Actually Visible

I’ve been an English teacher for almost 20 years, and I’ve been a lifelong grammar nerd. I say this with only a dash of pride and a heaping scoop of irritation with myself. I actually hate that I’m constantly noticing grammar mistakes and wish I could be blissfully unaware. No, I don’t correct people to their faces—not even my students—because that would be disrespectful. Speaking of being disrespectful, I also don’t qualify regionalisms and cultural dialects as “mistakes” because they do indeed follow their own set of rules.

I say all of this to introduce my video series that I like to call Reluctant Grammar Lessons. I’m reluctant to correct people because I don’t want anyone to feel stupid, but the truth is that people do judge us on our communication skills, so I’m trying to help people by pointing out common mistakes that I see and hear regularly. Enjoy! Also, feel free to email me with suggestions. You can find the full series on TikTok.

How to pronounce “mischievous”
“exasperate” vs. “exacerbate”
“loose” vs. “lose”
Comma splices
“I” vs. “me”
“would of”
“breath” vs. “breathe”
“further” vs. “farther”
“effect” vs. “affect”
“could NOT care less”
“starring” vs. “staring”
“women” vs. “woman”
“fewer” vs. “less”
apostrophe + s
“supposed” and “supposedly”
“than” vs. “then”
“who’s” vs. “whose”
“accept” vs. “except”
What is an Oxford comma?