Pet Peeves

I find that most of my pet peeves have to do with grammar.
So it's time for a quick grammar lesson.

1. Me vs. I

This seems to be an ongoing battle that very few people understand.
I don't know when the misconception began that using "I" was always more proper than using "me".
But it's false!
So, how can you tell when it's better to use one or the other?
Here's a simple rule of thumb:
When listing yourself with other people, for instance when labeling a picture, take the other people out of the sentence.
Usually you'll see "This is so-and-so and I at the zoo!" but take the other person out of the sentence and what do you have left? "This is I at the zoo!" Awkward and incorrect! So the proper way to phrase it would be "This is so-and-so and me at the zoo!"
A good time to use "I" would be in the following example. "So-and-so and I went to the mall." Take the other person out and you're left with "I went to the mall." Proper usage of "I"!
This is probably my number one pet peeve.
I cringe every time and my soul cries.

2. Your & You're

This one boggles my mind.
I thought we all learned this in first grade! "You're" is a contraction. Remember those? Where you put two words together and add an apostrophe? It means "you are" and is NOT the same as "your"! "Your", at its simplest level, is used when discussing possessions. "That is YOUR hat!" "There goes YOUR car!" SO! When you are trying to tell someone that they are something, please stop using "your" and use "you're".
For example, when you go to comment on this and tell me that I am a grammar crazy English freak, please use the correct:
"You're a grammar crazy English freak!"
Thank you.

3. A & An

Another quick and easy trick to know when you should use one or the other:
Always put "a" before a consonant and "an" before a vowel.
For instance:
"I bought A Vase at the store today!"
vs.
"I'm going to see AN Opera tonight!"
Easypeasy!

I think I'll leave it at that for now.
I could go on and on, but from there it gets into spelling and, well, I feel a little hypocritical getting on people about spelling because I am actually pretty terrible at it! As many of you can attest!
I also tend to overuse commas and under use semicolons.
So I'm not perfect when it comes to spelling and grammar and I'll admit it!
But, when it comes to these few things, I'm a little bit of a stickler and it drives me nuts!!
Anyway, that's all for now.
Happy times with grammar!

Less Than Three,
Sarah


OH! Wait! I thought of one last thing!
I only ever run into this with fellow Mormons.
Ever since the movie "The Best Two Years", everyone thinks that the proper grammar when referring to multiple copies of The Book of Mormon is "Books of Mormon". I hate to break it to you, but IT IS NOT!
For this reason:
The proper title is "The Book of Mormon" so REALLY we should be saying "The Book of Mormons" because you place the plural indicator at the end of the title, not in the middle of it. But, I'm willing to overlook "The" and just add the "s" to the end, thus "Book of Mormons". So stop thinking you're being grammatically correct when you say "Books of Mormon" and just say "Book of Mormons".
Let's put it another way.
War and Peace, if you had multiple copies of War and Peace you wouldn't say "Wars and Peace" you would say "War and Peaces".
Granted I don't think you have to actually make it plural, I think it's better to indicate multiples in other ways when referring to books of the same title. BUT! It's another pet peeve!
And it drives me insane!


(Picture found here)