Grammar Lessons

My mom was a middle and high school English teacher for years. Something like 23 years to be more exact. On family road trips we would play word games as we drove. It was a time before iPads and electronic devices could keep you bombarded at every turn (thank goodness!). We were corrected at home on proper grammar usage. We were tested on our spelling words. We understood homonyms, homophones, synonyms, and antonyms. We were taught the difference between metaphors and similes. We learned when to capitalize high school and when not to, and we learned why it mattered. It was important to my mom that we understood basic principles of the English language so that we could not only speak correctly, but write correctly as well. In other words, my parents wanted us to be an educated family - one that loved to learn and continued to learn throughout life. 

For many years, I thought I, too, would like to be an English teacher. That was before I realized "babysitting" other people's kids all day was not something I'd enjoy doing, whether I got paid for it or not. That realization, however, did not deter me from continuing to use proper English and avoid common grammatical errors. People make major mistakes in their writing, especially on social media (it's awful!), so I thought I'd go over some basic grammar lessons in this post as a reminder (mostly to myself) that I still understand and know the basic principles of the English language. Mostly, this post is to show Mom how much I appreciate her instruction and to let her know I "got it" even when she thought I probably wasn't listen or didn't get anything out of it. 

Your and you're - people misuse these SO often, and it drives me crazy. 
Your is possessive. "I like your hair style." "Would you like your meal warmed?" "Your car is so clean!" Use your when trying to show possession. 
You're is a contraction of you and are. "Mom said you're going to the mall." "If you're going to the store, may I come with you?" "You're so amazing!" You're can only be substituted in place of you are. 

Their, there, and they're - I can't even explain the number of people that misuse these on a regular basis.  
Their is possessive (like your). "May I go to their house?" "This is their car." "We've been to their cabin before." Use their when trying to showing possession. 
There is a place. "Have you been there before?" "Can we go there for lunch?" "I was there when I was five." Any time a destination is involved use there. 
They're is another contraction of they are. "They're going to the movies." "They're your friends, right?" "They're unbelievable!" They're can only be substituted in place of they are.

Anxious v. Eager - this is misused so often that people have started using the words interchangeably, and they don't mean the same thing! 
Anxious usually has a negative connotation. "I'm anxious about my upcoming math test." "This is the first time I've cooked this meal, and it made me a little bit anxious." You could be anxious to go on a trip, but only if you are feeling some trepidation about the travel or the place you would stay, etc. 
Eager has less of a negative connotation. "I'm eager about my upcoming trip." "I'm eager to get the results of my driving test." Eager fits more along the lines of excited and should be used as a way to express that you're looking forward to something. 

You and I v. You and Me (or Me and You) - these are incredibly misused, and it's becoming more commonplace all the time to use them incorrectly. Honestly, people sound stupid when they misuse them. I find myself falling into the casual trap and misusing them sometimes, and I want to punch myself in the face for it. I'm to the point now that I correct myself when I misuse them in the hopes that others will catch on to the incorrect usage. 
The easiest way for me to explain this concept is to give an example of why a certain usage is incorrect. "Will you join Bob and me for dinner?" You wouldn't ask, "Will you join I for dinner?" No! You wouldn't! And if you would, stop it! That's the correct usage of you and me. Here's another. "You and I should go to the movie this week." You would not say, "Me should go to the movie this week." Instead, you would say, "I should go to the movie this week", and because of that you would say, "You and I" and not "You and me." Make sense? That's the easiest way (for me) to tell whether or not I'm using the phrase correctly. Does it make sense to use the phrase you and I, or should I use you and me? Use them both in the question or sentence and that will help determine which you should use. 

Anyway - please never say anywayS! It's just ... wrong. Saying something like, "Anyways, I'm going to ...." is annoying and makes you sound stupid. Instead, use the word anyway (singular). It's proper and won't make you sound like a hick from the sticks. 

Ignorant v. Rude - these are not the same, no matter how much you think they are or how many times you have used them interchangeably. 
Ignorant means that a person doesn't know something. If you are ignorant about Mexico, you know little (or nothing) about it's cultural, ethnicity, people, customs, etc. If someone says, "Bill is so ignorant because he called me a jerk," that would be incorrect usage of the word. Bill calling you a jerk makes him rude. If Bill has never been to Mexico and tries to talk about the subject intellectually he is ignorant. His "knowledge" about the matter would likely be based on assumptions or things that others have told him, not based on personal knowledge from being in the country or reading factual material. 
Rude is a different animal. If you belch at the dinner table in America, that's rude. If you're from Japan (I think it's Japan anyway; I'll have to verify the country and culture) where belching at the table is considered a compliment to the cook, and you were visiting America for the first time with no foreknowledge about the country, and you belched at the dinner table, you could potentially be considered both rude and ignorant. You would be rude because belching at the dinner table is considered bad manners in America, and you would be ignorant because you didn't know/learn enough about the country to understand table manners. See the difference? There IS a difference, I promise. 

Nauseous v. Nauseated - oh my, this one is a problem for many people. Unfortunately, many people also don't realize they are demeaning themselves when they use one incorrectly. 
Nauseous is something you feel because you are affected with nausea. For example, to some people the smell of popcorn cooking is nauseating. It can cause nausea, therefore, popcorn cooking is a nauseous smell for some. If you say you are nauseous, you admit that you affect yourself with nausea. (You make yourself sick, in other words. Not likely true ....) 
Nauseated is when you feel sick because you have the flu or ate something funny. The proper thing to say when you feel sick is, "I feel nauseated." Avoid saying, "I feel nauseous" as it will indicate you don't feel well because you make yourself sick. 

That is your grammar lesson for today, kids! I hope you will find it helpful and use it to sound (and write!) smarter. And if you find yourself in a lurch, just "wow" people by telling them the longest single-word palindrome in the English language: redivider. Bam!