A friend of mine posted this on facebook - 10 WORDS YOU NEED TO STOP MISSPELLING - and I wholeheartedly agree! As a teacher, one of my biggest pet peeves is when adults misspell words in critical correspondence - emails, resumes, etc.
The biggest culprit: their, they're, and there, as well as your and you're. This drives me crazy when someone mixes these up! Ahh!! Come on people! As a result, I explicitly teach and practice this with my second graders. This works out well, since learning homophones are one of our literacy objectives.
When teaching this concept, I usually give an example of an instance I saw an adult mix these up - much to the student's amusement (adults make spelling mistakes too??) and I explain I am determined to ensure that they don't become THAT person!). Usually my storytelling and insistance is following by smiles, whimsical kid comments, and amusement...but I know they'll secretly thank me someday for hammering this idea into them.
I think the #1 reason misspelling common words irks me is because it's something that I always notice, but can't correct. I've never been one to point out another's mistake - that's a big no-no in teaching, and correcting one's spelling often feels rude or inappropriate.
Do you have pet peeves about spelling? Am I the lone weirdo out there?
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13 comments
Oh my God, I am such a stickler for spelling. It must be the English major in me but when I see people screw up then/than, their/they're/there and it's/its... It just drives me nuts!
YES! Drives me nuts. I've always been a natural at spelling so I can't stand when people spell anything wrong. Hello spell check?! With that said, I definitely don't call people out on it because I think that's a waste of time and snobbish.
ahhh the they're -their drives me crazy!!
Oh my gosh yes! I am so with you! My parents are both sticklers for good spelling and grammar. Definitely not worth correcting people, but I will admit that I secretly judge.
I love this! Definitely shared! Thanks! Plus, it's a good laugh!
I used to teach 8th grade, and it drove me crazy how much my students would mix those words up all the time. I'm glad you're getting the message to your students while they are young!
I'm a nit-picker too. One of my pet peeves is the misuse of "then" and "than." Kills me every time.
As an editor, it's my job to fix those mistakes. Then again, that's what I love about this job :) Maybe you should also give your kids apostrophe stickers to make it more fun. "Eat, Shoots, and Leaves" has stickers in the back of the book. So clever. Grammar Girl is a goodie too (http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/). You could dub your A+ students Grammar Girls and Boys :) Great post!
I'm pretty terrible about catching my own spelling/grammar mistakes. I can catch other people's mistakes at a glance. Go figure. I'm actually more annoyed at people using letters or numbers in place of spelling out a world. It might work in a text, but type it out on facebook and blogs people!
Ha totally agree. As an editor, it is so aggravating!
Poor grammar and misspelled words drive me insane. The your/you're thing especially. Its/it's is pretty maddening, too.
Also when people use the following: irregardless, anyways, definately.
you aren't the only one!!! it's not just the spelling errors that bug me but the grammatical errors. grrrrrrrrrrrr.
when people sign their xmas cards--
love,
the frederickson's
really? come on people. 's shows possession NOT plurality.
p.s. i'm a teacher too and i definitely think we have higher standards when it comes to spelling and grammar. =)
You are definately not alone :) If you read this blog entry, he's saying pretty much the same things as you in a way.. :)
- http://bestbloggingtipsonline.com/8-words-i-never-want-see-your-blog-posts/
I think it frustrates everybody in some way, but it's all about controlling yourself to keep quiet or (if you're able to be nice about it and not patronising) letting them know so they don't keep making the same mistake. Personally I know I'm not exactly the best writer/speaker so I would like to be corrected, but it all depends upon the context. If I'm writing or speaking excitedly then It probably is best not to tell me as it could ruin the flow of what I'm saying or just make me feel embarressed and the correctee(I'm unsure if that is, in fact, a word..) looking smug and a 'ruiner' (now i KNOW that isn't a word) But yes i agree with you, but as I am sometimes the person who is at fault, I can't really complain either way :)
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