English Education

We live in America, but the language we speak is English. Well, ok, most of us speak it. I am tired of people not being able to get the most basic skills down. Here is a crash course in English, aimed towards errors I see on a daily basis. They make me want to scream! It's not that difficult, people!

their: belonging to them (It is their inability to pay attention that keeps people from learning this stuff.)

there: a place, a word to denote placement (There is a big dictionary right over there.)

they're: a contraction for "they are" (They're letting our children become ignorant.)

your: possessive form of you (Your laziness is driving me crazy.)

you're: a contraction for "you are" (You're the cause of much contention.)

its: belonging to it (Its color is true and intensely beautiful.)

it's: a contraction for "it is" (It's not the first time; won't be the last.)

allot: to divide or distribute; to appropriate for a special purpose (I am going to allot ten dollars to the diabetes research fund.)

a lot: many of something (There are a lot of times where people say "alot", which is incorrect.)

One does not go acrossed anything. I crossed the bridge, I went across the bridge, I did not go acrossed it because there is no such word.

Use of apostrophes: This is a big one. An apostrophe before an s is used to denote ownership. For example: Sarah's dog tried to bite my foot. The apostrophe comes AFTER the s if the s is part of the word already. The kids' room is always a mess. (More than one kid, plural, plus ownership.) An apostrophe is also a requirement when contracting a word with is or was. Sarah's always looking for a new pet. More proper ways of using an apostrophe: it'd (for it did, it would) we're (we are, we were) 'cause (short for because) '90 (for 1990).

Use of then and than: then is used for referring to time. (I liked it then.) Than is most used for comparison statements. (I like almonds more than peanuts.) Then let's go! I'd rather eat rocks than eat lead.

I will post more English lessons later as I am reminded of more common errors.