recent news: more annoyances added, reply to others on the rantbox, contact should work...

learn the rule: there / they're / their

  • there is an adverb, indicating place or position
    • There is your sock.
    • Your potato is over there.
  • they're is a contraction (combination) of they and are and means they are
    • Do you know what they're doing?
    • They're stupid.
  • their is a plural possessive adjective, indicating ownership by more than one person or something, where the owners have been previously mentioned or are easily identified
    • Their sock is missing.
    • That is not their potato.
  • The three are not interchangeable.
  • Getting it wrong makes you look stupid. And ugly.

rant box - let it all out

Craig Delahoy said Thanks for this site. I love it. I started to do something similar myself here:

http://english.october.com.au/

I have a number of current gripes. One is the making up of words to sound more important, and the politicians are the worst. Probably the most glaring example of this is the two invented words "incentivise" and "incentivisation" - neither of which should be rewarded or allowed. An "incentive" is something you use to motivate someone. Therefore the word these people should be using instead of making up "incentivise" is "motivate". Similarly, the noun they are looking for is "motivation".

(Please note the UK english spelling above, using "s" instead of "z". This is not a spelling mistake - I am Australian, and the Americanisation of my language is another of my gripes.) Reply

RIB said Blasphemy. Do you have a college degree? Chill out on the exclamation marks and cut the 'OMFG.' Reply

Somebody said I like the people who say "your an idiot". Reply

Michael said People who tell me I'm ignorant when I ignore them. This is definitely the thing I hate the most. I can no longer ignore these ignorant people. Reply

Cassidy said Right now a trending topic on twitter is #yournotmytype really? REALLY!? The worst part is it's more popular than the other trending topic #urnotmytype. Is it just me or is the second one not as terribly wrong, but still really really wrong. Reply

Clair said Whenever I see someone make this mistake, my heart is overcome with rage.

RAGE. Reply

James said What bugs me more is all lowercase. Ughhh.. Hahaha. Reply

Blasphemy! said I don't really mind if uneducated people make grammar mistakes. I usually expect it. I absolutely hate it though, when college educated people make this kind of stupid mistake: "your pretty" - Excuse me? What about my pretty? UGH! Seriously?! You have a college degree?! OMFG!!!! Reply

Lol said *shudder* ugh! Reply

Laars Johnsen said Your out of you're mind! Reply

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