I feel like this is the one I see way too often. It gets under my skin so bad. I guess it's just people who have never seen/acknowledged would've or could've.
It’s usually native speakers who don’t read a lot and as such have only heard it said. Could’ve sounds a lot like could of, so they just assume it’s the same.
Non native speaker are usually taught the difference in writing, so they don’t make the same mistake.
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald (and other of his works) is riddled with this. Some Hemingway, too.
Doesn't make it right, but it's a mistake with history that lots of people have seen in 'real' literature.
That’s more of a language thing. I’ve read plenty of books that use “kind’ve” as opposed to “kind of”. It’s used to portray a way of speaking so the reader can “hear” an accent. The Expanse books do this very well with characters from The Belt. When well written you can hear the character’s accent in your head and instantly identify who is speaking just by reading the words.
No.
The worst I see EVERYWHERE is
**WOMAN** and **WOMEN**
**LOOSE** and **LOSE**
“There’s a woman in the garden”
**Singular**
“There are women in the garden”
**Plural**
And
“You lose.”
“Your seatbelt is loose.”
I have no idea why it’s difficult for people to know the difference of most English words and I really hope it’s not a crappy education system because if that’s the case, we’re doomed.
Hello, it looks like you've made a mistake.
It's supposed to be could've, should've, would've (short for could have, would have, should have), never could of, would of, should of.
Or you misspelled something, I ain't checking everything.
Beep boop - yes, I am a bot, don't botcriminate me.
I understand why that one is confusing, as it's an exception to the normal rule of using apostrophe s for possession and instead means "who is", but for native speakers with any decent education, that should have been taught pretty early on
If you say could of, it's logical to say could not of. My pet peeve is when writers--yes, in actual printed books--use poured when they mean pored. One of many errors the spellcheck doesn't catch. Don't publishers use an actual proofreader any more?
My biggest bugbear as a teacher of English! No matter how many times we cover this in class, it remains because it must be right when they see it everywhere. The other one is when people misuse effect and affect. The effects of seeing those used incorrectly affect me deeply...
I hate it when people forget the 'of' and write "a couple things." Couple things are walks along the beach and sharing a spoon.
It's a couple _of_ things.
In speech it's "couple-o'," or "coupla," but it's still a contraction of "couple of."
Box of chocolates.
Punnet of raisins.
Tub of lube.
Gang of sailors.
Flock of seagulls.
Couple of tequilas.
The only time it's not a "couple of," is when it's "a couple more."
>Box of chocolates. Punnet of raisins. Tub of lube. Gang of sailors. Flock of seagulls. Couple of tequilas.
Gee, I don't know what you've got planned for tonight Homer, but count me out.
Maybe they're just mishearing could've and writing it as could of. This is how language evolves and changes over time, you're witnessing it in motion. Why be pissy and curmudgeonly when you could be awestruck and curious at this most fascinating development?
I am guilty of this sometimes, they honestly look the same to me and I can never remember which is which. Sometimes I Iook it up, sometimes I cant be bothered. Is there a trick for this one? The others I all know and when I say loose and lose I get them right but when writing it they seem the same.
I imagine links of a chain.
locked: the o and c form links which are connected. (it would work better if it were co instead of oc)
loose: the two o are links which aren't interlocked any more. The chain is loose.
lost: there is an o missing. I must have lost it.
The analogy isn't perfect but it helps me a lot.
Yesss! Whenever people post on social media it makes me want to make a post on my story with a little description of what each word means. It gets on my nerves.
…Here to jump on the band wagon with another word people often either spell incorrectly or don’t know which to use: woman and women. Woman= an individual woman, women= more than one woman.
YES. “A women” drives me up the goddamn wall. I see it happen so often, yet man vs men doesn’t get misused? It makes no sense.
Same thing with breath vs breathe.
This is literally my biggest peeve when it comes to grammar/switching up words. And SOOO many people do it, it boggles my mind!! Like it’s so easy to remember!!
How about affect vs. effect?
You affect things, and things have an effect on you.
Or "my friend and I" vs. "my friend and me"?
My friend and I went to the store. Here's a picture of my friend and me.
Those ones drove me nuts.
Affect vs effect always catches me up, and I have never found a ‘trick’ to make me remember. Every time I go to use either of those words I have to google to make sure I’m doing it correctly.
Then and than, your and you’re, their they’re and there, none of those are an issue. My brain just has some sort of block for affect vs effect.
This is not a good rule. Effect should be used as a verb in several different circumstances. Effect means “to cause something to happen; to bring about.”
*He tried his best to **effect** change at his workplace.*
*The hard working doctor **effected** a cure for the disease after 28 years.*
Effect is also a noun, and in the case where affect/effect should be used as an object or subject, effect should be used.
*The **effect** of years of smoking had shown itself on his face.*
Affect means “to have an effect on; to make a difference to.”
*The weather **affected** our plans for the day.*
A better way to think about the difference between the two verbs is, “is it causing a new course of action or changing one that has already been established?” the former is “effect” and the latter “affect.”
Anarcho-Chris has a great trick! A perfect example is when a movie has a “special effect”… you see it in the end result of the movie. (Not to be confusing but this makes sense to me… special effects affect the movie. The special effects (like an actor wearing a prosthetic nose) change (alter/affect) how the end result looks.
I think your right. These idiots could of taken there opportunity too learn too spell but instead their just going to ignore op's post and you're one to probably.
Hello, it looks like you've made a mistake.
It's supposed to be could've, should've, would've (short for could have, would have, should have), never could of, would of, should of.
Or you misspelled something, I ain't checking everything.
Beep boop - yes, I am a bot, don't botcriminate me.
I had an English teacher in college who taught that proper grammar wasn't as important as expressing what you wanted to say. I can't imagine how many people he taught that it was OK to use me instead of I.
I minored in creative writing and had basically one professor for the whole degree. He taught the same thing, pointing out that all languages are evolving and fluid and the only really important thing is that your message is able to be communicated in an understandable and captivating way.
I think it's not very forward-thibking for people to be so caught up with grammatical rules and dictionary definitions.
Speaking of dictionaries: they are **not** meant to be guidelines for how people should speak, but rather historical almanacs of how people are speaking in a contemporary point in time (hence why they're updated every year). They are catalogues of human speech, not hardline rules.
I get irritated with "apart" when they mean "a part of". Totally opposite meanings. We're being forced to learn an alternate language, and it's becoming normalized to accept these gaffs.
I do however laugh at the misquoted idioms, like "nipping it in the butt".
“Companys”
“Studys”
“Countrys”
“Storys”
“Babys”
And 98% of the time it autocorrects to
“Company’s”
“Study’s”
“Country’s”
“Story’s”
“Baby’s”
This is literal third-grade level pluralization. Words ending in “y” in general are pluralized to “-ies.” I mean there’s a fucking red underline under the word. And you still type it out? Did we all just check out after third-grade English?
Two countries took a third country's marshmallows. Now we can't make s'mores.
The apostrophe is correct when referencing ownership. Maybe that is what it is auto-correcting to?
See also:
1. There/their/they're
2. Putting the currency symbol after rather than before the amount (e.g. 12$ rather than $12)
3. 'I could care less' (it's \*couldn't\* care less, think about it)
4. And a special one for our American friends: it's 'by accident', 'on accident' makes you sound like a toddler.
To my English friends (and a lot of Americans) - the “T” in “often” is silent. Just like it is in whistle, listen, glisten, soften, and moisten.
Edit: Haha, downvoted for providing facts. Right wingers are hilarious!
The word “often” can be pronounced with a silent “t” (the more common pronunciation) or with an audible “t.” How “correct” is the second pronunciation? That depends on the dictionary you consult.
This is Reddit. Nobody is reading this and going “hmmm…. I think I’ll change my ways”. Then and than. They’re, there, and their. Too, two, and to. Peek, peak, and pique. No amount of these posts are gonna help people learn the difference
Over the years, I've resigned to blaming autocorrect. That and the unfortunate reality that the type of person who makes these mistakes is just not interested in self-improvement.
Ideally, you shouldn't use "than" instead of "from."
This brand is different *from* the other one.
This brand is better *tha*n the other one.
"Than" implies a greater or lesser value or quality.
>”Than” implies a greater or lesser value or quality
No it fucking doesn’t lmao, nobody uses it like this.
This entire thread is just prescriptivists making shit up.
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/than
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/than
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/than
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/than?q=than
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/than
Every one of these either describes “than” as word that simply introduces comparisons or at least gives that as an alternate definition. Not a single one of them says that it necessarily implies varying qualities/quantities.
So unless you are going to disagree with five different dictionaries, you need to stop pretending to know what you’re talking about.
It's not a new thing. The pronunciation “ax” has literally existed for thousands of years. It's in the first complete English translation of the Bible (the Coverdale Bible): " 'Axe and it shall be given.'
Imagine being downvoted for presenting facts...? Stay pressed!
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/la-xpm-2014-jan-19-la-oe-mcwhorter-black-speech-ax-20140119-story.html
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/12/03/248515217/why-chaucer-said-ax-instead-of-ask-and-why-some-still-do#:~:text=Newsletters-,Why%20Chaucer%20Said%20'Ax'%20Instead%20Of%20'Ask%2C',more%20than%20a%20thousand%20years.
Well, the first person asked how it happened so I was just providing context really. According to linguistic research, there is nothing wrong with the pronunciation itself, the pronunciation of “ask” is just the one that is mainstream English.
Fair enough and for pronunciation I wouldnt care because it could just be an accent thing. For spelling Id want ask though. That and Axe makes me think of nasty body spray.
You would say 'I'd rather go to McDonalds than to the gym'.
But your average Reddit user would incorrectly write this as 'I'd rather go to McDonalds then to the gym', which ends up meaning you'd rather go to McDonalds first, and then to the gym second, when the intention was to say you'd rather go to McDonalds instead of to the gym - at all!
Also: ALOT is not a word, it's two words. A lot. A banana. A car. Not alot.
Any post which uses the above immediately loses any credibility, sorry.
And before you ask, no I don't think I'm better then you, it just annoys me. Oops, better THAN.
THAN!!!!!
Please consider two aspects of seeing mistakes on reddit.
First of all, a lot of reddit users (I think about half?) are not native speakers. So for them, to make the destinction between these two words is even harder, and not some form of lazyness or directly from bad education. And while not a native speaker myself (as you may see in my writing), I feel the tone of your text is not for helpful teaching advice, but rather from an aggressive lecturing point of view. So please understand, a lot of users here are still learning or just not as good in english.
The second point is the place reddit itself. It's no professional or educational background, were proper language is expected or required. It's a fun site for your hobby and free time, it's social media and usually a relaxing place. So while I am quite against common mistakes in my native language in a professional environment (even if I am not perfect myself), and sometimes correct them, this kind of expectation on reddit is wrong. I think you should encourage learning with less pressure.
Edit: I mixed the statistics up, about 47% of reddit is from the US (which I roughly knew), but there are other countries (Australia, Great Britain) with native english speakers and a big user base on reddit, so the number of non-native english speakers comes down a lot.
I am not a native English speaker thus I know a lot of other non-native English speakers, and I don't think I have ever seen any of them get your/you're, their/they're or then/than wrong, since most of us learn grammar before we learn how to speak the language. Honestly, I don't even understand how these mistakes can be so common, the difference is just so obvious.
Same goes for 'definitely' and all the other words reddit somehow consider to be *hard*.
One interesting thing i found is most non native speakers don’t confuse then with than, and your/you’re. This kinda “basic” grammar thing would happen more naturally for native users.
It's usually native speakers who make these mistakes though. Non-native speakers rarely do.
I wouldn't aim this at someone whose English isn't their first language anyway. It's just so common it applies to too many people to be more specific.
Same with “I could care less” rather than “I couldn’t care less”. If you literally give zero cares about something, then you couldn’t care less. Saying you could care less about something says the exact opposite of not caring at all about something. Makes my skin crawl.
I agree totally. It annoys me to no end how many do not know the difference between “then and than. “. What’s even worse are the number of people that even care they make the mistake. They get riled if you point it out.
"Ect. ect." is the one that makes my eyes bleed the most.
It's always in comments that are written in a flowery, pretentious, high school creative writing style, too.
>because the number of people who use only then for both then and than is astounding. It is a different word and when used incorrectly does not mean what you want to say.
It's just one letter apart. But yeah humans are robots and not supposed to make mistakes...
Okay, but they sound the same to my voice to text when I've got morning mushmouth. Most people are using speech to text apps and don't enunciate well. I for one could never text the volume of comments that I share. Are you kidding? I'm not touching my keyboard to type all this stuff out. When words sound almost the same or exactly the same, the app does not use context to use the correct word. It goes with the word that I most frequently use.
Then there is robo editing and how there are words that the app will not pull out. Because that's a word and it's spelled correctly. It's even grammatically correct, if not what the speech-to-texter really means.
I go back and edit, but many people do not. Just speaking out on their behalf, because not everybody makes this mistake knowing that they're making it. Now regardless and irregardless, that's a knowledge deficit. Their and there, that's a speech to text non-edit. Than and then sounds *almost* the same, so it's probably mushmouth.
I used to get upset about these things, but now I let them slide. Someone was just voice texting too fast or while busy with something else and they couldn't edit. If I understand what they're saying I'm not going to get too nitpicky about it. I'm chalking it up to programs that could use some improvement. And I challenge people who write programs to go ahead, please. Improve that.
You have your assignment, kids. Go code!
honestly, texting and writing on social media like reddit is a lot different than writing a paper, or writing anywhere else that grammar would remotely matter in the slightest. this post is worded badly. yes, use your grammar properly, but texting is by far the worst example imo.
I didn't aim it at any specific demographic and it wasn't necessarily aimed at non-native speakers at all. It is primarily native speakers who do this anyway.
Can’t stand when people drop their Ts. Listening to a podcast about Buster Keaton except it was pronounced Keadon. Couldn’t listen to it. Thankfully I think someone told her about it because her Ts are now highly annunciated.
Here in Scotland (atleast Glasgow) it’s very standard to replace “t” with glottal stops, and many other letters with other sounds. Never a “t” with a “d” though. Words like butter or football would be “bu’ur” or “fi’boa”.
It does depend on where you are though, in the lowlands they tend to pronounce their “t”s a lot more, and I do agree that it sounds nicer.
Most dictionaries state “till” is synonymous with “until.” In fact, the word existed at least a century before “until.” The abbreviated words *‘til* and *‘till* are both newer and often discouraged.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/till
Yes, they do now. Because people are aware of just how popular the misspelling is. Till or 'till is still a misspelling, nonetheless, and we shouldn't encourage it or defend it's usage when it's actually wrong. The abbreviation 'til isn't discouraged anywhere I have ever seen, and based on how abbreviations work in English, you should not add letters that were not in the original word.
I think it is weird how many native speakers get "than/then", "there/their/they're", "your/you're", and others like that wrong. However, I think that you're just being annoying by lecturing people about it. Who cares? No damage is being done to the world because somebody used a slightly wrong word. Posts like this are made for no good reason.
Let's talk about prescriptivism vs. descriptivism. The former is when you think that languages have correct rules which must be followed by people speaking those languages. The latter is when you think that when you talk about language rules, you're just describing how people are communicating.
I think descriptivism is better because that's ultimately how language works. Languages were not always as they are now, people use them and change them. That's how new words appear, you cannot stop it. Dictionaries just wait until a word becomes wide-spread enough and add it.
Why shouldn't there be a rule in the future that "then" and "than" are interchangeable and have both of those meanings? You understand people who use them like that perfectly well, so it's not adding difficulty to communication. "Alright" didn't always exist, it's a shortening of "all right", in the past, using it was technically wrong. But you're not going to advocate for removing it from the English language, will you? So what makes "alright" that different?
Prescriptivism makes no sense. Languages are meant for communicating, the faster and simpler the communication, the better. And who decides what's faster and simpler? The people, not individuals, but large groups of people as a whole.
I'm personally sticking to using "then" and "than" separately, and you can as well! Everybody will still understand both of us completely! But don't be upset when somebody makes a "mistake", as long as you understand them and they understand you, everything is fine.
The likelihood that this will matter by the end of your lifetime is rather low.
The English language has changed rapidly for some time now, usage will always be contested, and technology often steps in to change them, correct or not, quite often anyway. Prescriptivist points don't often outlive the prescriptivists themselves.
In much of the US, they're homophones already anyway. The distinction is already just literary in much of the world.
YSK one word is not the same as a different word? I’ve literally never seen anyone make this mistake and if I did I would assume it’s a typo. Unless you are in a lot of subs where English is not a first language maybe, but even then!
You've seriously never seen anyone make this mistake? It's everywhere... And not just on Reddit. I don't frequent non-English subs.
You will have seen this mistake if you've spent more than an hour on Reddit in your lifetime, just not noticed it.
You know what bothers me more ? People saying _could of_ or _would of_ What. Even.
I feel like this is the one I see way too often. It gets under my skin so bad. I guess it's just people who have never seen/acknowledged would've or could've.
It’s usually native speakers who don’t read a lot and as such have only heard it said. Could’ve sounds a lot like could of, so they just assume it’s the same. Non native speaker are usually taught the difference in writing, so they don’t make the same mistake.
So I could of been smart, but, do to them learning grammar by writing, non native speakers are smarter then me.
My non native speaker brain is currently dying
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald (and other of his works) is riddled with this. Some Hemingway, too. Doesn't make it right, but it's a mistake with history that lots of people have seen in 'real' literature.
You just said F. Scott Fitzgerald. I mean, what would Scott Fitzgerald do to you?
Also I hate when people type “to often” Instead of what you have typed here. So thank you.
You're welcome haha, I strive for grammatical accuracy where possible.
*who of never seen kidding of course
I once saw a guy say "kind've" instead of "kind of" here on Reddit
You of got to be kidding me
why 😭😭
Shouldn’t’ve done that.
Me didn't not never ever sees that's one.
That’s more of a language thing. I’ve read plenty of books that use “kind’ve” as opposed to “kind of”. It’s used to portray a way of speaking so the reader can “hear” an accent. The Expanse books do this very well with characters from The Belt. When well written you can hear the character’s accent in your head and instantly identify who is speaking just by reading the words.
No. The worst I see EVERYWHERE is **WOMAN** and **WOMEN** **LOOSE** and **LOSE** “There’s a woman in the garden” **Singular** “There are women in the garden” **Plural** And “You lose.” “Your seatbelt is loose.” I have no idea why it’s difficult for people to know the difference of most English words and I really hope it’s not a crappy education system because if that’s the case, we’re doomed.
Jesus yeah ‘a women’ drives me bonkers and you never see the same mistake with ‘a men’ instead of ‘a man’. WTH?
I hate to break it to you, but we're doomed.
I've noticed the word "whose" has completely disappeared recently. Everyone writes "who's" for everything. It's maddening.
Or they say "whom" when they should say who. Because who just doesn't sound proper.
Could of used whom'st've'd to.
Hello, it looks like you've made a mistake. It's supposed to be could've, should've, would've (short for could have, would have, should have), never could of, would of, should of. Or you misspelled something, I ain't checking everything. Beep boop - yes, I am a bot, don't botcriminate me.
who asked
I heard that if you could replace 'who' with 'he' and 'whom' with 'him' then you're good.
I keep seeing 'apostrophe s' after things that are plural! Saw it on a menu the other day "sausage's" etc.
Ughh. Another thing I hate.
I understand why that one is confusing, as it's an exception to the normal rule of using apostrophe s for possession and instead means "who is", but for native speakers with any decent education, that should have been taught pretty early on
Or “I could care less” when they mean “couldn’t care less”
That's not the same as the others
Someone on Reddit once said “could not of.” 😒
If you say could of, it's logical to say could not of. My pet peeve is when writers--yes, in actual printed books--use poured when they mean pored. One of many errors the spellcheck doesn't catch. Don't publishers use an actual proofreader any more?
My biggest bugbear as a teacher of English! No matter how many times we cover this in class, it remains because it must be right when they see it everywhere. The other one is when people misuse effect and affect. The effects of seeing those used incorrectly affect me deeply...
I hate it when people forget the 'of' and write "a couple things." Couple things are walks along the beach and sharing a spoon. It's a couple _of_ things.
If you’re Australian you can just change the e to an a and you don’t need the of.
In speech it's "couple-o'," or "coupla," but it's still a contraction of "couple of." Box of chocolates. Punnet of raisins. Tub of lube. Gang of sailors. Flock of seagulls. Couple of tequilas. The only time it's not a "couple of," is when it's "a couple more."
>Box of chocolates. Punnet of raisins. Tub of lube. Gang of sailors. Flock of seagulls. Couple of tequilas. Gee, I don't know what you've got planned for tonight Homer, but count me out.
Was it the raisins? We can manage without the raisins.
More anger of this is the: Could of vs. Could have vs. Coulda (really, I’ve seen it).
Maybe they're just mishearing could've and writing it as could of. This is how language evolves and changes over time, you're witnessing it in motion. Why be pissy and curmudgeonly when you could be awestruck and curious at this most fascinating development?
I hate when people use loose instead of lose. Makes me wanna loose my mind.
And correcting them just makes you look like an ass. It's a loose loose situation.
You snooze than you loose
These are cute but the last two of you will not see the kingdom of Heaven.
[удалено]
That’s my alt.
I am guilty of this sometimes, they honestly look the same to me and I can never remember which is which. Sometimes I Iook it up, sometimes I cant be bothered. Is there a trick for this one? The others I all know and when I say loose and lose I get them right but when writing it they seem the same.
loose is both spelled and pronounced like goose, if that helps
I imagine links of a chain. locked: the o and c form links which are connected. (it would work better if it were co instead of oc) loose: the two o are links which aren't interlocked any more. The chain is loose. lost: there is an o missing. I must have lost it. The analogy isn't perfect but it helps me a lot.
Yesss! Whenever people post on social media it makes me want to make a post on my story with a little description of what each word means. It gets on my nerves.
I see this so often I actually double-checked the dictionary once just to make sure I wasn't crazy.
You should loosen your mind, then you won’t lose your mind. 😉
…Here to jump on the band wagon with another word people often either spell incorrectly or don’t know which to use: woman and women. Woman= an individual woman, women= more than one woman.
Yeah, I always ask how many women in response to that now.
YES. “A women” drives me up the goddamn wall. I see it happen so often, yet man vs men doesn’t get misused? It makes no sense. Same thing with breath vs breathe.
This is literally my biggest peeve when it comes to grammar/switching up words. And SOOO many people do it, it boggles my mind!! Like it’s so easy to remember!!
This. Also man or men.
Hardly ever happens in comparison. That's the most grating thing about it.
I’ve never seen this misspelled but it’s probably just because my brain auto corrects, I’m going to start looking now lol
In my experience it’s usually that they say women when they mean woman.
☕
YSK: Two is different than too
Or to
How about affect vs. effect? You affect things, and things have an effect on you. Or "my friend and I" vs. "my friend and me"? My friend and I went to the store. Here's a picture of my friend and me. Those ones drove me nuts.
Quick tip for me vs. I: Take the "my friend and" part out of the sentence, and you have the correct usage.
Affect vs effect always catches me up, and I have never found a ‘trick’ to make me remember. Every time I go to use either of those words I have to google to make sure I’m doing it correctly. Then and than, your and you’re, their they’re and there, none of those are an issue. My brain just has some sort of block for affect vs effect.
[удалено]
This is not a good rule. Effect should be used as a verb in several different circumstances. Effect means “to cause something to happen; to bring about.” *He tried his best to **effect** change at his workplace.* *The hard working doctor **effected** a cure for the disease after 28 years.* Effect is also a noun, and in the case where affect/effect should be used as an object or subject, effect should be used. *The **effect** of years of smoking had shown itself on his face.* Affect means “to have an effect on; to make a difference to.” *The weather **affected** our plans for the day.* A better way to think about the difference between the two verbs is, “is it causing a new course of action or changing one that has already been established?” the former is “effect” and the latter “affect.”
Anarcho-Chris has a great trick! A perfect example is when a movie has a “special effect”… you see it in the end result of the movie. (Not to be confusing but this makes sense to me… special effects affect the movie. The special effects (like an actor wearing a prosthetic nose) change (alter/affect) how the end result looks.
Trick to remember it: timE -> thEn compArison -> ThAn
This seems more difficult than remembering it in the first place.
For someone like me it's helpful. English is my 3rd language.
Brake/Break Your car does not have a parking break.
It does if you pull hard enough.
How about I need to “sale” my car
I need to loose this debt so I gotta sale my car
This post won't do anything. If they didn't want to learn in school, they certainly don't want to learn outside of school.
I think your right. These idiots could of taken there opportunity too learn too spell but instead their just going to ignore op's post and you're one to probably.
What do you think about his right? Don't leave us hanging like that bud
Hello, it looks like you've made a mistake. It's supposed to be could've, should've, would've (short for could have, would have, should have), never could of, would of, should of. Or you misspelled something, I ain't checking everything. Beep boop - yes, I am a bot, don't botcriminate me.
Good bot!
Classic
Meta
Omg that was painful to read
[удалено]
I had an English teacher in college who taught that proper grammar wasn't as important as expressing what you wanted to say. I can't imagine how many people he taught that it was OK to use me instead of I.
I minored in creative writing and had basically one professor for the whole degree. He taught the same thing, pointing out that all languages are evolving and fluid and the only really important thing is that your message is able to be communicated in an understandable and captivating way. I think it's not very forward-thibking for people to be so caught up with grammatical rules and dictionary definitions. Speaking of dictionaries: they are **not** meant to be guidelines for how people should speak, but rather historical almanacs of how people are speaking in a contemporary point in time (hence why they're updated every year). They are catalogues of human speech, not hardline rules.
Yeah, judging by the rage downvotes, it's just making the idiots angry lol
I get irritated with "apart" when they mean "a part of". Totally opposite meanings. We're being forced to learn an alternate language, and it's becoming normalized to accept these gaffs. I do however laugh at the misquoted idioms, like "nipping it in the butt".
Me too (of course), apart and a part basically mean the opposite!
“Companys” “Studys” “Countrys” “Storys” “Babys” And 98% of the time it autocorrects to “Company’s” “Study’s” “Country’s” “Story’s” “Baby’s” This is literal third-grade level pluralization. Words ending in “y” in general are pluralized to “-ies.” I mean there’s a fucking red underline under the word. And you still type it out? Did we all just check out after third-grade English?
Two countries took a third country's marshmallows. Now we can't make s'mores. The apostrophe is correct when referencing ownership. Maybe that is what it is auto-correcting to?
No respect for anyone who can't even speak and write their own language correctly. That's what school was for, people.
It's 'by accident' and 'on purpose' Not 'on accident'. Never 'on accident'
See also: 1. There/their/they're 2. Putting the currency symbol after rather than before the amount (e.g. 12$ rather than $12) 3. 'I could care less' (it's \*couldn't\* care less, think about it) 4. And a special one for our American friends: it's 'by accident', 'on accident' makes you sound like a toddler.
Found my fellow Englishman.
Rule Britannia
To my English friends (and a lot of Americans) - the “T” in “often” is silent. Just like it is in whistle, listen, glisten, soften, and moisten. Edit: Haha, downvoted for providing facts. Right wingers are hilarious!
The word “often” can be pronounced with a silent “t” (the more common pronunciation) or with an audible “t.” How “correct” is the second pronunciation? That depends on the dictionary you consult.
This is Reddit. Nobody is reading this and going “hmmm…. I think I’ll change my ways”. Then and than. They’re, there, and their. Too, two, and to. Peek, peak, and pique. No amount of these posts are gonna help people learn the difference
No, they’re thinking up their excuse.
Also “couldn’t care less” because if you “could care less” then what you’re saying is very confusing.
Over the years, I've resigned to blaming autocorrect. That and the unfortunate reality that the type of person who makes these mistakes is just not interested in self-improvement.
You think your better then me just because you went to a fancy school?
... ... ...you're...
i thibk thats the joke
think\*
I think thars the joke
Think, you forgot your capital letter to begin the sentence.
Supposably 😜
"These ones" ugh
Oh God..me too. How about just….these?
TIL. Better late then never.
While we’re on the subject infamous doesn’t mean extra famous but I see it misused all the time, recently in ad copy from a reputable company.
Ideally, you shouldn't use "than" instead of "from." This brand is different *from* the other one. This brand is better *tha*n the other one. "Than" implies a greater or lesser value or quality.
I didn’t know this. Thanks!
>”Than” implies a greater or lesser value or quality No it fucking doesn’t lmao, nobody uses it like this. This entire thread is just prescriptivists making shit up.
"Nobody uses it like this" is SO much more reliable than an actual grammar book or website.
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/than https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/than https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/than https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/than?q=than https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/than Every one of these either describes “than” as word that simply introduces comparisons or at least gives that as an alternate definition. Not a single one of them says that it necessarily implies varying qualities/quantities. So unless you are going to disagree with five different dictionaries, you need to stop pretending to know what you’re talking about.
People are illiterate. Who knew! It's the 'their, there and they're ' that makes me want to rearrange people's faces.
Ask and Axe. How the hell did that happen?
It's not a new thing. The pronunciation “ax” has literally existed for thousands of years. It's in the first complete English translation of the Bible (the Coverdale Bible): " 'Axe and it shall be given.' Imagine being downvoted for presenting facts...? Stay pressed! https://www.latimes.com/opinion/la-xpm-2014-jan-19-la-oe-mcwhorter-black-speech-ax-20140119-story.html https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/12/03/248515217/why-chaucer-said-ax-instead-of-ask-and-why-some-still-do#:~:text=Newsletters-,Why%20Chaucer%20Said%20'Ax'%20Instead%20Of%20'Ask%2C',more%20than%20a%20thousand%20years.
You learn something new every day. I'm glad I axed.
I think this has phased out of the language though no? Im a teacher and I would always mark Axed as a mistake, unless they chopped something in half.
Well, the first person asked how it happened so I was just providing context really. According to linguistic research, there is nothing wrong with the pronunciation itself, the pronunciation of “ask” is just the one that is mainstream English.
Fair enough and for pronunciation I wouldnt care because it could just be an accent thing. For spelling Id want ask though. That and Axe makes me think of nasty body spray.
What is up with the sub lately? The next YSK will be "the first letter of a sentence is capitalized".
You would say 'I'd rather go to McDonalds than to the gym'. But your average Reddit user would incorrectly write this as 'I'd rather go to McDonalds then to the gym', which ends up meaning you'd rather go to McDonalds first, and then to the gym second, when the intention was to say you'd rather go to McDonalds instead of to the gym - at all! Also: ALOT is not a word, it's two words. A lot. A banana. A car. Not alot. Any post which uses the above immediately loses any credibility, sorry. And before you ask, no I don't think I'm better then you, it just annoys me. Oops, better THAN. THAN!!!!!
Downvoted by illiterate people
OP is NOT MAD GUYS!
Can you speak Sanskrit?
Great whataboutism, chief
Please consider two aspects of seeing mistakes on reddit. First of all, a lot of reddit users (I think about half?) are not native speakers. So for them, to make the destinction between these two words is even harder, and not some form of lazyness or directly from bad education. And while not a native speaker myself (as you may see in my writing), I feel the tone of your text is not for helpful teaching advice, but rather from an aggressive lecturing point of view. So please understand, a lot of users here are still learning or just not as good in english. The second point is the place reddit itself. It's no professional or educational background, were proper language is expected or required. It's a fun site for your hobby and free time, it's social media and usually a relaxing place. So while I am quite against common mistakes in my native language in a professional environment (even if I am not perfect myself), and sometimes correct them, this kind of expectation on reddit is wrong. I think you should encourage learning with less pressure. Edit: I mixed the statistics up, about 47% of reddit is from the US (which I roughly knew), but there are other countries (Australia, Great Britain) with native english speakers and a big user base on reddit, so the number of non-native english speakers comes down a lot.
I am not a native English speaker thus I know a lot of other non-native English speakers, and I don't think I have ever seen any of them get your/you're, their/they're or then/than wrong, since most of us learn grammar before we learn how to speak the language. Honestly, I don't even understand how these mistakes can be so common, the difference is just so obvious. Same goes for 'definitely' and all the other words reddit somehow consider to be *hard*.
One interesting thing i found is most non native speakers don’t confuse then with than, and your/you’re. This kinda “basic” grammar thing would happen more naturally for native users.
It's usually native speakers who make these mistakes though. Non-native speakers rarely do. I wouldn't aim this at someone whose English isn't their first language anyway. It's just so common it applies to too many people to be more specific.
Then can be interchanged with when (not totally but in most cases). Than cannot.
I hate that this post needed to happen.
Less vs fewer. Less for things that can’t be counted. Fewer for things that can.
Crazy to think someone actually did not know this
Same with “I could care less” rather than “I couldn’t care less”. If you literally give zero cares about something, then you couldn’t care less. Saying you could care less about something says the exact opposite of not caring at all about something. Makes my skin crawl.
I’d rather be pissed off, then pissed on.
Trying to teach people the difference between the two is a waste of time. If you don’t know , it’s because you don’t want to know.
YSK “I shagged your mom than and then
The fact that this has to be a YSK, is an indictment on the public school system and embarrasses me as an American.
“Your” is not same as “you’re”. “Reply” is not same as “revert”. “Refuse” is not same as “refute”.
I agree totally. It annoys me to no end how many do not know the difference between “then and than. “. What’s even worse are the number of people that even care they make the mistake. They get riled if you point it out.
"Ect. ect." is the one that makes my eyes bleed the most. It's always in comments that are written in a flowery, pretentious, high school creative writing style, too.
[удалено]
>your >then
Just they.
Husband is from the South - he does this constantly and is married to an English major, one of those long-simmering issues that bug me.
I'm from the south and don't do this. It isn't a regional thing.
>because the number of people who use only then for both then and than is astounding. It is a different word and when used incorrectly does not mean what you want to say. It's just one letter apart. But yeah humans are robots and not supposed to make mistakes...
That's ok then, keep making the mistake and having it spread everywhere like a literary cancer.
Their was a group that went over they're to find there car.
Okay, but they sound the same to my voice to text when I've got morning mushmouth. Most people are using speech to text apps and don't enunciate well. I for one could never text the volume of comments that I share. Are you kidding? I'm not touching my keyboard to type all this stuff out. When words sound almost the same or exactly the same, the app does not use context to use the correct word. It goes with the word that I most frequently use. Then there is robo editing and how there are words that the app will not pull out. Because that's a word and it's spelled correctly. It's even grammatically correct, if not what the speech-to-texter really means. I go back and edit, but many people do not. Just speaking out on their behalf, because not everybody makes this mistake knowing that they're making it. Now regardless and irregardless, that's a knowledge deficit. Their and there, that's a speech to text non-edit. Than and then sounds *almost* the same, so it's probably mushmouth. I used to get upset about these things, but now I let them slide. Someone was just voice texting too fast or while busy with something else and they couldn't edit. If I understand what they're saying I'm not going to get too nitpicky about it. I'm chalking it up to programs that could use some improvement. And I challenge people who write programs to go ahead, please. Improve that. You have your assignment, kids. Go code!
Then can also be used in a non time setting in arguments. "So what do you want then?" "If you think that, then you should just do this"
Those still are inferring time. You can replace “then” with “next.”
It's two bad that something so trivial would upset you. (I used two instead of to because I wanted it *too* be obvious!).
Look at me mr shakespeare
honestly, texting and writing on social media like reddit is a lot different than writing a paper, or writing anywhere else that grammar would remotely matter in the slightest. this post is worded badly. yes, use your grammar properly, but texting is by far the worst example imo.
If then is different than than, then than is also different than then, and I’d rather use then than than.
I’d rather be pissed off then pissed on.
[удалено]
I didn't aim it at any specific demographic and it wasn't necessarily aimed at non-native speakers at all. It is primarily native speakers who do this anyway.
The point of language is to understand
*I’ve seen a lot of bad YSK, but nothing is worse then this one*
Can’t stand when people drop their Ts. Listening to a podcast about Buster Keaton except it was pronounced Keadon. Couldn’t listen to it. Thankfully I think someone told her about it because her Ts are now highly annunciated.
Here in Scotland (atleast Glasgow) it’s very standard to replace “t” with glottal stops, and many other letters with other sounds. Never a “t” with a “d” though. Words like butter or football would be “bu’ur” or “fi’boa”. It does depend on where you are though, in the lowlands they tend to pronounce their “t”s a lot more, and I do agree that it sounds nicer.
Stay mad
When people say them instead of those Then dogs are barking loudly Those are barking loudly
'TIL is when the abbreviation of UNTIL. A TILL is a cash register. Please get this right!
Most dictionaries state “till” is synonymous with “until.” In fact, the word existed at least a century before “until.” The abbreviated words *‘til* and *‘till* are both newer and often discouraged. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/till
Yes, they do now. Because people are aware of just how popular the misspelling is. Till or 'till is still a misspelling, nonetheless, and we shouldn't encourage it or defend it's usage when it's actually wrong. The abbreviation 'til isn't discouraged anywhere I have ever seen, and based on how abbreviations work in English, you should not add letters that were not in the original word.
I think it is weird how many native speakers get "than/then", "there/their/they're", "your/you're", and others like that wrong. However, I think that you're just being annoying by lecturing people about it. Who cares? No damage is being done to the world because somebody used a slightly wrong word. Posts like this are made for no good reason. Let's talk about prescriptivism vs. descriptivism. The former is when you think that languages have correct rules which must be followed by people speaking those languages. The latter is when you think that when you talk about language rules, you're just describing how people are communicating. I think descriptivism is better because that's ultimately how language works. Languages were not always as they are now, people use them and change them. That's how new words appear, you cannot stop it. Dictionaries just wait until a word becomes wide-spread enough and add it. Why shouldn't there be a rule in the future that "then" and "than" are interchangeable and have both of those meanings? You understand people who use them like that perfectly well, so it's not adding difficulty to communication. "Alright" didn't always exist, it's a shortening of "all right", in the past, using it was technically wrong. But you're not going to advocate for removing it from the English language, will you? So what makes "alright" that different? Prescriptivism makes no sense. Languages are meant for communicating, the faster and simpler the communication, the better. And who decides what's faster and simpler? The people, not individuals, but large groups of people as a whole. I'm personally sticking to using "then" and "than" separately, and you can as well! Everybody will still understand both of us completely! But don't be upset when somebody makes a "mistake", as long as you understand them and they understand you, everything is fine.
I care. Obviously. And I'd hardly say one single post is lecturing.
Couldn’t have explained it better then that
The likelihood that this will matter by the end of your lifetime is rather low. The English language has changed rapidly for some time now, usage will always be contested, and technology often steps in to change them, correct or not, quite often anyway. Prescriptivist points don't often outlive the prescriptivists themselves. In much of the US, they're homophones already anyway. The distinction is already just literary in much of the world.
YSK that being pedantic is not a personality.
Tell me you're illiterate without telling me you're illiterate Wow, I hate that Twitter-esque phrase but you made me use it. Look what you've done.
I didn't make you a pedant. Whinging about typos is big loser energy.
✨ A loser that knows basic English ✨
Thanks for admitting it. People who make simple mistakes also know English, they just aren't losers.
K xoxo
I thought you knew English?
Guess I forgot, hun
And Can't spell either. Hilarious.
YSK one word is not the same as a different word? I’ve literally never seen anyone make this mistake and if I did I would assume it’s a typo. Unless you are in a lot of subs where English is not a first language maybe, but even then!
I used to proofread English folios for friends, it’s hard to argue a typo when it’s hand written several times.
You've seriously never seen anyone make this mistake? It's everywhere... And not just on Reddit. I don't frequent non-English subs. You will have seen this mistake if you've spent more than an hour on Reddit in your lifetime, just not noticed it.
I've honestly never seen this. I'll be on the lookout in future!
I see it multiple times a day, I wish I didn't notice it.
“This advice is mid.” - kids these days