Well, I'm clearly not a nit picky fuck, as long as I can understand what I am reading, I really don't give a shit what mistakes are in there, unless there are lots of them.

 

Nope, 'passed' is the past tense of 'pass'. The word 'past' is almost always used as a noun. The only grammatically correct exception I've ever seen is something along the lines of "paying for past crimes", in which it is used as an adjective.

@ Joe: It's 'Passtime', as in something to pass the time, not 'pasttime'. 'Effect' is a noun, as in "Cause A leads to effect B". 'Affect' is a verb, as in "Did it affect you?"

As for me, I always get 'Capitol' and 'Capital' mixed up.

 

Ah, one of my favorites.

Nobody seems able to get this down right.

Don't forget though that 'past' is also a preposition:

I walked past the doorway.

 

I think you have that backwards.

Effect is to "alter/change", it can also be a noun. "Wind can effect the weather*. The effects of wind on weather are quite noticable."
Affect is "mood". "Seasonal Affective Disorder" refers to mood changes. It can also be a verb (this is why effect/affect is so confusing).**

You will rarely use affect, you will usually use effect.

*Another big one for some people is weather/whether.

**found a better example

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/affect

 

Ok since we have a giant grammar whore thread going on I'll ask a question that came up when reading a book. leaped over the log. I had thought it was leapt over the log? Can somebody correct/clarify for me.

 

This is more and more common in stories I read, lately. Piqued vs. Peaked.

I hate it when an author writes that one of his characters has '...had his interest peaked' rather than 'piqued' by something another character said.

@elvin--I think leaped and leapt are fairly accepted as interchangeable. Leaped is a past tense verb, while leapt is a past tense verb and past participle as well.

Edit: I have no idea if leapt is actually a Brit-spelling, as Tinn suggests, but I've got an example of the way I use/hear it. I might say that someone leaped over something, but I'd say someone leapt to his feet. Which actually brings up another pet peeve. Feet vs. Feat.

 

If I recall correctly, leapt = British spelling. Leaped = American one.

Like spelt vs. spelled, leant vs. leaned, etc.

 

DRAGGED vs DRUG is one that annoys me a lot. It immediately indicates the grossly amateurish nature of the author's writing.

Harry dragged the body from the car. YES!
Harry drug the body from the car. Wha--? NO!

Drugs are narcotics. Dragged is the past tense of the verb drag. Fuck you hillbillies holding onto archaic forms. I've seen drug used in place of dragged only once in a professional publication - it was probably a magazine. It spun me right out. Had the world gone all topsy turvy?

Yak: Crusading Against Drug

 

Oh my GOD yes, this one freaking.... ug.

Came across a weird one today: caustically instead of cautiously. Author did it several times.

 

I'm fairly certain that 'pouring' is the Australian/British version of it. To me, 'poring' just reminds me of the pores in the skin or something (and my Word 2007 with Eng (AUS) agrees with me).

Edit: Nope, google just smashed me down.

Some confusion appears to exist regarding the use of pour and pore.

Charlie complains that he has to pour through stacks of badly-written letters to the editor every day.
​

In this context the word should be pore. The usual idiom is “to pore over.” Apparently the preposition “through” has entered into use, as in the above quotation, and as in this headline in the New York Times:

Teachers Pore Through Stacks Of Possibilities
​

The verb pore, with the meaning “examine closely,” may derive from two Old English words, a verb, spyrian, meaning “to investigate, examine,” and a noun, spor, meaning “a trace, vestige.”
The noun pore, meaning “an opening in the skin,” is not related to the verb in the expression “to pore over.” The noun comes from a Greek word meaning “a passageway.”
The verb pour, meaning to transfer water or some other substance from a container, came into English by way of Old French from a Latin verb, purare, “to purify.” In ritual practice, objects are purified by pouring water over them. The English word pure comes from Latin purus, “pure.” The Latin verb came from the Latin noun.

 

Chose, Choose bugs the hell out of me. Learn your bloody tenses!

Most fun, funnest, and all its related bastard children. There's currently an iPod commercial that says "Its the funnest iPod yet!"

Funnest isn't a word fuck dammit!

But here's a stumper, who can weigh in on Grey vs. Gray?

Edit: Oh, and we can't forget...

 

It's another example of American/Brit spelling differences.

 

Yes, but which is which?

I was always taught gray here in the States.

 

See, and I was taught grey...and I've always spelled it grey, even if my spell checker says it's wrong. I went to school in Colorado, if it makes any difference.

I would also like to know which is the Brit spelling and which is the American spelling.

 

Gray - American
Grey - British

(Personally, I find that I use them interchangeably depending on which comes to mind first.)

 

You know, I think (even though I'm american) I would probably go for grey if I was writing. I always thought of it like... grey is between black and white, and gray is another word for white on a horse. (one that doesn't have pink skin, say)

 

So grey is darker than gray, eh?

 

There is no such thing as a grammar nazi. It is grammar NSDAP member.

 

I don't know if this one annoys others as severely as it does me, but one of the best ways to make me instantly close the window on a fanfic is when "etc." is used in dialogue. It irritates the hell out of me.