My #1 pet peeve managed to miss your list but when you see it, I bet you’ll say it was just an oversight: It’s “irregardless”! This is an especially heinous misuse since “ir” is a prefix meant to reverse the meaning of a word and yet those who use this word, use it as if it means the same thing as regardless! Of course, that would mean that ir-regardless would actually mean with regard!

I suppose they they think that if irregular is a word, then irregardless must be, too! What amazes me is how often I hear this used by educated and intelligent people and how often I hear it on the news! That is probably why it has also come into such regular use because people hear it on the news and assume it is a new word or maybe that they have been saying it wrong.

My other pet peeve is how often people use the wrong word tense such as “seen” in the following sentences: “I seen that before!” “I seen him at the store.” If people would stop to think, they might remember that there are three forms of that word, “see”, “saw” and “seen” and that the last one (in this sort of irregular verbs list) is only to be used with a helper such as have, has or had.

I’m sure I could come up with more if I took time to think about it but these will have to suffice. I feel better, now! Thanks! 😉

– I hear “We was…” or “They was…”
– I run into “2” for to, two, or too, “u” for you, etc.
– I see sentences ended with prepositions (unless it’s completely informal).

My recent pet peeves are people who use picture in place of pitcher; the express line sign that says, “ten items or less” since it should be “ten items or fewer”; and plane used instead of plain.

I edited a doc the other day and the author must have been in the bathroom when his English teacher was working on subject-verb agreement and dangling modifiers. At the end of every other sentence, I found myself wondering, “WHO/WHAT is he talking about?!”