GRAMMAR PET PEEVES – #LETSBLOGOFF

Your – possessive
You’re – you are

*face palm

There – as in “over there”
Their – possessive
They’re – they are

Were – as in “you were over there”
We’re – we are

*smacks head on desk

ATM machine = Automated Teller Machine machine….REALLY PEOPLE??!!

*jumps out of first floor window

– the greatest grammar pet peeve of all –

the random capitalization of letters and the random repeat of letters to make words longer in social media posts. Holy Jesus, save me from hurting someone.

As architects our success is directly proportional to our ability to communicate effectively, efficiently, and intelligently. Now, I do not pretend to be a learned writer or grammar aficionado, but at least I know how to use the spell/grammar check tools at my disposal. And I always proof read before posting. This doesn’t mean that I catch every little foible or even that I would recognize all of the mistakes I make, but I do my best to try.

When I give presentations, I am conscious of limiting the use of “um” and “uh” and the dreaded “like” from my vocabulary because it’s important to me that my listeners are wowed by my presentation and don’t get lost in the never-ending world of “UH”. However, listening to a modern 20 something talk in conversation is like having a front row seat to the wholesale rape and torture of the English language. I think we’ve all suffered through at least 10 minutes of one episode of Jersey Shore, so you know exactly what I’m talking about.

In the presentations I sat through last week it was obvious that presentation skills aren’t focused on at the collegiate level. And this is a shame. A bad design can win out over a good design if presented more successfully.

Again, as architects our success is directly proportional to our ability to communicate effectively, efficiently, and intelligently. I welcome any and all grammatical corrections to this post. 🙂