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Ten Words You Need to Stop Misspelling
skwire:
"Your" welcome. :P :P :P :P
app103:
There is one particular grammar mistake that really irks me: a/an usage.
People that misuse them tend to fall into 2 groups:
Native English speakers that tend to overuse "a".
* Examples: a apple, a egg, a ice cream cone, a octopus, a umbrella
Non-native English speakers that tend to overuse "an".
* Examples: an ball, an computer, an shirt.
The native English speakers bother me more than the non-native ones, since this is something you should have learned early on in grammar school.
f0dder:
app103: I learned the a/an rule with an excellent example: it's "a feast" - but "an excellent feast" :) food is good, food helps you remember. Oh, there's one thing I'm not 100% certain about, though: is the rule for choosing "an" that there's a vowel, or a "vowel-sound"? Iirc it's the latter.
app103:
Oh, there's one thing I'm not 100% certain about, though: is the rule for choosing "an" that there's a vowel, or a "vowel-sound"? Iirc it's the latter.
-f0dder (January 02, 2010, 10:10 AM)
--- End quote ---
Yes, it's based on how it sounds rather than how it is spelled.
Examples: a house, an hour, a xylophone, an x-ray
zridling:
But a few days ago were you saying "Twenty-nine"? Or "Twenty-Oh-Nine"?-Innuendo (January 01, 2010, 10:36 PM)
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Years ago I looked up what they called the first decade of the 1900s. Most used the term "aught," as in 19-aught-7, or "Back in 'aught-04' we ate dirt and were glad to have it!" I've since said 20-aught-1,2,3,... 9 to the quirky faces of my friends. You might also ask, will the same "TeeVee" people say "Twenty-one hundred fourteen" in the next century!
:D
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