Rules

In class today, we discussed biggest pet peeves in grammar and also what the dumbest grammar rules are. When it was my turn, I had said when people misuse too and to, their, they’re, and there, and you and you’re. Many others in my class had previously said that or agreed with others. This is my biggest pet peeve because we were literally taught this when we were in elementary school and I don’t believe it’s that hard to remember. There are other rules in the English language that are harder to remember and are more complicated.

There were others that people discussed too, all in which I agreed with. For example, someone said that the dumbest rule in the English language is that we can’t say “me and Alexa,” when speaking about them going to do something, we have to say “Alexa and I.” Our professor said that’s his biggest pet peeve and when people don’t say themselves last. However, he agreed with her reasoning on why it’s the dumbest rule. She said because everyone gets the point when she says herself first, which is true. To go off that, another person discussed their biggest pet peeve is when you ask someone to take a picture and you CAN say “can you take a picture of me and Alexa?” Then they try to correct you and say, “Alexa and I,” but this time you’re right when saying “me and Alexa.” It’s very confusing.

A little bit into class, my professor asked which is correct “I had eggs, toast, and bacon for breakfast,” or “I had eggs, toast and bacon for breakfast.” Most of the people in the class raised their hand that there needed to be a comma before and. My professor, then, brought up serial commas and they had for and against the comma before and. He answered the question by saying it’s up to us, but we need to be consistent when doing so. So if you are a serial comma user, that’s fine, but in the writing it has to be consistent throughout the piece of writing.