A Few Pet Peeves

I was chatting with some friends the other day, all home school moms, and we came upon a subject that bothers us all: bad grammar! Now, I am a poor speller (thank God for spell check) and my penmanship leaves much to be desired; but may I never be accused of being a bad grammarian! Here are two of the common mistakes that make me most shudder:

"TRY AND...."

Most people don't even notice this one or know it is wrong; but when you say something like, "I try and put my stuff away," I want to strangle you! The correct phrase you are looking for is "try TO." "I try to put my stuff away." Try to think of it this way: if the sentence makes sense without the word "and" and the second verb, in this case "put," then you can use the word "and." So, "I try my stuff away" does not work, so you cannon use the word "and" after try.

"HIM AND I...."

I first noticed people using the wrong pronouns about the time Dawson's Creek came out. That show was rife with incorrect pronoun usage!! It made me squirm continually when I would hear people say things like, "She went with Harry and I to the store."

 This is another case when the conjunction "and" is just getting in the way of one's understanding. Take it out, and you see how silly this sentence sounds: "She went with I to the store." No. "She went with me to the store." Well, if that is correct, then "She went with Harry and me to the store" is also correct.

It's a really simple trick to fix these mistakes- just remove "and" and any corresponding word to see if what you are saying makes sense. If it does not- fix it! Or watch me make faces in my attempt not to strangle you.

Thank you for listening to my rant. Your reward is some cute pictures of my kids.