I’m really quite nervous about typing this. I feel apprehensive because the Grammar Police are everywhere! When you write about bad grammar, they crawl out of the woodwork to study every word and punctuation mark. Still, if you find any mistakes here, I’ll just pretend that they were made with a big dollop of irony. Without any further wait, let’s dive into our list of the best and worst Grammar Police examples.
The People and Their Spelling Fail
Can I propose a simple yet useful suggestion to the English speaking world? We should just spell they’re, there and their the same freaking way. I realize that learning how to spell each of these three short words correctly doesn’t seem like a huge task. But, it really would make this world a better place to live in.
The Double Grammar Fail
The only thing worse than a Grammar Nazi correcting you is the said Grammar Nazi making incorrect corrections. Thankfully, the person correcting the corrector didn’t make any mistakes. We could have been caught up in a never-ending series of correction notes. Each note would become more pedantic than the previous one.
The Pumps Fail
The most interesting thing about this sign is that pre-pay pumps exist somewhere in the world. Why didn’t anyone tell me about this before now? I have no idea what liquids or solids are pumped out of said pumps. If the product is payed for before I arrive, you won’t find me complaining.
The Passed Away Grammar
A lot of people seem to have trouble telling the difference between past and passed. This infraction appears to be a huge area of concern for Grammar Police all over the planet. Surely, this should be the subject of international conferences and documentaries. However, I believe it is safe to say that a note telling you that a colleague passed away isn’t really an appropriate place to discuss the subject.
The Grammar Police Fail
Even the Grammar and Spelling Police make mistakes. In this case, we can see how two different agents of these fine organisations made mistakes of their own. Correcting other people’s mistakes all day long is a tough and tiring job. But, someone has to do it!
The Backwards Swastika
The Grammar Police and Grammar Nazis are pretty much the same. If you fall foul of either party, you will soon realize all of your misplaced commas and erroneous apostrophes. What about the Graffiti Police, though? In this case, a member of the organization was a bit too quick to write a reply when he found a backwards swastika.
The Terrible Grammar Fail
To be honest, I failed the exams to join the Grammar Police. They offered me a position in the Superfluous Comma Squad. But, I felt like the role wouldn’t allow me to show off my full range of skills. Having said all of that, even I would need to jump in and make a citizen’s arrest on this awful speller. He may be suffering a serious case of unrequited love (she isn’t remotely interested in you, buddy), but that doesn’t excuse horrible pile of errors.
The Punctuate Fail
Have you spotted any of my deliberate mistakes yet? I bet you haven’t. Anyway, this is a pretty good example of the power of commas. They save lives and prevent forest fires!
