Does anyone else find, when on a typing jag, that their mind inserts a random "there," "their" or "they're" regardless of which of the homonyms is actually required?
I almost always type "their" when I mean "there," but never the reverse.
Scientific American, back when it was a respectable magazine, had an article about how the brain processes language when accessing the words correlated with ideas.
The article started with a anecdote from the author's experience (paraphrased):
After the last class before the final, one woman, notably well endowed, approached me with questions about the test; she clearly didn't fancy her chances.
After answering her questions, I left with a comment meant to assure her: "I'm sure you will do your breast."
David writes very well, but is a rather indifferent speller. I had noticed that on several occasions, and had even thought about bringing it up, but did not want to offend him.
Joe: No offense taken. My spelling is atrocious. I have a terrible problem distinguishing my "a"s from my "e"s in multi-syllabic words. It also turns out that my blogging aesthetic (just type out whatever happens to be running through my brain at that point) leverages my bad spelling. Apparently, spelling is for second drafts.
On the other hand, I've noted that my spelling as improved over time as I've blogged. My ability to avoid typing "their" when I mean "there" is unchanged.
I believe my spelling and grammar are mostly correct. I get tripped up with using singular pronouns when I should be using plural and vice-versa. Most of my rewrites are due to my habit of using the passive tense too much. Or should I say that I rewrite mostly to correct passive tense.
I wish I could remember more about that SciAm article (probably 20 yrs old by now), as it was really quite good.
The point to the anecdote was that most of the information about how the brain processes language comes from when it goes wrong.
(As happens invariably when I do the word verification when posting. TDD doesn't get spam anymore, unless Duck is seeing it all before I do; perhaps the front end has made the verification largely superfluous.)
However, if a group of anti-Iraq war protesters were carrying a sign depicting Bush and Blair and bearing the inscription "They're Evil", and if this inscription happened to get split into pieces in the crush, leaving them holding just the bit saying "Evil", and if somebody happened to witness this incident and spot where the other bit of the sign went, this other person might cry:
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I almost always type "their" when I mean "there," but never the reverse.
Scientific American, back when it was a respectable magazine, had an article about how the brain processes language when accessing the words correlated with ideas.
The article started with a anecdote from the author's experience (paraphrased):
After the last class before the final, one woman, notably well endowed, approached me with questions about the test; she clearly didn't fancy her chances.
After answering her questions, I left with a comment meant to assure her: "I'm sure you will do your breast."
David writes very well, but is a rather indifferent speller. I had noticed that on several occasions, and had even thought about bringing it up, but did not want to offend him.
Joe: No offense taken. My spelling is atrocious. I have a terrible problem distinguishing my "a"s from my "e"s in multi-syllabic words. It also turns out that my blogging aesthetic (just type out whatever happens to be running through my brain at that point) leverages my bad spelling. Apparently, spelling is for second drafts.
On the other hand, I've noted that my spelling as improved over time as I've blogged. My ability to avoid typing "their" when I mean "there" is unchanged.
Some mistakes, though, are just typos, see, e.g., "my spelling as improved" in the preceding comment.
I believe my spelling and grammar are mostly correct. I get tripped up with using singular pronouns when I should be using plural and vice-versa. Most of my rewrites are due to my habit of using the passive tense too much. Or should I say that I rewrite mostly to correct passive tense.
My mother was an English Professor.
Grammar/spelling issues earned significant scorn.
I wish I could remember more about that SciAm article (probably 20 yrs old by now), as it was really quite good.
The point to the anecdote was that most of the information about how the brain processes language comes from when it goes wrong.
(As happens invariably when I do the word verification when posting. TDD doesn't get spam anymore, unless Duck is seeing it all before I do; perhaps the front end has made the verification largely superfluous.)
Skipper: I hate word verification, too, so we'll give it a shot.
I think this is a grammatically correct sentence, if nonsensical:
They're their there.
Duck:
I can't get that one to work at all.
However, if a group of anti-Iraq war protesters were carrying a sign depicting Bush and Blair and bearing the inscription "They're Evil", and if this inscription happened to get split into pieces in the crush, leaving them holding just the bit saying "Evil", and if somebody happened to witness this incident and spot where the other bit of the sign went, this other person might cry:
"Their They're! There!"
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