Your, You're & Then, Than Options

[Nymphetamine]

How come so many people don't know the difference between your and you're? Same goes for Then and Than.

Most of the people who mix these up are English speaking people. If someone like me couldn't tell the difference between them, it'll be acceptable; I don't take English classes, I speak French most of the time, I even forget most English words. I only communicate in English with my Family and the internet.
I can't even tell when to start a new paragraph. I don't live in an English speaking country.

Sometimes I see; your beautiful. I stay home more then I go out. Like wtf?

Is this a new trend?

Also, I've noticed that many people say; It's the internet, bla bla. So what? Believe it or not, your internet grammar affects your RL grammar.

I remember when I was much younger, I used 'ke' for 'que' or 'ki' for 'qui'. I f-cked up in French essays.

I can't believe I typed all that.

[Frizzank]

How come so many people don't know the difference between your and you're? Same goes for Then and Than.

Most of the people who mix these up are English speaking people. If someone like me couldn't tell the difference between them, it'll be acceptable; I don't take English classes, I speak French most of the time, I even forget most English words. I only communicate in English with my Family and the internet.
I can't even tell when to start a new paragraph. I don't live in an English speaking country.

Sometimes I see; your beautiful. I stay home more then I go out. Like wtf?

Is this a new trend?

Also, I've noticed that many people say; It's the internet, bla bla. So what? Believe it or not, your internet grammar affects your RL grammar.

I remember when I was much younger, I used 'ke' for 'que' or 'ki' for 'qui'. I f-cked up in French essays.

I can't believe I typed all that.

Another one that these silly people mess up is; there, they're and their.

[ichigofan]

I admit i didnt know the difference between you and you're but not knowing the difference between then and than is ridiculous, both have complete different meanings, I guess you can mistake them because they both sound similar ..

[Nymphetamine]

Sandra, for you: And I even changed my font, too. :P

In any case, Americans are extremely lazy, in case you couldn't tell. "It saves time"? Please, spare me. Typing out a few extra letters isn't going to save much more than nanoseconds. And it's because said Americans (in general) refuse to be cognizant of pretty much everything (including grammar/spelling rules) that other countries hate us. And we wonder why.

And I learned to speak Mandarin before English. :D

This font is SO much better. Can we get to know eachother more?

[*Azarel*]

I can't tell if that's sarcasm or not about the font.

And I'm up for it if you are; I won't bite. Much.

[Nymphetamine]

I wasn't being sarcastic, this font is better. Anyway, I can send by sending you a PM.

[adurf]

ah. i've seen soo many people type "than" when it's supposed to be then. they make me think i have poor grammar.

[*Kathleen*]

I only get annoyed when it's exaggerated. But honestly, I HAD to post this.

Angelina speaks Bulgarian, I think.

She does! My best friend is from Bulgaria. She tried to get me to join her Bulgarian dance group. I was intimidated and quit after a few weeks. Haha.

[deadgiveaway]

Thank you for this thread.

I know that some of you stated that they do know the difference... But it sure does not look like it. That irritates me as well - when people say that they know the difference, yet nothing they type proves that. I know I sound arrogant right now, but I honestly do not see why it is so hard.

And English is not my first language either. It is my main language now, but Cantonese and Mandarin definitely played a large part of my life, at least when I was younger, seeing as I started going to Chinese School when I was 5, and continued until I finished at age 14, and my parents do not know a lot of English. And yet, I (along with many other people) were able to learn and, dare I say, become very good at using correct spelling and grammar.

I definitely see how differentiating between "you're" and "your," etc., may be difficult for immigrants, or people just learning the language. Homophones are tricky. But most of the people I know who commit these errors on a regular basis were born here; we received the same education. I did not go elsewhere for tutoring to hone my "skills." Again, I guess I just do not totally see why it is so hard for some people , particularly people who have lived in a country where English is the main language, their whole life).

[Selv]

On the internet people type it like that because they type it once and dont feel like fixing it

[bballchick1]

I honestly don't think I have this problem, but I do notice a lot of people who do.

It gets annoying.

[*yrrnotelekktric*]

..you forgot THEIR.
no one knows the
difference with
that one either

[gelionie]

Thanks for writing this out.

Actually, this problem is found on Hongkong-based forums as well.

People think it cool to use other Chinese characters which sound the same to replace the original ones.

To me, it just shows how ignorant you are of your mother tongue.

Oh well.

[imm]

Truthfully, this is one of my biggest pet peeves...My friend told me that in his English class they learned that some root was the same, hence you could use those interchangeably. I doubt that though...

[AngelinaTaylor]

but still, you understand me dont you?
-sigh...of course i know the difference between words...but its not a grammer school...and at least if we miss apostrophies its still WAY less annoying than people who type gibber jabber LyKE Dizz or some other retarded way...

For me it's just as annoying.

Angelina speaks Bulgarian, I think.

Indeed, I do.

My best friend is from Bulgaria. She tried to get me to join her Bulgarian dance group. I was intimidated and quit after a few weeks. Haha

HAHAHA.. why did you quit?? It's so much fun!

[*Libertie*]

..you forgot THEIR.
no one knows the
difference with
that one either

That one's even worse, because it's there, their, and they're.

To, two, too.. Yeah.

I notice, but it really isn't annoying to me. I will admit that it makes me think slightly less of the person.

[cassjamminx]

i think it's because people are just bad at grammar soemtimes. it bothers me too

[Gigi]

I think some of the time they're just typos. People don't exactly read over their posts like they would with school essays, so they don't catch these things.

Doesn't make it any less annoying, though.

[datass]

Thanks for posting this
And you're so right, it gets really annoying sometimes.

[*Kathleen*]

Thank you for this thread.

I know that some of you stated that they do know the difference... But it sure does not look like it. That irritates me as well - when people say that they know the difference, yet nothing they type proves that. I know I sound arrogant right now, but I honestly do not see why it is so hard.

And English is not my first language either. It is my main language now, but Cantonese and Mandarin definitely played a large part of my life, at least when I was younger, seeing as I started going to Chinese School when I was 5, and continued until I finished at age 14, and my parents do not know a lot of English. And yet, I (along with many other people) were able to learn and, dare I say, become very good at using correct spelling and grammar.

I definitely see how differentiating between "you're" and "your," etc., may be difficult for immigrants, or people just learning the language. Homophones are tricky. But most of the people I know who commit these errors on a regular basis were born here; we received the same education. I did not go elsewhere for tutoring to hone my "skills." Again, I guess I just do not totally see why it is so hard for some people , particularly people who have lived in a country where English is the main language, their whole life).

I love you. Marry me?

On the internet people type it like that because they type it once and dont feel like fixing it

That's no excuse.

For me it's just as annoying.
Indeed, I do.
HAHAHA.. why did you quit?? It's so much fun!

It was hard. Besides, it looked a bit odd with all the extremely pale people I was dancing with. I felt out of place.

[no-name]

I am trying to figure out how people get then and than confused? It is easy not to get the two confused

[dinoooRAWR]

it bothers me too.
but i do it sometimes because im so careless

[pinacoolada]

You're irksome. And you smell funny!

anyway, it's true...it really anoys me. I also hate it when people spell "know" as "noe" and those stupid IM abbreviations like "w/e for whatever...

[LOWinSKANK]

My online "talk" doesn't affect me.. But I've always been good in english. It's not hard to know that You're = You ARE and Your = DUH, belonging to you or whatever.. And then & than, to know what it just takes common sense.
IDK, I don't understand how people could have problems with English if they grew up speaking the language.
Either you've got a learning disability, or you're just lazy.

[deadgiveaway]

I love you. Marry me?

Hahah. Flattered.



Of course I understand that people make careless mistakes, especially when they are typing quickly, but those do not happen on a regular basis. Even if the other person does not feel weird, I feel foolish when I am sitting here reading people's posts or chatting with someone, and I see something like "your stupid" or "their going out later."

[Mistress Bags]

It's terrible online, but you wouldn't believe how stupidly people write for school papers as well. My first college English class, I ended up in regular English instead of a more advanced one, so people got me to proofread their papers. I was always appalled at the bad grammar and spelling.