Pedants' Paradise, Spelling and Grammar Notes and Queries Options

[Czerny]

This may have been done before - if so, apologies - but I'm bored, so I'm going to do it again. I've noticed that there have been several language-related comments recently, so I simply thought we could put them all together in one place.

The two intentions of this thread are that it should be a "safe haven" to post those little (or large) grammar and spelling niggles that really bug you, and it can also be somewhere you can come to ask advice about rules of which you are unsure (never end a sentence with a preposition).

I hope Cyrilla won't mind me mentioning that "here, here" (rather than "hear, hear") and "definate" (rather than "definite") are two of her pet peeves, plus someone mentioned "should of". I'm going to add "alot" and the wrong use of practice / practise. Oh, and confusion between "I", "me" and "myself".

One I'm less sure of is the precise usage of who / that / which, so if anyone has any handy hints for that one it would be appreciated.

[JudithJ]

One of my pet hates is the missuse of 'can' and 'may' - 'can' as in being able to do something, and 'may' as in having permission to do something... e.g. 'can I sit down?' - well, you're quite able to sit down; what you really mean is 'may I sit down' - i.e. do I have your permission to sit down...

I think this comes under the category of grammar usage which, while strictly correct, sounds rather fussy and / or antiquated these days, particularly in spoken English. It's a bit like using the subjunctive.

It is not at all fussy!

My favourite reply when someone asks me if they can do something is stolen from a film: "You can, but you may not."