21 Grammatical Mistakes That People Absolutely HATE (And You’re Probably Guilty Of Making From Time To Time)

Here are some of the top-voted responses:

1. "Every time I see 'loose' in place of 'lose,' I lose a bit of respect."

—Disturbed_Waters21

"Native English speakers being unable to distinguish between loose and lose is MADDENING."

—xHarleyQuinn-

2. "When someone says 'should of' instead of 'should have.'"

—NikSturm

"Somebody argued that it's correct in the north of England. As somebody who is from the north of England I just want to say that no it fucking isn't"

—Killboypowerhed

3. "Then vs than... My LOCAL NEWS OUTLET SUCKS AT GRAMMAR."

—joliesmomma

"Me vs I bothers me more: 'He came to dinner with Scott and I.'"

—do_me_stabler_3

4. "Unless it's being used as an adjective, 'every day' needs a space."

—nilperos

"There are so many of these! Login is a noun. If you're telling someone to log in, that's two words. Same with signup or signout."

—BangBangMeatMachine

5. "Most people try to sound intelligent by using 'I' instead of 'me' in every instance, instead of where it actually makes sense, so they overcorrect. It drives me crazy! A teacher taught us to cross out part of the sentence and read it with I vs me. For instance: When Fred and me get married, we'll have a big wedding. Cross out 'Fred and' and read it as 'When me get married.' Since that doesn't make sense, it would be 'When Fred and I get married'... A little tip that's always worked for me."

—amyjrockstar

6. "I've been seeing 'apart' instead of 'a part' a lot lately. This one is especially irritating because they have opposite meanings. 'A part of' vs 'apart from.' 'A part' = these things go together. We consider her a part of our family. 'Apart' = these things do not go together. Apart from her husband, we all get along."

—seguefarer

7. "Wary vs Weary. Chances are good that you mean the former and not the latter."

—writehandedTom

8. "'For all intensive purposes' instead of 'for all intents and purposes.'"

—Prestigious_Rain_842

9. "'I was balling my eyes out!' This simultaneously annoys me and makes me laugh when I imagine it."

—SuLiaodai

10. "Should/would/could OF. HAVE! It's have. Not of."

—caught_in_bloom

11. "Using an apostrophe for plurals (taco's, orange's, apple's) is a huge grammar pet peeve."

—Ryan_TX_85

"The most egregious part is that most people who do this seem to only do it about half the time, so they’re not even consistent with their misuse. It makes me wonder what internal ruleset they’re following to decide when an apostrophe means plural or not."

—StellateMystery

12. "When people don’t know the difference between lie and lay. You are lying down. You are laying the baby down for a nap."

—BotanicalGarden56

13. "Calling dice 'dices' and a single die 'a dice.'"

—Due_Jellyfish9237

14. "'I can’t bare it.' Whatever you’re thinking of baring, please don’t."

—Arwenti

15. "HOW DO PEOPLE STILL NOT KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THERE, THEIR, AND THEY’RE. IT'S INSANE."

—NirvelliGras

16. "The misuse of reflexive pronouns. 'Contact John or myself.' Only YOU can do something to yourself-that’s how reflexive pronouns work!"

—Traditional-Law-7372

17. "'Your stupid.' As annoying as it is ironic."

—countessofole

18. "Women is plural! Woman is singular!"

—PleasantTomato7128

19. "Double comparatives: It’s more better."

—InsideConcentrate887

"Yes, that's the mostest worstest."

—fusedparticiple

20. "It's = 'it is' only. 'It's' is NOT possessive."

—1893Chicago

21. And finally, this in-depth explanation: "'On accident' vs 'by accident.' And if anyone reading this doesn't understand why, it's just the wrong preposition. 'By accident' is short for 'by way of accident.' It's how/why you came to the situation. 'How did you get here?' 'By way of car.' 'Why is there a giant mess?' It happened by way of accident.'

"'On accident' doesn't make any sense because 'on' as a preposition tends to mean a state of being. It's similar to 'on brand' or 'on my way.' 'On purpose' is the same thing. It's intended to describe your state of being, not how you arrived there. You could almost substitute it with the word 'with' and it would almost have the same meaning, but not quite — but it helps illustrate the point.

On top of that, 'on purpose' and 'by accident' aren't even direct opposites, in case you're thinking that they are and you should be able to swap prepositions! 'By design' is the direct opposite of 'by accident' and 'on purpose' doesn't have one, but 'by accident' is the closest thing, so we kind of use them as opposites."

—Wishilikedhugs

Are there any other grammar mistakes that annoy you? Let us know in the comments below!

Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.