Grammar Gaffes:
A gaffe is an embarrassing mistake a person makes in public. This compilation of corrections to common grammar gaffes may save you from unintended awkward moments.
Common confusions are your and you're and their and they're.
Others are to, too and two.
Baby Swallows
Ambiguous headlines include:
Baby swallows fly.
This could mean that baby swallows, baby birds, fly for the first time. Baby is an adjective and swallows in a plural noun. Fly is the verb.
Alternatively, the baby is a noun, swallow is the verb and fly is the noun object. Poor little baby has swallowed a fly.
Hoping and Hopping
Punctuation, or lack of it, can cause amusement.
I am hoping to meet you expresses a wish, the verb hope. I am hopping to meet you described the action of jumping on one foot.
The classic grammar book in the UK is Fowler's.
Many writers also follow a style guide. This is not for correctness but consistency. For example, Americans usually follow Websters Dictionary and use z instead of s for words ending in IZE. Some UK publications use S.
Many dictionaries will give you two options or tell you which is popular in America and which is popular in Great Britain and the Commonwealth countries.
For pure amusement look up Spoonerisms in Wikipedia or a dictionary.
About the Author
Angela Lansbury
Author of
Wedding Speeches & Toasts
Etiquette For Every Occasion
Quick Quotations
Who Said What When
About the Author's Language Experience
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, blogger and public speaker. She is British but she and her next of kin have lived in the USA, Spain, multi-lingual Switzerland and multilingual Singapore. She is active in toastmasters clubs and has visited Toastmasters clubs in the UK, China, Singapore, Thailand and the Czech Republic. She visits online Toastmasters clubs all around the world up to three times a day, morning afternoon and evening, sometimes attending and speaking at one meeting online on a laptop and on her mobile phone. She has attended meetings of toastmasters groups speaking English, French, Chinese and Malay, as well as bilingual and English speaking clubs in the USA, UK, Canada, Singapore, and Korea.
About the Author's Speaking Drawing and Blogging
Angela Lansbury is a author and speaker. She evaluates speeches, judges speech contests and runs language workshops. She also draws caricatures.
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Useful websites About the Author
dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com
travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com
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