Grammar Rage

I don’t care if you’re working for some indie publishing house or something well-known like Random House or Knopf. When I read a book from your company, there should not be grammar mistakes that an 8^th grader (well, some) could correct.

I finished my cheesy chick-lit title, 20 Times a Lady. It was entertaining, despite an incredibly cheesy ending. I think the book’s ending actually made me smile for a limited amount of time, so I can’t complain too much.

What bothered me most about this book was the onslaught of grammatical errors. I got so annoyed that after I encountered the second mistake, I began bending the corners of subsequent pages with errors. This bending of the pages would allow me to go back, at a later point, and refer to these errors.

So, here I go. I know it is very nerdy to actually mark down grammatical errors found in a book, but these errors were soooo obvious. 3 of the 4 errors are essentially the same mistake, but I still think they count as separate mistakes. They should count as separate mistakes; this was a nationally published book.

“Hey, do you think this thing has anti-lock breaks?” p. 65 [AGH…]

“You’re dog likes me, so you should, too.” p. 84 [less than 20 pages later? The confusion that people have over your and you’re aggravates me; this aggravation is increased exponentially when a copy editor makes the mistake]

“ ‘You heard me!’ I scream. ‘You’re dog liked me better! He did!” p.106
[the silliness of this book is amplified by the specific passages that I am quoting. Again, another your/you’re mistake. Y-O-U-R--- it shows possession! Argh…]

“ ‘You’re actions affect other people.’ ” p. 223 [how do they have the correct use of affect but the wrong use of your?]

At this point, I truly need to pack my bags, make my way over to England, and have a cup of tea with Lynn Truss. She'd understand.