Its all good & well irregardless of who your talking to

Admission: I'm a bit of a grammar snob. I get a kick out of the English language with all of its rules and exceptions to the rule. I don't always get my own grammar shined to perfection but I still enjoy editing (in my head) when others are speaking. Here are a few of my favorite errors.

Good and Well
I had a friend who was disgusted whenever someone answered the question, "How are you doing?" with the reply, "good." He'd say "nuns and priests do good." In other words good is not an adverb so it can't describe how you are doing. The correct response is that you are doing "well."

Adding prefixes and suffixes
People, intelligent people, say "irregardless" all the time. Well, I hate to say it (actually I LOVE to say it), but that isn't a proper word! What people really mean is simply "regardless." Irregardless is considered nonstandard because of the two negative elements ir- and -less. It was probably formed on the analogy of such words as irrespective, irrelevant, and irreparable. Those who use it, including on occasion educated speakers, may do so from a desire to add emphasis. Irregardless first appeared in the early 20th century and was perhaps popularized by its use in a comic radio program of the 1930s. My friends (Tom, Charlotte, Phil, Tracey) and I came up with the ultimate word for this category: disirregardlessliness.

Who v. Whom
If the person about whom you are speaking is receiving the action it is "whom" if the person is performing the action it is "who." This is so old-school that hardly anyone uses "whom" anymore. It is like the young women at church Sunday who read a scripture that said, "ought ye not..." It drove them nuts! They kept saying, "ought not, ought not? What does that even mean?" That is probably how most people feel about whom but I still think it is useful.

Its, it's, your, you're, to, two, too, there, they're, their, etc.
Just get these correct, please! You can't rely on spell check for everything!

Prepositional phrases
Hardly anyone uses these correctly anymore. These are probably in the "ought not" category. Strictly speaking (or when speaking strictly), a sentence should never end with a preposition (to, from, about, etc.).

Strange phrases (popular in Utah)
"Is what it is, is"
"Might could"
Need I say more? Unfortunately I might could but is what it is, is that I just can't stomach it!

Passive voice
This comes from years of writing essays and papers in history courses. No passive passages allowed! Now it simply drives me nuts to hear people speak passively. The one that really gets me is when people pray that we "might" do this and we "might" do that and that we "might" be blessed with this and that. It is so passive and if there is a time for action, I think it is in our prayers. I hate to admit it but sometimes I'll whisper in my head, "he means bless us that we WILL do this and we WILL do that and that we WILL be blessed with this and that."

And that, friends, is when you know you've gone too far as a grammar snob. Correcting people's grammar during prayers is just too much!

(feel free to edit any errors in this post) :)