• Why saying “I could care less” is wrong

    I’ll be honest – this one gets up my nose a bit every time I hear/read it. You’ve probably heard people say they “couldn’t care less” about something, but you’ve probably also heard them say they “could care less” about something. So which one is right?

    The correct way to say it is “I couldn’t care less.”

    Saying you could care less implies you have a little bit of caring left in you. Saying you couldn’t care less means you’ve hit the bottom – there is absolutely no more room for you to care about the situation in question.

    A good way to remember it is to use different word in place of “care.” Think of saying, “I could drive less” or “I could work less.” In these examples, there is still some driving or working to do before the speaker is done. If I said, “I couldn’t work less,” that implies it’s impossible for me to do any less work.

    I hope that clears up the difference between “could care less” and “couldn’t care less!”

     

    Posted in Spelling & Grammar, Language.

     

    The difference between “you and I” and “you and me”

    If you’re like me, you grew up hearing your parents say something like, “It’s ‘Mark and I’, dear.”

    Well I’m here to tell you that even in adulthood, it still feels good to learn that your parents don’t know everything.

    The proper usage of “you and I”

    Your parents weren’t entirely wrong. Using “and I” is still correct – just not all of the time. For an easy way to tell which usage is correct, simply remove the other subject from the sentence. For example:

    Mark and I went to the store.

    becomes

    I went to the store.

    In this example, the sentence still makes sense. Using “and I” here is correct.

    Here’s another example.

    The store was too expensive for Mark and I.

    becomes

    The store was too expensive for I.

    Yikes. Sounds ridiculous, right?

    In this case, using “and me” is correct. Then, the sentence with the other subject removed would be: The store was too expensive for me. This sounds nice and normal.

    So, there you go! It’s easy to tell when to use “and I” and when to use “and me.” The trick, of course, is convincing your parents.

     

    Posted in Spelling & Grammar, Language.

    Anyway/any way and everyday/every day

    The four words “anyway,” “any way,” “everyday” and “every day” illustrate for me just how precise and seemingly random the English language can be. It’s not always easy to tell which usage is correct. Specifically, getting “everyday” and “every day” mixed up is so common, I bet many people don’t even realize they mean two entirely different things.

    So, how can you tell which one to use?

    When to use anyway and when to use any way

    The word “anyway” has a few meanings. They are: to redirect a conversation, to show that something is bound to happen, or to confirm something that’s previously been said. Here are examples of each.

    • “So, anyway, what do you want for lunch?”
    • “If I make a turkey sandwich, you’re just going to ask for ham anyway.”
    • “Lunch will be turkey anyway; I don’t know why you’re asking.”

    By contrast, “any way” has one very specific meaning: one or many methods of reaching a certain goal.

    “Is there any way we could have lunch earlier?”

    When to use everyday and when to use every day

    As I mentioned earlier, mixing up these two is very common; probably more common than the anyway/any way mixup. But fear not – it’s easy to remember the difference between “everyday” and “every day.”

    The adjective “everyday” refers to things that are routine, that are faced daily. For example, if you take the same bus to work daily, that’s your everyday route. It can also refer to things that are commonplace – “This isn’t my everyday pair of shoes.”

    The adverb “every day” means, specifically, each day.

    So, to say, “I eat cereal every day” is correct, because you’re explaining that you eat cereal each day – whereas “I eat cereal everyday” is incorrect. However, saying, “This is my everyday cereal” is the correct usage of “everyday.”

    Posted in Spelling & Grammar, Language.

    “Should/could have” vs “should/could of”

    One thing that fascinates me, though the result often frustrates me, is how many of our spelling errors arise from the spoken word. The phrases “should of” and “could of” are perfect examples of this.

    Why “should of” and “could of” are incorrect

    “Should of” and “could of”, if you break them out into their two separate words, don’t actually make any sense together. You can say “a pint of beer” or “three hours of sleep”, but “should of studied” doesn’t fit.

    In this case, people say “should of” and “could of” because of the contraction that’s created from the word “have.” Really, it’s “should’ve” and “could’ve” – in other words, “should have” and “could have.” This contraction sounds very similar to “of” when spoken aloud, but “of” in this case is meaningless and incorrect.

    Hope that helps!

     

    Posted in Spelling & Grammar, Language.

    “Conscious” vs “conscience”

    This is a spelling misunderstanding I’ve been seeing around the internet quite often lately. These two words sound similar, but they’re different.

    Here’s the difference between “conscious” and “conscience”

    • Conscious means to be awake, to be aware, or to have knowledge of something.
    • Conscience is the little voice inside you that tells you stealing your best friend’s car and driving it into a lake is wrong.

    So, this means the following phrases are incorrect:

    • Socially conscience
    • Unconscience
    • Listen to your conscious

    How to tell the difference between “conscious” and “conscience”

    Because these words sound so similar, it’s easy to get them confused. However, the key to telling them apart is in the second ‘n’ in conscience. Say it aloud if you need to (if you’re in public, you can say it under your breath – it’s okay!). If you need to talk about how to tell the difference between right and wrong, watch for that second ‘n.’ Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to come up with an easy mnemonic device for this one, but after a while it should become second nature!

    Posted in Spelling & Grammar.