I confess to being a grammar and spelling pedant

 Is it pedantic to complain about spelling and grammar?

I browse quite a few sites like this one and am constantly confronted with poor sentence construction, grammar and spelling. This site is at the top for decent English.

At one time I used to comment on spelling, usually when a discussion had descended to insult. I was told in no uncertain terms that spelling didn't matter and that I was a grammar n***i. That equating a language pedant with the folk who designed the holocaust is an abomination, never occurred to these people.

English is a quirky language with some strange spellings, mostly holdovers from early English. The spelling of "knight" for example is quite reasonable if we pronounce it  the way Chaucer would have done. The pronunciation has changed but  the spelling remains.

There are many instances where the wrong word is used: then/than; loose/lose; there/their; your/you're; the list goes on, but my first beef and the one that gets my goat is the confusion of "its/it's". I see this even in newspapers, admittedly the Daily Express, a noted rag.  I have an awful feeling that "it's" is taking over except in those cases where the writer is too lazy to acknowledge the apostrophe.. 

Allied to this is the confusion about the apostrophe, that amazing punctuation point which enables us to say, "My aunt's pen" rather than, "La plume de ma tante". The poor apostrophe is in danger; it is left out; used to form a plural; put in the wrong place (if Mom and Dad are still alive it's "My parents' house").

Naturally in writing such a screed I'm setting myself up to added scrutiny on anything I write. So, must be careful as I'm not anywhere near George Orwell.

Is it pedantic to be concerned about the misuse of English?

Do you have a favourite beef with poor English?

posted by This style 10/6

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