I will admit that I sometimes act as the grammar police around my friends. Mostly I call them on inproper useage for laughs. I am defnitely no expert in the grammar department, but there are certain rules that I do try and call people on in work emails and other written communication. Mike also reminded me of a great grammar rule through a joke he told me. Never end a sentence with a preposition. It’s a hard one to remember and it sometimes makes you wonder how to rewrite a sentence when you notice that you’ve just broken this rule. Here’s an example of an email conversation that I had with a friend/co-worker over this rule.
Friend: Where are the envelopes at?
Me: Incorrect grammar usage. Please revise your sentence and resend.
Friend: What? I’m asking you where the envelopes are at. What part don’t you understand?
Me: Seriously, I have no idea what you are asking. Please revise your incorrect sentence and resend.
Friend: AH! You are so dumb! Where are the envelopes?
Me: They have a stack located by the printer. I’m glad you were able to catch your mistake without me having to explicitly point it out.
Yeah, it is sort of extreme but I really only do it to get them all worked up. It’s all in good fun and they know it. Maybe it’s a bit annoying, but I don’t care.
I was surfing the web today and found this article at The Onion about commas. It’s pretty funny and very difficult to read. Check it out here.
Do you ever find yourself being the grammar police?
Tags: friends
This wasn’t the preposition joke you are talking about, but it’s another one that I know:
A foreign student arrived on the campus of a big university. He approached another student and asked, “Where is the library at?”
The student said, “Ah, ah, ah. We never end sentences with prepositions. You have to learn our language if you expect to be a student here.”
So the foreign student said, “I’m sorry. Let me try again. Where is the library at, asshole?”
Don’t even get me started on the “your” “you’re” situation I come across near daily…ugh.