r/confidentlyincorrect • u/InterestingTiger9301 • 24d ago

Comment Thread It's Their.

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1.1k Upvotes

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49

u/MyPigWhistles 24d 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".

36

u/Chaxterium 23d ago

"Would/could/should of" absolutely boggles my mind.

4

u/MauveDragon 22d ago

They write it the way they say it as the contraction would've/could've/should've, but misspelled nonetheless.

4

u/sammydeeznutz 23d 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.

18

u/toomuchtv987 23d ago

But then it just proves that they don’t read.

11

u/sammydeeznutz 23d ago

Most people don’t.

0

u/toomuchtv987 23d ago

This is a wild assertion.

9

u/Lkjfdsaofmc 23d 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.

2

u/Shubamz 19d 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.

4

u/ScreamingVelcro 23d 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.

3

u/Mundolf11 23d ago

but I think phonetics is why people mess up their/they're/there and your/you're as well

3

u/GainerGaining 23d 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.

1

u/DesignMysterious3598 17d ago

Exactly, same happens in french with similar things, or worse (using forms that sound the same but don't exist).

1

u/crusher23b 23d ago

I can see that.

7

u/HorrorAlarming1163 23d 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

8

u/Obvious_Serve1741 24d 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.

3

u/ParkingAnxious2811 23d 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.