Sat or sitting when speaking or writing.

Also ‘their’ when they mean ‘there.’ Also ‘could of’ when they meant ‘could have.’

Pedant’s hat back on - I see a lot of ‘discrete’ when they mean ‘discreet’.

Ditto ‘disinterested’ when they mean ‘uninterested’.

And ‘ect’ instead of ‘etc.’ is a favourite on another forum I won’t mention.

The one that jumps out at me is "He was laying on the bed" when he was actually lying on the bed. You can lay things e.g. your clothing, on a bed but if you lie down yourself you are lying thereon.

Indeed you are correct trisher.

Well actually you just miss out the 'was', so "He sat under the tree' and "He was sitting under the tree". The first of course could actually mean he actively 'sat', or he was there for a while. The second means he was there for some time.

Grandma70, it is so a regional thing. I grew up in Sussex, said 'sitting' like everyone else there. Then I moved to Gloucestershire and soon was saying 'sat' like the locals.

Talking about Sussex, I still say 'either' and neither' with an E sound not an I. That is definitely regional

I was lucky enough to have an excellent education at a time when language was considered extremely important. Although 'incorrectness' still inwardly grinds with me, I'm able to settle for the fact that I understand what's meant in the wording context. Think something about not sweating the small stuff may be relevant here or live and let live?

And the way “convince” seems to have replaced “persuade”. Grrr!

It’s not regional. It’s a literacy thing. Correct English is the same all over the country.

How I agree about REEsearch. It makes me cringe.

Locally it is sat sitting Then of course there is stood standing ....

Witzend I agree.

Nobody corrects grammar or spelling any more except perhaps my Danish SiL who knows English grammar better than anyone else. She "sat" took her degree in England and has been correcting our English ever since

Muddling up effect and affect. Happens all the time here.

Should have added, always ‘sitting’ here.

"Of" instead of "have". I would of have sat under the tree. I would have sat under the tree.

Whether it was raining or not.......

AFAIK it was a regional thing that has spread like the pandemic.

See also ‘shtrong’ for ‘strong’, and many more ‘shtr’ for ‘str’ which I can’t think of at the moment.

My pet peeve though is REEsearch instead of reSEARCH, though I know it’s generally accepted, not to mention expected, now. I’m always so pleased to hear anyone pronounce it the ‘proper’ way, but it’s increasingly rare.

Pedant's corner or pedants' corner depending on how many pedants there are. Not that I am one!

Ps usually use sitting...

I was sat sitting in pedants corner.....

vampirequeen

I have to admit I tend to say 'sat' when speaking unless being formal but I always use 'sitting' when writing.

Is this a dialect thing? Because I wouldn't even think about whether to use 'sat' or 'sitting'. I've used 'sitting' for 70 years now, but that's what everyone used where I came from. Because that was our dialect.

That's what I thought NotSpaghetti I was sat sounds totally wrong to me.

I have to admit I tend to say 'sat' when speaking unless being formal but I always use 'sitting' when writing.

that's what i thought.
the difference between active and passive.
that was before i met people from derbyshire, and learnt more.

I was taught years ago (and am prepared to be wrong) that sat would generally be done to you.
“She sat him in the corner”
“He was sitting in the corner”

i was sat/ i was sitting are both correct.
the first is an older form, nearer to middle english, chaucer.

Completely agree we hear it more and more .
As for your and you're - don't get me started! Even my intelligent adult daughter makes that mistake and I am itching to correct her , haven't done so yet!