Perhaps it's just me, or just a few people here and there, but I am daily frustrated at the appalling lack of good language skills demonstrated by so many people; online, on television or in the movies, even in news articles and books. I learned in grade school how to avoid such errors so that I could communicate well with others and understand what I read.
Now, I know the schools aren't what they used to be, and when someone is never taught the correct way to do a thing, they can't be fully blamed for mistakes. A person can, though, seek to learn the correct methods. One should also understand that common "shortcuts" for text messages should be avoided whenever possible. If you pay per message, and length is limited, sure, use those. If that's not an issue, however, make an effort to write properly. It's courteous to those with whom you are trying to communicate, and it's a better reflection on you as well.
First, I will address some of the more common errors, which are caused by certain types of words that can really throw you for a loop if you aren't careful. These are homophones, homographs, and homonyms.
I created the little visual above to show what each word means, and how they are related. You'd be surprised how many online sites, no doubt with user input, have incorrect information. Above is accurate data. Some examples of each sort are:
Homophones:
affect/effect
bear/bare
break/brake
buy/by
complement/compliment
eye/I
hear/here
holy/wholly
mat/matte
meet/meat
one/won
plane/plain
see/sea
sun/son
their/they're/there
then/than
two/too/to
weak/week
which/witch
your/you're
weather/whether
Homographs:
address - to speak to / location
bass - a musical instrument / a type of fish
bow (to bend at the waist)/bow (a piece of archery equipment)
entrance (to hold one's attention)/entrance (a doorway)
sow (so-) - scatter seeds, sow (sou) - female pig
tear (drops of water from the eyes)/tear (to rip paper into pieces)
Homonyms:
Air - oxygen / a lilting tune
Arm - body part / division of a company
Band - a musical group / a ring
Book - something to read / the act of making a reservation
Bark - a tree's out layer / the sound a dog makes
Bat - an implement used to hit a ball / a nocturnal flying mammal
Bear - an animal / to withstand or hold up
Bright - very smart or intelligent / filled with light
Can - a container made of metal / able to
Circular - taking the form of a circle / a store advertisement
Current - up to date / flow of water
Die - to cease living / a cube marked with numbers one through six
Express - something done fast / to show your thoughts by using words
Fair - equitable / beautiful
Jag - a sharp, jutted object / a crying spree
Kind - type / caring
Lie - to recline / to tell a falsehood
Light - illumination / weighs little
Match - to pair like items / a stick for making a flame
Mean - average / not nice
Pen - a holding area for animals / a writing instrument
Pole - a person from Poland / a piece of metal that holds a flag
Pound - unit of weight / to beat
Quarry - a site for mining stone / to extract or obtain slowly
Ream - a pile of paper / to juice a citrus fruit
Ring - a band on a finger / something circular in shape
Right - correct / direction opposite of left
Rock - a genre of music / a stone
Rose - to have gotten up / a flower
Spring - a season / coiled metal
Stalk - a part of a plant / to follow or harass someone
Tender - gentle / offer of money
Tire - to grow fatigued / a part of a wheel
Well - in good health / a source for water in the ground
There are many other examples of these types of words, and you can find some decent lists online. Some do have errors, however, so be aware. In a few cases, some words that aren't actually pronounced the same are included in lists because they are very similar, and the slightest mispronunciation can cause them to sound alike. In other cases, there are real errors, such as someone assuming that "been", which is a homophone along with "bin", was pronounced with a long "e" sound (it isn't) due to the spelling, and including it alongside "bean". So, when using the lists, apply some common sense, and check pronunciations as you go. Be sure to learn which word to use when, and their proper definitions.
For a fun example of how these words can be confusing, let's examine the word "does". This one is both a homograph and a homophone. The homophone example is in comparing "does" to "doughs" and "doze". Three words that sound the same, but are spelled differently, and have different meanings -
does - the plural of "doe", meaning a female deer (and "deer" is also a homophone, along with "dear")
doughs - the plural of "dough", meaning uncooked baking mixture, such as for breads or cookies.
doze - to nap, have a short sleep, fall asleep (as in, "doze off")
"Does" is also a homograph, meaning words that look the same, but are pronounced differently and have different meanings. In this case:
does - female deer
does - Example - "He does his own thing."
Isn't English fun!!?
A study of those words and their correct usage will resolve most common errors. I've seen a few, however, that were just ridiculous. One was a quote from a CBS12 article, quoted on another news page:
Cringe worthy! Some reporter wasn't educated enough to properly spell the word "infer". I've also seen someone write " for intensive purposes" in place of "for all intents and purposes". One very common error these days is for people to state, "I could care less." when they actually mean, "I couldn't care less." The first would mean they care somewhat, while the latter correct phrase means that they don't care at all.
Another that really annoys me is when people substitute "of" for "have". This is no doubt due to a failure to understand basic contractions, which is what you get when you combine certain two-word combinations into one, substituting an apostrophe for some of the letters. For example:
they are - they're
we are - we're
you are - you're
we have - we've
would have - would've
could have - could've
The last two are where the problem occurs. People who aren't properly educated tend to hear "of", instead of the "v" sound, and then end up using "of" instead of "have" when writing the words out without using the contraction. This is extremely poor usage. As stated before, I learned this stuff in my early grade school years. Elementary school. Yet I see adults using this error, all the time, in online discussions. It's ridiculous!
There are some other words that aren't really homophones, as mentioned above, but are close enough that people often confuse them. Examples:
are/our/or
We are going to the store.
This is our house.
Would you prefer mustard or mayonnaise on your burger?
accept/except
He couldn't accept the death of his beloved dog.
I like every movie in that list except for the one about zombies.
aloud/allowed
The teacher asked Billy to read the story aloud to the rest of the class.
Sally was not allowed to walk to school alone.
No one who wants to be seen as intelligent and educated should make such errors. When speaking and writing a language, no matter what that language may be, proper usage is important. Spelling is as well, and such errors are not always due to usage, so I won't list a lot of those here.
Thanks for sticking around, if you've made it to the end. I hope this helps some people, even if that's your children. Please add any examples that you've come across, and feel free to rant as well!
