Why do so many people still not know the difference between ''you're'' and ''your''?

Question

I hope this question does not sound rude, as I don't mean to cause offence, but if I had a penny for every time I've seen ''you're'' and ''your'' used wrongly, I'd be richer than Branson. The same applies to ''their'', ''there'', and ''they're''. I know a lot of people are dyslexic, which is fair enough. What's the problem for other people?

Answer 1

I know!! that annoys me to death. And people have no clue. There was this graphic I wanted to use on my profile that had the word "your" on it. It was suppose to be "you're" I pointed out that I liked it, even though that word was spelled wrong..My friend looked at it for a few seconds then said ".......what's wrong with it?"

Also, I asked a question a few days ago about my pet rat. Someone answered just to insult me. Their answer was "Your about as smart as a rat, arent you"


I cracked up when I saw that. And just replied with "I love how in your attempt to insult my intelligence, you spelled the word "you're" wrong "





sigh...peepel our sew smart

Answer 2

I must say that it is quite easy to type how a word sounds instead of how you know it to be spelled. I constantly find myself trying to keep up with a typed conversation in chat and end up typing things like, "*i* *no* you are but what am *i*!"

The thing is that it is near impossible to edit your own work. My father is a professional writer and, if nothing else as far as knowledge is concerned, he passed a phrase on to me that I will share with you now.

"GET SOMEONE ELSE TO EDIT YOUR WORK!"

As far as responding to someone with a list of their grammatical errors, keep in mind that you yourself are probably making many that go unchecked by the grammar police, so try not to be too heavy-handed in your passing of judgement.

If you'll take a look at a few of the other posts here, one notes quite proudly how they put a person in their place by pointing out some bad grammar. Unfortunately, the quote this person used was as follows:

"I love how in your attempt to insult my intelligence, you spelled the word "you're" wrong "

Do you see the problems? I'll just point out the first one. There should be a comma after the word "how." Now someone can come in and edit what I have written, but keep in mind, I admit freely that there may be several screw-ups in this post. I'm not perfect, nor do I pretend to be.

The point is that we all need to try and be a bit more lenient, or at least a little more understanding, when it comes to chat. I type at just under 100/wpm. If my speed leaves me with a few errors, I don't worry about it very much. I like to keep up with the conversation and, unless it's an error that causes major confusion, I won't correct it whether it is an error I made or someone else.

Now in printed media... Well, that's another matter entirely...

Answer 3

I just HAD to congratulate you for saying something about this epidemic. It seems to get worse every year. I've noticed that children aren't as educated in grammar as, let's say, my generation. I'm not perfect but if I don't know the spelling or correct usage of a word I will change it to another word. I wish everybody would either ask how to use a word or just avoid it alltogether. What is happening to the world?!? The children are our future so it's pretty scary if you think about it.......
So I guess my answer is this is happening because parents and teachers don't have much "control" over children anymore(like they used too) so they can't force them to learn something they don't WANT to learn, like English and grammar. I loved spelling when I was a child but I was a dork so..........
That's my opinion. I wonder what others think?
-than or then
-alot or a lot
-wierd or weird
-wether (?)
Cool- thanx for the thought

Answer 4

I quite agree. Unfortunately the general level of grammar in this country seems to be pretty poor. People have forgotten about the written word, so they hear the examples you give and just use them phonetically and as they all sound the same often the incorrect one is used - they aren't thinking about what they are actually saying - especially when it comes to you're and they're, people don't seem to realise that they are simply missing out an 'are', so think they sound like 'your' or 'there/their' and put that instead. Some people might think it is unnecessary, but I feel we really need to step up the teaching of grammar and spelling in our schools. The use of 'text' language should be stamped out altogether - it's OK for 'phones, but not for any other use! English is a fantastically complex and expressive language and we are allowing it to be irreparably damaged - I am not against it developing, but we suddenly seem to be killing it.

I thought your question was couched very politely and mildly, which is lovely to see, but I feel really strongly about this - please, everyone, help save our language!

Answer 5

Lots of people 20 years ago never attended school because they worked on farms. Maybe some people don't differentiate between possessive nouns and subject and verbs. At times some people don't pay attention. Example: Like the question I just posted, I misspelled studying forgot the "y" I could have used spell check.

Answer 6

Too many distractions at school and a tendency for educationalists to accept incorrect spelling and grammar as long as the content of the sentence is OK. This does pupils no good whatsoever and encourages sloppy writing. I know a teacher who still uses 'loose' instead of 'lose'. Read 'Eats Shoots and Leaves' it's a great book for the apostrophe and all manner of punctuation rules.

Answer 7

I think a lot of the problem is that people don't read enough. (Literature that is, not the Daily Sun). I'm hoping that the films get kids to read Harry Potter, or even better, Lord of the Rings. Tolkien's language is so wonderful, a joy to read.

Other problematic words are:
Lose and loose
Too, to and two

The absence and misuse of apostrophe's is endemic now, sadly.
(Rant over - see the book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves).

Answer 8

You're absolutely right, as well as all others who have weighed in on this topic. Sadly the problem isn't limited to the grammatically challenged either.
One of my pet peeves, is with people who just can't seem to grasp the dichotomy of geographical location when referring to north and south, example: southern residents saying they're traveling down to a northern city or state and vice versa with northern residents.
Okay that's all I've got.

Answer 9

Because:
1. they do not know the basic grammatical rules of the English language.
2. they have never properly understood them.
3. Are careless when it comes to writing. They just write as it sounds without bothering about what they really want to express.

Answer 10

Grammatical mistakes are so prevalent now, even amongst graduates, that it appears to be not so much a lack of attention in class but more likely, that with so much else, it is not longer taught in schools. How may teachers are qualified to teach grammar?