Are You a Member of the allnurses.com Grammar Police?

[PacoUSA]

Please give a shout out if you are a grammar or spelling cop!

My two biggest pet peeves on here:

(1) Definately

(2) HIPPA (I have been known to publicly reprimand the offenders!!)

There are others, but enough for now ... what are YOUR contributions? I know your out there (and YES I did that on purpose) ...

[dthfytr, ADN, LPN, RN, EMT-B, EMT-I]

You should see the painful looks on Hispanics as I try to master Spanish grammar! All nouns have gender, and of course I have a Yankee accent........

[dthfytr, ADN, LPN, RN, EMT-B, EMT-I]

New terminology! SPTWD (pronounced spitwad) referring to a chronic substance abuser. Means Self Propelled Toxic Waste Dump. Can also mean a Self Perpetuating.....

[dthfytr, ADN, LPN, RN, EMT-B, EMT-I]

Was that commas or comas?

[dthfytr, ADN, LPN, RN, EMT-B, EMT-I]

How about "an" RN instead of "a" RN?

[NocturneRN]

hey jbudd, do you think thomas jefferson spelled happiness the way you have the quote posted??

i know. i'm really bad about this, look at my earlier post on this thread.

:lol2::clown::lol2:

must be those back east (i'd say new england accent, but he was virginian) accents.

he was also misquoted. there is no evidence that he ever said, "the democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

poor jefferson has had more libertarian words put into his mouth of late than almost anyone, except possibly god. the democracy will cease to exist...(quotation) - thomas jefferson encyclopedia

(signed: part time member of the quotation police force)

[scarpetta]

Use there when referring to a place, whether concrete ("over there by the building") or more abstract ("it must be difficult to live there").Example: There is an antique store on Camden Avenue.

Also use there with the verb BE (is, am, are, was, were) to indicate the existence of something, or to mention something for the first time.

Example:There is a picnic area over here, and a campground across the river.

Use their to indicate possession. It is a possessive adjective and indicates that a particular noun belongs to them.

Example:My friends have lost their tickets.

Remember that they're is a contraction of the words they and are. It can never be used as a modifier, only as a subject (who or what does the action) and verb (the action itself).

Example:Hurry up! They're closing the mall at 6 tonight!

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

You should see the painful looks on Hispanics as I try to master Spanish grammar! All nouns have gender, and of course I have a Yankee accent........

I lived in Italy for 5 years, and my Spanish-speaking patients tell me that I pronounce Spanish words with an Italian accent. I can't help it! The worst part? I'm Hispanic!! (Yes, really. I know, I have red hair, it seems unlikely.) My father and grandfather speak Spanish, but I don't. Too bad!

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

Okay, here's where I confess to complete nerditude. Attached is my style guide from my former career/past life in desktop publishing. I love this thing. I hope some of you might find it useful! I used to get in arguments with one of our (slightly psycho) vice presidents about words like comprise vs. compose, ensure vs. insure, etc. ... ugh. So I created our department's guide and made it law. It's loosely based on the Chicago Manual of Style.

StyleGuide.pdf

[tnbutterfly - Mary, BSN]

We might just have to appoint you Chief of the Grammar Police!!!!!!

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

I lived in Italy for 5 years, and my Spanish-speaking patients tell me that I pronounce Spanish words with an Italian accent. I can't help it! The worst part? I'm Hispanic!! (Yes, really. I know, I have red hair, it seems unlikely.) My father and grandfather speak Spanish, but I don't. Too bad!

Lunah - some South Americans speak their Spanish with the same kind of sing-songy accent, as there is a fair amount of Italian influence in that region (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay). So you can pretend you're from there.

[RNAnnjeh, MSN, CNS]

My name is RNAnnjeh and I am a card-carrying member of the Grammar Police.

Every example that has been mentioned prior to this post makes my skin crawl. As does "orientated". (nb: I'm Cdn therefore the period is outside of the quotation marks).

E.g.: I orientated her to the unit.

No. You didn't. You oriented her to the unit.

Now, my DH has tried to show me that said word is in the dictionary but it makes my skin crawl and I refuse to believe it.

P.S. Another one....quotes when they're really talking about the quotation marks. " "

[cnmbfa]

Thank you for bringing this up. Sadly, more than a few of the posts here are misspelled or have grammar errors; some make me wonder how the writer ever made it through freshman composition.

I often wonder how a non-nurse who stumbled across this website might judge the general intelligence of nurses based on the posts found here.

As a faculty member, I have little tolerance for poor writing. I warn students that I will deduct points for mistakes, but also give them LOTS of feedback on the first draft of their major paper. I take time in class to show them how to set up and use the proofing function in Microsoft Word to find and fix spelling, grammar, and style errors.

If they still make mistakes, I direct them to Purdue University's Online Writing Lab at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/. It is an excellent resource. In particular, it has a strong section on how to avoid plagiarism and on the correct use of APA citations.

Grammar Police: Is there a way we can send the worst offenders a private message or develop some other system asking them to be mindful that their errors make all of us look bad? Perhaps a standard message with directions on how to use the spell-checker and listing the most commonly misused words?

What can be done to raise standards on this site without bruising too many egos? Or is that impossible?