Basic Grammar Rules Still Apply

I have found myself getting annoyed by the bad grammar and lack of basic writing skills I have seen on Facebook lately. I don't expect Facebook/Twitter posts to be English-paper worthy. I don't mind if words are not capitalized or if a comma is missing here and there. I understand that social media is more about that idea being shared and less about doing so grammatically correct, but some mistakes are just a little too severe to ignore!

A LOT is two words. Nothing annoys me more than seeing "a lot" smashed together and spelled as one word - ALOT is not a word! Every time I see ALOT I have flashbacks back to 7th grade English class. My teacher, Mrs. King, had a big poster on her wall with ALOT in a red circle with a line drawn through it similar to a no smoking sign.

There is a very funny blog about the incorrect usage of ALOT. The blogger has created the Alot, an imaginary creature she pictures anytime someone uses "Alot" in a statement. Click on the picture to see the whole post.

Similar to this, it bothers me when people can't use there/their/they're appropriately. I realize that they sound the same, but they mean very different things. I don't really understand why it is so hard for people to know which word is the correct one to use. It is just one of those things you learned in school, right? I don't have a funny cartoon for this one, sorry!

I don't always expect complete sentences with a period at the end, but some sort of punctuation is needed to separate two complete thoughts. I have actually thought about de-friending one person in particular for his/her continuously bad posts with no punctuation. That may sound harsh, but I have the strong urge to correct the posts and I think de-friending him/her would be much less offensive. I have seen this person write two and three separate thoughts in one post with absolutely no punctuation - no period, no comma, not even a dash. Not only does this make the post difficult to read, it makes him/her look lazy or uneducated.

I am not a strong speller myself, but I take the time to figure out how to spell something before posting it for the world to see. I think this is why I am most annoyed by posts lacking basic grammar principles. If I care enough to get it correct, I want you to as well!