Even as a professional writer, I’m prone to making grammatical blunders from time to time. Thankfully, I have a talented team of editors working alongside me, each of whom is well equipped to catch those issues when they arise. Many syntax errors come across their desks, but some grind their gears more than others.
We asked our team of editors one simple question: What’s your top grammar pet peeve? The answers came in fast and furious, much like how their red pens quickly mark up a rough first draft. Here are some of the editorial staff’s responses.
Roses come in many colors, including red, yellow, and pink. If you’re trying to make this point, it’d be appropriate to say, “Not all roses are red.” But many people are prone to saying something to the effect of, “All roses are not red,” which is a major no-no for Meghan Neal, deputy managing editor. Mistakes along these lines make Meghan’s “brain hurt,” in her own words, because mixing up this word order “technically means that no roses are red!”
Hyphens are a fantastic tool when used correctly. But whenever a hyphen is included when it shouldn’t be, or omitted when needed, it’s a major nuisance. Just ask Brooke Robinson, associate editor of Interesting Facts. She finds it particularly annoying when hyphens are left out of compound modifiers — two words combined to modify a noun (e.g., “well-known” and “brown-eyed”). But Robinson herself says that proper hyphen use isn’t always easy to understand, stating, “I’ve only gotten it into my head relatively recently that you don’t hyphenate compound modifiers when the first word ends in ‘-ly.’” To clarify this rule, that “-ly” means it’s an adverb, and you don’t hyphenate when one of the modifiers is an adverb.
Word Smarts senior editor Jennifer Freeman has a self-professed “eagle eye” when it comes to unnecessary quotation marks. This issue is particularly prevalent in the world of restaurant menus, making it clear that many eateries could use an in-house editor. Just imagine perusing a menu when you come across a “famous” prime rib or “Aunt Sally’s” classic cheesecake recipe. Odds are that nobody ever said these words as a notable quote, thus making the quotation marks unnecessary.
Have you ever seen one of those giant storage facilities on the side of the road as you’re driving down the highway? The next time you do, take a look at the sign, and you’ll notice that the words “Self Storage” aren’t hyphenated, even though they should be. This pet peeve comes to us from Michael Nordine, senior writer and editor of Movie Brief. He laments the lack of a hyphen and wishes the industry as a whole would update its signage.
Without question, dangling modifiers are the single most bothersome grammar mistake for senior managing editor Allie Takeda. A dangling modifier is any word or phrase that modifies another word that’s not clearly stated in the same sentence. For example, you might see the sentence, “After eating dinner, the car wouldn’t start.” But the proper subject is missing, so it reads like the car was the one eating dinner. “After eating dinner” is dangling because the thing it’s modifying, a person, is nowhere to be found. It’d be correct to write, “After eating dinner, he couldn’t get the car to start.”
Kelsey Morrison, editor of House Outlook, describes tautologies as her “biggest grammar ick.” These are redundant phrases that use different words to convey the same information twice — think “added bonus” or “close proximity,” as well as acronyms such as “ATM machine” and “PIN number.” You’ll find them often in the culinary world, where borrowed words from other languages created tautologies such as “chai tea” and “queso cheese.” Morrison says “eliminating tautologies from your writing will make it clearer and more concise,” so listen to these wise words.
Have you ever said something to the effect of, “I collect everything from stamps to water bottles”? If so, you’re guilty of creating a false range, a concept brought to our attention by chief brand officer Mike Newman. He says a college professor taught him that in order to have a range, there needs to be an understandable spectrum. “Stamps to water bottles” is a nonexistent, unmeasurable range. That being said, Newman concedes that many publications are OK with false ranges, as much as it bothers him personally.
Our final grammar pet peeve comes from Peter Vanden Bos, senior editor of Daily Passport. He touches upon a common mistake — “less” vs. “fewer.” According to Merriam-Webster, use “fewer” when a number of things can be counted, such as “fewer choices” or “fewer problems.” “Less” is used when it’s a general amount, or it can be measured, as in “less time” or “less effort.” However, this isn’t a hard-and-fast rule, and there are occasions where “less” breaks from the norm, such as when you’re counting words in an essay that needs to be “250 words or less.”
Do you have a top grammar pet peeve of your own? Reach out to us and let us know, and your response may even be included in a future article.
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