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How long have you been blogging about grammar?
Apostrophe Abuse has been up and running since 2005, and each year I seem to get more and more submissions. It's amazing to me how many people share this pet peeve.
What's your biggest grammatical pet peeve (besides that which is the blog topic)?
Less vs. fewer -- that one really seems to stick out recently. Hearing things like "We need less people on this project" or "There are less than four TVs in my house" set off alarms in my head. I tried to explain the rule to a couple people, but now they're saying things like, "I'm just fewer interested in grammar than you are".
What was the impetus of your obsession with this?
Without a doubt, it was the graffiti I spotted on a phone booth in Santa Cruz, CA. The fact that this vulgar phrase also included an erroneous apostrophe struck me as incredibly funny. I took a photo with my camera phone and that ended up being the first post on the blog.
What's your favorite grammar/style resource?
Bartleby.com is pretty good, and I also really like "Common Errors in English."
What's one topic you still can't seem to master in your own writing?
It's actually quite a challenge for me to get what's in my head on to paper/into words. I find that incredibly difficult.
Who, as a group, do you believe to be the worst offenders regarding rules of grammar?
Honestly, it's all over the map -- but I still can't believe when I see apostrophe errors in neon signs. Someone actually heats and bends a glass tube into the shape of an errant apostrophe, and what -- doesn't care? Doesn't notice? How can that be?
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