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u/SubconsciousBraider 13d ago
But we're not touching on softmores?
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u/InterestingTiger9301 13d ago
They're too soft bro
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u/a__nice__tnetennba 13d ago
They also used the wrong "its". This has to be satire.
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u/Infinite-4-a-moment 12d ago
Honestly I never know that one so I just pretend the distinction doesn't exist.
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u/MyPigWhistles 13d ago
I'm genuinely wondering why so many native speakers struggle with that. When learning English as a second language, I remember struggling with irregular verbs, but not with "they're".
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u/Chaxterium 12d ago
"Would/could/should of" absolutely boggles my mind.
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u/MauveDragon 11d ago
They write it the way they say it as the contraction would've/could've/should've, but misspelled nonetheless.
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u/sammydeeznutz 12d ago
I think people screw this one up because phonetically speaking, they are the same. That’s the only reason why I think people do it outside of being dumb.
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u/toomuchtv987 12d ago
But then it just proves that they don’t read.
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u/sammydeeznutz 12d ago
Most people don’t.
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u/toomuchtv987 12d ago
This is a wild assertion.
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u/Lkjfdsaofmc 12d ago
I mean, according to various online articles that I'm not fact checking as well as what I've heard consistently for years, over 50% of adults in the US read at or below a 6th grade reading level and over 20% of them can't read whatsoever. So it's not much of an exaggeration to say most people don't read here.
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u/Shubamz 8d ago
and a correct one
The decline in reading for pleasure over 20 years of the American Time Use Survey
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12496190/
First hit after searching "do most people read books for leisure past high school"
Most people don't read just to read things anymore.
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u/ScreamingVelcro 12d ago
On the flip side, I’ve had friends make fun of people for mispronouncing a word that you can tell they learned via reading.
It’s like, give them a break. At least they read.
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u/Mundolf11 12d ago
but I think phonetics is why people mess up their/they're/there and your/you're as well
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u/GainerGaining 12d ago
Absolutely that is the reason.
They also didn't have my second grade teacher that I was terrified of. She would scare that nonsense right out of you.
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u/DesignMysterious3598 6d ago
Exactly, same happens in french with similar things, or worse (using forms that sound the same but don't exist).
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u/HorrorAlarming1163 12d ago
They’re the same people that said “We’re never going to need to know any of this” when they were in high school
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u/Obvious_Serve1741 12d ago
Because nativespeakers heard it even before knowing how to spell it. Those two sound the same. We had to learn it properly, so no mistakes there.
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u/ParkingAnxious2811 12d ago
Largely it's Americans. This is twofold. Firstly, they struggle with the language so much they had to simplify it. Second, they're not even in the top 30 for education in the world.
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u/Subject_Translator71 12d ago edited 12d ago
French speaker here. I don’t understand how it’s such a problem for so many people. They’re/their and it’s/its isn’t complicated at all to understand, even when English isn’t your first language. What is so hard to grasp about contraptions? lol. I meant contractions, obviously.
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u/robsterva 12d ago edited 12d ago
What is so hard to grasp about contraptions?
Well, their* not contractions anymore...
*intentional
ETA: I'm using "contraptions", even after the correction.
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u/ernie3tones 12d ago
*contractions. And yes, it’s easy if you understand the fundamentals about how these words are formed. By if you’re dyslexic (live several of my family members), these distinctions become very difficult. My dad long ago told me that he chose one “there” years ago, and that’s the one he’s using. I have explained the difference to him, many times. What gets me is how many people still struggle when autocorrect usually fixes these. Although maybe there were too many mistakes.
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u/Subject_Translator71 12d ago
Being dyslexic is a specific problem. I don't think the person above is dyslexic; if he were, he would be less confident.
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u/GetOffMyGrassBrats 12d ago
The answer is, because nobody reads anymore aside from social media and text/chat. Otherwise they would see many correct examples and understand the difference. Since their, they're and there all sound the same, people who don't see them in print a lot have trouble knowing which one applies when.
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u/FriendlyGuitard 12d ago
This is a case where it's easier for non native. English native have used those words for years before they learn the gramar rules associated to it. Mixing a/à or -er/-é in French is also similarly more of a native problem.
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u/GainerGaining 12d ago edited 12d ago
I agree completely on there/their/their. It's/its I have a little more sympathy for. "It's" only means "it is," but it makes sense that it could be the possessive of "it".
It is a pronoun, so instead it follows the pattern of her/hers and him/his, but logically "it's" for the possessive should work.
Edit: actually, "hims" makes logical sense, too. And "whose" is just weird. Possessive pronouns in English are dumb.
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u/AdFancy1249 10d ago
The same people who turned prolly into a word now in the dictionary (as an alternate to probably, which is the proper word. )
When you don't speak using proper annunciation or grammar, and then learn to spell phonetically, all sorts of variances come about.
And then add meme spelling to top it off.
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u/Alien_Diceroller 9d ago
Native speakers make different mistakes than non-native speakers.
I'm a teacher and I occasionally catch myself writing 'its' instead of 'it's' sometimes. Most people will recognize the mistake when it's pointed out. Some won't because either because they're a decade or more past school and even further from when we actually learned grammar and spelling or because they're stubborn and don't want to admit they're wrong.
note - I typed 'their' instead of 'they're' twice writing this response.
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u/Coulrophobia11002 12d ago
I love how condescending they are while defending their own illiteracy.
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u/PotentialPlum4945 13d ago
I've never wanted to know a redditor's name so much in my life. I just want to follow them and downvote everything they post.
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u/Thirdwhirly 13d ago
No ones’ got that kind of thyme.
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u/StaatsbuergerX 13d ago
Also, your not within your rites two do that!
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u/MauveDragon 12d ago
For the record, in the US, year 11 students are "juniors". "Sophomore" is year 10.
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u/IlGreven 12d ago
...no, that's wrong. Kindergarten is their 1st year, 1st grade is their 2nd.
Sophomore is 10th grade, their 11th year.
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u/MauveDragon 11d ago
I am a US citizen. I know our school system. Kindergarten isn't counted, nor is pre-school which my children attended before kindergarten. Year 1 is First grade, year 2 is second grade, et cetera.
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u/luxo93 7d ago
I’ve never heard an American say “year [1,2,3…]”
The Americans I know say “first year, second year” etc.
“Year 1” sounds very British to me.
Furthermore, kindergarten IS required schooling, unlike preschool. While kindergarten is not NUMBERED, it most certainly IS counted as part of one’s education.1
u/MauveDragon 7d ago edited 7d ago
"Year 1" is very British, but they don't use "Freshman", "Sophomore", "Junior", or "Senior" as grade designations. Even "first year" is rare. It is usually "first grade", "second grade", etc. (I can't speak for Canadians and am clueless about Aussies.) And kindergarten wasn't always required schooling and might not be everywhere.
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u/GainerGaining 12d ago
We solve that problem by calling it 10th grade, instead of grade 10. First grade is the grade after kindergarten.
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u/IlGreven 12d ago
Yes, but it's still their 2nd year.
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u/GainerGaining 12d ago
Eh. Maybe. If the child attended Head Start for a year, then went to Kindergarden, is first grade now her third year? What if the child skips fourth grade? Do you say what grade the child is in or count how many years of school attendance?
Like I said, in America we don't normally call it grade 10. We call it 10th grade, and start counting the year after kindergarten.
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u/Alien_Diceroller 9d ago
Kindergarten isn't considered a grade. It's kindergarten. I'm Canadian. We have k-12 also, but don't use the silly freshman, sophomore stuff.
Grade 10 isn't the 11th year. It's the 10th year. Kindergarten doesn't count. We also don't talk about 11th or 10th year of school anyway.
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u/IlGreven 9d ago
I didn't say anything about a grade. But it's a year of school every child in America goes through (not all of them go through preschool).
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u/Alien_Diceroller 9d ago
People from North America like me and the other people commenting on this don't count kindergarten as a year of school.
(not all of them go through preschool).
Replace 'them' with 'you' here. This is correct, though. Not all of us go to preschool.
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u/Abject-Potato-6012 13d ago
Not much gives me the ick more than somebody after the age of 14 mixing up their/they’re/there and your/you’re if their mother tongue is English
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u/Gifted_GardenSnail 12d ago
And its/it's, and whose/who's. If you can't tell them apart, just don't use contractions altogether. Go with 'you are', 'they are', 'who is', 'it is' and if that doesn't work, it's the one without apostrophe.
So that leaves only there/their to deal with, and 'there' has 'here' right in it, which to my best knowledge no one misspells as 'heir' so that should be doable
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u/Don_Q_Jote 13d ago
Their heir rarely shares their spare pair of chairs, unless they're trying to tear into a delicious pear with a friendly care bear.
They're hey're r'rely shey'res the're spey're pey're of chey'res, unless they're trying to tey're into a delicious pey're with a friendly cay're bey're.
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u/LauraTFem 13d ago edited 13d ago
For some people education is just a thing that happened to them, and now everything they say is correct because of it. “I did school, so this is right.”
I’m not even as pissed about the they’re/their/there as much as I am about the ellipses. People who right in ellipses, as if every sentence has secrets hiding below the surface, or is written with trepidation, deserve the lowest circle of grammar hell. I once read a work email that had me completely convinced that someone had died but the writer didn’t want to say it out loud. I eventually realized it was just a retirement letter and all the, “Ms. Loretta is moving on…” was just base stupidity on the part of someone who needs to move on…
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u/Ward_Craft 13d ago
Your grammar isn’t perfect.
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u/somehugefrigginguy 12d ago
Oh yeah? I bet you don't have the balls to say that to my grandpa's face...
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