Yes, this thread is where you put your affect/effect, your disinterested/uninterested and your JEALOUSY/ENVY.
This last one really gets on my nerves. If you have something and you worry that someone else may take it, that is jealousy. If you want something that someone else has, THAT is envy. STOP mixing them up. If you use them wrongly in spoken conversation, it's bad enough, but if you're doing it via a written medium, expect me to turn up on your doorstep with a pitchfork.
Definitely/defiantly
I've seen so many decent fics that suddenly have this glaring error crop up, and it's not like MS Word can be blamed for everything...
Their/They're Your/you're
It's such a simple concept, why can't people do it? It's a sentence where you're shorting 'They are' it's they're!! same with You're....it's a simple grammar rule you learn in junior school!
ahem anyway ^^
'Til/till
One is the abbreviation of 'until', the other is a cash register. TILL IS NOT AN ABBREVIATION!!!
Ahem.
>>4 I used to write "until" as till.
Until you mentioned it
I was curious enough to check it on the dictionary, and I found that "till" is indeed until but in American English.
--
till / Ñ tIl; NAmE Ñ / conjunction, preposition, noun, verb
Πconjunction, preposition = until
Š HELP NOTE: Till is generally felt to be more informal than until and is used much less often in writing. At the beginning of a sentence, until is usually used.
Πnoun
1(BrE) = cash register
2(BrE, informal) the place where you pay for goods in a large shop / store:
3(especially NAmE) the drawer where the money is put in a cash register IDIOMS see finger noun
Πverb[vn] (old use) to prepare and use land for growing crops
--
straight from Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary - 7th edition
Bated/baited
>>7 Okay, but it shouldn't be. Seriously, there is no way till, with two 'l's and no apostrophe, is the shortened form of until.
>>9 I know but Oxford says so that it is! And I have seen "till" from great writers [who are americans]. That's basically the reason I was confused and checked it out, because I myself have studied American English [at the most part] and I know some differences such as colour/color between BrE and NAmE
but till was something that really haven't crossed my mind as wrong so when you mentioned it I checked it out.
I've seen 'till' as in 'until') in books. Not taking sides, just pointing it out...
I will say that I am HORRIBLE at FULLY proofing my fanfiction... I am really fast at typing and really fast at reading. Therefore, when I proof it makes it hard if I dont re-read and re-read again. My most common misspelled words are you're and your and such as that... because MS Word doesn't catch those errors. lol! However, it irrates the hell out of me when writers use "U" and "UR" and such, SERIOUSLY people?! Don't post that, its an insult to us talented writers!
I will say that I am HORRIBLE at FULLY proofing my fanfiction... I am really fast at typing and really fast at reading. Therefore, when I proof it makes it hard if I dont re-read and re-read again. My most common misspelled words are you're and your and such as that... because MS Word doesn't catch those errors. lol! However, it irrates the hell out of me when writers use "U" and "UR" and such, SERIOUSLY people?! Don't post that, its an insult to us talented writers!
Its/it's
And on that note, post in the right thread.
Rogue / Rouge.
Just...
Aaargh...
Soldier/solider
right/wright
you/your/you're
we/we're
and loads of others I come across in some fics.
My biggest annoyances are your/you're and its/it's. I don't know why, but those just REALLY annoy me...
There/their ...why is this so hard for people?!
THEIR oranges are over THERE!!
'Tad' and 'Tadd'.
A 'tad' is an informal term for a small amount. 'Tadd', by contrast, is a name. Sometimes you may see the name 'Tad' (two 'd's appear to be too much effort for some), but you should NEVER see 'I would like a tadd more'. More than what? You would like a Tadd more than you would like a Smith or a Jones? That's rather senseless discrimination, but very well; I can't stop you. I can, however, stop you using the wrong word. SO STOP IT.
Makes me laugh more than annoys me, but I'll share anyway.
'Opera' and 'Oprah'.
Did this in one of my fics, (because I'm an idiot.) I spell things almost exactly like I pronounce them, so for a while, since I pronounced Opera as Op-rah, I wrote it like that too. I did wonder why a music art form shared spellings with a chatshow host... /dumb moment.)
PEOPLE WHO PUT APOSTROPHES ON PLURAL WORDS D:
Omg I live in the Essex countryside, which in case you didn't know, is full of pikeys (and by the way, when I say pikey, I mean chavs who pretend to be Romany Gypsy, and actually, they're not), and there are two signs in a field by our welcoming post reading:
'BOOT SAEL SATERDAY'S, USE BACK ENTERENS'- painted, not typed.
It doesn't make me proud to be from Essex...
Also, your/you're, there/they're/their, and all the ones that have already been mentioned.
I'm such a grammar nazi...
Here's something that annoys me in both spoken and written language: double negatives. I'm talking, of course, about such things as 'I don't need no one' and 'I ain't got nothing'.
Another thing that annoys the hell out of me is when people say or write 'them' where 'those' belongs, i.e. 'them guys' and stuff like that. This is why I can't stand the song 'Money For Nothing'. (Okay, so I hate Dire Straits anyway, but that's beside the point.)
Aside from those things I pretty much get pissed about everthing that's already been named here.
M'not sure if this is relevant but look.
"I was annoyed at how i could never find any <insertpairinghere> fics without searching endlessly and always finding short or terribly written one's so i wrote one myself. Enjoy the smut^_^ <insertcharacternamehere>-Semi! COMPLETE, Dom, M/M, Oneshot, Yaoi"
That must be a bit embarrassing for the author... in a fic summary too >.<
Your/you're.
It annoys me the worst when I do it myself. XD
definitely/defiantly.....I don't know why, but for some reason I feel like breaking something everytime I see this.