[Really_Gonna_Rock_]

Their/there/they're, your/you're....!!!!!

Why oh why do people confuse these words and so often use the incorrect form????

I'm talking about NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS ffs!!!!!!

Now if you're foreign and you learned English as a second language, I'll forgive you for forgetting the correct form!!!!

But if you're a NATIVE BLOODY ENGLISH SPEAKER, there is no excuse!

Don't they get taught the difference between them in school these days???

Rant over!

[Elwyn]

Your argument is undermined by the error in the title.

[green.tea]

Carelessness. Its my most common reason for editing.

[Really_Gonna_Rock_]

(Original post by Elwyn)
Your argument is undermined by the error in the title.

Thanks man I just corrected it.

[Arekkusu]

Homophony: as a parallel example, most French speakers confuse the first three persons of verbs -e, -es, -e or -s, -s, -t, to the point where second language learners of French know more about it than they do.

That's because you learn your native language much earlier through speech than writing, whereas when learning a foreign language you generally learn the two skills at the same time.

Since about 1995 technology for real-time written communication (texting, IM, IRC) has become widespread that we have never had before. Before, it was either real-time = speaking or non-real-time = writing. Studies show that introducing this new crossover genre where real-time = writing generally leads to a mixture of the so-called formal conventions for non-real-time writing and the very much informal conventions for real-time speaking.

This means people are going to be less careful about their spelling and/or grammar as a function of how instantaneous the communication is, and historically language change has resulted from this process occurring via speech. So now language is entering a stage where it has the potential to change via written as well as spoken media, hence we now begin to see abbreviations such as "LOL" entering the dictionary which would not have arisen if the discourse situations that created it had been spoken.

Not something to worry your little head over, if languages didn't change over time due to this effect we would all still be speaking Latin, so it moves into the written spectrum, whoop-de-do. When language is written for permanency (reports, books, newspapers) old conventions are still preserved because these media are very much NON-instantaneous communication.

In fact, you're/they're itself would not have been acceptable for many centuries in written media because it's a contraction, derived from spoken discourse. Only with time has it become acceptable. The fact that you are now deploring misuse of you're/they're in written media is therefore high irony.

[hannah_dru]

I think it's not taught properly in schools anymore.

[babygirl110]

(Original post by Really_Gonna_Rock_)
Thanks man I just corrected it.

Clean the mess in your house first, before looking at others'

[meenu89]

God knows. The number of times I pull my hair out when reading this forum shouting at the screen.

[Annie72]

My children have brought home letters from school that are full of mistakes!.It makes me wonder what they are teaching the kids today.It's not that hard to use the correct term surely?.

[chefdave]

Confusing the words lose and loose should be a hanging offence imo.

[Foxydelic54]

(Original post by chefdave)
Confusing the words lose and loose should be a hanging offence imo.

I think that about 'could/should/might/may of'

[Airfairy]

(Original post by Annie72)
My children have brought home letters from school that are full of mistakes!.It makes me wonder what they are teaching the kids today.It's not that hard to use the correct term surely?.

Oh it's bad I know. My mum is a teaching assistant at school, and she can't do english or maths to save her life. She comes home asking me how to spell a certain word because a child asked her today, and she told them totally the wrong thing. It's pretty bad. She also brought home a letter from the deputy head which was a holiday list, and at the end for summer hols she had put 'schools out, I'v got everyone there favourite cakes'. I count three mistakes that a deputy head should know!!

[Pitt1988]

The majority of the time I'd say it is a genuine mistake, I was taught the difference at school and I doubt that has changed.

It's probably something to do with the regular and more widespread use of typing, texting and the internet that has made them more lazy with regards to spelling and grammar.

[R583]

I'm ashamed to say this, but I'm 16 and it was only last year I really started to see the difference between your and you're

I think the 2 main reasons people always get them wrong is.
A. Laziness (in slang and text talk, no-one can be bothered)
B. In primary school, we weren't taught about ANY grammer (disgusting I know).
I now spend most of my time correcting my friend's grammer...which is the biggest waste of time and annoys the hell out of them

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my GT-I9003

[Emmie3303]

I don't remember being taught the difference at school and I'm quite sure some people don't even realise that they're using the wrong form. Our teachers always seemed to treat incorrect usage in the same way that they treated a spelling mistake so pupils didn't realise that the issue was actually a grammatical one. Perhaps there is also a lack of understanding about what the apostrophe does. I've seen people write would'nt before. Normally I would assume this was a typo but they do it consistently so it can't be. If that person knew how to use an apostrophe then they wouldn't misplace it in a word like that.

[fudgesundae]

(Original post by R583)
I'm ashamed to say this, but I'm 16 and it was only last year I really started to see the difference between your and you're

I think the 2 main reasons people always get them wrong is.
A. Laziness (in slang and text talk, no-one can be bothered)
B. In primary school, we weren't taught about ANY grammer (disgusting I know).
I now spend most of my time correcting my friend's grammer...which is the biggest waste of time and annoys the hell out of them

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my GT-I9003

This. I don't think children are actually taught proper grammar anymore. It's terrible.

[R583]

(Original post by fudgesundae)
This. I don't think children are actually taught proper grammar anymore. It's terrible.

I know, the other day my sister (12 years) asked what the difference was between a comma and a full-stop

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my GT-I9003

[roh]

I'd love to support you on this, but my other bugbear is excessive use of question and exclamation marks

[Xæthon]

(Original post by Annie72)
My children have brought home letters from school that are full of mistakes!.It makes me wonder what they are teaching the kids today.It's not that hard to use the correct term surely?.

I saw a newsletter from my brother's school that had 'favorite', I was disappointed.

[silent ninja]

Add of/have:

"I should of gone to the match"

Seriously.