• Linguistics and Language -> Grammar and Syntax

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What is the most shocking grammatical error you've seen on social media?

Irwin Rany

Oh my goodness, where do I even begin when it comes to shocking grammatical errors on social media? As someone who takes pride in my writing abilities, it's always surprising to me to see the kinds of mistakes people can make online. But, I suppose everyone is entitled to their own communication style, right?

One of the most common grammatical errors I see on social media is the complete disregard for proper capitalization and punctuation. It seems like people think it's cool or trendy to write in all lowercase letters with no commas or periods, and while I understand it's a stylistic choice, it still looks incredibly lazy and unprofessional to me. I mean, why not take the extra three seconds to add in some basic punctuation so your message is more clear and concise?

Another error that always makes me cringe is the misuse of homophones. You know, those words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings, like "there," "their," and "they're." It seems like some people just can't get these straight, no matter how many times they've been corrected. I've seen posts where someone is trying to talk about their new car and instead they write "they're new car," which makes absolutely no sense and is painful to read. It's like nails on a chalkboard for me.

But perhaps the most shocking grammatical error I've seen on social media was someone using "your" instead of "you're" in a job application post. Yes, you read that correctly. This person was trying to apply for a job and wrote something along the lines of, "I believe your hiring team would love to have me on board because of my unique skills and experience." I mean, how can someone not know the difference between "your," which denotes possession, and "you're," which is a contraction of "you are"? It's mind-boggling to me.

As someone who spends a lot of time on social media, I've learned to just accept the fact that not everyone is going to have perfect grammar and spelling. And honestly, it's not the end of the world if you make a mistake here and there. But when it comes to basic language skills, like understanding the difference between "there" and "their," or knowing when to use an apostrophe, it really does make a difference in how you come across to others. So next time you're about to hit "post" on a status update, take a second to proofread it and make sure you're not committing any of these common grammatical errors. Your followers (and your future job prospects) will thank you for it.