This is a topic which is truly driving us NUTS. Gentlemen, please take time to read and (if necessary) print out, stick to pc / head / wherever - just for heavens sake lets try and get this board educated...

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Their and your are possessive forms used as modifiers before nouns. They basically mean "belonging to them" and "belonging to you," respectively: "their problem," "your idea." You're is a contraction of "you are": "You're doing fine." And there is a word functioning in various parts of speech, but basically referring to a place: "Your umbrella is over there."

You can remember their by noting that it looks like they, except the y is changed to i and an r is added at the end. If you keep this in mind you also won't spell it thier. You can remember your by noting that other pronouns also have possessive forms that end in an r: her, our, their. Also note that no possessive pronoun contains an apostrophe. (This should also help you in making the distinction between its and it's.)

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It seems that every single morning of late we are greeted by another example of shocking grammar so let us be the first to take steps to educate the masses.

Enjoy YOUR day :-)

Loose and lose..
Where, wear, were, we're...
There, their, they're...

What really grates on me is the SMS type abbreviated spelling. Worthy of prison time methinks.

Mouse
Mices
Meese
Micae
Mice'ye
Mice're


c U L8r

Grammer - grammar

"He who casts the 1st stone".......or something like that....;-)

Well spotted - you win the teddy ;-)

Well said!

The other errors that get me are "would of", "could of" and "should of". They don't not even make any sense! The correct spellings and usages are "would've", "could've" and "should've", which are contractions of "would have", "could have" and "should have".

I do however, forgive people for mis-spelling "their" as "thier", since many people go for the old "'i' before 'e', except after 'c'" heuristic.

Rant over!

P.S. Corrected a few of my own errors after my initial posting.

I'm a closet grammar nazi and poor spelling/grammar grates on me too, but in general I just try to let it go. English is not the first language of many people on this board and others where I participate. While I might be able to manage a very basic conversation in Spanish and would probably be able to keep from starving to death in French or German, I can't imagine how badly I would butcher my posts if I had to participate here in Dutch.

So, yeah, some native English speakers are really sloppy. And then there is txt tlk, that annoying cutesy crap made popular by text messaging. I just grit my teeth and let people live their lives.

the dogs

To,too,and two.....

I don't mean to offend any non-native English speakers. I'm mainly targetting supposed native English speakers. Perhaps it's due to me spending time on Scottish football messageboards.

Apologies to any foreigners who have not mastered our language.

Recriminations to any Brits who have not mastered our language.

My personal hobbyhorse is the indiscriminate sprinkling of apostrophes everywhere.

1. Adding an apostrophe and the letter S to a word generally indicates the possessive.

2. One doesn't need to use an apostrophe when writing the plural of a word.

Drives me nuts, especially when I see it on signs that obviously cost lots of money to make.

...you know, since we're on the topic.


H

Wow, I didn't realize I was being graded on my posts. English is my first and only langauge. And I am college educated. But I am probably as guilty as anyone of posting messages that have mispelled words, grammer issues, and misuse of the words in the subject of this post. I treat message boards the same as I would a chat room or an IM conversation. I didn't think anyone looked at a message board as an english test. In my work I am forced to draft memos that are written in proper english. On a message board as long as you get the point I don't see what difference it makes. Particularly when you are dealing with people who are under the influence of some sort of mind altering substance. Obviously I am in the minority on this topic. Going forward I will be more careful on this board, or keep my opinions to myself. My apologies to anyone who was offended by my "Sloppy" use of our language.

English lessons? Come on people! I thought the Superbowl thing was getting off topic. You've got to be kidding me. Such a trivial thing in my book. We are not all masters of the language. I wonder how many posts, this little message will stifle? Being worried about the grammer police, from the land of tolerance( one man's opinion)........Cooter

yeah, not always easy - definately not - it's definitely, right ?

I just edited my post : in my fav. bar "I did three bears ... "
oh really .... (LOL)
did three beers , okay ?

W.

Cooter, You and I and very Obviously on different sides of Superbowl XL. But I am right with you on this one. Up until today I was planning on providing a detailed trip report after I return home on 2/14/2006. I figured it was the least I could do considering how helpful everyone here has been. While typing my last reply to this post I decided that since my short posts may have been too offensive to the english nazi's, I am certainly not going to write a 5 day trip report, just to be told my use of the language is too sloppy. I hated writing papers in college. Why on earth would I put that much thought into a web message board post. Generally I type a post the same way I would if I were speaking to you. Which means it will contain words like, "Gonna," instead of "Going to." as well as any other slang I would normally use. And I will most definately make statements like, "Your not gonna believe what this chic did." And expect that all readers will know exactly what I mean.

DELETED

Hey somefatguy,

don't worry we're not having a go at you. Assuming you're an American, English is a second language to you.

No offence. Just my sense of humour. ;)

Oh boy it looks as though the boss has delivered a solid kick to the proverbial Ignatzmice hive...the bees are swarming!

In any case, I'd venture to say making a reasonable effort to write gramatically correct sentences isn't all that tall a request.

Lastly, I might add that SAYING you are going to write a trip report spanning a 5-day holiday to Amsterdam, and then actually DOING it are two entirely different things. If you are posting on this board and utilizing it as a keystone resource for your trip, then in a way, it's only fair to repay the favor so as you can in turn help your fellow community. If you don't take the subsequent care in drafting a well composed, fun-to-read, informative post, then what use--praytell--are you to the Ignatzmice community? Remember too that, although your true identity is veiled behind an avatar, the general rules of society remain upheld even in cyberspace....I mean to say of course, that if you're acting the (prat), you'll likely be treated as such.

~uberchef.

ps. Per ABC's comment, I toned-down my language...didn't mean to cross the line!

What about spelling though? Colour v color, grey v gray et cetera.

I am of course taking the p*ss, but I applaud your stance on grammar. This coming from someone in minority who actually spells full words on text messages instead of all that 'm8' b*llocks.

Regards
G~

Wow, this thing has really blown up! Now we're calling people liars and twats. We're talking grammer here people! Go smoke a fat one, will you..........................Cooter

As the husband of an English teacher, I'm constantly looking over my shoulder for spelling and grammar errors. I applaud our fearless leader's attempt to defend the mother tongue. Part of the problem is hinted at in the previous post. I do most of my posting here after "smoking a fat one". While cannabis may help the creative process it plays havoc with accuracy. That having been said, there is no excuse for anyone over the age of 16 to use that damn bastardized IM chat room spelling.