Hello friends,
Today, I'm posting what could be called a rant. Like most of you out there, I subscribe to social media, Facebook being my favourite. One can spend hours reading stories and laughing at funny posters or animal videos. A great de-stressor! Personally, I love it. Except for one tiny thing...
The sweetest or funniest article or poster can turn me off in an instant when it is full of spelling or grammar errors. Everyone makes mistakes, you say? I agree, myself included. However, the
mistakes I'm talking about are the most basic things we learned in school (or should have, if the teacher was doing their job). So I ask: What are kids learning these days?
A good example is contractions (shortening a word, i.e. 'cannot' to 'can't.') One which is constantly misused and misspelled is 'your v. you're.'
Example:
Is that 'your' hat? In this instance, you cannot replace the word 'your' with 'you are.'
'You're' right, that's my hat. In this instance you can replace 'you're' with 'you are':
'You are' right, that's my hat. So in effect, the apostrophe replaces the 'a.'
Another example of this:
'You're' funny! (Can be changed to 'you are' funny.)
'Your' daughter is a great dancer. (Cannot be changed to 'you are.')
So whenever you are (or you're) unsure how to spell this, just try saying you are in place of 'your' or 'you're.' You'll have your answer!
Before I sign off, let me clarify... This post is not meant to make fun of or be condescending to anyone out there. After all, why put together a lovely poster, only to have it riddled with errors? I guess I'm simply hoping even one person who may have trouble with this basic rule might remember it in the future. We all strive to learn to the day we die, at least I do. Why not make this today's lesson!
Thanks for indulging me! Enjoy this Saturday and remember to read a book!
Lise
Today, I'm posting what could be called a rant. Like most of you out there, I subscribe to social media, Facebook being my favourite. One can spend hours reading stories and laughing at funny posters or animal videos. A great de-stressor! Personally, I love it. Except for one tiny thing...
The sweetest or funniest article or poster can turn me off in an instant when it is full of spelling or grammar errors. Everyone makes mistakes, you say? I agree, myself included. However, the
mistakes I'm talking about are the most basic things we learned in school (or should have, if the teacher was doing their job). So I ask: What are kids learning these days?
A good example is contractions (shortening a word, i.e. 'cannot' to 'can't.') One which is constantly misused and misspelled is 'your v. you're.'
Example:
Is that 'your' hat? In this instance, you cannot replace the word 'your' with 'you are.'
'You're' right, that's my hat. In this instance you can replace 'you're' with 'you are':
'You are' right, that's my hat. So in effect, the apostrophe replaces the 'a.'
Another example of this:
'You're' funny! (Can be changed to 'you are' funny.)
'Your' daughter is a great dancer. (Cannot be changed to 'you are.')
So whenever you are (or you're) unsure how to spell this, just try saying you are in place of 'your' or 'you're.' You'll have your answer!
Before I sign off, let me clarify... This post is not meant to make fun of or be condescending to anyone out there. After all, why put together a lovely poster, only to have it riddled with errors? I guess I'm simply hoping even one person who may have trouble with this basic rule might remember it in the future. We all strive to learn to the day we die, at least I do. Why not make this today's lesson!
Thanks for indulging me! Enjoy this Saturday and remember to read a book!
Lise
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