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Sep 23Liked by Jackie Ralston, Al Bellenchia

Wow, never learned the theory of grammar and couldn’t have told you about the different types of pronouns or even all the cases, despite the fact that I clearly understand their usage.

My pet peeve continues to be the misuse of the apostrophe, particularly people confusing it’s with its or confusing you with you’re. It shouldn’t be a big deal, but it really grates my nerves.

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I understand; and I don't expect everyone to have detailed knowledge, but it seems like a lot of people just don't care that much. "One" is still pretty common in more formal usages, so it isn't rare.

I feel you on apostrophes, Mark! In one of the last terms I taught, I had to show a student that "cant" is a word, so one can't simply leave out the apostrophe there and expect to be understood.

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Any day is a great day for some Billie.

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Guilty as charged (a tough habit to break). Improper word usage has haunted me since my youth (part of a savage underclass) and my dictionary is my friend. One of my peeves is the use of the word "may", which connotates permission in place of the word "might", which can connotate uncertainty. That and terms like hundreds and hundreds, which is not a number.

Thanks for the wonderful music...ya'll.

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My dad's side of the family has deep rural roots, so I'm familiar with some of that too. Code-switching started early in my family.

Using "may" and "can" as interchangeable bothers me; I'm not sure I've encountered your example, but I probably have and overlooked it.

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Yup, code-switching, everyone does it, but being aware of it is another thing entirely.

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