Post your least favorite part of English Gramer.

[chris11]

Mine is that (blah blah blah blah blah blah (blah blah blah) is the correct form, rather than (blah blah blah blah blah blah (blah blah blah)). I want my language to be as uniform as possible. This parenthesis should corrospond to this piece of my writing. The point of gramer (and yes I know I can't spell) is that it provides a structure to the language.

Of course, you can say: "but that last ) corrosponds to both of those modules." But I think that this is ridiculous. I can't think of any other circumstance in which we have a punctuation symbol referencing 2 things simoltaneously. It is ridiculous.

I have a couple other objections, but the name of the game is to post your (unique) least favorite piece of english gramer.

 

[hoddesdon]

Mine is that (blah blah blah blah blah blah (blah blah blah) is the correct form, rather than (blah blah blah blah blah blah (blah blah blah)).

Why do you think that "(blah blah blah blah blah blah (blah blah blah)" is the correct form? Actually, "(blah blah blah blah blah blah (blah blah blah))" is the correct form. "(blah blah blah blah blah blah (blah blah blah)" is not the correct form.

In that situation you can use a different kind of bracket for the inner brackets e.g."(blah blah blah blah blah blah [blah blah blah])".

On the topic of spelling, in the top right-hand corner of the box in which I am writing this is a "check spelling" icon. It consists of the letters "ABC" above a tick inside a square:

 

[Kiwong]

Weasel words. Politicians who make meaningless sentences.

 

[Niteowl]

~received - not because I disagree with the spelling, but because it's difficult to spell correctly when I'm writing absent-mindedly.

There's even a website just for the spelling of it ... Recieved or Received? The Correct Spelling is...

I also don't like how Firefox is using an American spell-checker by default and I have done nothing about it.

 

[coyote]

the beauty of english is that it is so malleable

you can completely disregard correctness of form

or purposefully ignore it for effect

even create your own

and not only be understood in spite of it

but perhaps be better understood because of it

it's all context specific

i wouldn't write like this if i were composing a letter to the state office of upper muckity-mucks asking for a grant to pay for the maintenance of my weasel slide

 

[Remus]

Every sentence is a paragraph.

I like your style!

 

[Beatrice]

Words that seem to sound right in a certain context, but then you second-guess yourself and say, wait, is that right?

My command of the English language isn't too shabby if I do say so myself Haha but really, I always loved English and spelling - oh my goodness, that was my absolute favorite. I could do word puzzles all day..... I think I'll make some extra time for that this summer. And for writing.

I also struggle with paragraphs.... where to begin a new one and so on, when I'm writing an essay for class.

And then of course, mixing in another language (Spanish) in the process.... yikes. So many rules!

 

[LazyHermitCrab]

I don't like only one space after a period, i think. Are there supposed to be one or two spaces?

 

[Shant]

Mine is that (blah blah blah blah blah blah (blah blah blah) is the correct form, rather than (blah blah blah blah blah blah (blah blah blah)). I want my language to be as uniform as possible. This parenthesis should corrospond to this piece of my writing. The point of gramer (and yes I know I can't spell) is that it provides a structure to the language.

Of course, you can say: "but that last ) corrosponds to both of those modules." But I think that this is ridiculous. I can't think of any other circumstance in which we have a punctuation symbol referencing 2 things simoltaneously. It is ridiculous.

Wait, so (_(_) is supposed to be correct?

Don't get me in front of an English teacher who claims this. I am incredibly patient, but this would just throw me into an OCD breakdown and if the teacher's lucky, they'll get yelled at by me.

I'm already having an OCD freak-out about it. That's just... incorrect! There has to be completion of the first parentheses! That's incomplete! It's not supposed to be like that! >:S

I thought it was supposed to be like this: (_[_]), actually. [] brackets used for parentheses in parentheses. ... rawr.

 

[Hamelech]

The fact that there are thousands of phrasal verbs, many of them to say exactly the same. It's a bit confusing, sometimes.

 

[hoddesdon]

I don't like only one space after a period, i think. Are there supposed to be one or two spaces?

Two spaces after a period. There is only one space after a comma. Both show a break, or something coming to an end; a comma is a break between phrases or clauses within a sentence, but a period is a break between sentences. A period is seen as a more important break, so having more spaces indicates that.

 

[awkwardamanda]

Two spaces after a period.

Only according to MLA format. Otherwise, no.

As for the brackets, I always thought it was {braces[brackets(parentheses)]}, but that might just be the way it's done in math.

 

[AGR]

The pronouciation of Th.
Words ending in hard to pronounce,at least to me,consonants,people from my country have a hard time pronouncing some consonants alone in some words,like this:
YouTube - Trainy, Eaty, Sleepy

 

[superfluouslyme]

I don't like only one space after a period, i think. Are there supposed to be one or two spaces?

I was always taught two spaces, but my sister insists that she was taught one space. Whatever. English is so crazy. We live in a culture where "LOL, he iz a h8r, ROFLMAO, K8ie FTW!, ttyl, lylas" actually makes sense to some people.

 

[hoddesdon]

Only according to MLA format. Otherwise, no.

As for the brackets, I always thought it was {braces[brackets(parentheses)]}, but that might just be the way it's done in math.

Yes, I was taught that order of brackets in mathematics too.

What is MLA format?

 

[Kiwong]

Two spaces after a period. There is only one space after a comma. Both show a break, or something coming to an end; a comma is a break between phrases or clauses within a sentence, but a period is a break between sentences. A period is seen as a more important break, so having more spaces indicates that.

I think this is more of an editorial standard which can vary from publication to publication, rather than a part of English grammar. None of the publications I submit to have this as a requirement.

 

[kihira]

^ current standards (for business letters) aim at minimal punctuation, no indenting etc to reduce keyboarding time. The only place these days for double spacing (in Oz) is in an address between suburb..state..postcode

 

[chris11]

Wait, so (_(_) is supposed to be correct?

Don't get me in front of an English teacher who claims this. I am incredibly patient, but this would just throw me into an OCD breakdown and if the teacher's lucky, they'll get yelled at by me.

I'm already having an OCD freak-out about it. That's just... incorrect! There has to be completion of the first parentheses! That's incomplete! It's not supposed to be like that! >:S

I thought it was supposed to be like this: (_[_]), actually. [] brackets used for parentheses in parentheses. ... rawr.

Yep... I think that's supposed to be correct; it was in a linguistics textbook I went through for a class.But, what matters in a language is how it is actually used. Grammer is not supposed to be prescriptive.

 

[MsBuzzkillington]

The rule used to be two sentences after a period, but it's not anymore. I don't think it's something you will be docked points for on a paper, but the "proper" rule now is one space. I remember being taught to do two spaces after a period, but it's definitely not the case now.

The thing I hate about language in general is the fact that it changes. The fact that there used to be a rule that it was two spaces after a period and you never ended a sentence with a preposition and now those rules pretty much no longer exist, bugs me. It bugs me even that I am okay with it (as in the new rules are something I follow myself). I hate that it changes mostly for the fact that it means I can't complain/say that people typing like u r 2 kewl, is worse than you are too cool, because it's basically just forming into a different pattern and new set of rules.

Also, so sorry... grammar :/

 

[equivocate]

I think the proper way of using double brackets is just to not use them. A lot of what people put in brackets can actually be put in a subordinate clause. So, turn the first layer of brackets into a subordinate clause, then, if you really need to, use the brackets for the other part.

Personally, I see no reason to need double brackets. Just re-write what you're trying to say.

I'd love someone to give me an example of why you would need it, though