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Apr. 14th, 2004 01:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conulyThere's a difference between grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, and this is the only time I want to explain this. When somebody is writing, and they type "I wanted to sit her", nobody thinks they made a grammatical error, or that they are ignorant. It's just chalked up to bad typing skills. But when somebody makes a mistake and spells "their" when they mean "there", all of a sudden everyone is on their case about grammar, sometimes even insinuating that somebody who makes such a mistake cannot POSSIBLY have a good point, since they can't speak their language properly.
Now, for the ignorant, let me explain that their/there/they're are homonyms. So are to/two/too and your/you're. These are words with different meanings which sound alike. When speaking, we have no way of distinguishing "you're book" from "your book", except that we know that nobody would ever say "you are book". In a perfect phonemic system, there would be no difference in the spellings of the words either, because they'd be spelled exactly as they're said. That is why people make spelling errors, because they either do not know which spelling is all right, or because they are rushed and make mistakes. Unless you honestly believe that the person is thinking "I am going as well the store" or "the book is that place book instead of mine", please stop calling this a grammatical error. Don't say you're correcting it because you're a grammar freak. It's a spelling mistake, a typo, and not all that big a deal.
Now, for the ignorant, let me explain that their/there/they're are homonyms. So are to/two/too and your/you're. These are words with different meanings which sound alike. When speaking, we have no way of distinguishing "you're book" from "your book", except that we know that nobody would ever say "you are book". In a perfect phonemic system, there would be no difference in the spellings of the words either, because they'd be spelled exactly as they're said. That is why people make spelling errors, because they either do not know which spelling is all right, or because they are rushed and make mistakes. Unless you honestly believe that the person is thinking "I am going as well the store" or "the book is that place book instead of mine", please stop calling this a grammatical error. Don't say you're correcting it because you're a grammar freak. It's a spelling mistake, a typo, and not all that big a deal.
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Hrm.
Date: 2004-04-14 02:05 pm (UTC)I think it's a sliding scale. There are what you could call "physical typos", where the cause is clearly just momentary clumsiness: the fingers get out of sync and transpose letters, or hit the wrong key by mistake. I just made about five physical typos in this paragraph alone, before fixing them almost automatically (six now).
Those I don't hold against people, especially in a transient medium like IM or (possibly) LJ comments. In something like a story they're less acceptable(edit, dammit) but still forgivable -- it's easy to gloss over a missing letter when reading, hell, a missing word: witness those trick paragraph breaks where you don't notice that it actually says "Beware Of The The Dog".
Misplaced homonyms are a "mental typo"; while it is possible to type "there" for "their" completely by accident, it requires at least a degree of confusion, a momentary mental lapse. To me (a grammar and spelling freak :D) it's hard to believe that one could see entirely the wrong word appear on the screen and not realize that it was wrong and have the impulse to self-correct.
[side note: In a manner of speaking a misplaced homonym is a grammar mistake, since we have no way of distinguishing "tu" the sound for a pair of things from "tu" the sound meaning "also", other than spelling. Context, yes, but then you get things like "I did three laps around the pool." "I did too."? So proper spelling of these words is more important than spelling of, say, "attention", which has to be pretty mangled before you can mistake it for a completely different word. [/tangent])
And again, I mind those less in IM or any fast-moving conversation, although still more than a physical typo. It's a matter of time and place as well as form.
Re: Hrm.
Date: 2004-04-14 02:16 pm (UTC)Also, while I do acknowledge that it's not the sort of typo as in "tpyo", it is still not a grammatical error, more like... a spelling confusion. I know I've had times when I put down one word when I meant another, simply because they look similar, and since both the person reading and the person writing the homonym knows (generally) what is meant, there is no real confusion, it's either just ignorance of spelling conventions or carelessness.
Now, of course, were it up to me, I'd just get rid of all those homonyms and go back to the root, with whole new words, like "twa", "tu" and... um... "also".
Re: Hrm.
Date: 2004-04-14 02:40 pm (UTC)Oh, I agree -- at least when spelling has nothing to do with the issue at hand, which is the case 99% of the time.
Now, if you're going to go whining about people who "can't be bothered to check there spelling"... yes, I do mock. ;) But that's a special case.
Re: Hrm.
Date: 2004-04-14 03:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-14 04:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-14 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-14 04:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-14 05:12 pm (UTC)You made a great point, and one I'm guilty of. I have mental slips while typing all the time-- no matter how often I make fun of their/they're, I tend to add 's for plurals and getting horrified when I do.
I'm so tired I can scarcely make any sense.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-14 05:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-14 07:02 pm (UTC)I think I've been guilty of scolding people who misspell two/to/their/etc. of grammatical errors, but really, just cause everyone else does. ;) I never really thought about it, but I'll try to be more correct now.
Hrm.
Date: 2004-04-14 02:05 pm (UTC)I think it's a sliding scale. There are what you could call "physical typos", where the cause is clearly just momentary clumsiness: the fingers get out of sync and transpose letters, or hit the wrong key by mistake. I just made about five physical typos in this paragraph alone, before fixing them almost automatically (six now).
Those I don't hold against people, especially in a transient medium like IM or (possibly) LJ comments. In something like a story they're less acceptable(edit, dammit) but still forgivable -- it's easy to gloss over a missing letter when reading, hell, a missing word: witness those trick paragraph breaks where you don't notice that it actually says "Beware Of The The Dog".
Misplaced homonyms are a "mental typo"; while it is possible to type "there" for "their" completely by accident, it requires at least a degree of confusion, a momentary mental lapse. To me (a grammar and spelling freak :D) it's hard to believe that one could see entirely the wrong word appear on the screen and not realize that it was wrong and have the impulse to self-correct.
[side note: In a manner of speaking a misplaced homonym is a grammar mistake, since we have no way of distinguishing "tu" the sound for a pair of things from "tu" the sound meaning "also", other than spelling. Context, yes, but then you get things like "I did three laps around the pool." "I did too."? So proper spelling of these words is more important than spelling of, say, "attention", which has to be pretty mangled before you can mistake it for a completely different word. [/tangent])
And again, I mind those less in IM or any fast-moving conversation, although still more than a physical typo. It's a matter of time and place as well as form.
Re: Hrm.
Date: 2004-04-14 02:16 pm (UTC)Also, while I do acknowledge that it's not the sort of typo as in "tpyo", it is still not a grammatical error, more like... a spelling confusion. I know I've had times when I put down one word when I meant another, simply because they look similar, and since both the person reading and the person writing the homonym knows (generally) what is meant, there is no real confusion, it's either just ignorance of spelling conventions or carelessness.
Now, of course, were it up to me, I'd just get rid of all those homonyms and go back to the root, with whole new words, like "twa", "tu" and... um... "also".
Re: Hrm.
Date: 2004-04-14 02:40 pm (UTC)Oh, I agree -- at least when spelling has nothing to do with the issue at hand, which is the case 99% of the time.
Now, if you're going to go whining about people who "can't be bothered to check there spelling"... yes, I do mock. ;) But that's a special case.
Re: Hrm.
Date: 2004-04-14 03:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-14 04:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-14 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-14 04:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-14 05:12 pm (UTC)You made a great point, and one I'm guilty of. I have mental slips while typing all the time-- no matter how often I make fun of their/they're, I tend to add 's for plurals and getting horrified when I do.
I'm so tired I can scarcely make any sense.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-14 05:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-14 07:02 pm (UTC)I think I've been guilty of scolding people who misspell two/to/their/etc. of grammatical errors, but really, just cause everyone else does. ;) I never really thought about it, but I'll try to be more correct now.