today's grammatical gem--it sounds GRATE!

A student of mine, earlier today, wrote this:
     "passed tents"

Ahh....grammar and the tricky terrain of homophones...
Verbs, kiddo, we're learning VERBS, as in
        present TENSE, past TENSE, future TENSE!!!

I can't make up this stuff.

I"m feeling a bit tense. Maybe I should go camping?
Oh no, vacation time has passed...

To work.
And boy is there a lot of work to do in the language classroom...

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Here's a poem using homonyms/homophones.
Fun for word-nerds, from
    http://www.cooper.com/alan/homonym.html

An Ode to the Spelling Chequer


Prays the Lord for the spelling chequer
That came with our pea sea!
Mecca mistake and it puts you rite
Its so easy to ewes, you sea.

I never used to no, was it e before eye?
(Four sometimes its eye before e.)
But now I've discovered the quay to success
It's as simple as won, too, free!

Sew watt if you lose a letter or two,
The whirled won't come two an end!
Can't you sea? It's as plane as the knows on yore face
S. Chequer's my very best friend

I've always had trubble with letters that double
"Is it one or to S's?" I'd wine
But now, as I've tolled you this chequer is grate
And its hi thyme you got won, like mine.
                                       —Janet E. Byford