There are many eternal questions out there. Glock vs. 1911. 9mm vs. .45 ACP. AR vs. AK. Is it "i" before "e" or "e" before "i"? Some of these are rhetorical; some are matters of opinion bordering on religion... But some questions need to be asked - like why do seemingly normal people completely and utterly forget the rules of spelling, punctuation, and/or grammar when composing e-mails, comments, or other electronic prose?
In that vein, here's a helpful lesson from Mr. Pain-in-the-ass Language Person:
- They're/there/their. Three different words with different usages. They're not interchangeable; words have their meaning; and you'll look silly transposing them there.
- Ditto your and you're. One is possessive, the other a contraction.
- There is no "a" in definitely.
- Nor in speech.
- It's is a contraction of "It is". It is *not* the possessive form.
- Teams don't loose games and I don't have any lose change.
- It's "choose life", not chose.
- We don't have arguements.
- Please note: accommodate has two "c"s and two "m"s.
- However occasion only has one "s".
- There "*is* an "a" in aggravate (not aggrivate)
- Who's that person? Is that the one whose car is red?
- The coffee drink is "espresso" - there is no "x".
- "Fourty" is not a number. Or even a real word.
- Despite Chrysler dashboards to the contrary, those round things with the needles that measure your speed, gasoline levels, or battery are gauges, not gages.
- There are two "c"s and two "r"s in "occurrence.
- "Two" is a number. "Too" means "as well". "To" is a direction.
- "Literally" means "it actually happened". If you literally laughed until you peed your pants, stand downwind from me...
- It's "couldn't care less", not could.
The capitol of MA is Boston. The capital of Massachusetts is "M"...Oops. Washington DC houses the Capitol building. Thanks Christina!- Stationary means not moving, stationery is what you write on.
That oughta set things straight on a Monday...
That is all.
