• Meltrax@lemmy.world
    571·
    1 year ago

    “There” is a location. “They’re” is a contraction of “they are”.

    • Farid@startrek.website
      61·
      1 year ago

      On Reddit I always assumed that so many people can’t be that stupid uneducated and make these obvious mistakes for engagement bait.
      But now that we are on Lemmy, and engagement gets you nowhere, I’m losing faith in humanity at a faster pace.

        • Farid@startrek.website
          3·
          1 year ago

          In my experience, these mistakes are made primarily by native speakers. Because they learned it by hearing and can’t tell the difference. Those who learned English as a second language learn through books and are explicitly taught the difference.

      • sparkle@lemm.eeCymraeg
        1·
        1 year ago

        You would HATE being a person who could read in the Middle English era. There was no standardized spelling, people used many different conventions/regional spellings, and it was mostly either phonetic spelling or random French bullshit. Also some earlier writers used really conservative spelling to emulate Old English. It was the wild west out there.

        For example, here’s a (not comprensive) list of the variant spellings you may see for each second person pronoun:

        Singular Nominative 2P:

        thou, thoue, thow, thowe, thu, thue, þeu, þeou, thouȝ, thugh, thogh, ðhu; þou, þoue, þow, þowe, þu, þue, þouȝ, þugh, þogh, þo

        (after alveolars and in contractions): tou, towe, touȝ, tu, to, te

        Singular Objective 2P:

        the, thee, thei, thi, thie, thy, ðe, de, þeo, þhe, yhe, ye, þe, þee, þi, þy

        (after alveolars and in contractions): te

        Singular Genitive, Dative, and Possessive 2P:

        (usually before consonants): thi, thy, thei, they, yhi, yi, þhi; þei, þey, þy

        (usually before vowels and “h”): thin, thyn, thine, thyne, thien, thyen, thein, theyn, thinne, yin; þin, þyn, þine, þyne, þinne; þines

        (female referent): þinre, þire, þinen

        (after “t” or “d”): ti, ty, tin, tyn, tine, tines

        Plural Nominative 2P:

        ye, yee, yeȝ, yhe, yie, iye, iȝe, hye, hie; ȝe, ȝee, ȝhe, ȝie, ȝeo; ge, gie, geo

        Plural Objective 2P:

        you, yow, youe, yowe, yo, yoe, yogh, yau, yaw, yeu, yew, yhu, yu, yw, yhow, yhou; ȝou, ȝow, ȝouȝ, ȝowȝ, ȝowe, ȝo, ȝu, ȝw, ȝuw, ȝue, ȝiou, ȝeu, ȝew, ȝewe, ȝau, ȝaw, ȝhou, ȝiu, ȝeou, ȝehw, ȝhowe; gou, gu, giu, geu, geau; ou, owe, eou, eow, eow, eo, eu, euwȝ, æu, hou, heou, heu

        Plural Genitive & Dative 2P:

        your, youre, yowr, yowre, ȝour, ȝoure yowyr, yowur, yor, yur, yure, yeur, yhure, yhour, yhoure; ȝowyr, ȝowur, ȝor, ȝore, ȝur, ȝure, ȝiore, ȝhour, ȝhoure, ȝaure, ȝiure, ȝiwer, ȝeur, ȝeure, ȝeuer, ȝeuwer, ȝewer, ȝewere; gur, gure, giur, giure, giuor, giuer, giuwer, giwer; ihore, ihoire, iure, eour, eoure, eouer, eouwer, eouwere, eower, eowwer, eore, eur, eure, euwer, euwere, eowrum, æure, our, oure, or, ore, ouer, ouwer, ouwere, ower, owur, hour

        (early ME): þinen (genitive), þinum (dative), þirum (dative fem.)

        Plural Possessive 2P:

        youres, yourez, yours, youris, yurs, yowres, yowris, yowrys, yourn, youren; ȝours, ȝoures, ȝouris, ȝourys, ȝowers, ȝores, ȝures, ȝuris, ȝhurs, ȝourn, ȝouren; eowræs

        You can find a lot more about Middle English spellings in LALME (A Linguistics Atlas of Late Mediæval English) (electronic version here)