English Rant

Detour from the usual movie thing but necessary.



People my age and younger suck at English. In the grand scheme of things, English is a hard language and the formulas are constantly changing regardless of the "rules"....There are more exceptions in English than can be mentioned but that's no excuse for the blatant misuse of a language. However, the BIGGEST problem I've been noticing lately is the totally improper use of "your" and "you're".


Quick English Lesson:

Your: possessive
You're: a contraction of you and are

In a sentence?


Your book is on the table.

You're the owner of that book?

Hard?


No, not at all.

I don't know why people don't understand this SIMPLE and incredibly BASIC grammar rule. It's one thing to use "ur" instead of the full "you're" or "your" in a text but if you're (you + are) going to type it out, in what you THINK is proper English, take a second and just read what you're saying.

"hey dude, your going down!" does NOT MAKE SENSE. Someone cannot be the personification of "going down"; it's impossible.

Another mistake people make?


then vs than


Then is based in time
and
than is comparative

In a sentence:


Susie is going to the store and then to the movies.
(Susie is creating a time line)

John would rather go to the movies than go to the store.
(John is making a comparison)

HARD?!
no, not hard.


Did you know that....

• Almost 50% of Canadian adults have low literacy skills?
• A 1% increase in the literacy rate would generate $18 billion in economic growth every year?
• and, in Ontario only 30% of the population have less than a high school education?

Why?

Brought to you in part by the Coalition for Literacy Rejuvenation and The Rebecca G. Fund