Grammar/spelling type rant...

[skylarsmammy]

Yes, it's Facebook related and I know I should deactivate the bloody thing as it winds me up. Today an old friend posted about how she has just started her new job as a primary school teacher. Lots of people wishing good luck etc...someone asked which school she had been placed in and a conversation ensued in which the newly qualified friend used the word 'their' when it should have been 'there'. I am gnawing my hand off to stop myself pointing out the mistake. She's a FUCKING teacher. Of PRIMARY aged kids. AIBU? If teachers can't spell what hope do we have?

hunting - but is it technically incorrect? See, I doubt it is since it's in lots of old books I have (the kind that use 'she ejaculated' as an equivalent to 'she said', you know the sort of thing).

LRD I know, language is changing all the time & that's what makes it so fascinating. I like open punctuation in letters, it looks cleaner, but I just have a thing about exclamation marks in the middle of sentences. I don't like black and navy together either. Terrified of making a mistake two glasses of www.mumsnet.com/emo/te/wine.gif

wine

I litter exclamation marks/ italics everywhere, but I can see why you don't like them, lots don't. It's awkward to skim-read something written like that, too.

Ooh, I could really get on a very, very high horse......

I cannot understand how someone would type completely the wrong word as AN ENGLISH TEACHER. This is not the same as a typo. It is the WRONG word.

I'm sorry if there are any English Teachers out there who are feeling insulted. Mainly, though, because I could cry that that this substandard level is deemed as OK for our children by said teachers. Those concerned should feel ashamed ( The bar needs raising....) The ones who should feel insulted are the superb english teachers who would rather have their hands cut off than make such an elementary mistake are judged by the standards of their less than professional colleagues.

purple, they could do it because it is a homophone. That means it sounds the same.

It's not rocket science.

It might be condescending to presume you can judge their literacy when yours is a bit crap, though, surely?
yeh but this is a forum, innit?

But the comment was about facebook, how's it different?!

(Fair point, though ... but then I don't think anyone SPAG matters much at all so I would say that. )

Absolutely, LRD. This thread is ridiculous.

A typing error is not synonymous with illiteracy.

YADNBU.

I would wonder whether a person who is prone to homophone errors is also likely to have a good instinctive grasp of phonics, too? Obviously, all primary teachers need that and you can learn it. But IME sometimes the best teachers are the ones who understand very personally why children get confused.

oh well moaning about facebook mistakes is a bit condescending I agree, they are not at work after all - even teachers need a break! Right now I have a headache from 'proofreading' rewritinga dreadful dissertation so missing out a few commas and caps is a treat!

Ouch. Proofreading is not fun. You have my sympathy!

LRD - I already had an understanding of homophones - even heterographs - but thanks so much for the explanation.

No worries.

I didn't know 'homophone' could refer to any two things that weren't heterographs, TBH. What a lot there is to learn.

I think it's unfair to judge when so many people post on Facebook from phones or iPads, which autocorrect words. Once you've typed 'their' a few times, many devices will change 'there' to it by default, and you can't always check in time before it has posted.

The thread title should read: Grammar/spelling-type rant. Without the hyphen, it reads as if the rant is typed, which it is, I suppose, but was not the intended meaning.

Agree with superBOF about autocorrection. But then you correct the mistake in your next comment. If someone doesn't do that then I think it is fair enough to judge a bit - their grammar is rubbish, they are too busy to proof-read or they are a bit pissed and haven't noticed!

I find that the more I see common errors on the screen in front of me, the more my brain tries to convince me that they represent the correct version. Without judging people who make genuine mistakes, I think those who can spell words the right way should be careful to do so. Before I make a tit of myself subconsciously copying theyre typo's.

I keep seeing people say "I brought this at the shops today."

AAAHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

It's BOUGHT YOU FOOL!

Hi. I'm a professional writer and editor. Good grammar is my bread and butter. I've a first class honors M.A. in Writing, and I'm really careful with what I write for my work and creative endeavors.
Of course I try to be as careful when I'm posting on internet forums, but you know what? Often crap just comes out. I don't think this is a big deal. I really don't think you should be judging a Facebook comment. You're not there in the classroom. You're not in a position to judge.

And if you are the mammy of skylar, as your nn suggests, you're missing an apostrophe.

endeavours

That was for Curtsey

Tis' only Americans who say endeavors my friend. This is a UK forum.

And I don't think you can have apostrophes in your Mumsnet nickname!