WHY do people write "should of" instead of "should have"?
Do they not understand the contraction of "should've"? I'd actually not seen this error until a couple of years ago. Has this been going on all the time, or did I just notice it?
This is just one of the many errors that bothers me when I'm reading posts from people on the internet in newsgroups or whatever. I mean, I've always seen the they're/their/there problem, the your/you're problem, the it's/its problem and a multitude of other stuff that people really should have learned in, what, grade school, right?
I know that sometimes people are in a hurry to write, and errors are made once in a while, but when there's a pattern for that individual, you just know that they don't know the correct usage. I refrain from correcting these people, but it makes me cringe, and I want to know the names of their grammar teachers to show them where they've failed. You know, so *they* can cringe, too.
I think it's a function of people spelling things the way they sound instead of actually knowing the correct spelling, even if American English tends to be a bit casual in its pronunciation. I also think that people who read more tend to be better spellers, and I'm not of the impression that reading is all that important anymore, especially with the generations growing up now on video games and such. How many kids are going to prefer to sit down with a good book rather than their X-box or Wii or Nintendo or Playstation? Not that there aren't going to be some, but there are lots of other distractions nowadays.
ReplyDeleteI also think texting is a problem. People have always written in shorthand, and I've started using text language when I'm texting, but some people actually write emails or posts in text language, and that really bothers me. I've heard that teachers are having problems with students who turn in homework/papers using text language. I think text language is fine, but only in certain contexts, and formal writing is not one of them.
I just think that in general, spelling and grammar aren't nearly getting the focus they should, especially when there are people promoting that Ebonics be recognized as a formal language.
But then, all that goes without saying.