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Education

Ur never be the same again… REALLY?!

It’s got to the point where I feel I need to vent my anger again. This time at poor spelling and grammar. I’ve always been a keen speller and usually quite accurate with my use of grammar. I’m not going to chastise those of us whose mother tongue isn’t English either – you’ve got a hard enough time as it is learning all our exceptions.

The people I’m going to have a right go at in this post are all you brits who just don’t care! Why not? It’s not that hard to get right. The rules here are pretty simple, and you should have had them learnt by 6 years old! What are the main culprits then?

  • You’re and your
  • Wear, where and were
  • Who’s and whose

And to top it off, people are confusing you’re and you’ll, thanks in no small part to the “text speak” abbreviation ur. It really gets my goat. It should get yours too, but clearly we’ve grown into a society of people who just don’t give a crap about what they put down on paper.

I discovered yesterday that in some (maybe all?) universities, students are no longer penalised on poor spelling and grammar, but on their arguments. I used to be warned in my university days that poor spelling could mean the difference between a very good grade and an abysmal one. A first class piece of work being marked down to a third class grade was not unheard of amongst my peers, although a rare sight.

We need to care more. How can you possibly confuse you’re (you are) and you’ll (you will), and then say “Ur be doing X or Y today”, and just as bad “Your be doing this tomorrow”.

Come on people. We’re British. We’re supposed to be good at what we do. Certainly not lacklustre and downright rubbish. I’m going to leave the learning as an exercise for the reader. I’m ashamed of everyone who doesn’t know these simple rules.