The hypercorrection tag has no wiki summary.
25
votes
5answers
1k views
Is there a term for grammatical mistakes as a result of trying too hard?
Today, I learned the term hyperforeignism after writing that I was drinking a latté and then stopping to wonder why I was putting a diacritical mark on the "e".
This reminded me of other language ...
4
votes
4answers
342 views
When proper usage impedes communication
This question may be moderated as unanswerable, but I am interested in opinions.
Take this scenario: Most people I know will improperly correct "The ball belongs to John and me." to "The ball belongs ...
4
votes
1answer
956 views
Does 'symbolic' mean the same as 'symbolical', and should one be preferred?
Wikipedia's article on vespers contains this passage (my emphasis):
The name, however, by which it was most widely known during that period was Lucernalis or Lucernaria hora (l. c., 126). This ...
2
votes
4answers
264 views
“when I clicked on video file nothing has happened”
when I clicked on video file nothing
has happened.
Is that correct?
52
votes
9answers
2k views
Is it ever worth the time and effort to correct someone else's grating grammatical mistakes?
Whenever I hear statements like "It was a great deal for he and I" and "Call Karen and I in the morning," I die a little. Such solecisms, as Twain said in another context (Cooper's prose style), ...
11
votes
4answers
2k views
“high rate of speed” or “high speed” to mean going fast
Why do reporters (and sometimes police officers) say that somebody was going at a high rate of speed when they actually mean high speed?
In physics, speed is already the rate of distance over time, ...
12
votes
7answers
13k views
Which is correct, “you and I” or “you and me”?
When the phrase is used as an object, why so many native speakers are saying "you and I" instead of "you and me"? I'm not a native speaker but I thought "you and me" is correct. Not sure if this falls ...
