Grammar Hang-ups

Mpepper/ January 24, 2024/ Writing, Writing Advice

I have been informed by my teens that proper punctuation in texts is seen as passive-aggressive. Sadly, I simply cannot stop myself from typing full words and using punctuation (unless I’m trying to be funny). So, while I acknowledge my feels on these may be old-fashioned, and understand that the point of any communication is to get one’s meaning across, which can be done despite incorrect grammar, I’m still going to talk about a couple things I see that bug me.

Lets = allows, permits, grants permission
Let’s = “let us” in an imperative, directive, or suggestive sense, such as: “Let’s go to the store.”

I keep seeing “fav” when people mean “fave” (short for “favorite”). Again, I know this an “old” rule, but the “a” only becomes a long sound when you add the “e” to the end. Otherwise, you might be giving Jon Favreau a nickname?

This is tricky because “lead” is like “read” in that it can be pronounced two ways. But when pronounced like “led,” L-E-A-D means the stuff Superman can’t see through, not the past tense of “lead” (pronounced the other way), meaning to guide.

These are the only ones I have the bandwidth to even think about right now. I know I’ve left off some obvious ones, and I assure you I have not become complacent about there/their/they’re and your/you’re, it’s just that those are pretty well documented. I see fewer (yes, fewer, not less) people talking about these, which is why I felt like mentioning them.

What are your grammar hang-ups? Mistakes you see regularly, or even those you make (or used to make but got wise to)?

Share this Post