Here you go:
Who refers to the subject and can be replaced by the pronouns I,he, she, we, they. If you can use the word we, choose who!
Example:
He (who)is running the lemonade stand.
Whom refers to the object and can be replace by object pronouns: me, him, her us, them. If you can use the word him, choose whom (Hint: they both end in M)
You pay (him) whom for the lemonade.
The way I keep effect/affect separate is to remember that affect is what your face looks like. (your emotional reaction)
The bomb went off and she still had a flat affect.

The most annoying word I hear is "at" at the end of a the question, "Where is it at?" or "Where are you at?" No, no, no. The question is "Where are you?" or "Where is it?" I hear almost everyone throw that at in, my family does it, news people do it, and I've seen in printed in newspapers.

There is considerable confusion about the words loan and lend, too. One takes a loan (noun) but we lend (verb) money or an object. Hearing "Please loan me a book" is like fingernails on a chalk board.

Goodness, I have so many grammar annoyances but if I keep going, I'll make plenty of my own! (I loved 7th grade sentence diagramming!) Fun thread!

I have to say that I laughed and cringed while reading this thread. I know that I have a lot of bad habits when I speak. One of them that used to drive my brother crazy is when I said, "Will you open (or close) the light?" Meaning, 'Please turn the light on (or off)." He would always correct me, one day he was so frustrated with me for saying it wrong, again, that he got a screw driver and took the light switch plate off the wall and handed it to me. I just looked at him dumbfounded and he said, "You asked me to open the light, so I did."

Not all of us speak correctly and I say if you understand the 'spirit of the message' then just go with that. I am certainly not an English teacher and I make mistakes all of the time. Hopefully, I can still get my message across.

However, having just said that, I do have a pet-peeve and a fear.

Pet-peeve: "I could care less." Correct usage would be, "I couldn't care less." The other means that they could still care more.

The fear: Reading all of the comments at the end of an article on the web and realizing that most of the commenters really have no clue about grammar, spelling, or writing without using foul language. It makes me wonder if anyone is learning anything in school.

Stepping down from my soapbox now.

Don't get me started on fillers (um, ya know, you know what I mean?, like, aah, but-tum).

Mac, What gets me about comments about articles online is not so much the poor grammar, but the extent of the mean-spirited nature and cruelty of society. What astonishes me about the articles is how often the writers don't include the who, what, how, where and why of the topic. The information is frequently incomplete and I wonder who is writing these articles.

I remember diagramming in school, and I remember that I was very good at it, probably because I devoured books from a very young age. I was an excellent speller, also. In high school I was reading 2-3 paperbacks a day, more on weekends. But honestly, I don't remember how to diagram now and I really don't know what I learned from it.

Yikes!! I hated diagramming sentences!! Hope I never have to do another one!!

Loan can be a verb or a noun.

I used to work with a Swedish fellow who would use borrow instead of lend ("Can you borrow me the stapler?") At least he had an excuse, English was not his first language. Lately I hear that from people who should know better.

I think the "bad" words should be used only in dire situations for expressing extreme distress!

I also cringe when I hear any deity's name taken in vain.

Except and accept -

Everyone accepted the invitations without exception.

We accept all forms of payment, with the exception of American Express.

I like all fruits except papayas.

Except usually implies some type of exclusion.

Accept usually implies getting, taking, or including. (I accept payment, I was accepted into the crowd.)

I have to chime in:

Put Up, Put By, Canning, all these are phrases I have used describe preserving food. But Put By could also mean, making jam, freezing or other forms of preserving food.

My first mil was from Cape Cod. If you asked her the time she would say something like, "it is a quarter of three." Does that mean it is a quarter to three or a quarter after three?

I do not understand the issue, mentioned by several people, with the word moist? Is it used as slang in some places? I would only use it if describing a cake, as in "The cake is very moist."

I referred to underwear as knickers. I feel it is a generic term for both genders. I do not have an issue with the word panties.

An overused phrase is "...at the end of the day..."

I cannot properly pronounce garage. I say grage. I also say probly, not probably. So as much as I notice other people's grammar, I know I am guilty of poor grammar too.

I have family in N.Z., when chatting with them some words are pronounced differently, vase vAse, etc, and other words are very different. In NZ you shift, you do not move. If something is small it is wee. Tea could be a mid day or evening meal (depending on where in the country you live), but not an afternoon high tea.

Where I live, lunch is the midday meal, supper is a regular evening meal and dinner is a special evening meal, as in Christmas Dinner.

I find words are awkward when I can feel and see in my brain but can't get to say them correctly.

Yes, that's one for me, too. My kids laugh at me because I pronounce my 'Wh' the way it is suppose to be pronounced. Ex: 'White - While - Where' They think it's 'Wite -Wile - Wear'. They say I am the ONLY one that does this. AM I?

Awkward -

I meant to say to a family "Oh, are you Lebanese?"

What came out - "Oh, are you lesbians?"

Oh, BisG, that is so funny! I hope they were gracious about it.

This is definitely something I would do.......when the brain fog is thick!

cindyb...you are not alone! I pronounce the H in white, while and where! My 20-something co-workers make fun of me for it. Is it a generational thing, maybe?

The h in white is silent, LOL.

Thongs are still shoes. We just have two different types of thongs these days.

"First and foremost", is a sentence opener with little meaning. In fact, it's been so overused it has no meaning left at all.

"I seen" is so bad that I'm surprised to see anyone still saying it. I do think it's a regional sort of slang, tho.

One of my pet peeves is the word "journey". Everyone is on a journey. Their problems are part of their journey. The trials they go through is the journey. All learning experience is part of their journey. Journey where? To the grave? :D

Also the word "issue"... born out of a need for a less threatening word for "problem". What's wrong with problems?

When I moved to the South I had to learn lots of local sayings, like that when people said to "mash on" a button, they meant press it. :D

One of my personal irritants is hearing 'salmon' spoken with the 'l' pronounced. SALmon, instead of 'sammon'. That l is silent.

No, you're not! My sister (the only sister among us 4 girls) emphasizes the "wh" and I tease her mercilessly. It sounds like the way broadcast journalists are trained --to put an "h" before the "wh". "HWHat are you saying? HWHy are you blowing so much air to say "HWHere are we going?" I tell my sister she sounds like Tom Brokaw:) .

It's okay. She teases me when my Baltimore accent slips out. (It's a very unattractive accent.) "Hey, hon, winn are you goin' hooome? Ready da go down 'ee ohcean, hon?"

I just checked two dictionaries -

"white" is pronounced with or without the "h"

sources: "Encarta World English Dictionary" - copyright 1999
"Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition" - (most recent) copyright 1986

It would be more logical if those wh words were spelled hwile, hwat, hwen, hwo, hwere.

Anyone else have trouble saying "rural"? I feel like my lips are mushed and curled and my teeth are sticking out like a beaver's when I say it.

Here in Louisiana people say "I'm going to make groceries". Which means go grocery shopping. The first time I heard that I was very confused.

[QUOTE=bearisgray;7602651

It would be more logical if those wh words were spelled hwile, hwat, hwen, hwo, hwere.[/QUOTE]

Or:

hwile
hwot
hwen
hoo
hware

Oh, too funny, Patchesnposies.

Reminds me of the time when I broke my right arm in 3 places and the doctors put a hanging cast on me and told me I had to sleep sitting up in a chair for 6 weeks. Unfortunately, I broke my arm 2 weeks before the opening of my Police, Postal and Fireman's Uniform store. By the fourth week, I was positively crazy from no sleep, but the temporary help I had was doing a horrible job and not representing the store in the way I had wanted. So, into the store I go to take care of things and the first customer I talk to is an EMT (emergency medical trained) person and he asked me how to take care of the shirt he had just bought.

I explained to him that after he washed the shirt to just put it in the dryer with a "Stay-Flo Maxi Pad" instead of a "Stay Puff Drier Sheet." That was over 40 years ago and I can still remember the embarrassment I had (and I am one to turn bright red) while I stared at him with a deer-in-the-headlights look while I was trying to remember if I had used the right name. The EMT looked at me with a very kind, sympathetic face, and patted my good arm and said, "That is all right, I know what you meant." AKWARD! So much for looking professional.

[One of my personal irritants is hearing 'salmon' spoken with the 'l' pronounced. SALmon, instead of 'sammon'. That l is silent.[/QUOTE]

Salmon with the "l" pronounced is an acceptable pronunciation. While it may irritate you, to others it is pleasant.
Just as "pecan" can be "pe-CAN" or "pe-CON" - much depends on the geographical area you are in.

Febuary
February

How do we get Wensday from Wednesday?

Salmon with the "l" pronounced is an acceptable pronunciation. While it may irritate you, to others it is pleasant.
Just as "pecan" can be "pe-CAN" or "pe-CON" - much depends on the geographical area you are in.[/QUOTE]


Hmmm. I don't know about "sal-mon" being an acceptable pronunciation? I searched several sites and all of them concur with the silent "l". It's definitely a geographical (mis?)pronunciation. I had to break my hubby of it when we were married because it drove me nuts!

Another few that make me squirm:

"warsh" instead of "wash"
"wooder" instead of "water"
"conversate" instead of "converse"
"orientate" instead of "orient"

My MIL (God rest her soul) always pronounced filthy and "thilthy". She was from Iowa (she said "Ioway") but I don't think that was a regional error.

I have known a few people from the midwest who use "laundry" as a verb ( I guess they mean launder).

..........and men have prostates, not prostRates

not reading the whole thread - and missing something important - and making an inappropriate comment -

Such as " hope he recovers quickly" and the funeral was two weeks ago.

I just read a story on another forum about someone who got stuck behind a funeral procession, carrying a balloon out the window that was too big to fit in the car. Message on balloon - GET WELL SOON.

AWK-ward.....

Or seeing a name - and wondering how to pronounce it -

"Bangasser" - I did ask first how to say it - It is "Ban - gas - ser" -

not "Bang-ass-er" which is how I first "saw" the name. (Whew!)

I'm from the Pacific Northwest, which is salmon country. My husband is from central California, which is almond country. When I first met him, he and his family were discussing the "ammon harvest". I listened for a while, then finally asked him what ammons were. He told me it's how they pronounce almonds. I playfully teased him about mis-pronouncing it, because there's a very obvious L in almond. He fired back "Do you say 'sammon' or 'solmon'?" And I said welllll, good point, I guess.... :D

This means it is extra funny!

Thank you for your correction.

Not really an awkward word...but I can't stand it when people us apostrophe s on any word that ends in s.
Example: Thank You Veteran's Nelson's Car's.....grrrr

Just my pet peeve.

How about this one...

Nucular instead of nuclear?

"Tinkle" must be a NY thing! I grew up with that word and to this day, my 94 yo aunt (or "ant" as I say) and my 98 yo mother still say they have to "tinkle".

Anita, My mother-in-law grew up in Manhattan and she used the word tinkle. She was the sweetest woman and I miss her.

And heah (here) I thought it was only my DH who said it this way.

My DD has a pet peeve with me: she pronounces "hanger" as hanga (Boston) while I pronounce it "hangrrr". My sister (from Nevada) always said "warsher" - New Englander that I am...washer.

I grew up in Brooklyn, NY. My Mom used to drink "cawfee", "wawlk the dawg" and drink "wawter". Since I've lived in New England for most of my life (over 40 years now), I think most of the NY has been "beaten" out of me. Although my DH says he can still hear it...

Tinkle -

Well - as far as "other" words for urinate - it is tolerable.

I wonder how many males "tinkle"?