For me, the worst currently are:
- Between you and I... (or any similar use of I in oblique positions)
- If I was a betting person... (or any similar failure to use the subjunctive)
- Attempts to make non-existent verbs out of nouns
For instance, - I see he could of rather than he could have.
I also do not care when people don't understand the difference between accept/except.
And lastly I am not a fan of misuse of apostrophes.
Your first two are interesting because they've only become problematic relatively recently, as written communication has surpassed verbal. The wrong and right sound the same, spoken.
If people would just remember what to do "when in doubt," they'd solve 90% of their apostrophe problems.
I edited it for the sake of brevity as I was thinking of even more things to add that annoy me. I then realized I have a problem. So I have now limited myself to one example. And you are totally right about spoken language versus written language. I wonder if these examples are also emblematic of the fact that people read less these days.
You caught my pre-edit post too
I bet you're onto something with the reading less connection. I also think there's a backlash against knowing/using proper grammar that ties into a growing anti-intellectual sentiment.
"The trophy problem has become extreme."