Prevalent in a few of my friends' Facebook posts are simple grammatical errors. All of them are made repeatedly, so I'm pretty sure these people are under the impression that no mistakes are being made. I've done a couple of short corrective posts, which only a few people noticed. Nothing came of them, so I began correcting every status, shared item, meme, and comment (unless they were a valid keyboard slip) with the correct usage and an asterisk. I'm not trying to be rude, and I'm not trying to seem like I am the grammar guru and you should all feel inferior; I just want people to be
aware of what they are writing. Really, how long does it take to proofread your Facebook status, or a short text? Perhaps four seconds if it needs correcting? We learned this in third grade, guys. Write a rough draft. Re-read it! Does it sound off? Fix it! Are their blaring spelling errors? Fix them! Did you use that comma properly? Are you sure? The Internet is not an excuse to use improper grammar. Take the time to
care. If you don't, you will come off as 'uneducated,' at least to folks like me.
Now, the mistakes I'm addressing today are apostrophe neglect, too/to mixups, their/they're/there mixups, the insistence upon spelling 'tomorrow' as 'tomarrow', the its/it's conundrum, your/you're mixups, and the supposedly interchangeable me/I. There are actually more, but I don't want to spend all day writing this. I may do another post like this one later.
Contractions mostly always use an apostrophe.
Gonna is a well-known contraction that does not actually use one. However, most do; the words 'cant' and 'wont' actually have their own meanings. If you're not willing to use the apostrophe, don't use the contraction. However, if you are not willing to use an apostrophe you must be a lazy writer, so writing out 'I am' and 'have not' and 'let us' and 'you are' all the time probably would not be your favourite option. Really, just one more tap in your typing won't hurt you. You don't even have to use the shift key.
This next one is way too annoying to overlook. (See what I did there?)
Too is used to indicate excess or in addition to something else, as in 'too cold' or 'I would like to go too'
. To is a preposition or part of a verb in the infinitive, as in 'to a friend's house' or 'to write'.
Their is the possesive form of
they, as in 'their party was a blast.'
They're is a contraction! It's a fairly easy one to figure out. Next, I really didn't think it was possible to misuse
there until I joined Facebook. Use it to indicate the location of something or someone, as in "she is standing there" or "there is a TARDIS in my backyard".
This next one is a bit ridiculous in my opinion. The reason I'm not letting it slide is because the A and O keys are on opposite sides of the keyboard. There is
no way this is just a finger-slip. T-O-M-
O-R-R-O-W.
Tomarrow doesn't even make sense. I mean, just look at it. It almost makes me laugh.
Now, I myself used to have quite a bit of trouble remembering the rule for this one, but I now have it down. Everyone else my age should at this point too.
It's is a contraction for "it is".
Its is a complete word, all by itself, and is the possessive form of
it. It's kind of tricky, because many possessive forms use apostrophes. So, how does one know which one to use? What got it to stick with me was simply knowing there is a difference. You might have a funny little rhyme or something.
I'm almost done, guys. You're probably considering leaving this page, if your eyes haven't wandered off already.
You're is another contraction; y
our is the possessive form of you. You wouldn't say 'this towel is you'res' now, would you?
Have you ever said, "Me and so-and-so are gonna go outside?" I'd be willing to bet you have. This is one of my biggest pet peeves, yet I find myself using it all the time. However, while writing, I never use it. I think the verbal me/I is past repair as it has become so ingrained into all of our minds. Would you say, "Me is gonna go outside?" Of course not! You would say
I am. So why would you say, "Me and so-and-so are gonna go outside?" In this instance,
me should be
I. Another issue with this sentence is that
I shouldn't even be the first thing mentioned! It ought to say, "So-and-so and I are going outside."
If you've spotted any mistakes in my grammar, by all means, please point them out.
Footnote: Just so you know,
gonna is a well-used contraction of
going and
to. It doesn't use an apostrophe.
