(no subject)

[ksmith]

Gaby is finally choosing to curl up in her new bed. First she lay half-in half-out. Then, after some skeptical sniffing, she finally crawled in and curled up. It's a nice mini-sofa with high sides and back, and I hope she takes to it. It has to be more comfortable than the bed she was using, which was Mickey's old bed. In decent enough shape, but starting to flatten out. Also, a little big for her.

King seems to be opting for his new bed more and more as well.

I think we avoided the snow up here--for once, they're getting more south and west of the city. Wind chills over the next few days will be killing, though. -30 to -40F (-34 to -40C) tonight. Then it warms to the 20s and 30s over the weekend, which will feel downright tropical.

And finally, do you confuse lie and lay? I still can't get them straight, even though I look them up repeatedly and can repeat all the rules. I took this quiz, got a perfect score, and I still get confused.

It's sad. There are also words that I can't spell. I look them up repeatedly, and still can't remember. Even when I get them right, they look wrong. "Achieve" is my biggie in that regard.

Are there any words you can't spell to save your life? Grammar rules you can't get straight?

Comments

[difrancis.livejournal.com]

I'm the same with lay and lie and I teach English. So I have to look it up a lot. The other one is occasionally. No matter how I spell it, it looks wrong and I tend to be a visual speller.

[(Anonymous)]

Uggh!!! I can't manage lie and lay either. Though I keep trying. And "occasionally" nails me nine times out of ten, as do "balance," "despair," and "manageable." I must click "fix this darned spelling" a hundred times a day.

But thank goodness for Google! Give it an off spelling, and it does a *far* better job figuring out what you *meant* than any of the spell checkers I work with.

Adrianne

[(Anonymous)]

The biggest "grammar rule" problem that I have is the supposed prohibition on splitting infinitives. In my native language, the splitting of infinitives is, of course, not just encouraged, but mandated. And the true verb often ends up at the end of the sentence, where it belongs. My rejoinder to Twain is that if my reader/listener does not have the patience to wait for the end of the sentence for the verb, you're not in my target audience.

Besides, it's another "Mrs Grundyism" that was taught to make grading papers easier, not because it's an actual "rule" of grammar.

— Jaws

[goingferal.livejournal.com]

I firmly believe that sometimes an "unsplit" infinitive is worse than one that is not. This is a good write up about using them:

http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/059.html

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Sometimes the unsplit infinitives can sound awfully pompous and stilted. It is something with which I will not up with put.

[trolleypup.livejournal.com]

Yes. And in addition, after I look something up, it looks wrong spelled correctly. *sigh*

[e-moon60.livejournal.com]

"Lie" and "lay" don't confuse me (not after the redoubtable "Grendel" Robinson) though I sometimes make a careless mistake...and recognize it on re-reading.

Spelling: Lavender. It "should" be lavendar, in my head.

"Grey" and "gray" I see as different colors (metals are gray, misty mornings are grey), in part (but only in part) because in some horse breeds the correct spelling of the horse color is "grey." (As, in Suffolk Punches, the correct spelling is "chesnut" not "chestnut" but since we don't have any Suffolk Punches around, it's not a problem for me.)

Most of my misspellings are typos, but somewhere there's an -ible that I want to spell -able or the reverse (can't recall the word right now--I AM over sixty!) but I sortakinda know when I do it that I'm wrong. And I have a tendency to spell long words in a Victorian way.

Latin helped my spelling and grammar as well as vocabulary: that, plus some fierce English teachers and finally Mrs. Robinson my senior year, did for me what no one seems to be doing for today's students. Sometimes I write sloppily, but I know it when I'm doing it (and hope Grendel doesn't come down from heaven and fix me with her old-time-teacher's stare "Did you really think I wouldn't notice?")

[(Anonymous)]

Latin helped me, too, especially after I had 2 years of German. In my writing I had started capitalizing all my nouns, like they do in German. It had become habit.

Jody in PA

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

"Cemetery." It sounds as though there should be an 'a' in there somewhere.

I know folks have remarked before on the gray/grey difference. I hadn't thought about it before.

[goingferal.livejournal.com]

Seperate vs. Separate

and

nieces vs neices

The wrong way looks wrong, but I always have to type it first, then go back and correct it.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

nieces vs neices

Heh--neither one looks right to me.

[(Anonymous)]

Simillar and attatched. I don't know why, I always spell them this way. I've been having trouble with 'affect' and 'effect' lately, but I used to do them really well. Fortunately, my mother is an editor so I can just call her for grammar and punctuation problems.

I once was taking a test in my 10th grade English class and for the life of me could not remember how to spell 'of.' O-V...no....O-V-E....nononono...really major mental block there. Stress. O-F never occured to me.

Jody in PA

[slave2tehtink.livejournal.com]

I mistook lie and lay when I was younger. Then one day I got old enough for my dad to tell me how he always kept them straight:

You lie down, you get laid.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

That could be an entry in a very interesting grammar book.

The Kama Grammar.