Shakopee Valley News - Too Much Abuse...Save the Ellipses! - Comments

Gee whiskers...Typo! Yeah, I

ndouglas — Fri, 23 May 2008 11:11:55 -0500

Gee whiskers...Typo!

Yeah, I sorta went off the deep end with this piece and I'm coming across too academic. Oh well.

I'll fix it later. Thanks for reading.

I'm Ron Burgundy? -Anchorman

goldengopher — Fri, 23 May 2008 10:48:44 -0500

I'm Ron Burgundy?

-Anchorman

Here's another newish trend

Lori Carlson — Fri, 23 May 2008 10:12:38 -0500

Here's another newish trend that bothers me: the use of question marks at the end of sentences that aren't actually questions.

Here's an example:

"Perhaps a gallon of gas will become as expensive as a venti mocha from Starbucks?"

It's not a question. It's a statement! No question mark needed.

What's worse, for me, is

Ruth Anne Maddox — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:25:59 -0500

What's worse, for me, is someone pointing out grammatical errors while filling a blog with spelling errors and/or typos.

Did you really choose a coma over ellipses or did you mean comma?

Are you positive you paid attention to your writing when you wrote "Well, absolutely positive he payed attention in grammar class!"

Like you said, ellipses indicate you've left something out. And, speaking of leaving something out, didn't you omit one "T" and add and "M" in omitted?

Finally, what, exactly is "viewer discression?" As Google would ask if you typed in a misspelled word: "Did you mean: discretion?"

OK, that's enough reader abuse for today.

Along with the abuse of the

ReneeF — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:18:28 -0500

Along with the abuse of the two, to & too's is the confusion of there, their and they're and your vs. you're!

Another peeve of mine is the crazy, unnecessary use of apostrophes! Some people seem to think that to make any word a plural they need to add apostrophe - s.

Personally, I find myself using ellipses in email to signify trailing off from a thought without the definity of a period. Not really trying to hide anything - simply indecisive.

So, ndouglas, would he have "payed attention" or "paid attention"? And, did i just make up the word "definity"?

Too Much Abuse...Save the Ellipses!

ndouglas — Wed, 14 May 2008 23:43:24 -0500

I can't explain it, but lately it seems like I have been reading a lot of people's blogs and I would like to take some time and write out two things I find really annoying. I don't know if this is becoming an epidemic, or if it's just remarkable luck but it seems like people are starting to do two things I find really distracting. In my opinion, these are the kind of mistakes that will discredit anyone as a writer.