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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.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-14 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-14 04:17 pm (UTC)