So my writing conscience has gotten the better of me. Not only do I write very long, very confusing sentences (which are usually full of run-on and extraneous parentheticals) but the older I get, and the more email I write, the worse my grammar has become.
I caught at least one email to a national technology staff list this week in which I used “it’s” instead of “its.” I completely understand the difference between the two. However, because I type the contraction of “it is” much, much more than the possesive of it – it just comes out that way. And it makes me feel like the idiot I look like when I catch it. And don’t get me started about how much I mix up “there” and “their.”
At the very least, I don’t mix up “lose” and “loose” – which got its [hah] very own thread on the macos-x-server list this week.
My only saving grace is that in 50-100 years all our English today will be archaic and I’ll be off the hook.
This post (after correcting 10 errors) has been certified as correct from my copy editor SO, who would like to point out that she does not agree with the “saving grace” sentence. Also she says that, according to AP Style, email should be hyphenated, but knows that she has the proverbial snowball’s chance in hell of getting me to do that. Which is, of course, correct too ;-).