Ultimate Unofficial Guide

[Ali <Ali@zymurgy.org>]

Richard aka "GulPlum wrote:

>> Incidentally, and I don't mean to talk down to anyone but I'm 
curious: do American schools not teach proper use of apostrophes any 
more? (In particular when to use "it's" -v- "its", and correct usage 
of "there/their/they're" or "your/you're".) Even in HPFGU I 
frequently find people who seem to be native speakers who appear 
never to have been taught the difference.<<<

Oh Richard. I feel a confession coming. You see, I'm not American, 
I'm British. I'm well educated (Law degree and currently working on 
Masters level course), I did Latin and Greek at A'Level, so grammar 
is something I'm very aware of... and yet, I make all the mistakes 
you cite. If you asked me which word to use, I would get the correct 
answer every single time, but I seem to have a problem in getting 
what I'm thinking onto paper.

Please be irritated with me if you must, I find it irritating as 
well. I am just incredibly careless, and I think that my brain must 
just work in this careless way. I would love to know if there are 
ways to stop being so careless, if there was a technical term to 
describe people like me. But, in the absence of excuses I just have 
to hope that my proof reading will uncover most of my little errors.

Ali