A little slice of heaven for me to call my own. Not all will like what I have to say, but I will say it with honesty.
They're driving their cars there.
Oh my!! It seems that many of us Americans have forgotten what we were taught a few years ago with regard to common English. It is confusing to me how some think a sentence such as "Santa Rosa Beach Club isn't too much of an option, seeing as there brunch ends at 1pm." would be correct. That quote was lifted from these very pages, more as a convenience than anything(and not to put the poster in the spotlight, it's just one that I remember too well). But, this common mistake is repeated all over the internets.
So, just to set things back on course, let me state that in relation to the title subject:
they're means 'they are'. They, a group, are in the process of doing something.
their means that which they own, individual or group ownership. A family or a corporation owns their things.
there means simply, a place, such as over there.
I want to say here and now, that my writing is far from perfect. I'm a fan of not using caps on a regular basis, my spelling may be off from time to time(I do use www.merriam-webster.com more than I care to admit), and my punctuation may not always be accurate. But, the misuse of there, they're, and their just screams at me from the screen and has me wanting to shake the offender like you're not supposed to shake a baby.
There are even groups that have formed because of stuff like this:
"Your awesome."
"I'll meet you at they're house."
"Follow me too the party."
Hopefully, this entry will help bring some order back to the continuum, and help any of those who have veered astray.
So, just to set things back on course, let me state that in relation to the title subject:
they're means 'they are'. They, a group, are in the process of doing something.
their means that which they own, individual or group ownership. A family or a corporation owns their things.
there means simply, a place, such as over there.
I want to say here and now, that my writing is far from perfect. I'm a fan of not using caps on a regular basis, my spelling may be off from time to time(I do use www.merriam-webster.com more than I care to admit), and my punctuation may not always be accurate. But, the misuse of there, they're, and their just screams at me from the screen and has me wanting to shake the offender like you're not supposed to shake a baby.
There are even groups that have formed because of stuff like this:
"Your awesome."
"I'll meet you at they're house."
"Follow me too the party."
Hopefully, this entry will help bring some order back to the continuum, and help any of those who have veered astray.
Total Comments 12
Comments
-
THANK YOU!!! I find that I can't stand talking to most of my friends through instant messenger, simply because of their improper grammar. It drives me CRAZY! I blame text messaging and English teachers. If they would take a moment to stop teaching FCAT standards and touch on grammar & punctuation every once in a while, we might not have this problem.
Sorry, my mini-rant is over now. Meow. :)Posted 01-07-2008 at 09:27 PM by Kase626
-
My 2 pet peeves (OK, I have more than 2
)
1. The misuse of the apostrophe. It is everywhere.
"Pretty flower's bloom in spring."
"The girl's and the boy's went to school."
Aye yi yi. People are using them to make plural nouns. No no no! Now those nouns look possessive!
2. The spelling rule regarding "ie".
"I before E except after C, or when as in A as in neighbor and weigh."
Exceptions are :
beige, cleidoic, codeine, conscience, deify, deity, deign,
dreidel, eider, eight, either, feign, feint, feisty,
foreign, forfeit, freight, gleization, gneiss, greige,
greisen, heifer, heigh-ho, height, heinous, heir, heist,
leitmotiv, neigh, neighbor, neither, peignoir, prescient,
rein, science, seiche, seidel, seine, seismic, seize, sheik,
society, sovereign, surfeit, teiid, veil, vein, weight,
weir, weird
There are other exceptions too, but for the most part, I have about covered it.Posted 01-07-2008 at 11:15 PM by jdarg
-
If your rule is "I before E except after C, or when as in A as in neighbor and weigh." Then you need to rework your exceptions and get back to me.Posted 01-08-2008 at 06:58 PM by kurt
-
What do you mean? The exceptions are exceptions to the rule?Posted 01-08-2008 at 10:08 PM by jdarg
-
I think (just guessing, don't mean to put words in anyone's mouth, er, screen...) he meant words like "beige, deign, dreidel, eight, feign" etc are within the rule because they are pronounced with a long "A", therefore are not exceptions.
I like your list; I love learning new words, and I had to look up cleidoic, gleization and gneiss... Methinks you have given many bowls of free rice!Posted 01-08-2008 at 11:25 PM by WaterCourseWay 
-
Exactly WCW.Posted 01-10-2008 at 09:22 PM by kurt
-
Internets?
Isn't that a Bushism-turned-catch phrase used humorously to portray the speaker as ignorant about the Internet or ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internets (colloquialism)
I say lighten up. I know I for one have been guilty of that and have gone back and edited, sometimes. I've even seen the most "intelligent" people make grammatical errors. Then there are those who might not make any mistakes grammatically, but don't have any common courtesy relative to what they post and how someone may react to that post.Posted 02-04-2008 at 10:47 PM by Mango
Updated 02-04-2008 at 10:55 PM by Mango -
internets, I was referring to www2.Posted 02-05-2008 at 12:04 AM by John R
-
interesting little pet peeves you have john r
I am a constant rule breaker with regard to grammar, because I love to respond as i think, which is conversationally - and quite often far off grammatical track.
but I agree. there are some basic things that need attention, and they always drive me crazy too. I nearly pm'd SWGB to correct his use of there and their. drives me nuts! lots of people do it though.
where would we be without RO's spelling?
many of us are really fast at typing and tend to type a few misspellings, who cares?
but, overall I do agree with mangy - lighten up - worry about your content (thanks for the reminder mangy) more than your spelling.
personally, I think there should be a strict rule on the number of smileys permitted in each post. like 3. and they can't be posted all in a row. in fact, only one at a time. they do not go in pairs & certainly not in a group!
<--- example of what not to do.Posted 02-10-2008 at 02:33 PM by Tootsie
Updated 02-10-2008 at 02:36 PM by Tootsie -
only because i'm in the middle of A Few Good Men, 'you can't handle the truth!!'
as i said above, i too am guilty of numerous mistakes. the their, there, and they're thing just jumps out at me, that's all. and, it gives me fodder for this blog. if it reminds one person about the proper use of the words, then the blog entry was worthwhile. my little corner of the blogosphere.Posted 02-10-2008 at 03:00 PM by John R
-
john r's pet peeves
don't worry, I think these blogs are so great. you can say what you want - it's your own story, feelings, statement, opinion. I do like the comments, but in some ways it seems they are not necessary (even if interesting) because we are not here to agree or disagree with your statements, or add to them. we are here to read your story. no one can tell you that your blog is incorrect or wrong. it is all yours.Posted 02-11-2008 at 04:59 PM by Tootsie
-
Great blog John. My grandmother was an English teacher and my mom as well, I could not go a day without being corrected. I know I make lots of mistakes on the board with spelling, grammer and proper English but I guess I feel that I am casually "talking" and don't think much of it. (I had to go back and insert the apostrophe in don't
)
Thanks for this blog and the smiley one as well. It does make one think......Posted 04-07-2008 at 09:29 PM by InletBchDweller
Total Trackbacks 0
