Word Nerd!
Grammar is cool now so it’s okay to wave your red pen in the air like you just don't care.
Take the quiz below and find out just how much of a word nerd you really are. Give yourself a point for each statement you agree with.
- You correct the lyrics to pop songs as you sing along. It’s the “one who got away,” Katy Perry.
- The “ten items or less” sign at the grocery store still sends you into a rage after all these years.
- You have a favourite style guide and will defend it to the death.
- You've written “stet” in the margins of a paper at least once.
- You know when to hyphenate a compound modifier.
- You've lost at least one friend over the use of the Oxford comma.
- You have a favourite punctuation mark.
- You have a favourite font.
- The misuse of “decimate” or “enormity” makes you disproportionately mad.
- You've traded your proofreading services for beer and/or pizza.
- You text in complete, grammatically correct sentences.
- You have a print copy of a dictionary. (Give yourself a bonus point if it’s the Oxford English Dictionary.)
- It doesn't matter how many people use it wrong; you’ll never say “literally” when you really mean “figuratively.”
- You know when to use “i.e.” and when to use “e.g.” in a sentence.
- Grammar on Twitter gives you hives.
- You were really excited when Facebook started letting you correct your posts.
- You've corrected a grammar mistake on a public sign.
- You know what “nonplussed” means and have used it in a sentence.
- The use of apostrophes to indicate plurals makes you weep for the future.
- You've spent way too long at The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks or Apostrophe Catastrophes.
- When reading aloud, you say “bang” whenever you encounter an exclamation point.
- You pity the fools who use “whom” incorrectly in an attempt to sound smarter.
- You take grammar quizzes online for fun.
- You’re actually not great at Scrabble/Words With Friends because you’d rather spell the coolest word possible than the one that gives you the most points.
- You follow Scintilla on Facebook.
Scoring:
1-6: Sorry, but you’re not a grammar nerd. Study The Elements of Style and get back to us in a month.
7-12: Although you know your way around a sentence, you don’t diagram them for fun.
13-18: You have a red pen on your person at all times.
19-24: You sleep with a thesaurus under your pillow so you can dream new of new words.
25+: You are the ultimate word nerd. May all lesser word nerds bow before you.
20
16 :p