankovic.
He uses the tune from Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines to rail on poor grammar.