lets vs let's

[Torsten]

I've noticed that quite a few native speakers write "lets" when they mean "let's" in forum discussions. Is this due to sloppiness or are they not aware of the difference between "lets" and "let's"?
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[Yankee]

.
I don't know which of the 'quite a few native speakers' you're referring to, Tortsten, but the difference is clear to me.
.

[Molly]

Though not the same, maybe the use of apostrophe is declining over all:

[Daemon99]

All languages are bound to change. We just have to accept the fact and come to terms with it. There's no use being captious and denying the change outright.

This is probably the same feeling that some people might have had in the past when they realized that 'Did you eat yet?' started becoming popular. Some of them might have denounced it, but couldn't probably post it to a forum like this, and disdained people who used it. But now, such a usage is as natural as it gets (in the US, at least).

This might also be the same kind of feeling that some Latin scholars had when Bible was translated into English.

The SMS lingo would probably become the standard language in the future, not far from now. Dictionaries would probably call 'you' an archaic term for 'u'.
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[Torsten]

Hi Daemon,

Writing "lets" instead of "let's" or "wont" instead of "won't, "u" instead of "you" aren't examples of innovation but of sloppiness or laziness. None of these chatroom language errors will enter the dictionaries or become standard forms.
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[SkiIucK]

Hello,

Let's not forget this is a forum that lets non-native speakers' mistakes be eliminated.

Regards

[Molly]

[Daemon99]

Hi Torsten,

[Molly]

I've seen Torsten-type people say that the English dialect forms below "aren't examples of innovation but of sloppiness or laziness":

He teached history at university.
He seed him in the market yesterday.
We buyed a new car last week.

But... the regularising of irregular verbs is common, and somewhat logical, for many dialect speakers.

[Lost_Soul]

[Molly]

[Lost_Soul]

[Molly]

[Sultano]

Actually, we aren't angels;evrybody makes mistakes ,but to insist on doing that is sloppiness or laziness. I agree with Torsten.If such sloppiness come from native speakers, who is the genuine reference to back to?

[Prezbucky]

let's = let us
lets = third-person singular form of "to let"

apostrophes are used for good reason -- they're used so that readers know the difference between a possessive and a non-possessive, a simple plural word and a possessive, etc.

I dare us to drop the apostrophe -- then try understanding your students' term papers.

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of course, there are times when it's employed improperly:

"The Henderson's are coming home."

--> Since "Henderson" is the name of one person in this clan, logically we would refer to more than one of that clan as "Herdersons".

"If you watch the video closely, you see how the dog let's the possum go."

-->Let's = let us

"Your going to give me herpes, you slob!"

--> Your = possessive pronoun ; You're = you are

etc.
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I say we revere the rules of the apostrophe and keep them holy... lest we make it more difficult to understand the written word. Let's respect the ap'st'phe!
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