Skip to main content

101 replies

Grammar matters!

bmanbmanMember
On the observable fact that most of us here drink relatively pricey wine, and so presumably make or have more money than most, and so are probably in some respect people who should be setting an example to the rest of the world in all aspects of life (stay with me now......), this is a crie de coeur on behalf of those of us who think correct and civil discourse - specifically the proper use of the English language - is going down the drain, and probably will go down the drain even faster over the next few years for reasons best left unsaid on a wine forum.

My specific complaint today is the use of the words "less" and "fewer". Not to point the finger at anyone in particular (as there are many offenders here!), but way too often the former is used when it should be the latter.

It's easy to know which to use when: if you can count it, use "fewer". If you can't, use "less" Simple as that. So, you would have less wine, but fewer bottles of wine. You can count your bottles but you cannot count "wine". Easy peasy.

There are other examples but that is all for now. Carry on.......
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

G g-manMember
let me give it a shot

so money is not a countable
you can utilize, I'm gonna have less money whenever I goto the titty club.

dollar bills is a countable
so you can say, I'm gonna have fewer dollar bills if i keep throwing it at this exotic dancer.

to put it all together

being poor, I have less money to spend on exotic dancers forcing me to see fewer exotic dancers whenever i go out.
allredallredMember
I may very well be guilty of using less when I should have used fewer. I'll have to keep an eye on that one from now on.

My biggest grammar peeve (has been for years) is actually the same as nolane's- apostrophes do not make things plural!

Since we are on the subject, someone please educate me on the me & I. I remember speaking "Domino and I" but recently I have been corrected and told it should be "Domino and me." When is it correct to say "I" rather than "me?"
P papeduneufMember
quote:
Originally posted by AllRed:
I may very well be guilty of using less when I should have used fewer. I'll have to keep an eye on that one from now on.

My biggest grammar peeve (has been for years) is actually the same as nolane's- apostrophes do not make things plural!

Since we are on the subject, someone please educate me on the me & I. I remember speaking "Domino and I" but recently I have been corrected and told it should be "Domino and me." When is it correct to say "I" rather than "me?"


You and I drank the whole bottle of wine. Between you and me, we could finish off a magnum.

Use "I" when it is the subject of the sentence.
vintvintMember
quote:
Originally posted by AllRed:
Since we are on the subject, someone please educate me on the me & I. I remember speaking "Domino and I" but recently I have been corrected and told it should be "Domino and me." When is it correct to say "I" rather than "me?"

That one's easy too. Just use whatever word you would use if you did not have the other person with you.

(Domino and) I went downtown.
Do you have something to tell (Domino and) me?
E eyesintimeMember
My biggest peeve in this area is the use of "which" when it should be "that." I also hate it when writers use "over" when it should be "more than." Unfortunately, I think I'm losing that battle. Two other things that bother me but might be considered more style than grammar are the use of the ordinal in dates -- January 16th; and using an unneeded colon in a header when you're already showing that it is a header by using bold -- Important Dates to Remember:
sunnylea57sunnylea57Member
quote:
Originally posted by VinT:
quote:
Originally posted by AllRed:
Since we are on the subject, someone please educate me on the me & I. I remember speaking "Domino and I" but recently I have been corrected and told it should be "Domino and me." When is it correct to say "I" rather than "me?"

That one's easy too. Just use whatever word you would use if you did not have the other person with you.

(Domino and) I went downtown.
Do you have something to tell (Domino and) me?

+1
P papeduneufMember
quote:
Originally posted by VinT:
quote:
Originally posted by AllRed:
Since we are on the subject, someone please educate me on the me & I. I remember speaking "Domino and I" but recently I have been corrected and told it should be "Domino and me." When is it correct to say "I" rather than "me?"

That one's easy too. Just use whatever word you would use if you did not have the other person with you.

(Domino and) I went downtown.
Do you have something to tell (Domino and) me?


That's a good trick, but just between you and me, it won't always work.
robsutherlandrobsutherlandMember
quote:
Originally posted by pape du neuf:
I'm sorry, I love you.
I'm sorry I love you.

A woman without her man is nothing.
A woman: without her, a man is nothing.

Let's eat, Grandma.
Let's eat Grandma.

I guess Gramma matters.


A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to fire it at the other patrons.

"Why?" asks the confused, surviving waiter amidst the carnage, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"Well, I'm a panda," he says. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation. "Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."
J jcocktostenMember
quote:
Originally posted by bman:
On the observable fact that most of us here drink relatively pricey wine, and so presumably make or have more money than most, and so are probably in some respect people who should be setting an example to the rest of the world in all aspects of life (stay with me now......), this is a crie de coeur on behalf of those of us who think correct and civil discourse - specifically the proper use of the English language - is going down the drain, and probably will go down the drain even faster over the next few years for reasons best left unsaid on a wine forum.

My specific complaint today is the use of the words "less" and "fewer". Not to point the finger at anyone in particular (as there are many offenders here!), but way too often the former is used when it should be the latter.

It's easy to know which to use when: if you can count it, use "fewer". If you can't, use "less" Simple as that. So, you would have less wine, but fewer bottles of wine. You can count your bottles but you cannot count "wine". Easy peasy.

There are other examples but that is all for now. Carry on.......


If you watch Game of Thrones - Stannis twice corrects people for using less instead of fewer - once Davos regarding fingernails and once Othell Yarwyck of the Night's Watch. Hilarious
purplehazepurplehazeMember
quote:
Originally posted by sunnylea57:
All right vs. alright

It's not all right to use alright in place of all right.


From merriamwebster.com:

all right or alright?


Although the spelling alright is nearly as old as all right, some critics have insisted alright is all wrong. Nevertheless it has its defenders and its users, who perhaps have been influenced by analogy with altogether and already. It is less frequent than all right but remains common especially in informal writing. It is quite common in fictional dialogue and is sometimes found in more formal writing <the first two years of medical school were alright — Gertrude Stein>.

PH
V vinaigreMember
One use of grammar I saw on the net is the usefulness of capitals:

i'll go over and help uncle jack off the horse

I'll go over and help Uncle Jack off the horse

makes me laugh...

I for one would like to be forgiven for my grammar mistakes, would like to say I'm better in french... But not.... Both languages are issues and I try and better myself every day !
sunnylea57sunnylea57Member
quote:
Originally posted by PurpleHaze:
quote:
Originally posted by sunnylea57:
All right vs. alright

It's not all right to use alright in place of all right.


From merriamwebster.com:

all right or alright?


Although the spelling alright is nearly as old as all right, some critics have insisted alright is all wrong. Nevertheless it has its defenders and its users, who perhaps have been influenced by analogy with altogether and already. It is less frequent than all right but remains common especially in informal writing. It is quite common in fictional dialogue and is sometimes found in more formal writing <the first two years of medical school were alright — Gertrude Stein>.

PH


It's still all wrong.
Next

Add Reply

Post

Membership Required

We're sorry. You must be signed in to continue. Sign In or Register
×
Are you sure you want to remove from your Block List?
×
Loading...
×
When you block a person, they can no longer invite you to a private message or post to your profile wall. Replies and comments they make will be collapsed/hidden by default. Finally, you'll never receive email notifications about content they create or likes they designate for your content.
Note: if you proceed, you will no longer be following .
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×