Then Than There Their They're

reply to post by jonco6


Actually, I taught adults for 20 years, and considered public school teaching when that ended, but, other than that I couldn't make the required certification courses fit into my work schedule, I really don't like to have to teach the dribble and lies one is forced to teach in school these days.

reply to post by michael1983l


Thank you for your reply. Actually, I read many posts of opinion on scientific matters by posters, who are apparently native English speakers, where it is obvious that the poster has no clue about the facts. Those posts more than likely use "then" and "your" repeatedly, further indicating that they didn't have the schooling to comment on the subject in question in the first place.

My blood vessels are just fine, thank you. Most people think I'm easy-going, because I tolerate mistakes when I otherwise see real progress. In fact, my students sometimes have found me to be too easy. Blowing off steam like this is very helpful and fun. :-)

reply to post by sorgfelt


Why would any sane erson actually believe that just because your English text and grammar is good that they are intelligent. To write words uses a very small area of the brain, to suggest that the rest of the brain is useless because of this is pretty sad.Science, inginuity, creativity, mechanics, engineering,phillosophising, tacticalising and many other imortant areas of humanity have NOTHING to do with communicating by text.

And why on earth do you have such a problem with it, can you not understand what they say because they don 't use the right they? REALLY. What matters is the content of the text not how the text is delivered. I have come to the conclusion you are just a TROLL

reply to post by caladonea


I have lots of sympathy for those for whom English is a second language. When that is the case, I let it slide. Notice that I created a special topic for this, so that I could express myself without insulting anyone in particular off topic. The posts that I mention are all by apparently native English speakers who also exhibit other symptoms of lack of either education or intelligence, and are often downright angry as they express their misguided opinions. It is these kinds that start riots. I guess I am more upset by those who follow such people and fuel the fires they start.

reply to post by renegadeloser


To me, using "then" rather than "than" is not merely a spelling mistake. (I had no problem reading a recent post in which someone said "thn", which was obviously a typo.) Using "then" rather than "than" is a mistake in clear thinking, which goes along with the need for clear thinking in the rest of the post. Personally, I am fairly good at spelling, but my wife always complains when I pronounce a foreign word the way the speakers of the originating language do, rather than the way Americans do. Sometimes, Americans actually do pronounce such words in the way that originating language speakers do, and this sometimes terribly confuses me. But for someone to repeatedly say "then" when they mean "than" means that the person cannot sound out the words as written in their own language, or they have an innate inability to use logic in their thinking. Again, I am not complaining about those for whom English is a second language, or dyslexics. I work a lot with both, and simply try to understand them, rather than correct them. And pardon me for sometimes using too many commas. I was taught to separate long prepositional phrases by commas, since run-on sentences are hard to read, and probably go overboard. Standards are always changing. I am sympathetic to this type of confusion. But I am not sympathetic to a lack of logic in someone who is pretending to make a logical argument.

Yes, yes, yes, we KNOW some people don't have English as their native language. The thing is, these are not the people making those simple mistakes. They know better because they were taught better. I was in Greece a few years ago. In one store the mother asked for help for her young son, about 10 years old. I looked at the English lessons and was amazed. I had no idea what they were trying to teach him about "pluperfect tense." His curriculum was more sophisticated than any I have ever seen in America. So to point out some people are not native English speakers is pedantic at best. That's just as irritating as someone pointing out your grammar issues.

Having said that, there's no reason a native English speaker can't have grammar down completely before he enters high school. The idea that he "wasn't taught those words" is ludicrous. You just weren't paying attention, nor were you held accountable. That's a problem between you and your education. Does a lack of knowledge in these areas mean you are unintelligent? Of course not. Does it mean you're ignorant? Yes, it does. Does it betray your attitude when you blow it off? Yes, again. If you flaunt your "grammer misteaks" like a badge of honor, there's no reason to pay much attention to what you have to say. You're not literate.

Typos, on the other hand, I usually let go. It's so very easy to type 'teh' for 'the' and I KNOW you really do know the difference. You're just typing fast.

Its a conspiracy involving underground Reptilians. They are afraid of English and the Illuminati are in it for centuries. Very soon we will see the death of noun and adjectives too. The new world language will be Reptilian of course. Can't you figure it out?

Just open your eyes and spread the love and light

If I want grammar lessons I'll got to school, If I want ideas and conspiracy I'll come to ATS. I'll bet the guy who invented the wheel didn't express himself as well as we do, but I don't think he hindered society any. Be forgiving and let the masses express themselves to the best of their abilities with out so much criticism.

Personally I think people forget that there are many different streams of English, until recently mine still retained many differences in grammar and spelling, including the use of a reduplicated plural.

So while I can understand a poster I have no intention of trying to shove my version of English down their throats like a uptight know-it-all.

Originally posted by sorgfelt
There is little more telling about the intelligence of the poster, and irritating to me, than someone who does not know the difference between the words "then" and "than", or among "there", "their" and "they're". Even if you are not good at spelling, you should at least be able to sound out the differences between the words "then" and "than". Please, before posting anything, look up the meaning and usage of those words. The most common mistakes are to use "then" when you mean "than", or "there" when you mean "their".

My favorite is when someone uses an apostrophe in a plural situation ("I bought the dog's some food" when it should be "I bought the dogs some food"). You see it everywhere! Also, "to" when it should be "too" ("I am going over there, to"), or, "too" when it should be "to" ("I am going too the store").

reply to post by sorgfelt


I love word games...

"Then he was over there; actually they're all over there with their 'holier than thou' attitudes!"

YEAH!!!!!!

tbh i rly dnt give a fk neither co this is probs the future of our writing/language luv it or h8 it, its hapnin ryt now!

reply to post by operation mindcrime


Some of the other posters have mentioned even more such errors between homonyms - words that sound the same. I can ignore most of those, because even I make errors when I am in a hurry. But "then" and "than" do not even sound the same. So, first of all, read the following sentences out loud:

1. Do one thing, then another.

2. His bark is bigger than his bite.

The "then" and "than" in those sentences should sound differently. Do they?
If so, then you have your solution - simply sound out to yourself what you are trying to write.

If not, then we will have to look at the logic:

1. "Then" is used to separate two things in a sequence of events.

2. "Than" is used to compare two things.

I had been assuming that people pronounced these words differently. Personally, I would really like to know how many people do not pronounce "then" and "than" differently. If a significant number of people pronounce them the same, then we have a homonym of sorts, and another example of how languages change through careless pronunciation.

English has such constructions as "though", "through", "rough", "trough", "enough", "dough", etc., Polish and/or Hungarian words often contain multiple consonants together that are not even pronounced at all. Someone tell me how these languages evolved that way. Many Slavic names with an English "v" sound end up being spelled with a "w", probably because Germans do that, and the Slavic name was first put into Roman letters under a German influence. People with such names have often migrated to the United States, where their name is then mispronounced. My own last name (not given here) is a simple French name, but my own mother could not pronounce it correctly, so neither do I most of the time. English is a mess. I apologize to anyone who takes offense at these posts.

reply to post by michael1983l


I agree that just because a person's language is impeccable, that does not mean that they aren't trying to twist your mind into a pretzel and control people to their advantage. At least, if the language is clear, we have a starting point.

reply to post by sorgfelt

English is a mess. I apologize to anyone who takes offense at these posts.

This is very true, until very recently (post WW2) the language in my neck of the woods (Southern England) was predominantly derived from a Saxon / Brythonic mix which throws up many different spellings and grammar rules to those present in Standard British or American English.

eg: In words such as wasp the last sp change place to create wapse, the letters oi also change places so violet becomes voilet and plurals are reduplicated turning posts into posteses.

But the thing is, which one is wrong!

Those spellings have also made there way into hymmes or published works by writers such as Rudyard Kipling, and I can dig up other books such as travel guides to 'Merricur from that late 19th century that employ de, dis, dat or dem for the, this, that, them. (which appears more reminiscent of text speak that English)

So I get deeply frustrated that while we use standard British or American English these are not the only correct versions of English, which is where I feel a lot of mess lies on the web, and in our daily lives let alone teaching others English.

It’s not just the written word.

People are getting very lazy when verbally communicating as well.

I am not saying that I communicate perfectly. I at least attempt to listen to the speaker and take a moment to form a well thought out reply. Some individuals simply wait for their turn to speak, the whole time thinking about what they will say while the speaker is still speaking. They are not really listening.

I’ve also noticed a serious lack of verbal communication. With current technology it seems that many people have lost the ability to communicate face to face.

It’s easy to script a written answer on-line or in an email when you have time to do the research, think about the reply, run a spell check, etc. How many well versed, intelligent writings are there compared to the number of people who could hold a real time, well versed and intelligent verbal conversation?

I wonder.

reply to post by betty

That annoys me so much. Could of instead of could've also viola instaed of voila lol.
Another is wired instead of weird.

reply to post by sorgfelt

is that you dad
haha

yea learning this stuff is good. But making someone guilty for misuse tends to make them want to come up with reasons of why misuse is a good thing.

All I got to say is :

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by sorgfelt
reply to post by renegadeloser

 

but my wife always complains when I pronounce a foreign word the way the speakers of the originating language do, rather than the way Americans do. Sometimes, Americans actually do pronounce such words in the way that originating language speakers do, and this sometimes terribly confuses me.

You are talking about accents here......So you speak English with which accent as there is no American language?

edited to add:

Sorry that sounded pissy.. I didn't mean it to. Maybe it doesn't? hmmmm ... anyway if it did then I am sorry...