How many....

[angeldraws]

Truthfully, how many ABers don't know the difference between:-

1) There, their and they're?

2) Were, wear and where?

3) Your and you're?

4) Our and are?

I can't believe my son has an A in GCSE and 1) can't spell very well - 2) doesn't know the difference between most of these.........

[mimififi]

sorry, should read: "Even having whole lessons once a term... How embarrassing, what-a-mistake-a-to-make-a?

And also to add that kids do not know how to use brackets and speech marks....basic English which is becomming a mystery to everyone.

[pickalily]

I do. It's those pesky colons and semicolons that get me.

I really am rather partial to exclamation marks though!

[angel-cake]

I am a secretary so I know the difference to all of them. Yes, I am shocked at how many people don't (or are just too damn lazy to bother....!)

[jno]

it gets worse. My son spelt a word correctly in an essay for his BA (in English) - and lost a mark because his tutor thought it was wrong. Sheesh.

[Scarlett]

Kids aren't taught properly these days.I know this because I am a teacher! I see my students come to us at 16 unable to spell any of the words you listed, and when I ask them about it, they say they were never taught it! I think the junior school assumes the primary school took care of it and vice versa.
My schooling (in the 70s and 80s) was very strict about spelling and so it has stayed with me to this day.

As to the GCSEs, I still maintain that they get easier every year.

[unruliejulie]

I do know/no/now the difference with all of them but sometimes on here or is that hear (lol) when you type in a hurry, you can get it wrong. I like to see to and too and of and off used correctly though because i have to read over again because it doesn't make sense if the wrong one is used. I can actually remember the days i spent in junior school learning all the variations of the three words you mentioned. Unfortunately these days with msn and texting the English language as it was, is dying out.

[eileenb]

My daughter (13)can spell,but says why should she do it right when no-one else does at school,including teachers.
Son(15) tends to spell phonically(sp)
They both spell the American version of "dual" words: night/nite,etc..

[Purplewitch]

I am so glad you have noticed this too! I also hate it when people do not know the difference between 'of' and 'off' and continue to use 'of' instead of 'off' grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

Thank you for making me feel that I am not the only one who thinks that standard English should used correctly. You have made my day!! (and I'm 20 years old if you are interested in knowing, not from the older generation yet!)

[pickalily]

Scarlett don't believe them! We certainly do try to teach them how to spell ,contractions and which version of a word to use etc.,but it is an uphill battle. I think a lot of it is to do with sloppy speech . Nearly every child where I work says 'are ' when they mean 'our' despite continuous correction.

[jump79]

I know what you mean, angeldraws. I was completely unaware of how far people's knowledge of basic grammer and punctuation(not to mention spelling!) had descended into a pit, until I logged onto AB.
It's really quite shocking.

[Toureman]

Hi angeldraws,

Msot of you tinhk seplilng is iotmapnrt, so do I, but I bet you can all raed tihs wtih no polrebm.

As lnog as the fsrit and lsat ltetres are crocrert in ecah wrod tehn it is esay to raed.

Yuor bairn wroks it out for you.

I hope all posts are not going to be written like this now.

[pie+mash]

Sorry if I'm repeating what some others have put, but this amused me the last week, and is really repeating this Question and answer(s):

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/AB-Suggestions/ Question281286.html

Looks like this is one, that will go on and on!!

[happy_face]

Purplewitch, couldn't agree more. I'm a real stickler when it comes to gramma and a couple of examples I always see are:
Stationary (not moving) being written when it's meant to be Stationery (pens, paper etc).
And a lot of people use brought and bought wrong too.

You brought it with you but you bought it in a shop. - Not the other way round

[tictactoe]

The most popular miss pelling (lol) is separate / seperate

for all those who get confused, you can use the word association method : separate with an 'a' as in apart...

[ermintrude35]

1) There, their and they're?

..there = somewhere else , their = belonging to them, they're = they are....

2) Were, wear and where? were= was , wear = be clothed, where = which place

3) Your and you're? your = belonging to you, you're = you are

4) Our and are? our = belonging to us, are = is

...my first langyage is not english, I do not speak english at home with my family, I don't even dream or think in english...

I worked really hard to get 2 english o levels , both a B... my spelling today is still terrible, but we were taught the basics back then, including punctuation, which seems to have gone out the window these days, I saw a program on ch4 last year about todays kids going back to a 1950s style school and sittling the old O levels, most of them failed at basic level.....

[Hellion]

I can tell the difference, despite being the first year to have a 'comprehensive' education in the early '70's when they stopped teaching punctuation altogether as it was deemed unecessary.
Three times last year I had to correct my son's spelling homework before he could do it, it wouldn't be so bad but it was done on a PC and the teacher hadn't bothered to spellcheck it!

[dummkopf]

I remember being told how to remember the difference between stationery and stationary ! With an 'e' for p*e*ns and an *a* for c*a*r a stationary car...am I getting boring now ? I'll put the kettle on I think.........

[tictactoe]

dummkopf, stationary can also be associated with 'a' as in (standing to) attention...

and stationery with 'e' for envelopes...


time for dinner, methinks

[robbo82]

Bad spelling and punctuation is one of my bugbears in life; I was once walking down a street in Cambridge with some friends and we noticed 16 grammatical errors in shop signs in the space of about 500 metres!

[crete]

what an interesting life you all lead ?