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Today we were getting ready to wrap up a meeting and one of my co-workers asked if we were done.
Then, very politely, she was told that "Cookies are done. People are finished."
Alright, so it was a little condescending, but for some reason, I can't stop thinking of that little saying. I love grammar rules - mostly because I don't know many of them. For instance, I can never remember if it's whomever or whoever (although Denver Kelly once tried to set me straight on that one). I can never remember if it's "Rachel and me" or "Me and Rachel" or "Rachel and I." The book, "Marley and Me" has helped slightly with that...but I swear that sometimes it's correct to say I, right?
Anyway, I usually don't say that I'm "done" with something, but this little saying will probably help me remember to be more on my toes.
What are your grammatical pet peeves? What about any cute sayings that will help us keep things straight?
1 week ago
10 comments:
My English teacher in high school was really big on us not saying "we're done!" She would say, "Are you a steak?" So now I like to say "Stick a fork in me, I'm done!" Another pet peeve of hers was when we would finish a sentence with the word "at." Example: Where's it at? She would reply "Between the a and the t!" I never understood what her answer meant, but it always stuck with me!
I know a teacher would tell us were are not "Kids" because I guess that is what a baby goat is called. Who knew?
I'm with you. I'm not sure about the rules. I constantly wonder if I'm speaking correctly.
The way I always remember when to use "I" or "me" is like this: If you pretend you are talking just about yourself, you know when to use which. For example: If you start out saying "I am going to the store." Then say "Anne and I are going to the store."
Not Anne and me. Conversely, if you say "Come to the store with Anne and me." not Anne and I. Cause only a dooche says "Come to the store with I". That was my 60 second grammar lesson as I sit here in the DFW airport....
I suck at most things associated with english, so I don't know if I know any grammer rules :) One thing I can never remember is whether "it is" is shortened to "its" or "it's". So if anyone can help with that I would love it :)
I had a teacher who would ask, "How are you?" If you said, "Good." She'd respond, "You are well. Food tastes good."
I thought if you asked someone, "How are you?" and he or she replied, "Good" the correct response to that was, "Oh. I heard you were great."
Hey Anne,
I've been so consumed with ALL my blog contests lately that my google reader is out of control, so I am a little late commenting here!! I hear you on the grammar rules!! I would say my pet peeve is when people don't put the "ly" on adverbs. I know it's because my mother would ALWAYS correct me when I was little. If I said, "I'll go real Quick!" She would ALWAYS respond with an enthusiastic "LY!" Now when I hear people forget the LY, my ears tense up!!
Oh and thanks Kristi for your explanation of the on the Me and I rule. I was going to say the very same thing but now I don't have to!! Oh and remember you don't want to be rude so you put the other person first! So it would Rachel and Me or Rachel and I!!
Hope that helps!!
Charlie: Your comment cracked me up! :)
and Jo? It's always "it's". See, the ' joins two words together...so since you're joining it and is, the word becomes it's. Just like do and not becomes don't. You would never use "its" unless you were talking about a plural it...which doesn't really make sense. :)
I know I am very late to respond, but my editor job has been keepping me very busy lately and I am just now catching up on blogs. Actually, "its" is correct when it describes possession, like "The car and its tires." It wouldn't be "The car and it is tires." People hate for me this stuff. Happy Friday!
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