Linguistic purity test!
The (provisional) linguistic pedantry Purity Test
Check all boxes for which your answer is "yes".
The "submit" button is at the bottom.
And don't lie, or the grammar beetles will get you.
Do you mind people spelling your name incorrectly?
Your address?
Are you annoyed by being addressed incorrectly (such as "Mrs" in response to a letter in which you have signed yourself "Ms", "Ms" in response to "Miss", or even "Mr" if you forgot to write down a title!)?
Does it give you a warm feeling inside to hear someone else correct grammar, spelling or punctuation?
Do you ever read a paper with a pen handy, to correct the errors?
A paperback book?
A hardback book?
Someone
else's
book?
Ever corrected the errors in a friend's email?
Were you given extra spelling tests in school (eg had to learn to spell 'extraordinary' when everyone else was learning 'table')?
Ever refused to go into an establishment because of errors on their signs (eg 'We sell tomatoe's', 'Fresh jacked potatoes')?
Ever been asked by friends to proofread their work?
Ever worked as a proofreader/copyeditor?
Have friends told you you take standards of English far too seriously?
Have friends actually started to avoid you because they're sick of you correcting their grammar?
Ever sent a business letter back with the errors marked up?
Ever sent a love letter back with the errors marked up?
Ever corrected a misspelt, mispunctuated or poorly-written sign in a public place?
Ever carried a pen in order to correct such signs?
Are you driven mad by computer grammar checkers (because they don't get it right, dammit!)?
Ever sent a text message containing a word which took up more than one line?
Ever taught English (either Language, or to foreign language students)?
Ever consulted a dictionary to resolve a heated argument?
Do you laugh at punctuation-based jokes (for example - a panda goes into a café, orders a sandwich, eats it, draws a gun, and fires it before starting to leave. Puzzled, the waiter asks why he did this and is shown a badly punctuated wildlife book and told to look up 'Panda'. Doing this, he sees the definition. 'Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves'.)?
Ever wished more grammar was taught in schools?
Ever taught your computer spell-checker a new word (legitimate and not rude!)?
Ever returned an item to the shop because the packaging had an error on it?
Ever used [
sic
] maliciously?
Ever corrected a misspelt word written in fridge magnets?
Ever corrected your teacher/lecturer?
More than once in one lesson?
And didn't get in trouble for it?
Are you exasperated by Brits using American spellings?
Ever corrected the spelling on someone else's shopping list?
Ever spotted an error in your own work that your teacher/lecturer had missed?
Are you upset by 'trademark' spellings - like Weetabix, Klix etc?
Do you always write 'Christmas' rather than 'Xmas'?
Do you own an etymological dictionary?
Are you upset by the '10 items or less' lane?
Do you know why the '10 items or less' lane is potentially upsetting?
Do you always punctuate your emails correctly, even to friends?
Do you own any house style guide, just for your own reference?
Do you kow the difference between 'disinterested' and 'uninterested'?
Do you know the difference between 'immoral' and 'amoral'?
Are you annoyed by people saying 'You've got another thing coming' rather than 'think'?
Do you have a favourite spelling/grammar error that you've spotted?
Have you bought
Lynne Truss's
book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves?
And, to your shame, recognised yourself?
And been told not to buy it by friends and/or family, because "it'll only encourage you"?
Own any other books that somehow make grammar really really funny?
Bloody pedant...
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