Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Inspired by 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th graders

I volunteered in my son's classroom yesterday. Let me first say that in general these are bright kids, I think their teacher is great, and certainly not ALL of them made these errors.

However:

your is a pronoun indicating possession, "your book"

you're is a contraction of the words "you are." If you can replace the word with "you are" PLEASE use an apostrophe and add the "e"

their is also a possessive pronoun

there indicates a place, "over there"

"should of" "could of" -- incorrect. it is "should or could HAVE" (I'll even give you credit for "should've")


A side note to parents: please pronounce "picture" properly. If you don't it may lead to your child writing the word "pitcher" when the correct spelling is directly in front of them because they have heard it mispronounced their entire life. Duh.

Last, my current biggest pet peeve: everyday.

Here's the definition from dictionary.com:
1. of or pertaining to every day; daily: an everyday occurrence.
2. of or for ordinary days, as contrasted with Sundays, holidays, or special occasions: everyday clothes.
3. such as is met with every day; ordinary; commonplace: a placid, everyday scene.
–noun
4. the routine or ordinary day or occasion: We use inexpensive plates for everyday.

Please remember that if you are saying something like, "We go to the park every day" or "I cook three meals a day, every day" every and day are two separate words.

Thanks for your support.

7 comments:

  1. I wear my everyday clothes when I cook dinner every day.

    You're a great friend and I love your sense of humor.

    I wish my kids would pick up their toys because right now, they're all over the house.

    I could have gotten more pages done last night but I was having more fun chatting with you.

    Did you ever get a chance to read Eats, Shoots & Leaves ?

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  2. I am gonna pee my pants. And yes, I did read that. Clearly not many elementary school kids did. LOL

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  3. Amen. People in Indiana "warsh" their clothes. Drives me nuts.

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  4. Thanks for the comment on my blog--88 Rocks! I came over to check out your blog and just had to giggle. I write and edit all day long. I thought I had opened my AP Stylebook when I read your latest entry. Too funny!....wait.."Your to funny" :-) Did that just make your skin crawl????

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  5. Anonymous2:00 PM

    Great post!

    I try to read your blog everyday!

    Kristine

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  6. I'm going to get you a giant red pen for your birthday.

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  7. To my friends who are now deliberately making these mistakes for my benefit: your all so rude! LOL

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