>>>>>>>>>>>OK, what are your Top Three common grammatical errors or misspellings?
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>Hmmm.
>>>>>>>>>>'should of' instead of 'should have' ? :-}
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>I was playing along with Dragan's joke. At least I assumed it was a joke.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>I was seriously joking.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>It is what it is. (My #1 annoying phrase at the moment).
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Ah, so you want to have a moment. What's wrong with "at this point in time", eh? :)
>>>>>
>>>>>We will consider your point going forward.
>>>>
>>>>One grammar mistake that sets my teeth on edge is the use of you instead of your in situations such as:
>>>>
>>>>"I'm sure she'll appreciate you thinking of her while she's in surgery". Grrrr....
>>>
>>>
>>>Alan,
>>>
>>>That doesn't sound wrong to me - but then English is my third language
>>>
>>>Sounds like short of: I'm sure she'll appreciate that you are thinking of her
>>>
>>>What is wrong with it ?
>>
>>The proper statement is "I'm sure she'll appreciate your thinking of her while she's in surgery". The easiest way to visualise it is to think of the phrase "thinking of her" as a noun, and 'your' is possessive. In other words, it's your thinking of her that she will appreciate, not mine or someone else's.
>
>
>
>Dunno whether the comma is necessary
>
>I'm sure she'll appreciate you, thinking of her
>
>Isn't that a subordinate clause ?

The comma simply doesn't belong at all. Now if you used a semi colon, "I'm sure she'll appreciate you; thinking of her..." it changes the context completely into two different statements - ie- "she'll appreciate you", and "I'm thinking of her". Doesn't say why she'll appreciate you though.

This is not an example of a subordinate clause. "Thinking" is actually a gerund (a verb turned into a noun by adding 'ing'). So "thinking of her' is a gerund phrase - and is possessed by 'you'. Think of it this way: "thinking of her", being a noun now, really is equivalent to any other noun - in this case something like 'consideration'. If you replace 'thinking of her' with 'consideration', how well does it read to say "She'll appreciate you consideration...."?