[clstrfckr]

*then

[cromulent]

An excellent example of Muphry's Law.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muphrys_law

[darklajid]

I know this is not appropriate, but it made me laugh so hard.

I'm trying to write as correct as I can, but the GP just proved that these mistakes happen to everyone, even the people that think that it might make sense.

What about non-native speakers? Their point might be valuable, the participation in a discussion really help- and meaningful, but still - these now/know, there/their, you're/your mistakes are common. And not an indication of intelligence.

Edit: Just to be sure here and kind of answering the posts below: Guys, I'm a non-native speaker as well (in fact, my accent is terrible. I try to write as decent as possible, but that's a different thing). So - my data point, without any backing but my past experience, is that this is indeed an error that non-native speakers do just as well. I didn't want to imply that non-native speakers are idiots per se according to the criteria of this blog.

[StavrosK]

I will agree with the others. Non-native speakers (such as myself) tend to pronounce the words more carefully, thus they don't confuse them as often.

In my head, "then" and "than" sound totally different. Same with "they're", "their", and "there", "loose" and "lose", etc.

[darklajid]

Interesting. I kind of replied to the first line in an edit above, but the second one intrigues me.

Probably this just proves that my accent is crap, but for me 'then' and 'than' sound about ~the same~, ditto for 'their'/'there' and 'loose'/'lose'. Again - probably I'm just missing something here. Improving my spoken English is definitely on the list of things I want to do..

[StavrosK]

Maybe it depends on where you're from? In my Greek head-accent "e" and "a" are very different. Same with "their" and "there" (the-ir, the-r).

When I speak, of course, they sound identical, but my spoken accent is not the accent I think in.

[cycojesus]

I don't think it's a question of sound. (I'm french) 'they're', 'their' and 'there' sound the same (spoken or in my head), but their meaning has nothing in common so I never mistake one for another. How you acquire a language plays here. I learned english fully conscious of what I was doing rather than my organic absorption of french.

[StavrosK]

Oh, of course. I'm just saying that the most common reason for conflation (the fact that they're homophones) doesn't exist for me.

[snitko]

For non-native speakers these captchas would be easy. These are very basic things we tend to learn very well when we first start learning english.

[argv_empty]

These are not mistakes I typically see from non-native speakers. (YMMV)

[erikpukinskis]

FYI, you write "correctly". The only thing, grammatically, that you can do "correct" is "come correct", but that's an idiom.

[klipt]

Using adjectives as adverbs is incorrect in British English, but extremely common in American English. For example:

"I'm doing good" instead of "I'm doing well" "He eats real fast" instead of "He eats really quickly"

If enough people speak that way, I don't think you can call it "wrong" so much as a dialect in its own right.

[erikpukinskis]

I wouldn't correct a native speaker. I was just offering, in case they cared.

Fast and good are de facto adverbs. Maybe in some American dialects it's common to use other adjectives as adverbs, but not in mine.

Agree that language changes.

[darklajid]

Thanks for the correction. I should've caught that..

You just triggered an image of my first english teacher. 'To be plus adjective, adjective plus noun, verb plus adverb' was her favorite. ;)

[eavc]

Is 'correct' even working as an adverb in that case, or is it more like "come ready" or "come hungry"?

[silverbax88]

upvoted for calling me on my BS

[yequalsx]

"Then" is correct, isn't it? The statement is an if-then statement. Am I wrong?

[darklajid]

Yes it is, but the post was edited. It used 'than' before.

[clstrfckr]

silverbax88 originally used "than"

[yequalsx]

Ah. Thanks. I thought I was losing my mind!