I bet Facebook is an English teacher’s worst nightmare. I know I find it a full of spelling and grammatical errors nearly every time I log on. I am not guilt free when it comes to these errors, but once I learn the right way to do something I try very hard to not ever repeat my mistake. 

There are people I graduated college with that don’t know the differences between “to” and “too” or “your” and “you’re” or “their” they’re” and “there.” To be honest it is sad. These people not only graduated high school, but college! I think there should be some kind of new graduation requirement that makes it where you have to know the difference before graduating. I once got a campaign flyer in the mail from a certain local government official using the wrong “your.” He did not win whatever he was running for and I like to think it is because he didn’t use the right word.

For anyone who is somehow unaware, “your” implies ownership. Like saying, “your car.” “You’re” means you are. When you wrongly type “you’re car,” you are saying “you are car,” which is silly and wrong unless the person you are talking about is a Transformer or Herbie the Love Bug. 

“To” means expressing motion in the direction of a certain location or approaching or reaching a certain condition. Examples are, “We walked to the house,” or “I’m about to do something.” The word “too” means a higher degree than desirable or in addition. Some examples are, “The movie was too scary,” or “I love you too.” If your significant other is texting you “I love you to” like my middle school boyfriend used to, you should ask them “to what?” Hopefully we all know “two” is the number.

Here comes the big one. The triple threat of misused words: “there,” “they’re,” and “their.” “There” refers to a place or position like “Over there.” “They’re” literally means “they are.” An example of that one is “They’re going home.” “Their” is possessive and refers to belonging to someone or something. An example is “It was their dog.” For those who have still not caught on, prepare to have your minds’ blown by this next sentence: They’re going over there to see their dog.

I understand Facebook isn’t a formal place and have been told multiple times people are only doing it to save time in posts and texts, but I think they just don’t know the difference. I am also aware I am often the grammar/spelling police that gets on a lot of people’s nerves. My former coworker used to get so annoyed when I would correct her errors on notes she would leave us, but there were so many errors it was hard to resist. I am very aware that I sometimes seem like a know-it-all.

While I am being a know-it-all, the only time to use “it’s” is when you mean “it is” or “it has.” The word “its” is possessive and means belonging to or associated with a thing previously mentioned.

My rant is over, and your going too do great out they’re. Wink.

Standard reporter Bethany Porter can be reached at 473-2191.