A little grammar lesson:
Ya - Knock it off, will ya?
You - Thank you.
Ye - Hear ye, hear ye!
Yeah - Yeah, that's right.
Yay - I have a moment to blog? Yay!
Yea - Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death...
Yes - Yes, this is something I need to get off my chest.
We type out quick messages on Facebook, Twitter, or texts but do we take the time to think about what we're typing? When I was in school (here we go... yeah shut up,) we had to do our own grammar and spell check. Okay, I had some help, but we still did a fair load of handwritten stuff. Now everyone relies completely on spell check and grammar check. Now there's auto-correct, filled with a vague sense of humor no doubt. Does anyone know how to spell off the top of his or her head anymore, or how to form a proper sentence?
Less versus fewer = Can you count it? Fewer. Can you measure it? Less.
Holding up to these simple things? Don't worry; my brain doesn't get much more advanced these days. I do, however, have a fondness for semicolons. They tend to get shirked in modern writing, or so I've noticed. Also, did you know that punctuation belongs inside the parenthesis (even though it looks weird to me?)
Effect/affect = noun/verb
Spelling affects your grade. Properly spell and good grades may be the effect.
Don't even get me started on non-compound words like "alot." <shivers> Seriously? I dislike that a lot... A <space> LOT! Ahem... Sorry.
I'll leave widows and orphans and complicated rules like, "kill your darlings," "lose the articles," and "no 'be's allowed" out of it. Oh, the quote thing is like the parenthesis thing: punctuation goes inside.
A final note, one worth mentioning as it's still fluid in the ever-changing world of common grammar... Preventive and preventative are, in fact, interchangeable; however, the former is often an adjective while the latter is often a noun.
Yes, I'll correct papers for ya if you want. But mind ye, yea though I love writing I'm busy. So, I'll say, "Yay!" to the opportunity but later, "Yeah, I'll get to it."