I see little problems with grammar when I read online, and they bother me.
I just noticed a man having trouble with past and passed. If something has happened, it's in the past. I passed a food stand, turned around and bought something. I passed a football. I passed gallstones (bummer).
I used to write "alright," but I later learned that "all right" is correct. I still see "alright" all the time, and it's not "all right" with me.
A man recently wrote, "I watched in horror as a boy witness his father die of AIDS." The boy witnessed his father's death.
A writer often will talk about a six hour flight. It's a six-hour flight. Help the reader.
One writer used being "empathical" and "confrontating" in the same sentence. Perhaps she meant empathic and confrontational, although those words seem odd together.
Another wrote, "Its a special day for me." Yes, but it's a special day. It is.
Instead of "greetings," a man wrote "greattings." Great things?
One man said that someone was "very complementary." Apparently he was a big help, but "complimentary" would have worked.
I just found "I am stuck in my writing, how do I brake out of this" on a network for writers. All together now: How to break out of this. I brake for bad writers.
I encountered the word "corporates" and wondered if he meant incorporated or corporations. Spell check didn't know it. It turns out that the first definition of corporate is "formed into a corporation." You learn something every day.
FOREIGN OUTLOOK: I've encountered people from foreign countries who teach English as a second language, and these "teachers" are almost functionally illiterate in English. Still, I'm often amazed at how well people from Switzerland, Romania, Spain and the Ivory Coast (or other foreign countries) write in English. Sadly, they write better than many Americans.
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