Why You Keep Using That Word?

I do not think it means what you think it means.


Some examples?

Then =/= Than

Then is a measure of time. As in, "First I did this, then I did that" (after the first thing). Or "Back then I was awesome" (as in, back during a certain time period).

Than is a comparison. "Becky is so much hotter than Amy." Or, "I would rather die than admit we're related" (this one might be trickier to see, but it's still a comparison. You are comparing the merits of death to the merits of admitting your relation to someone).

Your =/= You're

Your is a possessive form. Your car. Your beehive. Your insistance upon using incorrect grammar. Etc.

You're is a contraction of the words "you" and "are." For example, "You are annoying" becomes "You're annoying." If you're (see, you are?) about to type the word "you're," think about whether you could say "you are" in its place. For example, "You're car" does not work, because when you say "You are car," it makes no sense.*

Good =/= Well

Good is an adjective. When someone asks how you're doing, you would say, "I'm good," because you are a noun, and adjectives modify nouns. You'd also say "the car is good" or "the food is good" or "that movie was so good."

Well is an adverb. Adverbs modify verbs (cause they're "ad"ded on to "verbs." Ha!**). "Well done!" you would say, because "done" is a verb, and "well" is explaining how it was done. "You drive well" is also correct, because you're saying that the person is accomplished at performing the verb -- in this case, driving.

Further =/= Farther

Farther refers to physical distance. "I ran farther than Tim today!" Pretty simple.

Further refers to mysterious figurative distances. For example, "If we take this argument any further, I will strangle you with your bootstrap."

Can =/= May

Can is an indication of ability. Can I go to the bathroom? No, I had my bladder removed last week, so I physically cannot!***

May is a request for permission. May I go to the bathroom? No, you may not, because your teacher is a sadist. You'll have to stay here and wet your pants.***

* Unless you're trying to tell someone they're a car. But even then, you'd need "the" or "a" to make "You are a car" grammatically correct.

** I am so punderful. Someone stop me.

*** Granted, usage of Can vs. May has been changing lately. "May" appears frequently in places where we traditionally would have seen "might" in the past. Check out Grammar Girl for more details.
She also notes that it's now accepted to use "can" when you're speaking in an informal setting. So your YA teens would probably say "Can I go to the bathroom?" instead (unless they are super-formal). This gets into more linguistic territory than strictly grammar, however.****

**** Linguistic territory, btw, is awesome, because it covers what we ACTUALLY say, not what we are supposed to say. I shall rant about that some other day!

P.S. - will be giving away books for the Marriage Equality post tomorrow, so stay tuned!