Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Another Grammar Rant...

Hello, everyone.
This time I would like to touch on the subject of verb tense. I hear so many people, on a daily basis, who butcher the English language in so many annoying ways. One of my biggest peeves is with those individuals (you all know who you are) who insist on misusing the verb form be. Specifically speaking, the 'progressive future perfect' form of 'would have' in the place of the 'future perfect' form of 'had'.
For example, I so often (too often, Grrr!!!) hear people saying "If you 'would have' done this or that..." instead of "If you 'had' done this or that..." This is extremely annoying to me, and should be to anyone with a sense of proper grammar. To continue in this vein, "If you 'had' done this or that, then I 'would have' done this or that", is the correct usage of these two verb forms.
The really bad thing about all of this foolishness is the fact that all of the media (TV, movies, newspapers, magazines, reporters, etc.) encourage this sort of stupidity by making the same grammatical mistake, instead of seeking to correct it. Here are all of these people , in positions to fix this error, and yet, they continue to perpetuate it instead. What is this world becoming when we can't even use the English language in a proper manner? It is all very sad, and yet, not many people seem to care. Perhaps, that, in itself, is the saddest part of all.
Well, at least I have done my small part to try rectifying the situation. My conscience is clear; is yours? Thank you all.
Anna

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