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.........

[B00]

Why say that Crete?

Is it because the question doesn't involve sex or which Aber you'd like to meet/ be on a desert island with/ get snotted with a brick by and buried under the patio kinda question?

personally found this question to be a refreshing change from all of the above!

[angeldraws]

tictactoe - last year when i was a school secretary i got into trouble for using 'seperate' instead of 'separate' and was told there aren't 2 ways of spellings it!! I bl00dy knew i was right.....and that was the head's PA.....

PS for anyone who's (who is - not whose) interested - i'm married to a teacher, and he can't spell.......!) Lol

[crete]

actually boo i didnt answer any questions re sex i find those questions quite tiresome at times but we are using a keyboard not sitting an exam. and i felt some of the answerers were quite condescending.

[tictactoe]

Guess it is just a question of luck, if you can spell...


Word has it that the great man himself, Shakespeare was dreadful at spelling... Two bee or not too bee...

Here endeth today's lesson...

[electricblue]

I like to think i'm a damn good speller,thats one of the things bobby loves about me!

[spanner7853]

I havent a clue and it doesnt matter how many people tell me it just will not sink in. Drives me mad but hey im 35 now so dont care either.

[tictactoe]

You cheeky minx, you don't know your r's from your elbow lol ;-0

how's life at the KGB?

[tictactoe]

spanner, just to clarify - that was for electricshock, not you lol :o)

[what???]

i really do know the difference between all of these if im honest. It's not that hard if you can be bothered to work it out.

[FoxLee]

Jump 79 - Grammer????

happy-face - gramma?

angeldraws - did I read your last post correctly? You used sepERate and were told off by the Head's PA for not using sepARate. Quite right too.

If anyone is interested, there was a whole post on the apostrophe in Phrases and Sayings yesterday.

[mimififi]

I guess the other thing that exacerbates the problem of children's grammar and spellings is the fact that they no longer read (in general) as much as children used to, or were expected to by their teachers.

Even if children/young people read articles on the Internet, they are not necessarily correct in their spelling or punctuation or even syntax for that matter. The birth of the world wide wonder net has also given rise to the de-standardisation of English. Reading for content, not for accuracy.

It is a sad day to me.

However, I did also hear on Radio 4 several months ago that spelling (not punctuation as that does follow rules) is a skill you either are born with or not. Spelling does not equate to teaching or ability, but rather to whether you can or can't. I am a poor speller in my opinion, but I try to look words up if I'm not sure of their spellings. However, there really isn't any excuse for using the incorrect word or punctuating poorly.

It all comes down to sloppy speech (as has already been said) and a move away from reading.

I think it is true that the Sun Newspaper has an average reading age of 7 meaning that on average, there won't be any words in the Sun which a 7 year old couldn't read. Says it all for our Nation really, doesn't it.

[Suzyboo]

angeldraws, think you misunderstood - Tictactoe was pointing out a method of remembering the only way to spell separate correctly.

[angeldraws]

Fox lee - ina nswer to your question - NO, i cant honestly remember which one i used now but i was told there arent 2 ways of spelling it....is that correct or incorrect???

[angeldraws]

ah - suzy - soz read that one AFTer posting back to foxlee.....perhaps you're right and altho i haven't (yet) looked it up, i thought one was a verb and the other a..........a............a something entirely different!!!
Doh - on my own thread too....how embarrassing......tch tch....mumble mumble.......... ;0P lol