OK, folks...I know this is a pet peeve that for most people is unimportant and bugs only me! LOL But, I figured I'd put my English teacher degree to good use today! LOL For those you are remotely interested, here's a short explanation of some frequently troubling grammar mistakes. Keep in mind I taught middle school so *quick* think like a seventh grader! LOLYOU'RE vs. YOUR
YOUR is a pronoun indicating ownership as in "this is YOUR house." It is not to be used like this: "...in that case your coming too!" The correct version of that sentence might look more like the following paragraph.
YOU'RE is a contraction for "you are" and IS to be used in sentences like "in that case, YOU'RE coming too!" LOL
And, speaking of "too"...
TOO, TWO, or TO?
In general...TOO is used in these circumstances... Like when you have TOO much of something ("too much" means you need the extra o's...get it? LOL) and when you will be doing that TOO (as in more than one activity so more than one "o" again! LOL)
TWO is the easiest...that's the number.
As for TO, it's pretty much for all the other times you hear or see it...like as a preposition ("We are going TO the store.") or as part of a verb/adverb phrase ("TO be or not TO be..." or "I'm going TO need an aspirin!"). All of its uses are listed here if interested.
Finally, I'm remind by using "its" in the last sentence...
ITS vs. IT'S
IT'S is a contraction of "it" and "is" like in the sentence "It's 50 degrees again here today." The use of an apostrophe generally means it is taking place of some "missing" letters for a contraction or it is indicating possession like in "Beth's house" or "Lisa's blog."
ITS is (awkwardly enough after the last explanation) a possessive without an apostrophe! LOL Think of it like this: his, hers, its. They indicate that something belongs to someone - a he, a she, or an it. Get it? LOL
There - that wasn't so painful, was it? No violent flashbacks to junior high English, I hope! LOL So, now you are ready to go "multiply and be fruitful" in your blog writings! *wink*
picture credit: http://www.glarkware.com/securestore/c181845p16737905.2.html
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12 comments:
Thanks for the lesson, appreciate you my friend.
This is an excellent reminder. I'd post more of these, if you have them in your arsenal!!
Thanks!
i here u mi frend.... haha.... :-) Lisa
you tawkin ta me?
Oh how I understand! I always thought that if I didn't choose music ed as a major that I would have been a great English teacher. Grammar just sort of comes naturally to me, or at least I don't have to work very hard at it.
It's appalling how many people have no clue how to write or speak with proper English. It makes me wonder what, if anything, is being taught anymore.
Kudos for the reminder!
*sigh* As if I didn't have enough to worry about! lol
I was thinking just the other day about how I get carried away when I'm typing. And how I don't use proper english in some areas.
My english teacher in high school was STRICT.........Mrs. Brown, is that you?......lol
hey, if you scare Debbie off of blogging I'm coming to hunt you down! BTW, I have a friend who is an elementary school teacher and was an English major. Can you guess a favorite pastime of her friends? It's correcting her English, both spoken and written. It's like playing stump the expert.
Sara - just for that reason, I've learned to keep my mouth shut! No better way to seem like a know-it-all than to point out problems with people's writing and speaking when they haven't asked for the *help*! LOL
But, Da Hubby and I still play "what's wrong with that sign? (or menu or poster or article)" LOL He's gone from hatin' it to finding them when *I* miss them! LOL
What's irritating about some of these is that a spell check won't catch them because they are technically spelled correctly - they are just being used incorrectly! LOL
If you all agree with Kelly's idea, I can put up some more of these! (Don't want to push it on anyone!) *wink*
My friend won't eat in restaurants with poor spelling or grammar in the menu! And she and I both wish we had our cameras with us when we pass some of those signs. (That would be a fun game.)
I love the "what's wrong with that sign" game! Y'know how at the head of each aisle in many stores there is a list of the items in that aisle? Well, the Walmart near me has an aisle with DUCK tape; and they're not referring to the brand name.
To be fair, there are some restaurants and stores in which English is not the first language, and I also tend to be more forgiving if it is just a throwaway hand-written thing. But I've seen expensive commercial awnings with misspellings. In those cases I wonder what's wrong with the business owner and the sign maker that neither of them caught the mistake.
OMgoodness, Sara! ROFL! When the Walmart here was newly completed, Da Hubby and I drove by and through the parking lot to check it out. They had painted the traffic stop lines down and painted "YIELD" on the lanes by the door. Too bad the person that painted it spelled it YEILD! LOL
I am guilty of overusing/misusing quotation marks. I use them as "emphasis" in my writing, so that you will "get" the tone of my "voice". Or maybe not...
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