Are you a Grammar Nazi, a Grammar Geek, a Grammar Grump? Do you think grammar is amusing, interesting, or something worth noticing?
If you are even reading this page, you are likely, in our terms, a GrammarGloat – one who looks at or thinks about the use of correct grammar with great or excessive, often smug, satisfaction.
We want to hear from you. Please contribute. Share your findings. Send us images. Ask us questions.
We welcome all submissions. This doesn’t mean we’ll post them all, however, we’ll do our best.
Let’s keep things G-rated. PG-rated is OK, too.
Contributions accepted via email on: cop@grammarpolice.com, or via Comments to any on our posts.
Thanks!
The new song by The Black Eyed Peas (yes, there should be a hyphen between “black” and “eyed” but that’s a rant for another day) “I Gotta Feeling” should be “I Got A Feeling.” The former totally skews the meaning of the song. I could be living under a rock but the last time I checked, “gotta” = got to.
Mars
Okay, I could not resist bringing this one up. My eye caught this goody:
“Normally, we don’t cross-post, however, here is an exception.”
found in “Dashing English – – – September 20, 2009 by grammarcops”
The word “however”is in the middle of two sentences. Therefore, there should be a period or a semicolon ending the sentence “normally we don’t cross-post” and NOT a comma!
Frankly, the comma after the word “Normally” is also unnecessary. The abuse of the word “however” to join two sentences together with commas has bugged me for years, and it is regrettable to see “common usage” prevailing in the battle for good punctuation.
Love this site.
Thanks.
Hi, the comma after “Normally” shouldn’t be there and the word “however” is an adverb, not a conjunction and so can’t be used to join sentences together (just as “therefore” can’t be used in the same way as it is not a conjunction).
I have had a long-running debate with colleagues on the word “savings.” My thinking is that, even though it ends in an “s”, it is still a singular term. It refers to one collective thing, a single entity: “Your savings IS important to you.” NOT “Your savings ARE important to you.” Many have disagreed with me, so I’d love someone on this site to help confirm or explain what the actual rule should be.
–Confused but Curious
Thank you!!
You are correct, RJ.
“Your comments is important to me” is incorrect, your comments are important to me.
With respect to my teachers of the English Language at an English grammar school, I will continue, literally and verbally object to, and dispute the incorrect use of the wonderful English Language.