Common online spelling/grammar issues

[deevergote]

Between this site and Facebook (the only two sites I frequent regularly with user-submitted content), I find myself irritated to no end by certain grammar and spelling mistakes. Well, not mistakes... because that implies that the person typing actually knew better in the first place!

"Your" means "belonging to you". It does NOT mean "you are". If you want to say "you are", the proper word (or rather, contraction) is YOU'RE.
Saying "your" instead of "you're" looks incredibly stupid to anyone who knows the difference. For example, if you wish to tell me that you think I'm nuts... "you're nuts" = "you are nuts". "your nuts" means you are talking about my nuts. Call me crazy if you want, but please don't talk about my nuts!

There/Their/They're.
There = a place.
Their = belonging to them
They're = "they are"
3 very different meanings.

The apostrophe is not an indication of pluralization. It indicates possession.
"I need to fix my car's"... you need to fix your car's what? Your car's brakes? Your car's engine? Or are you trying to say you need to fix multiple cars that you own?

The greatest offenders are people that are from the USA.
This country requires MANDATORY education. By law, people must complete a certain level of education. The mistakes that I swear 50%+ of the people I talk to make are addressed very early on in the American education system. How is it that so many people are incapable of understanding these concepts? How is it that so many people have achieved at least the minimum required level of education, and I assume passed, yet still can't communicate properly with the language they speak, read, and write every day?

This isn't an attack on anyone in particular. It just irritates the shit out of me.

[JoshM]

You do realize their going to think your nuts now, right?

[deevergote]

Goings don't think. And if they did, they would have absolutely nothing to do with my nuts!

[cuate01221]

You do realize their going to think your nuts now, right?

I see what you did there.

[Straight Success]

Also, to add, an apostrophe also symbolizes missing letters such as:

Phil'a Int'l Airport
Isn't

Conjuntions: These are used to transition two complete thoughts (sentences) together into one smoothly. These words are usually following a comma.

for
and
nor
but
yet
or

The dog barked, and you read this sentence simultaneously.

I slept heavily through the night, yet the party was still poppin' down stairs.

I was expecting a gas from my fart, but liquid came out instead.

[Mista Juice]

it's "i COULDN'T care less"!

ive heard celebrities, known highly educated people, normal people and morons say "i COULD care less".. for some reason that phrase irks the shit out of me..

and im right there with you on the 'their/there/theyre' and 'your/youre' issues.. this shit SHOULD have been learned in like 3rd grade or so.. i lose a lot of respect for people that i think are pretty smart and i see them misuse 'youre/your'..

my other additions:

loose/lose
bumper/bumber <-- i will NEVER understand that one
break/brake
thread/tread <-- when referring to tires

[mozzandherb]

Mike, I think I've just learned to ignore it as much as possible. It's not just the grammar, it's also the punctuation that people don't seem to understand very well...I think with more texting and spell checking going on, the younger crowd either do not care, or they have a computer do it for them.

[cbscandal]

A vent thread about the misuse of online grammar and punctuation? Cool.

FFUUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAARRRRRGHGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!111!11ON E!

:ifeelbetternow:

[deevergote]

it's "i COULDN'T care less"!

ive heard celebrities, known highly educated people, normal people and morons say "i COULD care less".. for some reason that phrase irks the shit out of me..

and im right there with you on the 'their/there/theyre' and 'your/youre' issues.. this shit SHOULD have been learned in like 3rd grade or so.. i lose a lot of respect for people that i think are pretty smart and i see them misuse 'youre/your'..

my other additions:

loose/lose
bumper/bumber <-- i will NEVER understand that one
break/brake
thread/tread <-- when referring to tires

Agreed.
I've actually typed "bumber" in the past... why, I don't know. But I corrected it upon seeing it.

Mike, I think I've just learned to ignore it as much as possible. It's not just the grammar, it's also the punctuation that people don't seem to understand very well...I think with more texting and spell checking going on, the younger crowd either do not care, or they have a computer do it for them.

True. I do try to ignore it, but it really seems that more than half the people I interact with regularly make those common mistakes (the your/you're thing more than anything else.)
I mean, I know my typing isn't perfect. I misuse the ellipsis (...), and I'll frequently end my words with a preposition. Still, those aren't nearly as basic as "your/you're"

I've used a semicolon in a text. On a phone with a traditional keypad.

And yes, punctuation is HORRIBLY abused. Ok, not everyone understands the proper use of a semicolon... but we should all be able to use periods, and commas aren't THAT difficult to figure out. Even a misuse of these things can make typing easier to understand, as long as they're used!



When we have people from foreign countries join this site, and their first post says "I apologize for my poor English. It is not my first language" and they proceed to type something with greater proficiency than many citizens of the US and Canada that have been speaking/reading/writing English all their lives... that's pretty sad.

[Mista Juice]

When we have people from foreign countries join this site, and their first post says "I apologize for my poor English. It is not my first language" and they proceed to type something with greater proficiency than many citizens of the US and Canada that have been speaking/reading/writing English all their lives... that's pretty sad.

so true..

[LadyG]

lackofspacingpissesmeoff.

I hate it when a paragraph becomes one looooong sentence.
The Enter button Motherfukka, DO YOU USE IT??? lol.

[dhill_cb7]

sem·i·co·lon/ˈsemiˌkōlən/Noun: A punctuation mark ( indicating a pause, typically between two main clauses, that is more pronounced than that indicated by a comma.

There now everyone should understand what a semicolon is

I know in the past I was a culprit of this, but I didn't realize how bad/annoying it was. This was/is my first blogging site that i have ever logged on to and communicated with others so i guess that could be why I was not aware of this problem. Speaking in clear sentences with the right use of punctuation goes a long way.

A good theory behind paragraph structure that i was taught in college is make sure your paragraphs are not too lengthy to where you lose site of the reader and not too short where you do not get the point across. There should be one sentence that sets off the reader or intrigues them into reading more about what it is you are talking about(thesis statement).

^^
That may be generated more towards college students but it helps everywhere. If you have a thread with a whole bunch of jibberish and another guy articulates what he is talking about and catches others attention they should understand what he is talking about(not always the case.)

[deevergote]

In order for the semicolon definition to make sense, people would have to understand what a main clause is!

Even if it's incorrect, people could at least break up their thoughts with spaces. I do it frequently, because I tend to type quite a bit. I'll pause, hit the space bar twice, and resume. It provides a nice break in the thought process.

[dhill_cb7]

In order for the semicolon definition to make sense, people would have to understand what a main clause is!

Even if it's incorrect, people could at least break up their thoughts with spaces. I do it frequently, because I tend to type quite a bit. I'll pause, hit the space bar twice, and resume. It provides a nice break in the thought process.

Haha good point deev. Dependent or independent clauses...

[crazymikey]

My biggest pet peeve is the misuse of "your". I seriously want to smack people.