Some Common Errors in Writing

[Unregistered (imported)]

Nil humanum a me alienum est

Where did you get this dreadful Latin? In addition to using an abaltive instead of an ethical dative, it doesn't even scan.

Nihil humanum alienum mihi est

[fredericlei (imported)]

The British spell words differently than Americans...

That should be

something like “differently from the way Americans do.”

Nil humanum a me alienum est

Where did you get this dreadful Latin? In addition to using an abaltive instead of an ethical dat

ive, it doesn't even scan.

Nihil humanum alienum mihi est

Well, the ablative seemed fine enough to Terentius; he wrote: “homo sum: humani nihil a me alienum puto.” (Heaut. i. I. 75). Still, what would he know, eh?

I suppose you mean “ethic dative.”

[Uncle Flo (imported)]

Let us not descend to the level of taking pot shots at each other over small matters of grammar. There are enough grammatical errors for everyone to have one of his own. --FLO--

[fredericlei (imported)]

One common error which has spread in recent times from the US to all parts of the English-speaking world is lay for lie. Even supposedly educated people these days utter such solecisms as “I was laying down” instead of “I was lying down.”

Fewer and fewer people these days learn that the preterite for lie (when it means recline) is lay.

[plix (imported)]

Grammar is an interesting and complex subject. I am disappointed that my school does not offer a grammar class as most colleges do. I feel I would certainly benefit from it.

Even as an English major, I am one of the first to admit I make grammar mistakes on a regular basis in my writing, and even more so in my speaking. No one is going to be perfect all of the time, and it is possible to have an extensive knowledge of grammar while also making mistakes in grammar.

Grammar tends not to apply to speaking as much as it does to writing. Certainly there are rules that apply to speaking as well (e.g., "I is" would probably be frowned upon), but the rules are much more casual, and we tend to go off of what sounds natural and correct to us rather than following any strict set of rules.

When we start to worry about rules of grammar, I think we need to distinguish between issues of mechanics and issues of style. The former is the one that really counts. Those rules are the actual rules, whereas the latter is a matter of personal preference. Issues of style are the sort of thing that might piss off a few high school English teachers or college professors, but that have nothing gramatically incorrect about them.

I once had an entire college paper dinged gradewise because of a low "grammar" grade. Why the low grade? Issues of style. The professor went through my entire paper changing wording around because she did not like the way I worded things. There was nothing gramatically incorrect about anything she changed, but apparently my choices did not fit with her personal writing style. What made this even more funny was that she was not even an English professor - it was a nutrition class. Non-English professors need to just stay away from trying to grade grammar on papers because I have found that more often than not, they haven't a clue what they are doing.

Here are some examples of issues of style. There is nothing gramatically incorrect about them, but certain people will hold them as "peeves."

- "very unique" There is nothing gramatically incorrect about that, although it really is not necessary. Actually, the word "very" as a whole is pretty much an unncessary modifier, frowned upon in both professional/academic and creative writing. But many people use it, including me. The other things curious_guy mentioned are also issues of style, with the possible exception of substituting "Importantly" for "Important." Nothing wrong with having these peeves, but they are personal peeves (as most are).

- passive vs. active voice. Contrary to what your teachers told you, there is nothing technically incorrect with passive voice. It is simply a matter of style, and usually frowned upon in academic/creative writing (in profesional writing it can actually be an advantage).

- ending a sentence with a preposition. Again, nothing technically incorrect about it. Just a matter of style.

That's all I can think of for now, although there are numerous other examples.

AFAIK, everything else mentioned in this thread qualifies as issues of mechanics, meaning to violate these rules is a violation of grammar.

We don't want to forget "your" (posessive) and "you're" (contraction meaning you are). Getting these mixed upon is a common mistake (although usually the former is mistaken for the latter).

Don't even get me started on proper comma usage. That one is far too extensive to cover in a single post.

Finally, don't forget that when we speak of writing for the EA, we speak of creative writing. In creative writing the rules are quite different. They are often violated for creative purposes.

[fredericlei (imported)]

Unfortunately, the ability to use a hyphen correctly is declining. Many stories here feature descriptions which, by a lack of correct hyphenation, suggest meanings contrary to what the author intended. For example, when Simon Wiesenthal died in 2005, he was often calumniously described as a “Nazi hunter,” but Wiesenthal—a man who righteously hunted Nazis, not a Nazi who happened to hunt—was a Nazi-hunter. (Göring was a Nazi hunter.)

Another error I’ve noticed in several stories here is using teste for the singular of testes; the correct singular is testis.

I could list scores of other egregious errors if you wish.

[Paolo]

I'll admit I never learned the proper uses of lay, lie, and all that. No matter how hard I tried, I always got them wrong.

[fredericlei (imported)]

I'll admit I never learned the proper uses of lay, lie, and all that.

[/B]

Lie—recline:

Now I lie, you lie and he lies.

Yesterday I lay, you lay and he lay.

Also, yesterday I was lying.

Earlier, I had lain, you had lain and he had lain.

Lie—utter falsehood

Now I lie, you lie and he lies.

Yesterday I lied, you lied and he lied.

Also, yesterday I was lying.

Earlier, I had lied, you had lied and he had lied.

lay—set something

Now I lay, you lay and he lays something.

Yesterday I laid, you laid and he laid something.

Also, yesterday I was laying something.

Earlier, I had laid, you had laid and he had laid something.

e.g.

I lie on my bed and she lays her clothes neatly on the dresser, lies next to me, and lies to me.

I lay on my bed and she laid her clothes neatly on the dresser, lay next to me, and lied to me. She’d been laid.

I had lain on my bed and she had laid her clothes neatly on the dresser, lad lain next to me, and had lied to me.

Alas, my leman has been laid by a layman.

[Slammr (imported)]

Lie—

recline:

Now I lie, you lie and he lies.

Yesterday I lay, you lay and he lay.

Also, yesterday I was lying.

Earlier, I had lain, you had lain and he had lain.

Lie—utter falsehood

Now I lie, you lie and he lies.

Yesterday I lied, you lied and he lied.

Also, yesterday I was lying.

Earlier, I had lied, you had lied and he had lied.

lay—set something

Now I lay, you lay and he lays something.

Yesterday I laid, you laid and he laid something.

Also, yesterday I was laying something.

Earlier, I had laid, you had laid and he had laid something.

e.g.

I lie on my bed and she lays her clothes neatly on the dresser, lies next to me, and lies to me.

I lay on my bed and she laid her clothes neatly on the dresser, lay next to me, and lied to me. She’d been laid.

I had lain on my bed and she had laid her clothes neatly on the dresser, lad lain next to me, and had lied to me.

Alas, my leman has been laid by a layman.

Thanks...I needed that. I always messed them up, too.

[IbPervert (imported)]

right foot, left foot, right foot, what....bang, crash..... see i lucky to just put one foot in front of other with out failing.

I took bone head english three times just to get to my level of grammar, and English 100 four or five times to pass it. My hardest classes were English. Most of my teachers were pretty relaxed about grammar rules, and said, "if i can see it I will mark it, but wont go hunting for them!"