Why don't the writers of Days know basic grammar? They can't seem to tell the subject of a sentence from the object of sentence. "I" is not always the correct first person pronoun; sometimes, the correct pronoun is "me." The one that gets me the most is, "It's between you and I." WRONG! The correct sentence is, "It's between you and ME." The subject is 'it.' The rule is, take the other person out and substitute something inanimate. Would you say "The rug is between I and the door?" No.
I could go on and on, and the errors ususally involve the mis-use of the subjective and objective first person pronoun, but you get the point.
Wonder if they'd like to hire a grammar editor?
End of rant.
I agree capecodfan. It's one of my biggest pet peeves. The easiest way for someone to get it is by substituting "us" - if it works, use "me." "We" = "I." It's between us (you and me).
Use "I" if you can put "am" (or "are" if plural) after it.
I also hate when the apostrophe is mistakenly used to denote the plural. There's a video store near me that uses a misplaced apostrophe in their sign, as in "Smith Video's." It drives me nuts. I also see it alot on the boards with the word "Dimera," as in "The Dimera's are behind the plot."
My personal pet peeves involve the confusion of except/accept along with affect/effect. I even catch my professor's making these kinds of mistakes (but then my bachelor's degree is in English, so I tend to be picky).
Did you ever take a course on the history of the English language? Except and accept were the same word, as were affect and effect. Oh, and the apostrophe that drives me crazy? It's a printer's convention that's just a couple of centuries old!
No, I haven't had courses in the history of the English language. I went to a very small college (1000 students total) and they never offered such a course, at least as far as I can remember. The program offered mainly literature and creative writing courses. I did take a linguistics class, but I don't remember it involving much discussion of history.
Or how about the word "anyway"? Brandon kept saying "anyways". That one drives me right up the wall. Or this one, "I've got to get whatever". We don't need the word "got" in that sentence! It's like a huge sign outside a supermarket with a misspelled word--like fingernails on a blackboard!
I'm a huge grammar snob, so it drives me crazy when there are errors. Improperly using "I" where it should be "me" is particularly annoying. Anything that happens to you, it happens to "me." If you're doing something actively, "I" am doing it. (Same way with between, something happens between you and me, whereas you and I would actually do something about it.) "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" (which should actually be itallicized or underlined since it's a book, but I don't know how to do those functions:) ) is a very good book. Capecodfan, you'd like that there's one chapter that is basically a love letter to the apostrophe and a scathing attack on those who abuse it.
I think the grammar mistake that bothers me the most (though the me vs. I comes in a close second) is people using good instead of well (e.g. he did really good today--ugh, it just hurts to write it!). Fortunately that doesn't pop up on Days too much. Using adjectives where it should be adverbs also drives me a little nuts (e.g. "I wanted it so bad"; it should be "I wanted it so badly"). Anyway, enough of my grammar rant! Glad to know there are others out there who also care!
I read a review of the book in The New Yorker. I recall that the review was mixed, something like the author didn't write what her introduction said she would. My recollection is fuzzy. I'm going to go look through my old New Yorkers and see if I can find it (I'm a pack rat about my magazines and I go through them and throw them out infrequently). Based on your recommendations, Annonymous and Doc, I think I'll go get the book. Thanks.
I am pleasantly surprised to see the number of responses in this thread. Did anyone besides me think that she or he was alone in this? (There's another one -- the use of "they" when it should be "he or she." I know that language is a living thing that evolves over time, and I wonder if the use of "they" as a non-gendered singular pronoun will eventually become standard English. If I were a betting woman, I'd bet yes.)
I wonder if anyone from the show will see this thread and report back to the writers.
One thing you should be aware of with Eats, Shoots & Leaves (and something I was a bit disappointed about) is that it's much more a book on punctuation than it is on grammar. Grammar errors (including using the plural "they" as a singular pronoun--a result of the failure of the English language to have a genderless singular pronoun other than "it," which no one wants to be referred to as--me vs. I, good vs. well, and most of the other complaints listed on this page) are not talked about much, if at all.
I'm a grammar snob too. I hate when someone uses "real" instead of "really." Eg, (here's a double one) - "That's a real nice shirt." Should be "That's a really nice shirt."
Also, I'm I stickler for word definition, but that's a whole other deal. lol
As for "they" used as singular, I'm guilty of it and it makes me cringe when I use it, but writing out "he or she" everytime annoys me too. Why the heck haven't they created a gender neutral pronoun/possesive?
