Which grammar/spelling errors are your pet peeves?

#676
The one just happened to me: priCe instead of priZe (couldn't edit anymore) and on top: confusing prize vs award ... :oh:

I have to admit, as a non-native speaker, you sometimes have a "feeling" that something doesn't quite fit, but you ignore it either because you don't have time to go on the - sometimes complicated - search for a better translation or you're not sure about the alternatives you find - or you simply don't notice/don't know it better or at all or too late.
Happy to have found you here! Thanks again for sharing your knowledge - always very much appreciated!:flowers:
 
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#677
Pivoine66 said:
The one just happened to me: priCe instead of priZe (couldn't edit anymore) and on top: confusing prize vs award ... :oh:

I have to admit, as a non-native speaker, you sometimes have a "feeling" that something doesn't quite fit, but you ignore it either because you don't have time to go on the - sometimes complicated - search for a better translation or you're not sure about the alternatives you find - or you simply don't notice/don't know it better or at all or too late.
Happy to have found you here! Thanks again for sharing your knowledge - always very much appreciated!:flowers:
Click to expand...

Reasonable minded people would totally understand and give grace if someone is obviously not a native English speaker. I do, anyway. Absolutely zero judgments.
 
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#679
Though it's not an 'error' in the editorial sense, I hate the prescriptivists forcing us to use "data" like it's a plural noun and taking plural agreement. In English, "There is a lot of data" is much more natural than "there are a lot of data". It's ridiculous. If "data" were actually plural in English, (1) you wouldn't have to constantly correct English speakers, forcing them to use an unnatural plural agreement with it and (2) people could say "there are 5 data in the table" the way they say "there are 5 cats outside". Data is a mass noun, and it should take singular agreement!
 
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#681
Pivoine66 said:
The one just happened to me: priCe instead of priZe (couldn't edit anymore) and on top: confusing prize vs award ... :oh:

I have to admit, as a non-native speaker, you sometimes have a "feeling" that something doesn't quite fit, but you ignore it either because you don't have time to go on the - sometimes complicated - search for a better translation or you're not sure about the alternatives you find - or you simply don't notice/don't know it better or at all or too late.
Happy to have found you here! Thanks again for sharing your knowledge - always very much appreciated!:flowers:
Click to expand...
Prize vs. award is extra confusing, because many awards (the Nobel, the Man Booker) are titled as prizes.

As I said, I think in the very first post in this thread, being annoyed or having a "pet peeve" about an error is directed only at native speakers. I live in France and French is not my mother tongue; the number of ridiculous errors I make is beyond funny. The other day I got tongue-tied and said pas de souris (not a mouse) instead of pas de souci (not a worry) šŸ¤£ šŸ­
So please, anyone speaking English as a second, third, tenth language, this is just a fun exploration of language :smile:
 
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