“I have to write this person up now. Waiting for another incident would only be prolonging the inevitable.”
No. It would be postponing the inevitable: putting it off until a later time. Prolonging means making something last longer.
“Even grade-school kids have cell phones anymore.”
No, you mean nowadays. “Anymore” (or “any more”) means “never again.”
These are idioms, and as such, not remarkable in casual speech. I’d correct them in a business letter or academic paper, though.
Thanks, though–you got me to look at the very interesting usage note at dictionary.com:
Daniel
For whatever reason, “anymore” seems okay to me, with the same usage/meaning, if it comes at the beginning of the sentence.
E.g. “Anymore, even grade-school kids have cell phones,” sounds fine to me, but “Even grade-school kids have cell phones anymore,” seems wrong.
(I’m from Iowa, if’n you want a regional context for that.)
Idioms or not, the words still have definitions contrary to what the speaker means. “Prolong” does not mean “put off until a later time.” “Anymore” does not mean “currently”.
Both of those sound very wrong to me, but then I’m foreign.
Aren’t those not grammar nitpicks but semantic/word choice nitpicks?
All right then, semantic nitpicks. (Jeez, my nitpick has been nitpicked…)
Anymore ALSO has a definition that corresponds to what the speaker means, and the idiom has a definition that matches what the speaker means. If someone says that she murdered elderly patients because she didn’t want to “prolong the inevitable” (Google the phrase), I’ll know exactly what she meant, because she and I, while diverging on ethical issues, have matching entries in our mental dictionaries for this idiom.
Daniel
Yanno, you just can’t get up a good head of steam on a grammar nitpick anymore.
Which is what makes an idiom–the phrase does not equal the sum of its words.
I’m pretty sure Rilchiam understands that and is just pulling our legs.
Daniel
Back to nitpicking:
I find it incredibly annoying when “insure” is used in place of ensure.
Misused apostrophes (ie, apostrophe’s for plural) really chap my hide.
For a very enjoyable and righteous read, I highly recommend “Eats, Shoots & Leaves”
My nitpick is the misuse of the words then and than. I don’t understand how people can use these wrong in a sentence. When I see someone write then when they should be writing than, I just want to scream at them loudly.
I like you more then I like him.
She would like you more if you hit her then if you didn’t.
Gahhhhh!!! It drives me bonkers!
It is this sort of thing that convinced me to sign up for one more year.
The whole it’s/its thing drives me nuts. I worked hard when I was a kid to remember which one is used where, and it grates every time I see it used wrongly, especially in a professional publication that should have more attentive editors.
I have the same then/than problem, as well as there/they’re/their and any other homophones. If it’s a typo, I’ll cut some slack. But in high school, my best friend used to write me notes that used your in place of you’re every damn time, and it drove me bonkers.
This sentence (with the proper than, of course) truly intrigues me. 
Wrongly?
(Also, mismatching verb tense in second sentence.)
There are a heaping helping of ways in which the language is used that go against published grammar and other prescriptive guides. I’ve seen “implore” in place of “employ” before. I’ve seen irregardless so many times and seen more abused apostrophes and commas and improperly used words than I thought I would at a place where you have to display basic literacy to be admitted.
In the past several years, quotation marks and apostrophes have come into use as means to emphasize something, and not the questionable nature of the thing. Some of the people whose work I proofread (at the newspaper) are in media studies. At least two of them graduate this semester, and they both routinely make it’s/its errors (among others).
So on the one hand, there’ll always be a place for copy editors. On the other hand, signs like “All employee’s ‘must’ wash hand’s before returning to the workplace” make me wonder why we even bother.
[/rant]
Put a comma in b/w her and then and it becomes even more interesting:
“She would like you more if you hit her, then if you didn’t.”
Of course, I’ve seen this structure written as it is above when it should have been “She would like you more if you hit her than if you didn’t.”
I forced my students to sit through some “Grammar Time” with me one night. After grading their essays it became abundantly clear that they had skipped it in grade school.
“alot” => “a lot”
its vs. it’s
too, to, two
“act just” vs. “act justly”
“could of” vs. could’ve vs. could have
there, their, they’re
It just doesn’t seem to stick. This gem was handed to me last week:
“Science and religion and it’s complimentary or contradiction of how the world as a whole was structured is based on a persons religion: being a religious person, agnostic, or atheist. For me personally, I can’t take one side or the other, whether the world and universe is based strictly on science or whether it’s revolved around religion and belief only.”
:eek: <shudder> :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :mad:
Wow, I just took a bunch of English words and tried to put them in a sentence as an example of how not to use then, and now it looks as if I am condoning wife/ girlfriend beating.
I just want to insure that people realize its not my intention to condone wife/ girlfirend beating more then their willing to condone it alot nowadays.
To clarify, please don’t beat you’re wife or girlfriend. They don’t like it anymore. 