What are your pet peeves re English usage?

Hey and while I remember, what about our bet on the price of oil.........damn it was Thomas. Thomas where are you?

Yeah, that's why I like to be where the fun starts, rather to be where the...

mrs h's pet peeve :

husband introducing the better half : "MEET THE WIFE ! "

(it isn't heard as often anymore as in the fifties and sixties . she'd usually be ready to choke the "other" half upon such introduction .
NO , i never ever dared - i like her cooking too much !)
hbg

"Meet the wife"? Worse yet is "Meet my current wife", when in fact the couple has been married to each other for many decades.

Oh, the mistakes men sometimes make when intending to amuse.

Do I dare suggest your English leaves a little to be desired. "When in fact the couple has [HAVE I would have used] been married to each other for many decades"

And yes I am a man!

Dutchy,

You are wrong in suggesting that my English leaves a little to be desired; in all truth, my English leaves *much* to be desired. I desire to gain much more fluency and perhaps a measure of grace in this difficult language.

When you refer to the nature of "couple" being plural, you are expressing an opinion on a point about which I see things differently, as do some of the purported experts on Answers.com and other Websites. "Couple" in its usage is sometimes plural, sometimes singular.

Nevertheless, following your suggestion I now revise my sentence, to wit:

"The couple have been married to themselves for many decades ... ."

I believe you will find this to be a great improvement and a grammarian's delight.

I noted with approval your lax attitude toward composition, as you chose to disregard those pesky quotation marks that would normally be used around the word "HAVE" (which you put into all-capital letters for reasons best known to yourself).

Hi Aa

I'm humbled by your kind comments, have a nice Easter.

Thank you.

I wish for you, too, a happy Easter, in this cluster of days that mark Easter, Purim, and spring equinox.

"...in this cluster...that marks......"




Sorry, couldn't resist.

When you get to the junction you'll run into a cluster of people who [say/says] you should proceed west.

Heaven forfend you should resist. On this thread we need to speak up when we see something which might call for an explanation or rewriting.

This was what I wrote:

"... cluster of days that mark Easter, Purim, and spring equinox"

Obviously "cluster" is singular, but it is the word *days*, plural, that modifies and stands closest to the three items in a sequence: Easter, Purim, and spring equinox.

I am willing to listen to other opinions, but meanwhile I stand by my original wording.

Excellent example, JTT. I say "say".

I say I say I say,




have you heard the one about...

I'm of the "cluster...that marks" school.


I want to complain about is confusing "advise" and "advice". I'm tired of people asking for advise and offering advise and even ignoring advise.

well they're asking for it.

So just to clarify, Noddy, what would your choice be here?

When you get to the junction you'll run into a cluster of people who [say/says] you should proceed west.

head south

And when you reach the Channel, Steve, what then?

if i met a cluster of peoples says or say waters ahead i'd go north

if not swim.

Thanks, Steve.