Okay I’m bored so posting random thought. Sometimes things are regional. Sometimes it’s young people vs old people. Examples…

The term “anymore” in my mind always follows a negative and never starts a sentence. “We don’t shoot that crappy ammo anymore.” But on here I see things like “Anymore we don’t shoot it.” Just saw “Especially anymore.” Just sounds wrong to me.

For young people (maybe regional?) it’s “on accident”. As far as I’m concerned it’s “by” accident. On accident sounds wrong.

Got any other examples?

"On accident" never sounded right, but I don't know if it's any less correct than "On purpose".

Standing in line to go inside.
or
Standing on line to go inside.

I suspect some of it is regionalisms. Others are just plain poor syntax or usage.

On a related note: I started correcting my grammar/syntax a couple years back. E.g.: Avoiding ending sentences in prepositions.

Incorrect: Poor grammar isn't the worst thing I've had to cope with.

Correct: Poor grammar isn't the worst thing with which I've had to cope.

I was always told a preposition was a bad thing to end a sentence with.

Pedantic point of order!

According to:

https://www.lexico.com/grammar...es-with-prepositions

Which apparently is connected to a small University in England called Oxford...

https://www.lexico.com/grammar...es-with-prepositions

There’s no necessity to ban prepositions from the end of sentences. Ending a sentence with a preposition is a perfectly natural part of the structure of modern English.

Learn more about prepositions, their relationship with other elements, and other grammar tips on thesaurus.com.

And Webster...

https://www.merriam-webster.co...ding-a-sentence-with

And others...

You may end a sentence with a preposition.

Here endeth the pedantry.

Best,

Jake
BS Engineering
Sometimes just BS

quote:

Originally posted by Windwolf:
I was always told a preposition was a bad thing to end a sentence with.

Is it an an actual rule? Many times the corrected sentence is exactly what the thread title is calling for.

Edit: Thanks imadat!

Except for the part when ‘anymore’ is used when they mean ‘any more.’

We don’t shoot that ammo much any more. Not we don’t shoot that ammo much anymore.

My personal huge pet peeve is ‘I could of done that.’

Well, no you couldn’t, because there is no such thing as ‘could of.’ There is could have or could’ve, but not could of. Or would of or should of.

Don’t get me started on your or you’re, its or it’s, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by Windwolf:

I was always told a preposition was a bad thing to end a sentence with.

A Texan went to Harvard. Not familiar with the layout, so he asked another Harvard dude, "Say, can y'all tell me where the library's at?"

Other Harvard dude replied, "My good man, at this university, we do not end a sentence with a preposition!"

Texan: "OK, where's it at, asshole?"

Going by the thread title, interrogative pronouns used objectively. If you ask, "You shot whom?" it sounds overly punctilious if not downright ungrammatical, but it is correct. Most people would say, "You shot who?"

quote:

Originally posted by Leeann:
Except for the part when ‘anymore’ is used when they mean ‘any more.’

We don’t shoot that ammo much any more. Not we don’t shoot that ammo much anymore.

Nope

Anymore vs. Any More

quote:

Any more refers to quantities (Would you like any more tea?). Anymore is an adverb that refers to time (I don’t like tea anymore.).

As to the ending of sentences with prepositions: I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. Yes: Sometimes it's unavoidable--unless you want to make a sentence tortuously complicated. But, most times, ending a sentence with a preposition is inelegant

quote:

Originally posted by frayedends:
The term “anymore” in my mind always follows a negative and never starts a sentence. “We don’t shoot that crappy ammo anymore.” But on here I see things like “Anymore we don’t shoot it.” Just saw “Especially anymore.”

ensigmatic has it right, you want "any more," not "anymore."

quote:

Got any other examples?

One regionalism that has always bothered me is dropping the "to be" from an expression like "the car needs to be washed." The first time I heard this out of my Pittsburgh PA-born wife I thought "how ignorant is that?" I now realize that there are a whole regional community of people who know no other way, but it still sounds backwoods to me.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
One regionalism that has always bothered me is dropping the "to be" from an expression like "the car needs to be washed." The first time I heard this out of my Pittsburgh PA-born wife I thought "how ignorant is that?" I now realize that there are a whole regional community of people who know no other way, but it still sounds backwoods to me.

"The car needs washed." Seriously, people say this?

quote:

Originally posted by Keystoner:

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
One regionalism that has always bothered me is dropping the "to be" from an expression like "the car needs to be washed." The first time I heard this out of my Pittsburgh PA-born wife I thought "how ignorant is that?" I now realize that there are a whole regional community of people who know no other way, but it still sounds backwoods to me.

"The car needs washed." Seriously, people say this?

I hear stuff like that more and more these days.

My father earned degrees as an English major and math minor. Consequently, it often sucked to be me.
As long as I am not thought of as dyslexic, I'm happy.

For me, grammar is a lot like an aircraft - if it looks like it should fly, it probably can.

quote:

Originally posted by kkina:
Going by the thread title, interrogative pronouns used objectively. If you ask, "You shot whom?" it sounds overly punctilious if not downright ungrammatical, but it is correct. Most people would say, "You shot who?"

People frequently mix up who and whom and I and me.

Metallica are coming to Minneapolis next year. It feels ‘right’ to say that Metallica “IS”…coming. If their name was The Metallica, ‘are’ would sound more acceptable.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:
Metallica are coming to Minneapolis next year. It feels ‘right’ to say that Metallica “IS”…coming. If their name was The Metallica, ‘are’ would sound more acceptable.

]

Well, one might argue that collectively Metallica is A band. The band IS coming. The members of Metallica ARE coming. If the band name is a plural like The Rolling Stones, one might say they ARE coming. Similar to saying "the herd is coming" even though a herd is comprised of many animals.

"If you look at these data"

I get it, 'data' is plural, but it never sounds right.

It drives me crazy when I hear a radio or television host using poor grammar or words incorrectly. If you're being paid to speak you should be able to speak.