Word and Grammar Nerd

I am a self-confessed word and grammar nerd. I embrace it. I’ve been called a grammar Nazi, but I think that’s unfair. I don’t go around correcting other people’s grammar unless they have asked me to or given me permission. OK, I’ll also do that if the person emerged from my body. I feel completely comfortable correcting my son’s grammar, even though he’s a successful grown man with a family of his own.

Most of us word and grammar nerds have one or two things that especially annoy us. One for me is the misuse of [whoever] and I. Often, the proper wording is “and me.” But we were so bludgeoned with “and I” in school, that many believe it’s always “and I.”

Here’s a helpful tip. Ask yourself if you take the other person out, would you use “me” or “I”?

Susie and me went to the store. “Me went to the store” would be wrong.

Susie and I went to the store. “I went to the store” would be correct.

Be sure to message Susie and me. “Be sure to message me” is correct.

Be sure to message Susie and I. “Be sure to message I” would be wrong.

Another frustration to me is people who use “temperature” to mean “fever.” I hear this a lot on television shows and in movies. “Does she have a temperature?” Of course she does. Even dead people have a temperature. It’s the same as the ambient temperature, but it is a temperature. The correct question is, “Does she have a fever?” You can also ask, “Does she have an elevated temperature?”

In print, the two people most often get wrong are:

            two, too, or to

            your or you’re

I will give the general public a pass when it comes to word use and grammar, but professionals should know better.

How about you? Are you a word and/or grammar nerd? Are there common errors that bother you? Tell me in the comments.