were and we're

any ideas how to distinquish between were and we're?
Any rules appreciated.

"Were" is the past tense of the stative verb "be".
It is used with the pronouns "we", "they", and "you".
You were off to the beach.
We were happy to be there.
They were happy to be there.

https://webapps.towson.edu/ows/were_where_we're.htm
https://brians.wsu.edu/category/common-error/
text only ... https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/1350/20...5/errorsRTF.txt

DD.20170829.1300.CEST

sorry i mean how can i get mp3tag to fix the spelling in mp3 names for were and we're. Is there a rule I can add to mp3tag??
Sorry for the confusion.

I also posted this in wrong section!!
Pls fix admins if poss.

How is MP3tag to know which language is used for the tag data?
And no: there is no rule, but I am sure that you can think of an easy way to replace it like
all "were" to "we're" and then the "you we're" to "you were" etc. Should leave all the real "we're" as remainders.

Please note that there are several other constructions that could be just as wrong:

we're - were - where
They're - their - there
You're - your

wow didn't think there were others too. Dosn't it annoy others out there. I want the spelling/context to be correct. Why doesn't mp3tag have these rules built in as default?

there are more languages out there than just English.
Mp3tag has a modular approach so that you can create your own actions to meet your needs.
Feel free to share them here in the forum - perhaps they become standard and a built-in feature.

Your claim to get the spelling correct actually collides with the artist's freedom to use a grammar and spelling of their liking. Some examples:

Slade: "Cum on feel the noiz" or "Mama Weer All Crazee Now"
Prince: "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad" or "Gotta Stop - Messin' About" or "Feel U Up"
Pink: "U + Ur Hand" or "'Cuz I Can"
2Pac: "Ratha Be Ya Nigga" or "What'z Ya Phone #"
Princess: "Say I'm Ur N° 1"

And so on and so forth.

mmmm good argument there.
So are you saying you dont use any mp3tag actions (Is that what they are called?) and that you just leave "were" as they are like this for example..

those we're the days

which is wrong.
I don't think in that case the artist intended it that way!

No, I did not say anything about not to use actions.
On the contrary: if you find actions useful to achieve your goal you may as well share them here on the forum for others to participate.

I just say: you cannot let loose an action to modify any text. Just another (constructed) example:
What about a title like

Where were the monkeys
vs.
Where we're the monkeys

Both correct but which is the intended one?
I do not doubt that there are a lot of spelling mistakes in tags ... but please: English is not the only language so why create a built-in function only for that kind of text?
Mp3tag with German origin does not even have a decent case correction mechanism to get the German cases correct with capitals for nouns and names ... so why should it take care of bad spelling in other languages.

No, in that respect MP3tag is absolutely impartial: MP3tag has so many flexible interfaces so that you can get a spelling correction, e.g.:
create an export of the relevant tag fields, have it checked with the spellchecker of any odd word processor, re-import the corrected tag data into the files.

I already mentioned the actions.
And you can assemble a collection of filters to group the files with the most common mis-spellings together like "dont" vs. "don't" etc.

TEST_OUTPUT <== $regexp(%TEST_INPUT%,'\b((y|Y)ou|(w|W)e|(t|T)hey)((’|'''')re)\b','$1 are') TEST_INPUT:

you're
we're
they're
You're
We're
They're

TEST_INPUT:
you’re
we’re
they’re
You’re
We’re
They’re

TEST_OUTPUT:
you are
we are
they are
You are
We are
They are

... or ... TEST_OUTPUT <== $replace(%TEST_INPUT%, 'you''''re','you are','we''''re','we are','they''''re','they are', 'You''''re','You are','We''''re','We are','They''''re','They are', 'you’re','you are','we’re','we are','they’re','they are', 'You’re','You are','We’re','We are','They’re','They are')

DD.20170831.0925.CEST, DD.20170831.1532.CEST, DD.20170901.1212.CEST

@Pete Z:
Which apostrophe do you use between we and re in we’re? I hope the typographically-correct punctuation according to the Unicode Standard? :wink:

or do you use

(The wrong character most people can reach directly on the keyboard)

You see, it’s nearly impossible for a software like Mp3tag to offer THE correct rule set, especially if it should be valid for every language.

yes i do use the wrong ' and am aware. The right one should be more accessable on the keyboard imo.

Re this
Where were the monkeys
vs.
Where we're the monkeys

The second one infers "Where we are the monkeys" so its completely wrong. No?

So in summary there is no real way to auto correct these types of words with a rule just in English?
:frowning:
If there is and someone can add it here that would be very helpful for me

I think that DetlevD has provided at least one attempt in this post:
were and we're

Your original question was: why isn't it a built-in function? And in this respect the answer has been provided, supported by a number of examples, that the idea of auto correction will most likely cause more damage than do good.
If you want to implement something like that in your workflow, you are free to do so.

appreciate the help from DetlevD but that will really change things drastically for song titles so not for me. Appreciate the help everyone. Sounds like not a simple one so will just have to live with it.

Huh? Please give some drastic examples.

DD.20170901.1135.CEST

for eg
Travolta - You're the one that I want
would become
Travolta - You are the one that I want

and to me that is a drastic change to the charactor or interpretation of the song title.

Please explain more clearly. What was the motive for your first question:
"any ideas how to distinguish between were and we're?"

There are many people, who dislike to have apostrophe characters within a mp3 filename.

DD.20170901.1657.CEST

not sure how I can make it any clearer. Sorry

Solution to your problem is this:
1] Create an action that changes XY to X'Y

2] Create an action that changes X'Y to XY

3] Load all of your files and filter them for occurrences of XY. And then look at each file- and if needed execute the first action on it

4] Remove from Mp3tag all of the evaluated files; both not changed and those treated with the action

5] Change the filter for occurrences of X'Y. And then look at each file- and if needed execute the second action on it

6] Repeat steps 3, 4 and 5, because you probably missed some cases

It is manual and tedious- but that is how it is done

yes that's sort of what i did. Painful though. Many thanks for your concern