Why is it that no one can manage to spell the word
D E F I N I T E L Y
correctly? I swear, only one in ten times I see this word written in a student’s paper, on the web (even here at SD) or anywhere is this word spelled as it should be, with no A and with an E between the T and the L.
Why can’t people spell this word? Do you have any other major spelling pet peeves that drive you absolutely bonkers?
I’ll mention another one, while I’m hot: the use of the apostrophe. When I see signs like “Puppie’s for Sale” or “Resource Room’s” HANGING UP IN MY SCHOOL :eek: or sentences such as “I alway’s liked her” or “The dog run’s away” or “Do you like flower’s?” written by intelligent people who should know better, I feel a twinge of despair only another English teacher or grammarian could understand.
Yes, I know it’s not a big deal and I should just take a deep breath and think about world peace instead, but you know, once you’re trained to see these things, you start seeing them everywhere.
I run a web site and I receive contributed materials from people who submit their own stories. The writing mistakes I see in them are absolutely appalling. The misspelling of “definitely” only scratches the surface. A lot of them don’t even know to capitalize the I when referring to themselves. They’ll combine “a lot” into one word. They use commas where periods should go and vice versa, they confuse the proper uses of there/their/they’re and where/were/wear. They don’t capitalize the first word in each sentence, that is if I can even tell where the sentence is supposed to start. I could go on with dozens more examples, but my blood pressure is too high right now just from thinking about the previous examples to list any more. The point is that either my web site attracts marginally literate people, or our education system has seriously dropped the ball (I’m afraid it’s the latter). I assume most of these people are adults. but their writing resembles something a second grader would have written.
Then just where do you think baby ATMs come from? The Great Mother ATM Machine, that’s where. I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you that it wasn’t the stork, but someone had to sometime.
I had to train myself to spell definitely correctly - I was one who had a terrible time spelling it correctly.
Now I’m trying to figure out why I overuse commas so much and how I can fix that.
I had to train myself to spell definite too…by thinking of the word finite whenever I spelled it.
I have two other grammatical peeves as well. I hate people who misuse the word “that”. “He wrote it in a letter that I received”…
I also hate to leave prepositions haning at the end of a sentence. It is my biggest peeve…and I am very guilty of it at times. I oftentimes have to find myself backspacing to change sentence structure in order to put the preposition in its place. “She doesn’t know who she spoke with” sounds much better phrased “She doesn’t know with whom she spoke”.
I overlook a lot of those dangling prepositions because there are so many slang terms in our culture that utilize such structure. However, there are many cases where I think a new sentence should be starting when I find a preposition at the end.
I cannot believe no one has addressed this one yet…
“you’re” vs. “your”
This has to be the ultimate, I simply cannot stand it. Especially when people go out of their way to type more by using “you’re” when “your” is the version they should be using.
As well, now that I think of it “irregardless.” A double negative, not a word.
I think the main reason people can’t spell is because they don’t read. I can understand typing errors here and there. We all do it. (BTW - notice errors not error’s) But there’s just no excuse for misspelling definitely or confusing your and you’re. Anyone who reads knows the difference. (another BTW - notice it’s "anyone who" reads, not “anyone ** that** reads”. GRRRRRRR!! Burns my ass when I hear a so called educated person talk about “people that” do something.:mad:
I think the main reason people can’t spell is because they don’t read. I can understand typing errors here and there. We all do it. (BTW - notice errors not error’s) But there’s just no excuse for misspelling definitely or confusing your and you’re. Anyone who reads knows the difference. (another BTW - notice it’s "anyone who" reads, not “anyone ** that** reads”. GRRRRRRR!! Burns my ass when I hear a so called educated person talk about “people that” do something.:mad:
I think the main reason people can’t spell is because they don’t read. I can understand typing errors here and there. We all do it. (BTW - notice errors not error’s) But there’s just no excuse for misspelling definitely or confusing your and you’re. Anyone who reads knows the difference. (another BTW - notice it’s "anyone who" reads, not “anyone ** that** reads”. GRRRRRRR!! Burns my ass when I hear a so called educated person talk about “people that” do something.:mad: