A Grammar Nazi's Playground

As anyone who has ever beta'd my stories might know, I am by no means capable of being a Grammar Nazi, even if I wanted to. Still, that doesn't mean I don't strive for linguistic accuracy when writing, and I am certain many others here share that sentiment.

And wouldn't you know it, just earlier today I stumbled across a veritable Garden Of Eden of common grammatical mistakes. What's great about this page is all you have to do is hit cntrl/cmd-F and type in the word or phrase you're unsure of, then follow it and find out what your or others are doing wrong (and you're probably doing something wrong ).

I recall - back in highschool - being shown a list similar to this, but much, much shorter. I've also seen web pages designed in this vein, but not one as easily navigable as this.

Have fun
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html#errors

 

That's nifty. I love how "error" is in three places in the address.

 

Yeah, that cracked me up too. The webmaster considered it SO important, that he created three distinct layers of errorness, allowing the user to surf ever deeper, like navigating some kind of labyrinth of easily confused words.



The Grammar Matrix has you, and you are incorrect.

 

This is brilliant, thanks!!

 

Oh, that's a fun place to play!!
Thanks for the link!

I especially enjoyed the one on y'all as I had a guest lecturer use it incorrectly today and it was quite hysterical!

 

For some really good laughs, I highly recommend reading the entry on Quotation Marks.

I love how often the incorrect form of a phrase or word turns out to not just be wrong, but in fact mean the exact opposite of what the speaker intends. Grammar loves irony, that's for sure. Great examples are "Quantum Leap" and "Shoe-in/Shoo-in"

 

Great site! Muchos gracias.

My own personal grammar pet peeves:

they're, their and there...

along with:

your and you're...

 

Hey Yod.


This site rules.

 

Reeking havoc vs wreaking havoc

FINALLY, I get it.

 

I admit, I was a bit skeptical about the site before delving into it. But he writes explanations with a bit of humor, and admits to a lot of expressions being nonstandard rather than simply calling them "wrong." Plus he has a section of the site devoted to non-errors, which, though certainly not exhaustive, shows that he at least somewhat has his head on his shoulders when it comes to thinking of language.

Anyhow. Nice find. My fancy has been tickled.