Am I being rude

[Zoltan_Cobalt]

Quote:
Originally Posted by truetofaith View Post
I believe “grammatical” & “on” the forum are correct. but…

…You may be right…“an American.”

I was wondering if it was an American. Thank you.

You should also wonder about “grammatical” & “on”.

By using the word “grammatical” you are using a “bigger word” than is necessary. The word “grammar” is correct and takes up less space. Are you trying to sound like an accomplished writer?

One walks ON stage. One goes ON a trip. One does not sit ON a forum. One participates IN a forum.

 

[truetofaith]

I don’t know the song. I will have to look it up.

The title may be “God Bless the USA” - Lee Greenwood

 

[LaughingBoy1503]

When I correct others’ grammatical errors on public forums/articles? I say it politely, and give an example of the wrong way and the right way to say it. It is a pet peeve of mine to read poor grammar. I hate how uneducated Americans seem, and I am American. I don’t think I am better than anyone else, I just believe in perfection.

Yes, it is rude.

Not everyone IS educated. And not everyone that are educated are on the same level. I sucked at English and math but I was great at history/social studies/geography. I am too busy to learn perfect grammar to satisfy other peoples needs for perfect grammar. As long as you can understand what someone is saying, leave it alone. I get frustrated sometimes with how people spell or write on facebook a lot. Spelling the word “know” as “No” or “Loose” for “lose” get on my nerve. But why correct them and cause them embarrassment? That is not very Christian. Not everyone goes to college and not everyone can perfectly remember everything they learned in high school English. People have to pay bills, support family’s, deal with difficult bosses. Perfect grammar is just not something that is going to be on most peoples radar. I did not go to college and I work in construction. I do not need to have perfect grammar to live or to pay my bills. We live in a “in-perfect” world

 

[tee_eff_em]

Not everyone IS educated. And not everyone that are educated are on the same level. I sucked at English and math but I was great at history/social studies/geography. I am too busy to learn perfect grammar to satisfy other peoples needs for perfect grammar. As long as you can understand what someone is saying, leave it alone.

Well there’s the rub – Sometimes you can’t understand what someone is saying. Or rather: You can understand perfectly what someone has written, but that person’s grammar is so poor they are not writing what they mean. It can be very frustrating.

I can only respond to the plain meaning of people’s words in this forum. When people fail to write what they mean, it wastes an awful lot of time.

tee

 

[Issa87]

You should also wonder about “grammatical” & “on”.

By using the word “grammatical” you are using a “bigger word” than is necessary. The word “grammar” is correct and takes up less space. Are you trying to sound like an accomplished writer?

One walks ON stage. One goes ON a trip. One does not sit ON a forum. One participates IN a forum.

I take pride in everything that I do. I write correctly because it is the right thing to do. And grammatical error is correct because it is describing the action of the noun: grammar.

 

[Nixbits]

I think that the use of the word ‘grammatical’ here is correct, in the sense that the error relates to grammar. ‘Grammatical’ can also mean ‘conforming to the rules of grammar’, but this clearly is not applicable to an error. Using the alternative term ‘grammar error’ would be acceptable, I think, but, since ‘grammar’ is not an adjective, the noun-noun form should perhaps be hyphenated. I’m not sure. I hesitate to venture into the grey area of ‘correct’ use of hyphens, because different manuals of style exist. I certainly don’t agree with Zoltan that this use of ‘grammatical’ is wrong just because it is not the shortest word available.

The error which annoys me most is when people say “I could care less”, when, in fact, they mean the opposite. Careless use of language not only distracts from the substance of the text, but can be greatly misleading.

 

[LaughingBoy1503]

Well there’s the rub – Sometimes you can’t understand what someone is saying. Or rather: You can understand perfectly what someone has written, but that person’s grammar is so poor they are not writing what they mean. It can be very frustrating.

I can only respond to the plain meaning of people’s words in this forum. When people fail to write what they mean, it wastes an awful lot of time.

tee

I understand what you are saying but in that case you just make a educated guess as to what they are trying to say. Sometimes we will be wrong but it is the best you can do. When I cannot understand what somebody is texting me, I will ask them to call me. If I do not think I fully understand what they are trying to say on the internet because of poor grammar, I make the best guess I can. When somebody is rambling on the internet and it looks like they never even finished elementary school because of their poor grammar, I just move on. You do not have to waste your time. You can move on. Even with perfect grammar people are going to have misunderstandings. Even when talking in person people will have misunderstandings.

 

[Zoltan_Cobalt]

lets tak a difrent look at ths.

ths’s a FORUM. Not an “S-A” exam. we R not writng busines ltrs or clasical novels.

hav U seen the shorthnd used by jr hi schol studnts when textng each othr???

that, my frnds, is the future of the ritten englsh language. its fast simpl & convays ideas.

if U cant read ths just show it 2 a 12 yer old. they cn translat it 4 U.

 

[truetofaith]

lets tak a difrent look at ths.

ths’s a FORUM. Not an “S-A” exam. we R not writng busines ltrs or clasical novels.

hav U seen the shorthnd used by jr hi schol studnts when textng each othr???

that, my frnds, is the future of the ritten englsh language. its fast simpl & convays ideas.

if U cant read ths just show it 2 a 12 yer old. they cn translat it 4 U.

I can understand it but it takes a little longer. I feel because of your laziness, to spell an entire word, I must struggle a little & you look stupid!

 

[Bradski]

When I correct others’ grammatical errors on public forums/articles? I say it politely, and give an example of the wrong way and the right way to say it. It is a pet peeve of mine to read poor grammar. I hate how uneducated Americans seem, and I am American. I don’t think I am better than anyone else, I just believe in perfection.

It used to drive me up the wall as well. But now I let it go. Nobody likes a smart arse. And by correcting someone’s grammar you are indeed saying that you are better (at English composition) than they are.

 

[Zoltan_Cobalt]

I can understand it but it takes a little longer.

Of course…you are not a Jr. High School student and you reject the future of our language.

Correct spelling will be a thing of the past.

Unisg the icndeblire pweor of the hmuan mnid, aocdcrnig to rseecrah at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mttaer in waht oderr the lterets in a wrod are, the olny irpoamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rhgit pclae.

Symbols ( ) and abbreviations (U C me–I C U) will replace words.

Proper grammar will die out because there will be no time to learn it.

I feel because of your laziness, to spell an entire word, I must struggle a little & you look stupid!

What do you “feel”— because of my laziness? You cannot feel “because”, because “because” is not something you feel.

…and, hey!..don’t call me stupid.

 

[truetofaith]

Of course…you are not a Jr. High School student and you reject the future of our language.

Correct spelling will be a thing of the past.

Symbols ( ) and abbreviations (U C me–I C U) will replace words.

Proper grammar will die out because there will be no time to learn it.

What do you “feel”— because of my laziness? You cannot feel “because”, because “because” is not something you feel.

…and, hey!..don’t call me stupid.

I didn’t say you are stupid …spelling like that makes you look stupid. It would be a disaster to let our language deteriorate to that level.

 

[Zoltan_Cobalt]

I didn’t say you are stupid …spelling like that makes you look stupid. It would be a disaster to let our language deteriorate to that level.

You did it again…you called me stupid.

 

[Sarcelle]

lets tak a difrent look at ths.

ths’s a FORUM. Not an “S-A” exam. we R not writng busines ltrs or clasical novels.

hav U seen the shorthnd used by jr hi schol studnts when textng each othr???

that, my frnds, is the future of the ritten englsh language. its fast simpl & convays ideas.

if U cant read ths just show it 2 a 12 yer old. they cn translat it 4 U.

ThIs is okay…

If you are a junior high school student.

If you are an adult, no excuses.

 

[Zoltan_Cobalt]

ThIs is okay…

If you are a junior high school student.

If you are an adult, no excuses.

I agree with you.

However, the junior high students will be adults in a few years…and they are not learning spelling, grammar, hand writing, composition, or even correct business correspondence.

No one writes letters anymore. Even birthday cards are emailed.

I am sorry, but from my perspective, proper written language is on its way to extinction.

 

[shockerfan]

I agree with you.

However, the junior high students will be adults in a few years…and they are not learning spelling, grammar, hand writing, composition, or even correct business correspondence.

No one writes letters anymore. Even birthday cards are emailed.

I am sorry, but from my perspective, proper written language is on its way to extinction.

This certainly creates an opportunity. I used to think because my kids took a lot of STEM classes and did well in school that they had an advantage over many other competitors for jobs. I now think that a strong command of the English language and the ability to communicate it effectively both written and orally will also be a huge advantage.
(I can see it now, it will be declared “unfair” to discriminate in hiring due to poor communication skills. Instead of “racial privilege”, there will now be “language privilege”)

 

[JimmyG88]

When I correct others’ grammatical errors on public forums/articles? I say it politely, and give an example of the wrong way and the right way to say it. It is a pet peeve of mine to read poor grammar. I hate how uneducated Americans seem, and I am American. I don’t think I am better than anyone else, I just believe in perfection.

Wouldn’t it be preferable to say ‘undereducated’

 

[JimmyG88]

Once people learn the correct ways to communicate in writing, then it’s fine to take shortcuts with language. However we would be failing a generation if we didn’t offer them all the same opportunity to be fluent first. The ability to spell usually reflects the way students are taught. If they are taught using ‘flash cards’ the student recognises general word shape rather than word order. Interestingly poor spelling doesn’t necessarily mean that the individual is a poor reader. English grammar is still taught using a model that actually suits Latin more. Split infinitives etc. aren’t acceptable in Latin, but I believe that they are fine in English, which is after all a living, evolving language.

 

[Wesrock]

Most of my posting is by phone, and my posts often suffer from auto-correct errors or poor touch recognition. I do proof read and go back to make edits, but errors still get through. Others may have great thoughts to share but have dyslexia or some other learning disability which makes perfect grammar and spelling difficult. Please keep this in mind.

 

[tee_eff_em]

Aside in defense of Latin.

English grammar is still taught using a model that actually suits Latin more. Split infinitives etc. aren’t acceptable in Latin, but I believe that they are fine in English, which is after all a living, evolving language.

When it is taught at all – My hobnobbing with Latin teachers leads me to believe one of the major hurdles for Latin students is that (in the US, at least) students are no longer taught English grammar! How can students know to not split infinitives if they know not what an infinitive is?

FTR, It is impossible to split an infinitive in Latin, which is why grammarians proscribed it in English for so long.


tee