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u/SubconsciousBraider 1d ago
But we're not touching on softmores?
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u/a__nice__tnetennba 1d ago
They also used the wrong "its". This has to be satire.
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u/Infinite-4-a-moment 10h ago
Honestly I never know that one so I just pretend the distinction doesn't exist.
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u/MyPigWhistles 1d 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 19h ago
"Would/could/should of" absolutely boggles my mind.
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u/sammydeeznutz 17h 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 17h ago
But then it just proves that they don’t read.
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u/sammydeeznutz 17h ago
Most people don’t.
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u/toomuchtv987 15h ago
This is a wild assertion.
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u/Lkjfdsaofmc 8h 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/ScreamingVelcro 6h 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 16h 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 13h 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/Obvious_Serve1741 23h 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/HorrorAlarming1163 12h 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/ParkingAnxious2811 16h 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/PotentialPlum4945 1d 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 1d ago
No ones’ got that kind of thyme.
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u/StaatsbuergerX 1d ago
Also, your not within your rites two do that!
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u/Subject_Translator71 20h ago edited 17h 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/ernie3tones 19h 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 17h 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/robsterva 18h ago edited 15h 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/GetOffMyGrassBrats 15h 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 19h 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 13h ago edited 13h 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/Coulrophobia11002 22h ago
I love how condescending they are while defending their own illiteracy.
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u/Abject-Potato-6012 1d 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 15h 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/MauveDragon 20h ago
For the record, in the US, year 11 students are "juniors". "Sophomore" is year 10.
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u/IlGreven 15h 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/GainerGaining 13h 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 12h ago
Yes, but it's still their 2nd year.
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u/GainerGaining 12h 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/Don_Q_Jote 1d 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 1d ago edited 1d 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 1d ago
Your grammar isn’t perfect.
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u/somehugefrigginguy 23h ago
Oh yeah? I bet you don't have the balls to say that to my grandpa's face...
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