I might have to get on my SOAPBOX x2

I have to postpone today's psyco-babble to rant about something irritating. GRAMMAR! I don't even know who to blame, the television, the texting, chat, I mean there is no reason to not know the proper usage of English words, especially if English is your only language!

Example #1: there, their, they're. Put them into a sentence and it should make sense, if it doesn't then you are using the wrong form. "Where is that great restaurant? Over there. (directional)" "Their kids are so well behaved (ownership)" They're going to the bar after the game. (shortened form of they are)"

Example #2: your and you're. "Is this your pencil?" "You're the most beautiful person in the room" See the difference???

Example #3: its and it's. Its is already stated ownership, as in "what is its top speed?" It's is it is, therefore "it is coming" is the same as "it's coming".

Example #4 were and we're. "Where were you last night?" makes sense "Where we're (we are) you last night?" makes no sense at all! "We're at the club" Yes, we are!

And for the love of God, spell check cannot correct correctly spelled words! Therefore if you are trying to write "I went to the store", but typed "I rent to the stare" it looks drastically different. All spelled correctly, but the meaning is lost.

It really does not take much effort to type a sentence that other people can understand without the use of a puzzle book to decipher what you are trying to write. I am almost half tempted to write this blog the way my 8th grade English teacher taught me, without contractions! There is no "can't" there is "can not". I shudder to think how much difficulty today's students will have once entering college and having to write an adequate college level paper.

Anyway, that is my soapbox for today! I will return to what I was supposed to write about tomorrow.