Writers, editors offer pet peeves to mark National Grammar Day

Editors wish people would think about their grammar every day—and those professional nitpickers are using an upcoming holiday to sound off about what drives them nuts.

March 4 is National Grammar Day, and to mark the occasion, we solicited writers’ and editors’ biggest gripes when it comes to linguistic lapses.

Whether it’s in the form of improper punctuation, misapplied homonyms or a lack of care when speaking off the cuff, word nerds can all agree: Bad grammar is like nails on a chalkboard.

Here we go, so brace yourself …

A solicitation on Facebook has yielded this bouquet of nettles:

Pam Turlow, author of “The Cotton Candy Roadtrip,” bemoans “the apparent disappearance of the humble adverb. If I hear one more person say something like, ‘You did that excellent!’ I’ll pull my ears off.” Ditto: “They played the game perfect!”

Veteran journalist Peter Grad offers a “longtime peeve: Even the NY Times has long failed to distinguish between ‘ensuring’ a good time and ‘insuring’ one’s valuables; they opt for “insure” in virtually all instances.”