Since you ask: “than I”. Or “than I am”. Not “me” or “myself”.
Not “your’s”, but “yours”. There is no apostrophe signifying possession in “his”, “hers” or “yours”, since those are possessive pronouns. There is no apostrophe necessary for “its” as a possessive, either. It’s easy.
Moving right along . . .
I’ve only ever pointed out an error online, not in face-to-face life (that I can recall, anyway). I tend to let most mistakes I see pass, as it seems like it might be a typo, or something they have a continual problem with, a kind of blindness that correcting probably won’t help.
But if it seems like their grammar and spelling is otherwise pretty good, and that they seem to care about what they’re writing, I will point out a particularly glaring mistake as I imagine they’d probably appreciate it and hopefully correct it in the future. I know I would.
If I was corrected on something I wrote (as I was recently, using ‘ironic’ incorrectly), I may bristle a little bit if I thought I was right, but I’d go away and confirm the facts. Certainly I appreciate the effort if it turns out I was wrong and they were right to correct me.
That’s awesome.
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I dunno, **Lobstermobster…**while it was petty of the person who found your dog to go off like that–citing leash laws and calling you an irresponsible pet owner–I think it was far more petty of you to respond by editing the note.
At the end of the day, this person saved your dog. Could’ve been hit by a car, could’ve been found by someone who wanted to keep it, could’ve been found by somebody who called animal control…the world is full of people like that. Especially since your dog had no tags. (Dogs who are just “lying around” DO get out. All the time.)
I hope your dog doesn’t get out again, because after getting their note back, their idea of “trying to do better” may include ignoring your dog if they ever find him again.
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I correct peoples’ spelling/grammar/pronunciation in my head constantly. (Now that I’ve said that I will undoubtedly make many such errors in this post.)
I only tell them if I think it would be kind to do so…if they’re mispronouncing a local word, for instance, like “Bexar County,” that they wouldn’t otherwise know is pronounced “Bear” County…or if they are friends of mine, and they keep saying “sword” with an audible “W.” (Friend of mine does this.)
I only correct printed stuff if it’s for public display…“Hey, ‘resturant’ should be ‘restaurant’ in that flyer you’re working on.”
Otherwise I don’t say anything, because nobody likes a know-it-all.
As well as “their” and “yours,” leading me to believe it was on purpose.
I come from a background where typos can kill (chemistry); I was first set to tutor classmates when I was 4; in many of my jobs correcting people has been one of my duties. So, I have a strong impulse to play “teacher without a classroom”. But I only do it if I think the person will be able to understand the explanation, accept that I mean well, and actually learn something. If all we’re going to get is two or more irritated people, there’s no point.
And then, there’s mistakes, misteaks and the occasional person who thinks that “burned through” really is the proper way to cook a T-bone, even if the other people at the table like it “still mooing.”
People who make typos on purpose occasionally the way I think the OP did, to call attention to the same kind of mistakes that trigger many Doper’s teacher-jerk-reaction… I’m fine with that, so long as it’s not overdone and fulfills its purpose.
People who make a typo as a genuine error, I will usually correct, assuming that they want to write as clearly as possible so people understand them. This has several extra chapters for dyslexic friends or people like my brother who used to mix b, p, q, d because he’d never realized the “ball and stick” are in different positions on all four.
People who write “u” cos they cnt B arsd… I can’t be arsed to keep up a relationship with them, unless I just happen to not have the choice.
I also thought all of the errors were deliberate to be funny and emphasize his point. Notice the OP is free of these types of obvious errors.
If the SDMB is really fighting ignorance, this particular microcosm is one where correcting mistakes really is an obligation of sorts.
Also, correcting mistakes can be first class entertainment. One of the funniest things I ever heard was on the Howard Stern show. His boss had written and distributed a memo, and Howard had his daughter’s 4th grade teacher as a guest on the show just to correct and grade the memo, which was riddled with errors, awkwardness and more.
Yes, but I see that the errors have overpowered the question in the title. This wasn’t my intent, but I see the irony.
I realize that there have been answers to the question, but I’ll try again: In everyday conversation, if someone makes a mistake, do you correct the mistake? If yes, why do you do so? If no, why not?
The mistake could be one of pronunciation, usage, idiom, or generally accepted fact. Or, it could touch on deeper issues of widely-held beliefs.
Thanks.
It’s such a situational thing. I think the decision whether to correct or not depends on how important the mistake is to me. I hear heaps of urban legends bandied around as fact, but very rarely correct them. But if someone was to make a mistake about a topic that I’m known for being knowledgeable on, then I’d possibly correct them if the appropriate opportunity arose.
I used to be very, very, very bad about correcting other people’s grammatical mistakes in conversation. I have improved and now I’m just very bad. I try to only correct people who want to know about their mistakes (from previous conversation), students, and those involved in group presentations where I’m getting a grade based on other’s work. Even so, I try to present the correction privately and as diplomatically as possible.
I usually mean to offer these corrections for the other person’s benefit, but I think it is often perceived as “showing off” on my part. Sometimes they are right. I’ve been corrected quite a few times, too. Readers often have an extensive vocabulary of words they have never heard anyone else say and guess at the prounciation.
I didn’t think the OP was talking about correcting business correspondance, school work, or your children. I may be wrong. I write abstracts for my boss and I send those to a professional proofreader here. If a proofreader is not an available luxury, obviously your boss should correct any mistakes.
If we’re just typing on a message board and someone goes through and corrects every typo, I see it as unneccessarily anal, snotty, and obnoxious. Unless someone is trying to argue an incorrect fact at you, there is no reason to correct them if you know what they are saying.
My boyfriend has NO ability to gague what decade something is from. If a tv show or movie or song comes on that he is not familiar with he will automatically think it’s from the 80s. Everything with a retro look came out of the 80s. If it’s not black and white…80s. I don’t blame him for not really know about american pop culture from the past since he’s not from here, but it’s the one thing I will correct.
I usually only correct people in my immediate family or my fewest closest friends, because I believe they would prefer not to use language incorrectly. Heck, if I am mispronouncing a word or using in inapproapriately, I hope someone would point it out to me.
I happen to have a kinda large vocabulary and spell pretty well. A long time ago I asked my wife if she wanted me to let her know when I thought she was using/spelling/pronouncing a word incorrectly. She said definitely, although not publicly.
Must… resist… urge…
And it is spot on.
Like a number of others have said, it depends of the situation, I don’t recall ever correcting someone’s spoken grammar or pronunciation. I do try tactfully to correct urban legends when relayed as fact by people I’m close to. My brother used to be in the habit of sending me right-wing chain emails. I “corrected” them inasmuch as pointing out blatant untruths, until he finally stopped sending them to me. He never stopped believing them, just stopped sending them to me. I had the naive hope that I’d change his mind.
I correct people’s mistakes for $35 an hour.
Yeah, but they axe you to, right?
If they’re sensible.
(“Extortion” is such an ugly word, don’t you think?)
what the fuck?
Your dog escaped from your control and inconvenienced somebody else, who then went to the trouble of looking after the dog while they got in touch with the owner. In the circumstances, I think you should forgive them for being slightly annoyed.