24 Things You’ve Been Saying Wrong This Whole Time

I’ve taken a lot of heat over the years about my loosy-goosy use of English grammar. And I deserve it. I’m too busy thinking about what I’m going to write next, to worry about what I’ve already written. I think that’s why a lot of grammar police end up earning living being editors. My editor – Darcy – gave up, so I had to employ Grammarly. I assume she’s doing an adequate job – as I’ve not heard much about my slovenly approach to writing and my sorely lacking grammatical skills.

But I take solace in knowing I’m not the only one who plays it loose with the English language. Truth be known, many of my grammar critics also don’t always use proper grammar, I don’t know this, I’m just making it up as I go along for this introduction to our site pick which is actually a page called “24 Things You’ve Been Saying Wrong This Whole Time”. Is it OK to start a title with a number?

Anyway, if grammar matters to you – even a tiny bit – you’ll find this site interesting because it points out some common blunders most of us make (not grammar police though),

Rather than boring you with any more intro – and exposing myself to more chances of grammatical error – I’m going to show you a few images which will whet your appetite for more grammar stuff – I hope.

Could care less or Couldn’t care less?

OK, above is an image from today’s site pick. And if you say you could care less about what I have to say, you’re wrong I tells ya because you couldn’t care less. Right?

Take vs. Bring

This is one of my pet peeves. People who use take and bring incorrectly. Yes, I know, I make my share of grammatical blunders, but not this one. People who say they’re going to bring their dog to the vet. They ain’t going to bring their dog to the vet, they’re going to TAKE their dog to the vet. And then when the vet gets done with the dog, you can BRING her home.

According to our site pick…

The choice depends on your point of view. Use “bring” when you want to show motion toward you (“Bring the dog treats over here, please”). Use “take” to show motion in the opposite direction (“I have to take Rufus to the vet”). The rule gets confusing when the movement has nothing to do with you. In those cases, you can use either verb, depending on the context: “The assistant brought the shot to the vet” (the vet’s point of view); “the assistant took the shot to the doctor” (the assistant’s). This is the grammar rule you didn’t know you already knew.

OK let’s take a chance on another one 😁…

That or Which?

Here’s one I have some difficulty with unless I’m saying that witch is very annoying.  No, I don’t mean Darcy. I mean using the words “that” and “which” correctly.

Our site pick explains…

‘The money that is on the table is for you’ is different from ‘the money, which is on the table, is for you.’ “That” pinpoints the subject: The money that is on the table is yours; the money in my pocket is mine. “Which” introduces an aside, a bit of extra information. If you remove ‘which is on the table, ‘ you won’t change the meaning: The money is for you (oh, and unless you don’t want it, it’s on the table). If the clause is necessary to your meaning, use “that;” if it could safely be omitted, say “which.”

OK, just one more and I’ll let you go explore our site pick…

Farther or Further?

Nothing could be FURTHER from the truth than saying I am a grammar cop. I’m not. You know that. But I could say I’m FARTHER from Toledo than I am from Cleveland. 

As our site pick eagerly points out…

Use “farther” when talking about physical distance and “further” for metaphorical distance or time. He hopes to run farther at his next race, but right now, he’s focused on reading further in his new novel.

OK, so now you have some tantalizing grammatical tidbits from today’s site pick – which is actually a page pick. The examples we show here are only four of the twenty-four you’ll find on the site. And if you think this will be a quickie, don’t count on it. The page has some tantalizing links that lead to other pages dealing with the foibles of the English language. 

So, please visit today’s site pick. I think you’ll enjoy it and maybe learn from it. And the links of our site pick lead to endless fun with language, slang, and more. Well, no sense in trying to explain it here… you’ll see. Even if you’re a grammar cop, you’ll enjoy our site pick “24 Things You’ve Been Saying Wrong This Whole Time”.