Home » These Are The Grammatical Errors Currently Plaguing The Autopian’s Staff: Tales From The Slack

These Are The Grammatical Errors Currently Plaguing The Autopian’s Staff: Tales From The Slack

Tales Slack Grammar
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Stef Schrader
Stef Schrader
1 year ago

SMH, AP Style is what broke me of my Oxford comma usage (as in, omitting it unless needed for clarity).

…and it’s the industry standard, unlike this nice charming treatise by the Charlotte’s Web guy.

Also, a pig and a spider? Charming tale, but the spider better stick to befriending pigs. I assume all spiders want to kill me, and that’s a survival strategy that’s served me well over the years. If that spider approaches me, I’m whipping out a can of Raid or a shoe.

Parsko
Parsko
1 year ago

I ar engeneir. You’re farticle is currently cunfused me.

Peanut
Peanut
1 year ago

Did David really type “awful lonely” after all those rants?

Stef Schrader
Stef Schrader
1 year ago
Reply to  Peanut

DAVID, YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID

Bqpqfb
Bqpqfb
1 year ago

I shared this article with my wife, who is an editor by training and profession. And yes, she loved it. But more importantly, she has two solid suggestions.

First, “Typos mean you’re human, bad grammar means you don’t care.” Should be the next Autopian t shirt.

Second, the thumbs up icon should be a horn that goes “beep beep.”

Dodsworth
Dodsworth
1 year ago

Blah, blah, blah. Where did you say the You-Hoos are?

Squirrelmaster
Squirrelmaster
1 year ago

As an engineer who manages the work of other engineers, what David highlights here gives me immense satisfaction. I’m an engineer who can talk to non-engineer humans, so I get the opportunity to try and decipher the grammatically incoherent comments my fellow engineers contribute and convert them into words with the correct meaning and sentences conveying the proper thoughts. For a bunch of folks who care very deeply about the numbers conveying the right value, it amused me how little they can care about their words conveying the right information!

Ben
Ben
1 year ago
Reply to  Squirrelmaster

I think you mean “try to decipher” 😛

DadBod
DadBod
1 year ago

It warms my Liberal Arts heart to see a mention of Strunk & White, I figured it was lost to history once emojis were born.

Trenton Abernathy
Trenton Abernathy
1 year ago

Now I need to know how DT feels about the Oxford Comma.

Donald Petersen
Donald Petersen
1 year ago

Ahem.

Quoth DT, “It’s fairly straightforward, and also in the legendary grammar book ‘Elements of Style’ by Strunk & White — a book that I bought for each member of our team (out of my own pocket!).”

Surely he knows that book titles (like movie titles, TV series titles, and record album titles) should be italicized, whereas short story titles (like TV episode titles and song titles) get wrapped in quotation marks.

Harrumph.

Double Wide Harvey Park
Double Wide Harvey Park
1 year ago

Also S&W is a grammar book the same way toilet paper is a tree.

Bob
Bob
1 year ago

Drivers *WHO*…
Readers *WHO*…
People *WHO*…

Also, The Chicago Manual of Style or GTFO.

Stef Schrader
Stef Schrader
1 year ago
Reply to  Bob

I remember wanting to slap a few people with a thick copy of the AP Stylebook back in my Jello Picnic days.

(…and everywhere else I’ve ever worked, for that matter.)

Clear_prop
Clear_prop
1 year ago

These issues are way down the the list of grammar/editing/spelling issues on this site.

Every article has obvious simple errors without having to argue if Strunk & White or AP Style Guide is the one true answer.

The content is worth dealing with the grammar issues.

10001010
10001010
1 year ago

Strunk & White just sounds like it should be the title of a Die Antwoord album.

Rafael
Rafael
1 year ago

English is not my first language. I learned it through reading, and later through TV shows. So, for most of my life, what was on print was the correct way to use the language.
I still rely on it for my grammar, to help me “feel” the language and speak/write it properly. So, all jokes aside, you have my thanks for taking care of it here.
Also, unrelated to the present topic, I would like to note my utter contempt for the words “successfully” and “successful”. Way to many repeated letters, and MAKE YOUR DAMN MIND ALREADY on how many L you want to use!

Doug Kingham
Doug Kingham
1 year ago

Across the pond, the tendency is to refer to corporations as plural entities rather than singular. This drives me nuts. For example, “Vauxhall have released the new Corsa,” as opposed to “Vauxhall has released the new Corsa.” And ironically, my colleagues here don’t seem to like using the Oxford comma. I’m constantly adding these into reports that I am tasked with editing.

A. Barth
A. Barth
1 year ago
Reply to  David Tracy

“Voice is a fragile thing not to be messed with.”

Voice is a fragile thing with which not to be messed. 😉

Also, passive voice should be avoided.

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