If there’s one thing I strive to do on this here blog, it’s to educate people about the English language. I’m not picky about proper spelling and grammar myself, usualy, but there are certain common mistakes that bug me.
One of those things is squishing two words together when they should remain two words. An example of this I have seen a lot of recently is “everyday”. Now before you start yelling at your screen, I realize that “everday” is a real word. However, “everday” is an adjective used to describe a noun. It is not an adverb used to describe the frequency with which an action occurs. So you use “everday” to describe things. “Every day”, on the other hand, is used to describe actions.
It is correct to say “everyday people”, or “dwarf tossing is an everyday occurrence in Canada”. It is not correct to say “I toss dwarves everyday”, or “some people shower almost everyday”.
A tricky example is a sign in front of a restaurant saying something like “hamburgers, $1.99, everyday”. I think this is wrong too, because it implies that hamburgers are that price every day. “Everyday” does not describe the price itself, but the state of the burgers being that price. Although I can’t judge the store’s sign manager’s intentions, I think the lack of grammatical sensitivity is clear enough that they will be destroyed in the upcoming grammar apocalypse.
Now go think of some examples of correct usages of “everday” and “every day”, and get back to me tomorrow. This will count toward your final grade.
P.S. Anyone who tells me why the album cover above is there will get a fake internet cookie!
Phronk.com 
Comments
18 responses to “Everyday Mistakes”
That’s easy. The album is there because it features the song “Everyday People”, the phrase you reference in your post. Now gimme my cookie bitch! 🙂
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That’s easy. The album is there because it features the song “Everyday People”, the phrase you reference in your post. Now gimme my cookie bitch! 🙂
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if only i came home from work sooner, i may have answered before rob… enjoy your cookie…😦
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if only i came home from work sooner, i may have answered before rob… enjoy your cookie…:(
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nice work.
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nice work.
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I seen this guy and he goes “Phronk spelled ‘usualy’ wrong”. Supposubly. Anyways, do you do this everyday? (The above sentence was brought to you by Shora’s Grammatical Pet Peeves)
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I seen this guy and he goes “Phronk spelled ‘usualy’ wrong”. Supposubly. Anyways, do you do this everyday? (The above sentence was brought to you by Shora’s Grammatical Pet Peeves)
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Unfortunately, Rob is close, but WRONG. The fake cookie is still up for grabs!Hehe Shora, those are some annoying things as well. And I didn’t spell “usualy” wrong. It’s perfectly corect. I spelled “usually” wrong though. Sucka.
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Unfortunately, Rob is close, but WRONG. The fake cookie is still up for grabs!Hehe Shora, those are some annoying things as well. And I didn’t spell “usualy” wrong. It’s perfectly corect. I spelled “usually” wrong though. Sucka.
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Haha, man, good work. I completely relate. I’m a closet (no Brokeback) language nazi, myself.
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Haha, man, good work. I completely relate. I’m a closet (no Brokeback) language nazi, myself.
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this has been helpful to me. Can you also describe how to use quotations? Is it before or after the period. I’m so confused!I have arrested development in my head now. The original “everyday people” was better because it had the lyrics “and so on and so on and scooby-dooby-dooby.”(see, where do the quotes go?!?!?!???)
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this has been helpful to me. Can you also describe how to use quotations? Is it before or after the period. I’m so confused!I have arrested development in my head now. The original “everyday people” was better because it had the lyrics “and so on and so on and scooby-dooby-dooby.”(see, where do the quotes go?!?!?!???)
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I like when the kid in Family Circus says psghetti instead of spaghetti.
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I like when the kid in Family Circus says psghetti instead of spaghetti.
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Now I shall review everything I’ve ever written ever in search of my misuse of everyday.The entire English language would turn into text pidgen if it wasn’t for the grammar nuts. For this, I thank you.(No really. I wasn’t being sarcastic…I’m serious. Thank you) 🙂
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Now I shall review everything I’ve ever written ever in search of my misuse of everyday.The entire English language would turn into text pidgen if it wasn’t for the grammar nuts. For this, I thank you.(No really. I wasn’t being sarcastic…I’m serious. Thank you) 🙂
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