Why can't educated people use words like "your" and "too" correctly?

Sometimes it is just an honest mistake.

It depends on where you're seeing these mistakes. If it's on facebook, twitter, or yahoo answers ;) then you should know that not everyone goes back and re-edits their post all for the sake of a mispelling.

Your second language friends, more likely than not, had the english language drilled into them more. English is my second language and I have no problems, but I know others who do.

If you think people in college or higher education are good at writing, you are in for a rude awakening or have not figured it out yet. High school and below writing/english classes does not prepare you for college writing. (Some AP english classes do in a way, but it's still far). You know what my freshman english professor said on our first day of class?

"Throw away all that you're learned about writing essays in high school. You won't get far if you write the same essays you did there here."

And sure enough, it was true. High school writing prepares you to write for tests: standarized, SAT, AP tests, and so forth. College writing makes you do research outsid eof your knowledge, infer your own opinions. You ar enot just summarizing what you know and read, but applying that to the now and will be now.

What did I do in high school? I read a book and then wrote a 5 page essay analysing the techniques used and quoting examples explaining the effect created to the reader.

College? I read a book and still did parts of that however but the main part, the whole of the essay, was focused on how examples of the book connected with society and then how society affects the individual. The book read is no longer the 'center' in which my essay revolved upon, but rather a stepping stone to move my essay forward.

I've met college peers who still want/need help with their writings. They use the writing center offered by our university to help in that.

Honestly, even professionally people are not 'perfect' in their writings. Do you think everything comes off correct in a first draft?

Perhaps your question shouldn't be why people mispell and misuse those, but why they don't go back and reread to edit those out.

Mispellings and misusage like those are more often than not, fixed during the revision process. I always expect my first draft of anything to be sucky because i'm just putting thoughts into words. Do you think my hands can keep up with my trail of thoughts and still spell everything correctly everytime?

Unless we are writing professinally, or for business, online, most people will most likely not go back and reread their posts/answers.

Why? because it's the one time we don't have to be 'perfect.'

To sum up my answer for your question....If you're seeing these mispellings on facebook or other social sites, it's prolly just because people don't take the time to edit. If it's in the stories of excited youth who wants to become authors, then it might be because what they have really is a hardcore first draft. (and those very first draft my friend, is a sight to behold ;) )

Unless I see someone who genuinely thinks they are using the words correctly but are wrong....I normally just let it slide. If i see them in academic papers or in stories...if it's a few, i just point them out, if it's a lot, i just advise for them to keep their grammar and spelling in check. Because, honestly, mistakes like that really are the first to go during the reivision and editing process.

Now...

Will I reread this post to edit myself? No.

Why? Because I'm sure you're (haha, jk) your* (jk again, se what i did there:P) intelligent mind will keep up. MOst likely, you'll prolly scan tthrough the mispelling and correct it in your head. The context is there for you anyhow. I don't notice these mistakes unless I tell myself to look for them.

Is this fair to you and unecessary work? I guess it's not fair, and prolly is more work...As a writer and an answerer I do have an obligation to get my point across, and if mispellings ruin that, then it's useless. However, simple misusage like 'they're and their' are not likely to make you stop in your tracks and get all confused.

Remember....Unless it's work related or school related...No one has an obligation to be perfect because of the preferences of someone else. If the mispellings are bothering you that much, then stop hanging around with people who misspell and misuse those words.

The world is but filled with diverse people and diverse writings, that's what makes like fun ;)

Maybe when you consider that theist is said in a different way to atheist. The atheist makes the ei sound like "e" alternatively of "a" however I'm no longer entirely constructive that that's the intent. Perhaps it's precise, as creatrix shows, that atheists are for a few intent larger spellers. If it have been it could absolutely outcomes in atheist being spelt incorrectly extra by and large as atheists use the phrase theist so much by and large at the same time every body makes use of the phrase atheist.

You might as well ask why some people cook with butter instead of olive oil or why others don't buckle up their seat belts or why some spend more money for blu-ray movies when the quality is exactly the same as a dvd....

It's choice. People have different value systems. Some value proper grammar more than colloquial speech. Some even think it's more trendy to speak in 'text speak.' It's the same as how people spend their money. Some value having nice material possessions while others spend their money on foreign vacations instead.

I'm not concerned about their proper/improper grammatical usage or punctuation usage. Clearly they must recognize how to use it properly if they graduated in the first place, yes? If not, then shouldn't you be more concerned with how the education system has grown lazy enough to pass people who clearly weren't meeting minimum academic standards?

P.S. Doctors can't even write legibly let alone use proper grammar...so that just shot your "if you want to get anywhere professionally you have to ..use correct grammar" theory in the foot.

I could point out a few punctuation errors in your writing if you wanted me to.

It's not that people can't use them correctly, they can distinguish "your" from "you're". But it's the fact that they sound exactly the same that people get them confused.

Most of the grammatical errors you're talking about are things you've read on Facebook. Facebook isn't intended for anyone with a three digit IQ.

I also find these things annoying and think that partly it is due to the reliance on spell-checking these days. This means that people can type quickly and assume that the computer will pick up any errors, but they are much easier to see if you are writing slowly with a pen.

Maybe they are just not as bright as what you is.

Sometimes it is laziness, but it is strange when I see one of my foreign friends from Thailand speaking better English on Facebook than some of my friends from University/college, but since you get marks knocked off assignments for grammar/spelling mistakes I would have thought (and hoped) that they would make an effort.

Differences in schooling. Not all educational avenues are equal in their ability to teach basic grammatical principles. Using certain words becomes a habit, so if one isn't taught correctly or isn't given the opportunity to have these words correctly integrated into their language, then the habit that will develop will be wrong and it will be hard to fix.

Why should they have to do better when they can get through life that way? Most people do the minimum it takes to get through school and keep a job. If correct spelling doesn't impress their friends, they don't have any use for it.

But confuse Rihanna for Beyonce, and they'll be sure to call you an idiot.

I guess in speech, they're being really silly. With people who are typing slowly, they're being really silly. But when you are using social networks to chat fast, I often disregard my grammar sense and type nonsense that can get the message through...I guess it's just to get a message through faster...

It's not fair to lump all high education institutions together. I find it impossible to compare a Havard education with an education at some unknown college.