Their there here hear…yes, another post on writing
DON’T DEPEND ON YOUR SPELLCHECKER. Do you write there (look over there) when you mean their (It belongs to those people)? Here (It is here) for hear (my ears hear)? Your (the possessive form of you) for you’re (you are)? Do you make these mistakes so often that your critiquing group cringes when they have to read something you give them? Are they so tired of marking the mistakes that they’ve adopted special shorthand notations to correct them? Don’t whine to them that your spellchecker didn’t catch the words because it won’t. You have spelled the words correctly but you have used the wrong words.
MAKE A LIST. If you know you repeatedly make the same mistakes make a list of the words you most often misuse. Keep it in front of you when you write.
I have a friend who made these spelling blunders to the point of driving me up a wall. Then I suggested she keep a list of her most frequent and glaring errors in front of her while she is writing so she can double check them. I am pleased to say that her writing has improved.
Posted on October 17, 2009, in My blog, Writer, Writing and tagged Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing. Bookmark the permalink. 9 Comments.
Doggonedmysteries 
effect and affect >.<
I even had a comic showing an aardvark and demonstrating when each one was used. I still get it wrong.
Yes, that is one of the toughest ones.
It seems that agents and editors don’t have a sense (not scents) of humor, and if you make too many errors of this type, they will toss your manuscript into the circular file.
Spell checker, grammer guesser, they’re all quicksand for the guy behind the keys. http://www.sandysays1.wordpress.com
For fun, here is one of my all time favorite rejection notice quotes . . .
“You’re manuscript is exactly what we wanted, but unfortunately not what we needed.”
Given that the editor had asked me to write the article, I felt this a bit cold. I wrote back on the bottom of her letter saying “your right, this manuscript was written per you’re request.”
The least she could have done was to reject me using correct grammar. And yes, she responded by buying the article.
As luck would have it, our (are) paper had an article about the confusions in the English language on their (they’re, there) editorial page today. I’ll send it to you.
there there now just kidding lol couldn’t help myself
Sandy–is that like the man behind the curtain? 😉
Elena–I love it!!!
Dave–please send it.
Jim– 🙂
If there’s one thing that drives me up the wall, it’s rogue apostrophes.
Or, as many would put it:
If theres one thing that drive’s me up the wall, its rogue apostrophe’s.
Those little devils are difficult to tame once someone allows them to go rogue!