A Grammar Nazi on the Prowl

I wish people read what they write. Proof reading is underrated and its importance is understated. With everyone increasingly hinging on social media to communicate with one another, the way we write has significantly changed. Our writing has become lazy and we could not care much about grammar. Sometimes even though we know we've made a spelling mistake, we don't care much to amend it. Oh, you'll get what I mean anyway is what we'd think to ourselves. Some really annoying mistakes people make in written communication are:

1. Using 'ur' instead of your or you're. Come on, don't be lazy...write the entire word! And hey, there's an actually spelling created to say you so please don't write u.

2. Not knowing when to use its and it's. This is a very common mistake that sometimes people don't even realize they have made. It takes a proof reading or two before you realize and go oops. 

3. Incorrect usage of then and than. Go look up the right way to use these words. I'm not going to do the work for you. 

4. Ending a verb with in and not going the whole mile ending it with ing (for e.g., drinkin/drivin)

5. Adding a space between a word and a full stop. Like this . Where did that come from??? Why should there be a space? Who told you there needs to be a space? Even more frustrating is when I see a space left between a word and an exclamation mark. Like this !

6. Not adding an apostrophe where it absolutely must be. How can people write dont/cant/wont without an apostrophe? Without that ' the word becomes non-existent. It's just a matter of pressing one button on your keyboard. 

7. Beginning a sentence with a word in lower case. like this. Never, ever begin a sentence with a word where the first alphabet is in lower case. I mean, this was one of the first things we were taught in kindergarten.

8. Even worse than the earlier point is when people write the first alphabet of a word in the middle of a sentence in upper case. Like This. Sandwiched between a sentence, unless it is a proper noun, t of the word this has no business being in upper case.

9. How do we mess up the spacing before and after a comma? There should be no space between a word and a comma. Like this, However, there should be a space between the word that follows a comma. Like, this

10. Our spelling skills are quite atrocious. We don't even take the effort of looking up the dictionary for the right way to spell. Hang on, when was the last time you even opened your dictionary. Wait a minute, do you even own a dictionary? Spelling mistakes like recieve instead of receive annoy me the most. 

11. Here is something I didn't know until recently and I'm not embarrassed to share: Breaking news...there's no such thing as you all which sometimes people shorten using the word you'll or even y'all. In English, the good news is that you is you, whether it carries a singular or plural reference. So all of you is the correct way to write and say it.  

12. I think it almost criminal when the first alphabet of a person's name is written in lower case. That should be a punishable offence in the court of grammar. I detest when people write me mails or messages that go like this Hey hanisha or Dear hanisha or Hi hanisha. 

13. And then there's too and to. When you finally figure out why people use these two words interchangeably, please send a poke my way. 

14. The other real common mistake made is between the words they're, their and there. Unfortunately, we don't always write what we pronounce and sometimes how we pronounce is not how we write. 

Believe me, you are not too old to open up your Wren & Martin and brush up your English language skills. It's something I plan to do soon myself. I'm no expert in the language but I thank god I have got my basics right. Meanwhile, I'm a person who tries to be very open to feedback, so if you've spotted any grammatical errors, please point them out to me and watch my face flush with awkwardness.