anitarobi

PET MISTAKES

Good evening, everyone!   I was wondering if you or your students have what I call - pet mistakes! You know those little spelling errors or slight grammar mistakes that you seem to be unable to get rid of? For instance. mine is always having to pause when I spell weird(never sure which goes first e or i) or unnecessary(always careful which is double and which isn �t). I �m not asking you to explain the rules - we all know them. I was just wondering which are the ones you or your students often make. (In case you �re wondering why I �m asking, I �ve just been writing something and found myself checking those yet again and thought I might check with you and perhaps turn it into a ws.) Thanks for sharing! Anita   PS: I might not be here all evening, but I �ll check the thread from time to time, so if I don �t reply a question or two - I �m not avoiding anyone...

27 Aug 2010      

ELOJOLIE274

my students � mistakes: witch instead of which - their instead of there or they �re - environnement instead of environment (they spell like it �s written in French)... mine: can �t remember any mistakes in English, but can find a lot in French... good night!

27 Aug 2010     

anitarobi

27 Aug 2010     

baiba

Great topic Anita! We all know some legendary spelling mistakes made by our students but what drives me nuts is the use of apostrophe in the wrong places and wrong words, e.g. its and it �s! Some of my students write plural like this - cat �s, plot �s, building �s etc. They mix possessive case and plural, and they seem not to grasp the difference. This picture was posted on the internet as an example of such a mistake and it was taken in England!

27 Aug 2010     

Lina Ladybird

Hi, Anita!   That �s an interesting topic.   My ss have problems with the following words:   tomorrow Wednesday embarrassing definitely (BTW, that �s a word even some native speakers here in the forum misspell frequently!!  ---> definately) separate possible (they write "possable") address words ending in -uous (e. g. continuous) words ending in -ful (e. g. wonderful ---> wonderfull) it �s  vs  its your  vs  you �re (your invited ) then  vs  than   I �ll try to think of some more...     Silke   Edit: Baiba, you and I wrote at the same time... I sooo agree with you! It�s a horrible attitude!! What annoys me even more than that is that my students are using the genitive �s in German. In German you don�t say "this is Baiba�s car", you say "dies ist Baibas Auto" without an apostrophe after the name. However, a lot of Germans (not just kids) have adapted that English genitive �s!

27 Aug 2010     

franknbea

A few years ago I started seeing Santa Claus spelt  Santa Clause, on account of that infernal movie. The thing is, it wasn �t just students or English learners for that matter. Other pet peeves; There instead of their, or they �re instead of their. Borrow when it should be lend and the substitution of letters for words in text messages, such as, U=you 2morrow= tomorrow 4= for and plenty more like that... C U 2morrow, it really gets my goat up

27 Aug 2010     

baiba

27 Aug 2010     

Lina Ladybird

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!     AND it�s from an American website!!   http://partyrentalsdutchesscounty.com/invitations/party_invitations.htm   I �m at a loss for words, I really am. *sigh*

27 Aug 2010     

GIOVANNI

27 Aug 2010     

anitarobi

on a hotel: wellcome, dear guest �s!

27 Aug 2010     

almaz

27 Aug 2010