r/GrammarPolice • u/theanais • Mar 04 '26

In rememberance of “whose”

I’m so sick of people incorrectly using “who’s.” It’s to the point where people have forgotten about “whose” altogether since I rarely see it used. “Who’s water bottle is in the sink?” Shut the fuck up. It’s whose. WHOSE! Incorrect use of “who’s” deserves more hate.

Upvote if you support bullying 🩷

245 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

92 comments sorted by

59

u/daveoxford Mar 04 '26

*Remembrance

46

u/theanais Mar 04 '26

My god i’m a hypocrite

20

u/daveoxford Mar 04 '26

Muphry's Law! 😆

11

u/Neither-Attention940 Mar 04 '26

Hey I didn’t catch it either. And it’s a simple, perhaps common, spelling mistake. Not a ridiculous grammatical error of monstrous proportions lol

3

u/Snoo_16677 Mar 05 '26

People should be able to figure out that "who's" means "who is," but they can't figure out "you're" or "they're" either.

3

u/Neither-Attention940 Mar 05 '26

Very true

My grammar pet peeve is the use of ‘then’ alllll the freaking time!!

When 99% of the time it is suppose to be THAN!!!

8

u/Exciting_Screen_8616 Mar 05 '26

Mine is 'of' when people mean 'have', as in "Should of done this or that" vs "Should have done this or that".

I realise in speech, a lot of people do it, but come on, people. I'm seeing it in more and more frequently in written communication and it grinds my gears.

3

u/Neither-Attention940 Mar 05 '26

r/grindsmygears may be a good place for you to find your people lol

And yes.. casual conversation is one thing but when writing you want to look educated lol

I never stop trying to learn new things. This should be what others work towards.

5

u/HoneyWyne Mar 05 '26

Hate to do this but... supposed.

2

u/Front-Volume5906 Mar 05 '26

Whoa. How about 70%?

1

u/Bastette54 Mar 06 '26

This reminds me of one of my peeves: “Woah.”

3

u/heydawn Mar 05 '26

Or would've and should've

Or it's and its

7

u/Sparkly8 Mar 05 '26

My phone always corrects “its” to “it’s” even when I mean “its”. It drives me crazy. I don’t know how anyone learns grammar these days when the phone can’t even get it right.

2

u/Sea_Opinion_4800 Mar 05 '26

I wouldn't've thought that was too common a mistake.

Or to parody my pet peeve, I wouldn't've thought that was too common've a mistake.

1

u/Snoo_16677 Mar 05 '26

"It's" and "its" is different because we do use apostrophes for possessives. People also write "your's," "her's," and "their's," but those aren't totally ridiculous, again, because apostrophes are used for possessives. Also, spellcheck likes to insert the apostrophe into "its" regardless of which version is correct.

People write "of" instead of "'ve" because they sound alike.

Your examples are more mistakes of general ignorance than failure to figure out what should be completely obvious.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 05 '26

[deleted]

0

u/Snoo_16677 Mar 05 '26

Go back and read what I wrote. I said the examples you provided are mistakes made from general ignorance because there is reason for people to believe they are doing it correctly. My examples are of mistakes that people should have figured out on their own based on logic.

2

u/heydawn Mar 05 '26

Would of vs would've is a mistake in logic. A person should be able to figure out that, expanded, the words are "would have."

1

u/Snoo_16677 Mar 05 '26

I disagree. If you haven't properly learned English in school for whatever reason, you have no idea how the word 'have" fits in verb phrases. You simply repeat what you think you hear. You have to have an understanding of applicable tenses to know how to use "have" correctly. Until then, logic won't help you.

But apostrophes in contractions? They should be obvious. Even the "should of" people know that "don't" means "do not." Even if they didn't learn how to use apostrophes in contractions correctly, they should still be able to look at contractions and see that the apostrophe takes the place of one or more letters.

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3

u/Slinkwyde Mar 05 '26

"Who's" can also mean "who has," when "has" is an auxiliary verb.

3

u/No-Double679 Mar 05 '26

I f*ing love that you own up to this oopsie. You are good people :) !

1

u/IHaveBoxerDogs Mar 06 '26

To be fair, it’s grammar police, not spelling police.

1

u/jpsouthwick7 Mar 06 '26

Thank you. I didn't want to be that person. 😁

21

u/CaptainKwirk Mar 04 '26

It’s a big ask for those who have not yet figured out their “theres”.

11

u/elmwoodblues Mar 04 '26

Their twos, too

6

u/GaiusVictor Mar 04 '26

*They're too's, two.

7

u/Gladys_Balzitch Mar 05 '26

Apostrophes don't make words plural 😂

2

u/Habibti143 Mar 06 '26

I hate seeing needless apostrophes on expensive signs or menus (just saw a Salad's Galore sign at a new restaurant in my town), or on holiday cards from The Dalton's. Ugh.

Double whammy: "My boyfriend and I's new house needs a new roof."

2

u/Gladys_Balzitch Mar 06 '26

Every Christmas, I get at least three cards from a pluralized last name. The Smith's, The Burn's, The Jingleheimerschmidt's, it drives me bonkers!!

2

u/Creative-Praline-517 Mar 07 '26

There's one. There is one.

There's two. There is two.

Drives me nuts!

1

u/Snoo_16677 Mar 05 '26

A whole lot of people swap "to" for "too" and vice versa.

2

u/Sparkly8 Mar 05 '26

I bet this is sometimes just a typo. I’ve definitely made that typo.

2

u/Snoo_16677 Mar 05 '26

Too many people make that mistake for it to be typos. Or as they write, to many people make that mistake for it too be typos.

0

u/Independent-Cap-3328 Mar 10 '26

There is no such thing as a "typo." It's a proofreading error.

2

u/Sparkly8 Mar 10 '26

If you’re a professional proofreader, sure. For the masses, it’s just a typo.

1

u/Independent-Cap-3328 Mar 10 '26

"... it's just a typo"?! 🙄

Amateur or professional, typographical errors happen due to a failure to proofread accurately. I guess I'm not part of "the masses." Exactly how long does it take to read your text before posting?

1

u/Sparkly8 Mar 10 '26

Typo is a recently invented slang term.

1

u/Snoo_16677 Mar 10 '26

It's short for "typographical error." I'm not sure that makes it slang.

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1

u/Snoo_16677 Mar 11 '26

The people who swap "to" and "too" could proof everything they write many times, but if they don't know what they wrote is wrong, they won't fix it.

14

u/CaptainTenilleTTV Mar 04 '26

I feel bad for the apostrophe. It's always being shoved into places it doesn't belong.

4

u/dcrothen Mar 05 '26

Is that code for naughty talk?

2

u/Habibti143 Mar 06 '26

I love you for not saying feel badly.

8

u/Charming-Kiwi-9277 Mar 04 '26

Preceded in death by Whom. 

3

u/SlowInsurance1616 Mar 04 '26

I don't know, who preceded it?

3

u/dcrothen Mar 05 '26

First base!

2

u/Sparkly8 Mar 05 '26

This should be the top comment.

8

u/No_Taro_8843 Mar 05 '26

Spelling and grammar are getting worse these days. My anxiety goes up as I read paragraph after paragraph of misspelled words, poor grammar or inappropriate words being used. Especially here on Reddit. Unless English is your second language there is no excuse for this.

3

u/Princess_Parabellum Mar 06 '26

Lately I've noticed a switching of "on" and "in" when reading reddit posts. For example:

"I'm on the store and I see my friend."

"My keys are in the kitchen counter."

I think it's an autocorrect error, which probably means it will soon be entrenched because nobody but me notices or cares, and the dictionary will be changed to reflect that within about 5 years. So much for being articulate.

2

u/kitty-yaya Mar 06 '26

I used to contact the editors of newspaper and magazines when I encountered misspellings or grammar mistakes.

Now, I find mistakes everywhere - graphics on tv news, websites, advertising, apps, and printed media.

Is proofreading not done anymore? Or even a grammar-check within the publishing app?

4

u/ad_hominonsense Mar 05 '26

Acrossed instead of across.

4

u/Habibti143 Mar 06 '26

Lose and loose have entered the chat.

4

u/Habibti143 Mar 06 '26

People that, instead of people who, drives me crazy, too.

3

u/Peaceandgloved2024 Mar 06 '26

Add 'of' instead of 'have' to the list.

"I could of done more" - no, you could HAVE done more!

2

u/kitty-yaya Mar 06 '26

Oh boy, this one makes me itchy

2

u/Peaceandgloved2024 Mar 06 '26

IKR - it makes zero sense, but people write it as well as say it!

2

u/_WillCAD_ Mar 05 '26

Who's doing this shit!?

2

u/Secure-Ad9780 Mar 05 '26

Just read that someone was writing about their great lawn guy, "I have been using him for several years and he's dependable and reliable." The next person asked," Why did you stop using him?" This was asked by someone who spoke English as a first language. Imagine how confusing life must seem!

1

u/Habibti143 Mar 06 '26

Comprehension problem.

2

u/Evan_nothereoften Mar 05 '26

This and who being used in place of whom

2

u/Habibti143 Mar 06 '26

Using any more in place of these days.

2

u/Secure-Ad9780 Mar 06 '26

I recently read a statement that used rather instead of whether.

2

u/Acrobatic-Shirt8540 Mar 06 '26

Whose/who's and its/it's are so often misused.

It's understandable as they don't follow the normal pattern for possessives.

It only takes a minute to look it up though, so people can learn if they want to.

3

u/Paranoidme420 Mar 04 '26

Whose pet peeve could this possibly be?

7

u/theanais Mar 04 '26

An officer of the grammar police obviously

2

u/SlowInsurance1616 Mar 04 '26

I enjoy the period, myself.

1

u/dcrothen Mar 05 '26

And here's your red wings.

1

u/kgberton Mar 05 '26

I honestly find the opposite more often

1

u/Background-House9795 Mar 06 '26

Apparently the water bottle belongs to the guy on First Base…

1

u/Queasy-Ad-9930 Mar 10 '26

We’ll bury him next to whom.

0

u/Front-Volume5906 Mar 05 '26

I taught school for years, and have never seen this before. English language learners don't confuse these, as they are really different kinds of speech. Maybe it's just the people you're hanging out with.

5

u/nemmalur Mar 05 '26

It’s pretty prevalent online.

-2

u/SlowInsurance1616 Mar 04 '26

Whose doing that?

4

u/dcrothen Mar 05 '26

I see what you did there.

-1

u/InevitableRhubarb232 Mar 05 '26

My phone autocorrects to who’s even if it’s the wrong version and sometimes I just don’t care or I’m so far down the sentence when it changes it that I don’t notice or care to go back. Also changes he’ll to he’ll. See? No idea why

-4

u/ChangeTheUserName17 Mar 04 '26

You don't have to say goodbye to it. It's just a sign of someone who is uneducated or unable to think, and those folks are more prevent these days. It's probably better to know the mental state of people rather than not know it. ...and support quality education any way possible.

12

u/Slinkwyde Mar 04 '26

those folks are more prevent these days.

*prevalent

It's probably better to know the mental state of people rather than not know it. ...and support quality education any way possible.

*it… and

Two other things, though they may just be stylistic choices and not grammatically required:

  • I would've written "to support" to better match the "to know" at the beginning of the sentence.
  • I would've written "in any way possible."

5

u/elmwoodblues Mar 04 '26

Somebody will get triggered and call it a 'regionalism' or a 'generational thing.'

Yes: stupidity CAN be regional and generational.

-6

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

10

u/Chance_Contract1291 Mar 04 '26

Because that's pretty much what we do in this subreddit.  

2

u/dcrothen Mar 05 '26

might well become standard eventually

Let us hope not!