I Speaky Good Engleesh

Yup, sometimes even the geeks get it wrong. Typos are ok, bad English just isn’t. We’ve got to curb this before we literally start talking gobbledegook. Brush up on your grammar with this infographic that spells out a few of the common mistakes in today’s world.

As an extra exercise – this is one I learned in highschool – add punctuation to the following words in order to make them make sense:

Tom where John had had had had had had had had had had had the teacher’s approval

Answer is after the infographic!

Source: Copyblogger.

Answer:

Tom where John had had, “had,” had had, “had had.” “Had had,” had had the teacher’s approval.

I really like the Oatmeal infographic on grammar (I love how he injects humour into his posts). Read it here. 10 Words You Need To Stop Misspelling

Also, there’s another word that people often misuse, and it’s been misused so much that we almost now consider that meaning a true definition: the word “quote” is not a noun. It is a “quotation” if it’s a noun. “Quote” is a verb. As in, “I decided I needed to quote him, so I wrote the quotation down on a napkin.”

Shockingly, quote as a noun is actually at dictionary.com. But that’s probably because it has been used for such a long time in informal contexts that it has started to actually take on that meaning. If you’re writing an essay, use quotation rather than quote if you’re referring to the noun. Not only is it correct, but it will also earn you points with a (good) tutor! But hey, if quote can become a noun through over-usage then…

No…no. Please don’t let our children say, “Could of”!

[By copyblogger and Blue Glass via Daily Infographic]