Alright, being a teacher, I get annoyed a lot at spelling - no, not by the tough words that students have never heard of that they can't be expected to know how to spell, but by the common words that all people should just KNOW. Just because we are in a tech-savvy society full of emails instead of letters, instant messages instead of phone calls, facebook wall posts instead of notes doesn't mean that we can just throw everything else out the window. That goes for grammar and spelling, too! I cannot tell you how many times I get papers that have uncapitalized i's, 2's instead of to's, lol's at the end of sentences... I mean come on!!!
I think it's even worse when grown people do this - and that's not all. I feel like my life is flashing before my eyes when I think of all the mispellings and errors I have seen - they just run through my head like electricity, it's crazy. How hard is it to know the basics - or to at least stop and think??
First let's talk about their, there, and they're. Yes, people, there IS a difference!!
Their - means belonging to more than one person.
There - referring to a place, yes, it's that easy.
They're - it is obviously a contraction - do people know what those are these days? Two words put together with an apostrophe. Means they are. SIMPLE.
Alright, how about your versus you're.
Again, contraction! Means that it is two words - you are. YOU ARE. Not your. Your has to do with possession, gahhh it really is so simple!
How about two, to, and too.
Now you do know that two is a number - 2. 'To' is a preposition, links words together in a sentence. Now, 'too' is something completely different. It's when you have extra, or are adding something. Three completely different words.
Now the word definitely. I see innumerable ways people misspell this one, and it drives me crazy when it is a friend I am talking to online or I see written in an email. Think of root words. It has FINITE in it - there is no A in definitely.
Okay, that's all for now.
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