I learned the difference between then and than in elementary school. I try to insure that my "important" writings - research papers, work products, resumes, etc. have standard grammar and spelling. Posts on Internet forums do not usually fall into the category of "important" writings. Frankly, I don't care if I make some grammar and spelling errors on here, as long as I can get my point across.
Spelling errors bug the heck out of me (especially the loose/lose, oh my goodness) but grammar errors even more so. Dangling modifiers, subject-verb agreement, and just poor sentence structure drive me crazy.
I went to very good private schools and I still emerged with some major grammar problems. Writing well is not something our schools generally teach. It is only through reading a LOT of quality writing (The Economist), frequenting grammar and spelling sites (the New York Times' After-Deadline blog), and referring to useful resources (Grammar Girl is a great site) that my writing, grammar, and spelling improved.
Edited to add: The most frustrating spelling error for me is it's versus its. It's is a contraction: It is cold outside/It's cold outside. Its is possessive: The campaign was so poorly run that its own manager quit.
I don't really pay attention to any grammar, as long as I know what the person is trying to say! ALTHOUGH...I do get 'irritated' by people mixing up 'there', 'their' and 'they're'
The one that irritates me the most, especially on forums like this one, is lose/loose/loss. Those aren't even like to/too, they are completely different words! If I read about one more person wanting to loose XX pounds, I think I'll scream.
^THAT^
Drives me crazy. Along with giving me strange images in my head of little fat cells flying around like a balloon turned loose! Duck! Here comes another one!
LOL
I was raised and educated in the U.S. and I know the difference. I did have great teachers in school who wouldn't accept anything less that proper grammar so I am sure that factors into the equation. It honestly bugs me when professional writers make those mistakes. When it's your average person posting on the net, I assume it's an oversight or typo. I don't really think it reflects so much on the U.S. education system, just the casualness of the internet. In this day and age, with internet posting and texting people tend to be informal. I know I tend to abbreviate because to b/c... I do worry about the world in general sometimes though, we've gone from written languages back to using symbols in texts. I am sure our ancestors who spent all of that time creating written languages are so proud!
You know what... I teach ESL and sometimes make similar errors. I bet lots of native Dutch speakers do the same thing in their language too. As long as something is comprehensible, I don't see a big deal. Yes, I do point out and correct common errors to students (when they are at the level where such correction is necessary) but it doesn't "grind my gears" when native speakers do it. I just don't think it's a big deal in the long-run.
I see threads like this occasionally - you know what? Sometimes people who get annoyed about these errors make other errors themselves. They don't notice it or realize it. Nobody's perfect.
Funny enough, there is actually no such thing as "correct" English. In French, you have L'academie francaise (a governing body on the "correct" French language) but an equivalent does not exist in English. So, while people will argue what is correct English and what is not, there is no official standard and there are a variety of "correct" English language forms in this world For example, if someone complains about young black people slanging their words, ie. "ebonics", I could kindly point out that African-American Vernacular is now a recognized dialect with precise structure
Heh... that always makes me think of Ross and Rachel on "Friends" when they broke up the 2nd time - after he read her 19 page (front & back!) letter... and he chastised her with "By the way? Y-o-u-apostrophe-r-e means YOU ARE... y-o-u-r means YOUR!" Heh.
Last edited by Beach Patrol; 01-26-2012 at 11:25 AM.
i know i do that a lot and im aware of the difference but really if im writing in one language youre quite lucky. i learned french right after english and then learned to sing in german not long after and then took russian in high school and german in university, not to mention i picked up some of the scandinavian languages from my scandinavian (swedish mostly) friends, and my parents dialect isn't normal english, its newfoundland english. just speaking american english is a trial so i often times prefer german. with all that swimming around in my brain and constantly switching between them all, its a miracle if then/than is my only mistake. im sure you can relate being multilingual youself. as for why americans who often times speak one language do it, im clueless to that. i guess it doesn't matter so much online maybe? but in saying that when im watching youtube music videos and somebody whose not a speaker of german has written the lyrics completly wrong, i feel like i need to correct them, maybe thats why you feel the need to correct english? because its not your native tongue and you had to learn all these rules it hurts you to see someone breaking them? just an idea from a fellow multilinguist.
As long as something is comprehensible, I don't see a big deal. Yes, I do point out and correct common errors to students (when they are at the level where such correction is necessary) but it doesn't "grind my gears" when native speakers do it. I just don't think it's a big deal in the long-run.
I see threads like this occasionally - you know what? Sometimes people who get annoyed about these errors make other errors themselves. They don't notice it or realize it. Nobody's perfect.
Funny enough, there is actually no such thing as "correct" English. In French, you have L'academie francaise (a governing body on the "correct" French language) but an equivalent does not exist in English. So, while people will argue what is correct English and what is not, there is no official standard and there are a variety of "correct" English language forms in this world For example, if someone complains about young black people slanging their words, ie. "ebonics", I could kindly point out that African-American Vernacular is now a recognized dialect with precise structure
Well put, sacha.
Also, language isn't static. It changes over time (apparently at a predictable rate) and is influenced by history and culture. Yesterday's misused words are today's standards and tomorrow's archaisms.
For example, if someone complains about young black people slanging their words, ie. "ebonics", I could kindly point out that African-American Vernacular is now a recognized dialect with precise structure 
