What Are Your Grammar Pet Peeves?

most hated grammatical errors...... "I seen it" "can I axe you a question?" "too, to , or two used in the wrong context"
I seen it is definately the one I hate the most

I'm late, but as they say, "Better late than never." Thanks for the reference, Scott, and I notice the "then" rather than "than" error at least once in here :)

Think I have one no one listed. I always think of it as a conditional past-tense but that's not really correct. Something like a hypothetical conditional tense. It probably has a real name. :)

Incorrect:
If I was going to kill you, you'd already be dead.

Correct:
If I were going to kill you, you'd already be dead.

One that really jumps out at me every time I hear it is 'Try and', when of course the speaker is really saying 'Try to'.

Poloticians, newsreaders, even teachers get this one wrong.

Pet peeves:

1. Improper use of quotation marks
2. The use of "IRREGARDLESS"
3. The use of "anyways"
4. Substituting you with "U"

Argh.

Okay, though funny, and quite educational, this was a painful read for me.

To answer the question "What are your grammar pet peeves?" :

Grammar.

It has always been my monster in the closet, that big ogre awaiting with glowing eyes in the dark and a smile you could imagine.

Although every time I tackle it, it simply ends up being a teddy bear. (considering I have the reference books on the side).

Thanks for the article Scott.

I noticed something in a novel I was reading recently, not really grammar, but still bugged the heck out of me.

It was the use of the word sinewy. It's not the word I object to, but it was used on the first page, and I noticed because it is not a common word. It was used to descibe meat that was being eaten. Okay, fine, but then a couple of pages later, it was used again, and then a few pages later again, on to the end of the book. Each instance it was used correctly, but it seemed odd, because it is not a frequently used word.

I am sure I saw that word more in this one book, then I have ever seen it in print in my whole life.

This reminded me of another article I read, and never had time to respond to. It was about hints or such on how to begin to write. Something was in it about reading good books, or great books.

I agree with that, but also, for me, reading bad books. Reading to me is like watching TV, I do it to fill time and just do something. I am always with a book. I can read 3 or 4 fiction books (almost anything except romance) a week. So, I read a lot, a lot. I have read many things with okay plots, but the writing is horrible, the more I read the more I recognize it as such, and the more I learn what not to do.

Scott, I have a question, not about grammar at all. I have been here only since June twentyninth. I wonder what is the "payout" that shows on my own thingy.. all about? I only had two days in june and show a ninty three cents payment awarded for June. I did not know Newsvine paid people, and in no way did I imagine that even if it did, I would deserve. how and why is it done...
oh, by the way, my pet peeve for now is the fact that last years teacher accepted words spelled "creatively", and now I must dock points for misspelled words.. They write sentences such as "I think I goned ther, but i aren't goned enimor".

Lack of punctuation and/or capitalization where requried.

Improper use of punctuation (e.g., ending an interrogatory sentence with a period)

"New and improved", which are mutually exclusive.

"Very unique" - Something is either unique or it's not; there is no continuum.

"This needs to go in the dishwasher." - Inanimate objects do not have needs.

principal/principle

complimentary/complementary

As LunarTick mentioned above, verbing nouns. Specifically: "leverage" in lieu of exploit

More will of course spring to mind immediately after hitting Post Comment, but I'm going to do it anyway :-)

When I hear people say "I seen ..." .  It drives me crazy.  Around here we also have a lot of "might would/might could/might should.  "I might would buy one of those if I could afford it" "I might should go to the store today."  "I might could be finished by 5." Or, how about, "I'm fixin' to ..."

Sometime we should talk about weird regional expressions.  For example, where I'm from, if a woman is talking about her "outfit", she is referring to what she's wearing, but if a man says it, he's referring to what he's driving.

Ain't got none...That one just sends a shiver down my spine.

the disappearance of adverbs

The thing is, American English is (one of the few, if not only, remaining) dynamic living languages left, and the simple fact is that it does constantly evolve over time.

That said, the current evolution seems (to me) more a case of ignorance than style, which is a pity.

My list...

Using textspeak when typing.  Honestly, if you can't be bothered to type out the word for instead of 4, or great, not gr8...  And calling yourself 133t means, quite frankly, that you're likley an idiot.

Relying on spell check rather than your brains...  Spellcheck, but PROOFREAD. 

Their once lived a lovely pear of woman in a forest cabin. In the cabin was a set of stares witch lead to a top story. On the top floor, were too rooms. Won was a bathroom and the other was a bedroom.

bad grammar in advertising

My pet peeves are spelling related. 'loose' for 'lose'   'there' for 'their and they're'!!

Can't help it, my mom was an excellent secretary, and I now work in a library.

Scott/Tyler,

I have voted for this article three times and it doesn't seem to be taking, fyi.

Yup, just "posted comment/voted" and it didn't take again...

My grammar is not perfect. There are however, some things that do bother me.

I do not understand where the word "supposably" came from.

The people at my place of business put apostrophe s for every word that ends in s.

The word ask pronounced axe, et cetera excedra, and expresso espresso also bother me.