Grammar police Fixing bad grammar, one street sign at a time.
“Grammar is the grave of letters” ~ Elbert Hubbard
Now, I’m no “Grammar Girl,” but I have been known to correct a tweet or dozen in my day before retweeting. Poor grammar does bother me, which correctly classifies it as a “pet peeve.”
There are the classic homophones (two, to, too + your, you’re + its, it’s) which are more frequently typos that are not caught during proofreading (you do proofread, right?), but I expect that these days.
No, there are two phrases that drive me batty: ”as per” and “but rather.” Why? They are redundant.
I see “as per” used all the time. (Is this done more frequently in construction than other fields?)
Drives me crazy: ”I will do such and such as per the drawings.”
Makes me happy: ”I will do such and such per the drawings.”
Even worse is “as per your request.” Just say, “per your request.”
Then there is “but rather.” It’s “but” or “rather.” Pick one–not both.
I’m sure there are others who will read this post and disagree with me on one or more points; after all, I am no English major. Rather, it is my intention to express myself per the question of the week.
This week’s topic — What’s your grammar pet peeve?
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“but rather” drives me crazy too.
Thanks. At least I know that I am not alone.
There is this cartoon on PBS called “Word Girl” and they have this character called Lady Redundant Woman. Your enjoyable post brought her to mind. I get tripped up on double negatives, but redundancy is most certainly up there on the scale of cringe-worthy grammar.
I’ll have to look that one up.
I remember School House Rock.
Damn it, I knew I was going to be odd man out on today’s Blog Off. I like grammar. I always did. One of my favorite high school teachers was the quintessential English teacher: a short, thin, gray-haired lady with rimless glasses who spoke impeccable English and never, ever cut us any slack at all. If you signed up for her class, you’d better be prepared to learn! But, as I tell all who will listen, those are the ones you want teaching your grammar classes. Once you learn the rules, they take on an almost impeccable logic.
I like rules, too.
I quit using contractions when writing on my blog. That has really helped me eliminate some errors.
That does help quite a bit. Great tip, James.
Ha! My response had a typo in it! It figures!
I fixed it (didn’t notice it either).
I like it! You’re [or is it "your" lol] such a good writer!
You are very kind.