10 Words You Need to Stop Misspelling

kevin — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:43:31 +0000

I’m not sure if all authors are like this by default, but by and large I consider myself very intolerant of grammar and spelling errors. I see grammar errors on signs, in marketing materials, and even in books and other publications. I see spelling mistakes everywhere. My problem is that seeing these spelling and grammar mistakes irritates me. It shouldn’t and I should be able to let it slide but I can’t. It takes an exertion of a large amount of willpower not to burst out loud with, “Oh my God can you believe they put the apostrophe in the wrong place?” or “Can you believe she just ended her sentence with a preposition?”. Realizing that this is an unfair and judgemental attitude, I typically suppress the urge to say those things. I am, like most authors, insanely hard on myself and I get furious when I make those mistakes myself and so project that irritation on the rest of the world.

That said, I also have a deep and profound love for the written word and seeing the written word turned into a senseless pile of IM/texting/abbreviated gibberish pushes all my buttons.

Just when I think all hope is lost and nobody feels the same way I do about the decay of the English language, I run across a few comics from one of my favorite sites, The Oatmeal. Here are two that are quite relevant to writers and writing:

How to Use an Apostrophe

Enjoy!

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10 Words You Need to Stop Misspelling