What Is The Most Commonly Misspelled Word On Message Boards

I'm not thinking of common typos such as "teh"

[lawman]

The one that sticks out to me is "definitely", commonly spelled "definately".

[Leosghost]

Actually, "it's" is a contraction for "it is" or "it has."

oneguy
The rule is that if you make a contraction you substitute the missing letter by an apostrophe

The mark (') used to indicate the omission of one or more letters from a printed word

Thus it is it's even when it's the it's you are referring to ..possessive or not ( actually there is an argument to be made for your cited ( it has ..contracted ) example being a possessive usage anyway but presumably you are posting from the USA ..

I prefer American english ..but bending the rules does not negate their existence ..

[john_k]

I think he meant possessive in this manner: My car has lost its luster.

[edit]Sure enough, it was on Brian's list of errors it's/its [wsu.edu] [/edit]

[oneguy]

Yeah, that's what I was talking about.

"Its" is neuter possessive. (possessive, neither masculine nor feminine in gender.)

(@Leosghost)I don't know about rules for variations of english in various countries, so I don't know that we couldn't both be right.

I keep trying to spell possessive wrong, so that's at least a personal one for me. I'm hardly a spelling or grammar expert.

[Essex_boy]

I caertainly think its getting worse, I deal with people that are barely literate straight out school or worse Uni, and are looking for a job.

They can even phrase Emails correctly.

[Neo541]

They can even phrase Emails correctly.

Don't you mean "can't?"

;-)

[bruhaha]

Thus it is it's even when it's the it's you are referring to ..possessive or not

? Didn't we already determine that the possessive form does NOT have an apostrophe?

BTW, the possessive "its" is not quite as big an exception as some think: there are NO instances in which an personal pronoun uses an apostrophe to form a possessive. Other cases: ours, yours, hers, theirs

[topr8]

affect ¦ effect

[bruhaha]

(@Leosghost)I don't know about rules for variations of english in various countries, so I don't know that we couldn't both be right.

No, oneguy, you had it right to start with -- the spelling for the neuter possessive "its" is the same everywhere, even here in the U.S.!

[Marcia]

Words like identical - spelled identicle. Invariably done by men, who think just because "testicles" ends in icle so does everything else that sounds the same in the latter part of the word.

I don't let it bother me very much, I figure it's just another manifestation of the gonad fixation that seems to be "normal" for the male of the species.

[oddsod]

Lawman - that's an excellent site.

I know, I'm the one who posted the link to it ;)