Grammar Pet Peeves: Readers' Picks Of The 7 Most Irritating Language Mistakes (PHOTOS)

Today the University of Winchester celebrates English Language Day and we really love the idea. As novelists, poets, readers and bloggers, the HuffPost Books community takes pride in all things language. And what better time to rejoice in the written word than on English Language Day?

In honor of the event, we've revisited a topic that's, well, never gone away: Grammar Pet Peeves. We've seen "misused" quotation marks from Bethany Keeley, annoying apostrophe's from Arianna, and a whole slew of other mistakes on National Grammar Day, as well as on Punctuation Day.

Still, there's always more mischievous mistakes making way into our language and you -- HuffPost contributors and commenters -- have never been shy with sharing. So, we've brought you these entertaining Readers' Picks of the biggest grammar pet peeves.

Did we leave any out? Let us know!

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Flout/Flaunt

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thebigbike asked:

"what about "flaunt" versus "flout"?"

Flout: to treat with contemptuous disregard or scorn Flaunt: to display or obtrude oneself to public notice Though he liked to flaunt his badge to show off that he was a cop, he still flouted traffic laws by crossing the street outside the crosswalk.

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thebigbike asked:

"what about "flaunt" versus "flout"?"

Flout: to treat with contemptuous disregard or scorn
Flaunt: to display or obtrude oneself to public notice

Though he liked to flaunt his badge to show off that he was a cop, he still flouted traffic laws by crossing the street outside the crosswalk.

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interlude said on 13 Wednesday 2010 am31 10:43 am: Using the word grammar when referring to spelling mistakes.

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This Peeve

Rank #2  |  Average: 4

Eh...Not So Bad Drives Me NUTS!

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Comments

[Maid57]

04:09 PM on 11/16/2010

The spoken words:
Supposedly is the correct way but you always hear people say.... su-pose-a-blee
Drives me nuts!!

[Argusmom]

07:46 PM on 11/04/2010

My grammar pet peeve is the use of "I" when "me" is correct as object of preposition, such as "He gave a vacation to Sean and I" or "Do you want to ride with Bll and I." My tenth grade English teacher taught using the test: "...ride with I" to signal "...ride with me" is correct.

[peglind]

05:43 PM on 11/04/2010

My nomination is "Try and," as in "I'm going to try and do this" as though they are two things: trying and doing. It should be "try TO do."

[greezil428]

09:40 AM on 11/04/2010

Howabout pissn people off who get annoyed by grammar mistakes cus I grew up in a house fulla anals now I just doit on purpose.

[Argusmom]

07:47 PM on 11/04/2010

We all have our problems, don't we?

[merrylander]

08:52 AM on 11/04/2010

For some reason I really get upset when people pronounce "etcetera" as "EX-cetera" It just grates my nerves.

[Remendado]

04:06 AM on 10/23/2010

My current "favorite" is the double "is:"

"The thing is, is that.."

[fauxmccoy]

07:41 PM on 10/22/2010

oh where to start

using 'irregardless' a non existent work for 'regardless'
mal-adaptions of the word 'orientation' i.e., i am going to work early to get 'orientated'.
misuse of the words ensure/insure

[hipocampelofantocame]

06:26 PM on 10/21/2010

An easy, but irritating error. "There's a lot of them." Correctly, "There're a lot of them." The plural
"there are" is almost gone.

[Sigrid]

11:55 PM on 10/19/2010

"Free gift". "Added plus". Or even "Extra added plus". As in "I should of got a Visa card because they offer a free gift as an extra added plus."

Another word misuse is to call a single soldier a 'troop'. Troop always refers to a large group, not a single person. I even hear this fairly regularly on NPR.

[TutorPrep]

03:29 PM on 10/19/2010

Three that drive me nuts:

That painting is VERY UNIQUE. (Very the-only-one-of-its-kind? Or just a little the-only-one-of-its-kind?)

The ISBN number of that book. Similar to the ATM machine. (Do we say the IRS Service? Maybe...but only to complain about a lack of said service from them.)

Socialize vs socialization: We'll give the meeting attendees time for socialization before we officially start. (OK - we'll teach them how to act more human and less feral)

[Comeplayinmyreality]

04:19 PM on 10/18/2010

the way I remembered a lot was also with a little, you wouldnt spell it alittle so dont spell it alot. that helped me as a kid and use it to teach my kids.

I will admit I have to think when to use affect v. effect, it still trips me up.

[TutorPrep]

03:12 PM on 10/19/2010

Affect is an A-ction. How will the election affect the middle class. (How will it help/hurt/or any other action)
Effect is an E-nd result. The effect of the election was to lower taxes. (The end result)

[javovo]

04:14 PM on 10/20/2010

Affect is also a noun. The depressed patient had a flat affect.
Effect can also mean 'to bring about'. Obama promised to effect change.

[PharmaCan]

03:34 PM on 10/18/2010

Finally - a place to rant about grammar without being an arse for doing it!

Fewer & less are two of my pet peeves because they are so commonly misused by even intelligent people.

Every time I see the TBS promo that says "TBS - Less Commercial" I want to scream! Does no one at TBS speak proper English?

Sheesh - count nouns and non-count nouns, is that so hard to understand?

Sigh - I feel much better now...

[michaelmichaelmotorcycle]

10:24 PM on 10/16/2010

Wrong: "there's always more mischievous mistakes making way into our language...", quoted from your introduction to this slideshow. Correct: "there are always more...mistakes..." This mistake has become ubiquitous both in speech and in writing.
Also considered wrong by traditionalists and also ubiquitous: "Hopefully it won't rain tomorrow," she said. Strictly speaking, hopefully is an adverb modifying the verb rain--hopefully rain or rain hopefully. Strictly correct: "I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow," she said hopefully. The first construction is now considered acceptable by some with the creation of a new name for it: a sentence adverb. The adverb modifies the entire sentence that follows it. In other words, this battle was lost a long time ago.

I have attempted in several ways to correct the text wrap mistakes that show up when I preview this comment, but whatever software is behind this application has not cooperated. It is my opinion that the use of computers has contributed to the rampant misuse of our language.

[esby]

12:01 PM on 10/16/2010

I have noticed these in current usage among the younger set:

"I should of" rather than "I should have"

"all of the sudden" rather than " all of a sudden"

[Sherry McGrath]

12:59 PM on 10/15/2010

I cringe when I hear "I talked to my realater" instead of REALTOR!!! Drop the second A and use O, not E, please!!!