CongraTulations/ CongraDulations

[MajesticCollies]

lol I just saw that email the other day about how the human brain only needs to recognize a few letters in a word to actually recognize it. Sooo.....Just to let you all know, I misspell words all the time in typos and hardly ever go back to correct them. Hope all of you can be lienient on me.

[catnapper]

I freely admit I'm an awful typer. I try to catch my mistakes (not always very good at doing so though )

Anyway, my biggest pet peeve that I've seen many people - both young and old do - is using "of" instead of "have"

For instance: I should have gone to the park

Someone would say: I should of gone to the park.

I know they are thinking what they hear. We constantly murder english in our speach. What we are saying is "should've" which is a contraction of "should have".

"Of" is a preposition. "Have" is a verb. Don't mix them up!

Tomorrow is a big one I see. Someone wrote "tomarra" the other day about a dozen times in a handful of posts and I wants to scream. One mispelling is understandable (and if I'm typing even expected ) but spelling the same word wrong the same way time after time?

[mrspunkysmom]

As an educator, I have a plethora of comments and opinions that would most likely start a war about the state of the educational system in the USA.

I will say this: Most people don't understand why it's important to be that particular about spelling and grammar. (These same people also are dependent upon the calculator.) I have argued this until I'm cyanotic, and I have wasted my breath. It is a losing battle.

People can learn the rules regardless of their opinion, but we have set our standards too low. It is embarrassing to me to know that non-native English speakers have a better command of the English language than our high school graduates.

America suffers from a huge independent and individualist streak that appears fabulous and enviable from a distance, but proves problematic for certain areas of concern, such as a unified, national educational system. When the US government gets serious about the education of our young, you will see the difference.

War? I haven't even begun to speak about the American educational system.

Anne
PS. who probably fomented a war anyway
PSS It is scary that as a math teacher I have a better command of the language than most of the teachers in the school, with the exception of the English teachers, that is.

[Logan]

What a neat thread!!!! I grew up in a house with an English teacher as mom.......she still corrects her children and grandchildren on "lie and lay" and many, many other things!!! I can remember her returning a letter to me, when I was in college (long before email) and correcting my spelling on "seperate". I used an "a", rather than an "e" and she let me know about it!

Logan

[Ginger's Mom]

I freely admit I'm an awful typer. I try to catch my mistakes (not always very good at doing so though )

Anyway, my biggest pet peeve that I've seen many people - both young and old do - is using "of" instead of "have"

For instance: I should have gone to the park

Someone would say: I should of gone to the park.

I know they are thinking what they hear. We constantly murder english in our speach. What we are saying is "should've" which is a contraction of "should have".

"Of" is a preposition. "Have" is a verb. Don't mix them up!

I kept telling myself that I wasn't going to say anything more in this thread, but Kim brings up a good point. A lot of spelling mistakes (my own included) are because we do not pronounce our words correctly. Another example would be, "First off;" the actual expression is "first of all" indicating that you are going to give at least two reasons why you feel/believe a certain way. But somehow it has all become run together and may people now just say, and type, "first off." Another example, I have a problem with words that begin with "pre" and "per" (is it "performance" or "preformance", is it "prescription" or "perscription"). I can usually figure it out, but it really takes a lot of concentration on my part as to how to correctly pronounce the word. Another thing I find a little confusing (okay, irritating) is that everyone seems to use the word "anyways", I had always thought the word was "anyway," no "s"; however, now the common usage seems to be with the "s" added on. Is that correct?
Logan, I had to smile when you mentioned "separate," I have to spellcheck that word all of the time; that is how I know the "a" is right.
And kitten645, how do you know the poor lost animal wasn't really "wondering" (where he was-lol).