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What 90% Of Diggers NEED Before They Post: They're/Their/There Quiz!

better-english.com — It is not that hard. Really.

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  • iFlop, on 10/10/2007, -13/+371Correct!
    Your score is 100%.
    • Mast3rDigg3r, on 10/10/2007, -36/+8wow you're a genius
      • ozydingo, on 10/10/2007, -5/+62don't you mean "wow your a genious"?
      • H0tKarl, on 10/10/2007, -9/+19your retarded
        • Ploosheeta, on 10/10/2007, -13/+9no you're.
          • neau, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1You suck at sarcasm!
          • SteveMax, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2This is Digg. You can never know if their being sarcastic or if there errors are really they're ;)
      • mrASSMAN, on 10/10/2007, -14/+4your retarded cat.. is stupid.
        • Ploosheeta, on 10/10/2007, -5/+7Your cat's owner is stupid. Even your DOG's owner is stupid!
    • WhiteIce89, on 10/10/2007, -5/+204This should be a mandatory captcha when registering for Digg.
      • trim17, on 10/10/2007, -9/+19Along with spelling tests for "rediculous", "retarted", &c.
        • edwartica, on 10/10/2007, -19/+4How about an all out ban on "retard," "retarded," and the like? Seriously, there is nothing funny about calling someone a "retard." What's next, racial slurs?
      • alexmuller, on 10/10/2007, -1/+50and http://d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y.com/
        • Ploosheeta, on 10/10/2007, -0/+46thanx. that defiantly helped!
        • jasdf, on 10/10/2007, -8/+1I have to admit that I am notorious for misspelling that word.
      • spoiled1, on 10/10/2007, -10/+5Your all crazy.
        • SerifTheRobot, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11You're all crazy.
        • tyywebb, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8Humor is often under-appreciated on this site.
          • therightclique, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5no, it isn't. people just think they're being funny when they're not being funny. and then you try to pretend they're being funny. there's no way you could actually think that was funny unless UR TOTALLY TARDED.
      • maz2331, on 10/10/2007, -3/+0They're going to have to rethink the content of their quiz for there to be any chance of making me score less than 100%.
    • TiMMY8765, on 10/10/2007, -44/+21should say:

      Correct:
      You're score is 100%
    • xerigen, on 10/10/2007, -3/+62100%! Why? Because I'm not retarded! Yay!
      • MrMidi, on 10/10/2007, -16/+5so... all nonfluent English speaking/reading/writing individuals are retarded?
        • Cine, on 10/10/2007, -0/+18Actually, most people who get they're/their/there wrong seems to have it as their first language. I'm Norwegian, and most people I know get it right. Maybe it has something to do with having a language to translate it to, or the fact that we're taught writing English before speaking it. :)
        • ssulistyo, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9Yeah, I agree. It's the same as people saying "of" instead of "have" in Past Perfect. They are used to only hearing the words and not seeing them written, so they easily confuse the right way of spelling it.
          If you learn a foreign language you usually get much better grammar instruction than any native speaker will ever experience (at least formally).
      • shaun1018, on 10/10/2007, -1/+16yes.
      • Shaflugi, on 10/10/2007, -0/+32If English is their first language, yes.
      • IntellEJent, on 10/10/2007, -11/+1If you weren't retarded, you would have written "100 percent" and not "100%".
        • therightclique, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1what does that mean? % = percent. what's wrong with you?
        • drakenlot, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I guess your name is a play on words, since you don't seem to be very intelligent
    • ninja0, on 10/10/2007, -8/+16100%, thank GOD i've been loking for this forever, im going to mass forward this URL to all the dumb ***** i know that mess this up its so annoying, learn some god damn English
      • Megaten, on 10/10/2007, -2/+19Not only have I been loking for this forever as well (We're on the same page right? Loking as in acting in a manner similar to Loki, the mischievous hair-cutting *****?), but I feel the need to forward this as well. Because you know, not capitalizing 'I' and forgetting to put a ' in it's...those don't piss me off when insulting other's grammar - but they're/their/there...oh you just pissed my Clubber Lang side off boy howdy.
      • Ploosheeta, on 10/10/2007, -1/+18i've
        loking
        im
        i
        its

        Ya, i hate when people use emproper gramar two.
      • indorock, on 10/10/2007, -10/+2Wow, their are more grammatical and spelling errors in that one sentence than in most of the comments written by "dumb *****" you are so annoyed about. Way to put you're own foot in you're mouth.
      • jasdf, on 10/10/2007, -3/+0deleted.
      • maz2331, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0This one was a good start, but we need to correct the "loose/lose" problem to turn the tide of difficult to read posts.
    • donwilson2, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2This is a MFA site. Quiz works just fine, however do not click the button at the bottom of the page, as it directs you to a spam site containing nothing but links to other MFA sites and adsense ads.
      • damentz, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3No actually thats just their site, its coded for IE so it looks like ads.
    • Ranferi, on 10/10/2007, -0/+39I'm Mexican, and I speak English as a second language. Yet, I don't have any trouble with there/their/they're. So yeah, I got 100% correct. *****, honestly, I don't see how so many Americans can't spell *****...

      UPDATE: ***** Digg comment system. I haven't submitted comments in a long time. I guess the double-comment ***** is true. Kevin, fix this *****!!!
      • BarneyF, on 10/10/2007, -3/+19Hah! Another good reason to be against immigration. Those foreigners are making us Americans look dumb.
        • Ploosheeta, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5No, Barney was dumb to begin with.
      • digicanmon, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1You used ***** twice in the same sentence. There are people that can't see how funny their speech is. They're numerous in number.
        • adrianmonk, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4He used it once as an interjection and once as a noun, so it seems correct to me. "*****" is a very versatile word...
    • Ranferi, on 10/10/2007, -12/+8I'm Mexican, and I speak English as a second language. Yet, I don't have any trouble with there/their/they're. So yeah, I got 100% correct. *****, honestly, I don't see how so many Americans can't spell *****...
      • pecet, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10I'm from Poland, and there is no problem either.
      • lossollis, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0No problem here either and I'm Colombian.
      • Ravenhaft, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Why is everyone digging down the Mexican? He's not saying anything untrue, nor did he make any mistakes in his writing.
        • drakenlot, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1They're digging him down cause it's a double post, no one needs to read the same comment twice.
    • bitcloud, on 10/10/2007, -16/+11Sorry for the comment abuse but:
      PLEASE STOP TELLING PEOPLE HOW TO SPELL CORRECTLY.

      Without poor grammar and spelling we no longer have the instant moron indicator which is so valuable in online communities.
    • WaterDragon, on 10/10/2007, -2/+12Their! I'm dun. I got a perfect score to. That was to easy.
      Awl Digg user's should halve two take thee same test!
      Then may be wee mite awl get more better inn are hues of the language.
    • Influsion, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1"You're score is 100%!" Woohoo! /intent.
    • Ploosheeta, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Correct!
      Your score is 0%.
    • saint1959, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5"Your score is 0%"

      Their is no hope for me.
    • thebrawl, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4their not getting me to take there test over they're
    • GeneralBison, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1"Correct!
      Your score is 100%."

      As should EVERYBODY'S.
  • ScorpioPT, on 10/10/2007, -67/+1299% and i´m Portuguese
    • jord, on 10/10/2007, -2/+83there are only 20 questions... how could you have gotten anything other than a factor of 5?
      • capiCrimm, on 10/10/2007, -1/+55He's Portuguese, they get a +4% for trying.
      • Squar3d, on 10/10/2007, -8/+2Obviously because he's Portuguese
      • H0tKarl, on 10/10/2007, -3/+9Their very tricky those Portuguese. (oh, damn)
      • ninja0, on 10/10/2007, -6/+2i was gonna say... haha... but i think capiCrimm is right.
      • FunkyLlama, on 10/10/2007, -2/+11I suspect you mean a multiple of 5, otherwise all answers would have to be either 1 or 5.
      • Jebral, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Take the test, make a mistake... get correct answers. It will not be a multiple of five. (not factor)
    • allyant, on 10/10/2007, -6/+5No excuse.
    • Ploosheeta, on 10/10/2007, -11/+6Well their you go.
    • ScorpioPT, on 10/10/2007, -13/+3that's how good i am
      • CGorman68, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8I guess they don't teach math in Portugal.
      • jamkey, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3This guy should work for the Bush administration... He's a liar AND mathematically challenged.
  • OneSevenSixNine, on 10/10/2007, -4/+86100%...I guess I can make a comment or post a story now.
    • mrASSMAN, on 10/10/2007, -2/+11Welcome, you're safe here.
    • fearlessfx, on 10/10/2007, -4/+1yep, submit it right therrrrrrr, yo.
    • FunkyLlama, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2An idea forms: make all Diggers take this quiz before they're allowed to post.
  • somunny, on 10/10/2007, -25/+239Your absolutely correct! This quiz really helps to improve you're grammar.
  • insane11, on 10/10/2007, -8/+68Now if only they had a your/you're quiz...
  • gpathak, on 10/10/2007, -21/+6I'm pretty sure diggers should worry more about ***** statistics.
    • Ploosheeta, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I disagree with the statistics in this grammar quiz, as well.
  • Patogrande, on 10/10/2007, -4/+80YES! Now can we get one on "your" and "you're", and another on "loose" and "lose"?
    • rageguy, on 10/10/2007, -1/+31Defiantly!
    • MagicCake, on 10/10/2007, -6/+2The stupid "loose" thing bothers me more than all the others... The worst part is I've watched it spread. It wasn't so bad a couple years ago.

      Also, rageguy, I reeeeally hope you were trying to be funny and didn't type "defiantly" on purpose. That's another one in the same vein as loose/lose.
      • geolukas8, on 10/10/2007, -3/+0Your/You're quiz

        http://www.english-zone.com/verbs/your1.html
      • Camphlobactor, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1l agree. lt's so strange to see how often people will mess up that one. An occasional slip in grammar is more tolerable than ***** up the difference between 'lose' and 'loose'.
      • therightclique, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1"defiantly" is a word. maybe he meant it that way. maybe he plans on defying the your/you're test.
    • ryzellon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4"I could care less" and "I should of..." bother me, but I can't think of a simple way of making a quiz for it.
      "Begs the question" is another abuse, but it's gotten so main-stream that 95% of people (including journalists/authors/etc.) use it incorrectly.
      • prockcore, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2"try and" bothers me a lot more than it should. Probably because it is more common than any other mistake.

        e.g. I'm going to try and fix my grammar. That should be I'm going to try to fix my grammar.
        • Ploosheeta, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6And when people write/type out "of" after a word instead of " 've " like "would of" instead of "would've/would have". And when people start sentences with and. And when people are hypocritical. And when people try to be ironic. And when people accusing other people of being ironic are being ironic themselves. And paradoxes.
      • therightclique, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1well for all intensive purposes, people's typing skills are pretty good their.

        /sarcasm.
    • silly110671, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0Don't forget about "then" and "than" or "worse" and "worst".
      • breadfred, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1That's easy! A worst is a sausage in Dutch. Worse doesn't mean anything.
    • FunkyLlama, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Your absolutely right; otherwise Diggers would loose even more basic grammar.
    • psykiv, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I STILL don't understand effect vs affect though. :( All the other ones I get without a problem.
      • DrummerAndrew, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Something that happens affects something else. The end result is an effect. Affect is the verb, Effect is the resulting noun.
      • Aticper, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0'Effect' is something that happens to something else.

        'Affect' is to cause something to happen.
    • augustwest30, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1And to/too/two.
  • twrife, on 10/10/2007, -7/+155Well I hope their happy, they're were a lot of hard questions on there test.
    • Paranoidmarvin, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Reading that gave me a headache, thanks a lot
    • rjam710, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I see what you did they're.
  • akurenath, on 10/10/2007, -24/+16I have a problem with question 17. It says "IBM have increased..." when it should say "IBM has increased..." I mean if it's a quiz about grammar then maybe it should use proper grammar. Maybe...
    • Zarokima, on 10/10/2007, -2/+21Read what's in parentheses after it.
    • PhoenixAvatar2, on 10/10/2007, -5/+8FTA:
      17 IBM have increased ______ profits by 20%.(This example is correct in British English - ask an American what they would say!)

      I know, it looks weird to me too.
    • Jasio, on 10/10/2007, -10/+4I don't think the grammar is improper. IBM could refer to the employees.. "The employees have increased", IBM have increased.
      Made sense to me.
      • ninja0, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1but it doesn't say that.
      • WaterDragon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Inasmuch as the term (singular) ' IBM' refers to a group of people, since IBM, the single thing, can't speak or do anything or increase anything independently of said people, therefore it is correct to use IBM, meaning the people in it, as a plurality. e.g. IBM have do bad make computers for to run a crappy OS.
    • Pimpin-Assassin, on 10/10/2007, -2/+28It looks weird because in British English, they talk about the people within the company; while in American English, we talk about the company as an individual noun. At least that's my theory.
      • mrASSMAN, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3That's correct.
      • illogicz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1+5 insightful
        Says lots about corporate mentality
      • WaterDragon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Yes, and that simply underscores the difference between a nation that think in terms of individual people, rather than a nation that thinks in terms of a fascist corporatocracy.
      • SeBBBe, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2What if you're talking about a one-man company?
    • robot1122, on 10/10/2007, -7/+1that's just weird... IBM is a single entity and a single noun, so it should be 'has'; shouldn't it? I don't see how the british english would change that. the rules should be similar in some respect.
    • Useight, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8Haven't any of you taken an advanced, college-level writing course? Maybe I'm just old (23). British English uses "they" for a company while American English uses "it". British English didn't change it, we did. They just consider a company plural while we consider it singular. Don't ask me why, that's just the way it is.
      • *jooloop*, on 10/10/2007, -5/+1Let's think for a moment shall we? "They just consider a company plural" A company? If it's plural, do they say many company, all company? Sure, you could say "all of IBM _____ (employees, products, ect.)" But now I'm just confused.
        • hamdogger, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5it's called a collective noun.


        • tgoose, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Personally it took me a while to work out what Americans could find wrong with it.
      • coolchucknorris, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0I learned that when I was 13 in the seventh grade.
      • WaterDragon, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2It's because most Americans are more willing to surrender rights to some fascistic corporatist entity, after years of intense brainwashing in the corporate-controlled media, thanks to the negligence of the corporate-owned FCC that has allowed it. .
      • DrummerAndrew, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Why?
    • cimordnilap, on 10/10/2007, -3/+2This used to be bother me alot, when i was teaching English in China my students were taught to say "My family are watching tv." And I would argue with them, they would say but my family has 3 people, and eventually i would replied by asking what if your mom and dad get run over by a bus, now what do you say?
      • diggpotato, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10I'd say they're very unlucky but at least IBM's profits are up.
      • mrASSMAN, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2That's pretty horrible..
      • WaterDragon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1You say 'my parents ARE dead'. Now what was your point?
    • H0tKarl, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9IBM done increased their profits...
      • techweenie1, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1hmm really didn't seem to bother me much...and I am American.
      • Anthracene, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1It's "done went" down here in North Carolina.
        • Toshibi, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6I'm in NC and it would be "IBM done went and increased them there profits by a big ol' 20%."
    • Yawgmoth, on 10/10/2007, -2/+6All American/British differences aside, considering the only options are they're, there and their it is fairly obvious that have is the correct form of the verb. You wouldn't say, "IBM has increased their profits." You would either say "IBM has increased its profits" (notice that it is ITS and not IT'S ... another common mistake) or you'd say "IBM have increased their profits" It may sound weird to us Yanks (yes "us" you use the objective form of pronouns for the object of the preposition) but it's (proper use of it's) still proper grammar.

      /grammar_nazi
    • falstaff, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2Well, IBM stands for International Business Machines, which is plural. I don't know if that has any bearing on the difference have/has usage, but I always figure if you can't solve a problem with the most logical hypothesis, throw a bunch of other ***** out there just in case.
      • mikesay98, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1You're correct there, but then you would be saying that the actual machines themselves have increased profits. Regardless of country, no one would think of it as the machines having done the work.
    • ricercia, on 04/21/2008, -0/+2I'm British and it makes perfect grammar to me!
    • ricercia, on 04/21/2008, -1/+1I'm British and it makes perfect grammar to me!
    • DrummerAndrew, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1What if IBM only has one employee? Then you sound like a total idiot.
  • akurenath, on 10/10/2007, -11/+3g
  • bagelpirate, on 10/10/2007, -6/+50I've drank two 22s of Stone IPA and many bongloads, and I still got 100%.

    Cheers!
    • nshah, on 10/10/2007, -3/+31Bong hits for grammar!
    • H0tKarl, on 10/10/2007, -3/+10I believe that should have read "I've drunk two 22s..."
    • Rooster99, on 10/10/2007, -6/+1Yeah, Ive been smoking all day and I got 100%. This will weed out the tards from the norms.
    • tgoose, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10There's something wrong if you're drinking bongloads...
  • blumph, on 10/10/2007, -6/+36i think theyre is something wrong with this test. for starters my teachers say i write fine and there never wrong! theirs no raisin for me to do this stupid test
  • Jorlwind, on 10/10/2007, -11/+6Boasting aside, I did get 100%, but that is because of the work I put into fixing my grammar a little bit. I had a lot of problems with "there/their/they're," along with things like, "you're/your."

    Yes, I am still working on my grammar. My grammar still sucks.
    • chiller2002, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5The easiest way to determine if you should use you're, it's, or they're is to repeat the sentence without the contraction. (i.e. you are, you were, it is, it was, they are, they were)
      • swrlyhrly, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1agreed, i dont know where i learned that but i've been doing that subconsciously for years. It works great.
        • Ploosheeta, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1ive been doing that sense i learned to right.
  • suxmonkey, on 10/10/2007, -13/+2Their you go again, making fun of there grammar. Go over they're and think about how you made them feel!
  • afruff23, on 10/10/2007, -16/+8They're is no way their are that many diggers that can't proofread there posts.
  • merrickx, on 10/10/2007, -8/+32You got 100% because of the work you put into fixing your grammar.

    I got 100% because I'm not a retard.
    • ozydingo, on 10/10/2007, -1/+34Yet you still haven't figured out how to use the "reply" feature. Way to go, genius.
    • H0tKarl, on 10/10/2007, -3/+7I got 100% because I stopped after the first question.
  • hulez, on 10/10/2007, -19/+2i got 95% cos i made 1 mistake. My attention span isn't long enough for me to bother concentrating for 20 questions but it had nothing to do with not knowing so technically i got 100%
    • speaker219, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5was it cos u made 1 mistake? aww, too bad
    • LucidDr34m3r, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7You realize, you don't need to explain to us why you missed an answer. We wouldn't have even known you missed it unless you told us. I'm gonna go ahead and say the proper move here would have been to just say nothing...
    • nielkie, on 10/10/2007, -1/+9No, technically you got one wrong. You just can't accept it so you try to justify it to yourself by making up excuses.
    • Useight, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2"Technically" you got a 95%. Maybe you knew all 100%, but you didn't get it.
    • Rooster99, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Sure, dude. Whatever excuse lets you sleep at night, while totally denying the obvious fact that you got 95% in an online grammar test. For shame...
    • UltimateFerg, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Technically I can run 100m in 7 seconds, but after the first 10m I just don't have the attention span to carry on...
    • Ploosheeta, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Thank you for telling me your score on this grammar test, hulez. You know, I used to lye awake every night, asking myself,"If a digg user named hulez was to ever, say, take a grammar test on digg.com, perhaps on the use of "there", "their", and "they're", what score would he make and what would be his psychological justifications for such a score?"
      Thanks to you, hulez, I can rest once more.
    • FunkyLlama, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I find it interesting that in that post, you made 3 mistakes.
  • ClOlD, on 10/10/2007, -5/+6Eh -- teaching which of only three options to use is easy. Who wants to take on how to teach the internet to use semicolons correctly?
    • ozydingo, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Well; in my opinion; that one;s a less widespread problem; so it's not as useful.
    • Shaflugi, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9printf("Semicolons come after every line, duh");
    • Anthracene, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1I do not think I have ever even seen an adverbial conjunction used correctly in a comment on digg; however, I may be wrong.
    • WaterDragon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Why use a semicolon, when you can just type 'rem'?
  • Flashman, on 10/10/2007, -3/+6And thanks for not writing "Its not that hard"
  • serpentor, on 10/10/2007, -3/+18Nice 100%, thank god I didn't loose..


    /sarcasm
  • Pimpin-Assassin, on 10/10/2007, -2/+13For question 17, it looks weird because in British English, they talk about the people within the company; while in American English, we talk about the company as an individual noun. At least that's my theory.
    • Accutron, on 10/10/2007, -2/+10I think you should post this one more time.
      • saturdaysinbed, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5or three if he's feeling randy
        • Ploosheeta, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1...or even two!
        • rdoger6424, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1For question 17, it looks weird because in British English, they talk about the people within the company; while in American English, we talk about the company as an individual noun. At least that's my theory.
          For question 17, it looks weird because in British English, they talk about the people within the company; while in American English, we talk about the company as an individual noun. At least that's my theory.
          For question 17, it looks weird because in British English, they talk about the people within the company; while in American English, we talk about the company as an individual noun. At least that's my theory.
          :p
  • Richandler, on 10/10/2007, -6/+2I think most people rush to post. They could careless how they spell.
  • speaker219, on 10/10/2007, -4/+37Just to clarify: nobody cares what your score was. So don't even think about it.
  • CandidCanon, on 10/10/2007, -10/+1What a lot of diggers seam to need is reading comprehension.
    • actionjackson, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4Seems ironic to say seam when you mean seem in a topic about grammar and spelling.
    • hockey, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1His point is that Digger's don't need grammer skills as much as they need reading comprehension skills. I can't tell you the amount of times something has been posted only to have some flamewar start because no one actually properly understood what the comment said.
  • ladyarcher85, on 10/10/2007, -16/+11I got a 100% and I'm Filipino. English is not even my first language!
    • Useight, on 10/10/2007, -7/+0Matalino ka! Ang galing mo! Tagalog ay hindi aking unang wika din.
    • indorock, on 10/10/2007, -3/+4don't you mean pirst language? :)
    • Pikachelsea, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1You want a cookie?
    • HHP2K, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2They teach better English in the Phillipines then they do there in North America, so.
  • Rupan, on 10/10/2007, -14/+1I disagree. There is no reason why we need to use this BS that we call the English language. For example, I never use you're over your. Why type in those extra characters? The only thing you should use for the "There They're and Their" is there and their. They're can be derived from context almost 90% of the time. As can their, but, just off the top of my head, Id say it would have a lower success rate of proper interpretation.
    • Rooster99, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5AKA: Lazyness. So basically, you cant be ***** with even learning?
    • magcius, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1I assume you're not going to like programming then. I mean, why type == when you could type =? Sometimes you have to type upwards of *60* characters to fix a simple bugs...

      Otherwise, it's people like you that make me think that Idiocracy is actually coming true. Good luck, Rupan...

      *shudders*
      • Ploosheeta, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1There sure are a lot of programmers on digg.com......hmmmm...
    • Whaines, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Well, I suppose YOU don't have a reason. Most of us, on the other hand, would like to seem as if we have had an actual education that exceeds the third grade.
    • swrlyhrly, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Newspeak ftw.

      /1984
  • thomasX, on 10/10/2007, -5/+2100%. That's like something from primary school.

    17 IBM have increased THEIR profits by 20%.(This example is correct in British English - ask an American what they would say!)
    Well what would an American say?
    • Rupan, on 10/10/2007, -6/+3its "their" in American english. "Their" is ownership. so IBM deserves a their.
      • thomasX, on 10/10/2007, -3/+0I know that "their" is ownership but I was asking how an American would phrase the sentence. Anybody?
      • khellendros1984, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6"IBM has increased its profits".
        Although the British version sounds just as correct to my ear...
    • TJATL, on 10/10/2007, -1/+14Replace have with has.
      • thomasX, on 10/10/2007, -3/+6Then you'll have to replace their with its.
        • Ploosheeta, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1y? whose makin u?
        • calibration, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0American English is making us.
        • calibration, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0American English is making us.
        • Ploosheeta, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1What about Chinese English?
        • satanatnmtedu, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1You would have to do both. I find it ironic that a quiz about proper usage would have usage mistakes in it.
    • rootstyle, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7IBM has increased THEIR profits. IBM as singular entity instead of a collective of employees.
      • thomasX, on 10/10/2007, -3/+8But if you replace "have" with "has" you'll have to replace "their" with "its".
      • Yawgmoth, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Why is thomasX getting dugg down? he's completely correct. Whether you consider it singular or plural, the verb and the possessive adjective BOTH have to agree with the subject.
    • dbbisho, on 10/10/2007, -5/+6Probably would say, "IBM HAS increased ITS profits by 20%". Using "their" implies a person, and as we all know, IBM is a heartless entity not deserving of personification.
    • scottjw, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7By outsourcing my f'ing job to India...
    • biff198, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12You can legitimately use THERE in this situation, simply by preceding it by THEM, and using an old-western dialect. Example:

      IBM has increased them there profits by 20%...

      See? It works perfectly...
    • mcool119, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4In "american english" it would be "IBM has increased ITS profits by 20%."

      I don't know why that would be hard to understand anyway... You just have to think about IBM as a group of people instead of a thing.
      • cruzlee, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4In many other languages it's very uncommon to refer to a single group or organisation in plural form like you english people do with IBM, but also with 'the police' and 'fire department'. I always find that very hard to remember when writing / speaking English.

        For those interested, in Dutch we even use single form for 'a few', 'a large number of ...' and also 'a dozen'. Why? Because it's ONE few. I'm not kidding you...
        Example: "A few people is waiting for their train." would be correct in Dutch.
  • mishsquish, on 10/10/2007, -3/+36Correct!
    Your score is 100%.

    Time to print this out, frame it and hang it on my wall over their.
  • jtbandes, on 10/10/2007, -4/+7100%. I kicked they're but.
    • *jooloop*, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8But what? Why are you hesitating?
      • Whaines, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4I'm in suspense about what's to happen next!
  • Sechy, on 10/10/2007, -8/+5Wow, they're test was hard!
  • quez, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8The 'IBM have' thing really is correct in British English. The idea is that because IBM is a corporation made up of multiple people, it can be treated as a plural noun. The same thing applies with 'government', for example. It's not wrong, and it's not right: it's a difference in dialect. I do know a lot of British people who would say 'IBM have', though. It can vary from person to person.
  • nailPuppy, on 10/10/2007, -4/+2There quiz wasn't that great. Their are going to be a lot of people upset with they're results.
  • Sil369, on 10/10/2007, -3/+15"i am so smrt
    i am so smrt
    s-m-r-t

    I mean s-m-a-r-t"
  • Khemikl, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Now can we work on the spelling please, some of the recent story headlines are making me cringe.
  • LordHalo, on 10/10/2007, -9/+4It's about time. I'm so sick of seeing grammar errors from English-speaking kids who cannot spell and use right grammar, Americans FTW.
    • Whaines, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1Yeah, because, you know, all Americans have poor grammar. Each one. In fact, it's a requirement to be American.
  • phrozensilver, on 10/10/2007, -11/+7Damnit 80% anyone have the answers?
    • July272007, on 10/10/2007, -5/+1YOU SUCK I AM 12 AND GOT THEM ALL RIGHT
      • tennisjunkiie, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1congratudamnlations on being twelve and knowing basic grammar. now how about going to confession with a catholic priest?
  • InitialDMP5, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7What about the mix up of the word "loose" when someone is trying to type "lose". Why do so many people make that mistake?
    • Yawgmoth, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1I don't know, i think it's pretty easy. It helps me to remember that you 'lose' the extra o Just like the dessert, desert thing. You want the extra s in dessert because you always want more dessert. Funny how those grade school things stick with you O.o.
    • MagicCake, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Because they're ***** idiots. It's quite simple.
    • pHr34kY, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9Grammar standards are getting looser by the day because there's more losers by the day.
    • rdoger6424, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2They're all loosers
  • dave6179, on 10/10/2007, -15/+0Buried because there could be two possible answers for question 16
    • LordHalo, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6You're dumb as hell. "THERE" is the only right answer. It could not be "THEY'RE" since "ARE" is already used
    • Asriel86, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6No there couldn't be, genius.
    • actionjackson, on 10/10/2007, -2/+6You sure about that, crack-smoker? ;)
    • WiFi, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Fail.
  • Sonix3D, on 10/10/2007, -9/+4Your score is 95%.
    awww.
  • MediumPimpin, on 10/10/2007, -8/+3Missed one because i accidentally clicked on the answer for 8 while looking at 7.
    • Anthracene, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5I heard someone is organizing a support group.
    • Ploosheeta, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Oh, really? You accidentally clicked on the answer 8 while looking at 7? I find that extremely fascinating and would like for you to elaborate on this mis-clicking incident you speak of.
    • joyleaf, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0We weren't watching you while you were taking that test and so, there's no need to excuse yourself by commenting.
  • D3koy, on 10/10/2007, -8/+2I got bored and stopped reading the questions and just randomly guessing about halfway through....I got a 75%
    • Ploosheeta, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1That's cool...
    • PetroSan, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6take your Ritalin before any more of these incidents occur. seriously, 20 questions?
  • blindflacker, on 10/10/2007, -6/+1100% PWNED that.
  • actionjackson, on 10/10/2007, -6/+1"business english?"
    who'da thunk it?
  • LiquidLeopard, on 10/10/2007, -10/+2when i first saw this i thought it said the word that starts with an "n" instead of digger...
  • jaymulder, on 10/10/2007, -16/+2Lame. 100%. Buried.
    • Ploosheeta, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Kind of like your comment.
      • mindblaze, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0well he's right. you would have had to fail middle school not to get a 100
  • yogione, on 10/10/2007, -10/+4Theirs no gooder English than what I speak. I gots the bestest English than you any day.
  • rcd19, on 10/10/2007, -9/+1i got 86
    • Ploosheeta, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1So that's what you got.
    • extols, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Impressive on a quiz with 20 questions. (Should be a multiple of 5%)
  • alexgreggs, on 10/10/2007, -10/+1Their is no need to have quiz they're on that site, I already no how 2 uze the werd There....... I kan speel relly gewd!
  • whorelock, on 10/10/2007, -10/+1100%!

    Woo-hoo

    Can I become a Little Green Footballs member now?
  • winley, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0Nice way to advertise for "Better English".
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