I just saw this post on fb



What's the difference between

"Just nitpicking:"

and

"Just a nitpicking:"

Shouldn't it be the first one? Or are both technically grammatically correct, but the first one sounds better?

no trolling or flaming me on this or will report, just genuinely curious ty

This post was edited by JohnMiller92 on Oct 14 2017 02:39pm

I believe both are correct but one just sounds off.

Plenty of phrases like that in the english language

first one's correct in that stance.

ty

now i just need the technical reason why bcz i was going to reply this guy on facebook calling him out on his bs but figured i don't have enough evidence

because of the a before a noun that uses a "ing"?

This post was edited by JohnMiller92 on Oct 14 2017 03:13pm

They're both correct but the second one sounds wrong. Opinion based on where you're from.

Dev = 1 dev
Dev's = belongs to one dev, shows possession
Devs' = belongs to group of devs
Devs's = belongs to group of devs (incorrect)

sir, i mean

"Just nitpicking:"

or

"Just a nitpicking:"

i need the technical reasons why the one w/o the a is right or vice versa

sorry for being too ambiguous here

This post was edited by JohnMiller92 on Oct 14 2017 08:13pm

used in this way, the first one describes the user knit-picking the subject.
the second one describes that there is a knit-picking.

i could be wrong, but i don't believe the second one is correct.

"just a knit-picking" is not in itself grammatically incorrect. just incorrectly used in the way it's being stated.

This post was edited by tagged4nothing on Oct 14 2017 09:05pm

First sentence is subject-verb. (Assumed to be led with the verb tense of "I am.")
Second sentence is the description of an act from third person narrative. (Assummed to be led with "It is...")

ok ty

not enough conclusive evidence for me to call him out on it then, i just find it funny that guy is telling someone else how to write when he's still making a possible error himself

but i guess, in conclusion here, it looks like it's not technically wrong, just a weird way of saying it

ty all