It just sounds better

[jason93]

Last week I was at school in English class and I asked a teacher why sometimes words have an 's' on the end and sometimes they don't and her answer to me was "it just sounds better in a sentence".

A good reason why I wish my mum and dad send me to a deaf school and not a mainstream school.

Why do people think it is best to 'integrate' people into mainstream school when it is not suited for some people?

[Deathwingo0o]

There's an 's' to avoid grammatical error.

[Sage]

Are we debating grammar here or the placement of students with disabilities?

[Disco Jones]

English sure is silly!

[Amnesiac]

English sure is silly!

Nah, some people who are trained to teach it still don't know how to use it properly.

I have a lingering fear that, in the near future, the conjunction "you're" will be replaced with "your".

[Suicune]

Nah, some people who are trained to teach it still don't know how to use it properly.

I have a lingering fear that, in the near future, the conjunction "you're" will be replaced with "your".

Well I'm afraid of "Dat" and "Gonna" becoming real words. Damn music these days.

[Perseus]

Well I'm afraid of "Dat" and "Gonna" becoming real words. Damn music these days.

Gonna is a word. :P I use it all the time.

[Sith Lord 13]

Well I'm afraid of "Dat" and "Gonna" becoming real words. Damn music these days.

They're colloquial expressions. Common formations due to the easier and more common pronunciation. I don't like it either, but how do you think contractions started? It's just the natural evolution of a language.

[Disco Jones]

Nah, some people who are trained to teach it still don't know how to use it properly.

I have a lingering fear that, in the near future, the conjunction "you're" will be replaced with "your".

I see people complain about to/too/two all the time

But really, I blame English for making three completely different words sound exactly the same and be painfully prone to typos

[Perseus]

I see people complain about to/too/two all the time

But really, I blame English for making three completely different words sound exactly the same and be painfully prone to typos

English and its wonders.

[Amnesiac]

I see people complain about to/too/two all the time

But really, I blame English for making three completely different words sound exactly the same and be painfully prone to typos

Well English isn't going anywhere, it's the second most spoken language in the world and the language of international business.

I've never heard of anyone going as far as to complain about to/too/two, that's just ridiculous.

[Perseus]

Well English isn't going anywhere, it's the second most spoken language in the world and the language of international business.

I've never heard of anyone going as far as to complain about to/too/two, that's just ridiculous.

How is that ridiculous?

[Amnesiac]

How is that ridiculous?

The reason people complain about using proper English, from my experience, is because it take too much effort to write out, for example, "you're" compared to "your". With too/two/to, where there's no apostrophes and only one extra letter, there's no reason to not use them properly.

[Perseus]

The reason people complain about using proper English, from my experience, is because it take too much effort to write out, for example, "you're" compared to "your". With too/two/to, where there's no apostrophes and only one extra letter, there's no reason to not use them properly.

Someone who is new to English will easily get them mixed up.

[Amnesiac]

Someone who is new to English will easily get them mixed up.

I can understand that, but Disco Jones was talking about people complaining about the words, not mixing them up. People who complain about proper writing may or may not be new to the language.

[Perseus]

I can understand that, but Disco Jones was talking about people complaining about the words, not mixing them up. People who complain about proper writing may or may not be new to the language.

I didn't see "complain". :P

[CairAndros]

This is an interesting discussion. In all my years of being taught english, im studying it at school just now at the equivalent of first year of university, I have never heard this question asked, nor can I think of any words that have an 's' put on the end of them for no apparent reason.

The 's' can be used to show ownership or a plural value.

And as for the colloquialisms that are being talked about - try studying english in Scotland; thats when you really start to see some crackers of slang coming in; but at the end of the day - proper english will remain what is given in the dictionary and until such time as new words are admitted then we have nothing to fear about colloquailisms taking over the world of english.