forum grammar

[Brian]

I know this has been brought up before, but it really seems to be on the rise.

I certainly should not be one to talk, but I'm going to any way.

Why is it that so many people don't know the difference between then and than. or their and there? or chose and choose?

I know there are quite a few people who's native language is not English and I excuse them right away. I'm talking specifically people who speak English natively and should know better.

How can one seriously consider the comments from a poster who writes, "Nikon is better then Canon"

Won't someone please scratch my eyeballs out?

--
Brian

 

[Dave Farmer]

Tee hee hee (as all the best comics used to write when I was a kid!)... you'll never win this argument! Many have tried, none has succeeded.

For what it's worth, I find it irritating too, but you just have to look past the grammar (and spelling) and chill a little.

--
Cheers,

Dave
http://purpledog.smugmug.com

'If they don't give us [insert daft requirement here] I'm jumping ship!'

 

[Brian]

I know. I know. I've certainly been here long enough to know what you need to do. Have you ever had itchy eyes and start to rub them just to have someone tell you not to. So you don't, but you get to the point that you just can't help yourself any more and so you go at them with vigor. And before you know it, your eyes are bright red, but at least they don't itch.

Well I think I have in a sense fixed my itch for now.

Tee hee hee (as all the best comics used to write when I was a
kid!)... you'll never win this argument! Many have tried, none has
succeeded.

For what it's worth, I find it irritating too, but you just have to
look past the grammar (and spelling) and chill a little.

--
Cheers,

Dave
http://purpledog.smugmug.com

'If they don't give us [insert daft requirement here] I'm jumping ship!'

--
Brian

 

[igb]

a) English grammar is like a : Simple to grab but difficult to master. Spelling is kinda gay, too.
b) Spelling skills peak when one is about 14 y.o.
c) Spell checkers are awfully dear

;O)

regards
--
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My Galleries: http://webs.ono.com/igonzalezbordes/index.html

 

[Brian]

So my spelling skills have been going down hill for the past 20 some years? That would explain a lot of things.

a) English grammar is like a : Simple to grab but difficult to
master. Spelling is kinda gay, too.
b) Spelling skills peak when one is about 14 y.o.
c) Spell checkers are awfully dear

;O)

regards
--
-------------------------------------------------------
My Galleries: http://webs.ono.com/igonzalezbordes/index.html

--
Brian

 

[igb]

if it's been only spelling :O)
--
-------------------------------------------------------
My Galleries: http://webs.ono.com/igonzalezbordes/index.html

 

[lanef]

I know this has been brought up before, but it really seems to be on
the rise.

I certainly should not be one to talk, but I'm going to any way.

Why is it that so many people don't know the difference between then
and than. or their and there? or chose and choose?

I know there are quite a few people who's native language is not
English and I excuse them right away. I'm talking specifically
people who speak English natively and should know better.

How can one seriously consider the comments from a poster who writes,
"Nikon is better then Canon"

Won't someone please scratch my eyeballs out?

--
Brian

I think with SMS text communication on mobile phone, spelling is going from bad to worse.

If it is not spelling, it is pronunciation; even G Bush can't pronounce 'Nuclear'.

 

[Patrick T. Kelly]

as in knowing the difference between "any way" and "anyway"?
--
Patrick T. Kelly
Oaxaca, Mexico

 

[danegeld]

I know this has been brought up before, but it really seems to be on
the rise.

I certainly should not be one to talk, but I'm going to any way.

Why is it that so many people don't know the difference between then
and than. or their and there? or chose and choose?

I know there are quite a few people who's native language is not
English and I excuse them right away. I'm talking specifically
people who speak English natively and should know better.

How can one seriously consider the comments from a poster who writes,
"Nikon is better then Canon"

Won't someone please scratch my eyeballs out?

--
Brian

And let's not forget the correct usage of "whose", the possessive, and "who's", the contraction of "who is". I'd make some comment about people who live in glass houses, but that would be too obvious.

----------------
http://www.pbase.com/tmalcom/

 

[Mareda]

I know this has been brought up before, but it really seems to be on
the rise.

I certainly should not be one to talk, but I'm going to any way.

Why is it that so many people don't know the difference between then
and than. or their and there? or chose and choose?

I know there are quite a few people who's native language is not
English and I excuse them right away. I'm talking specifically
people who speak English natively and should know better.

You excuse them? How would you even know if someone posting has English as their native language? Someone could be new to America and the English language and posting from California as Charlie Smith.

Your question is like asking why people have to drive rusty old cars. Why can't they ride beautiful cars that are newer? You assume that everyone born here had the same starting point and education. That's not true. In some cases it may be laziness that a person doesn't learn proper grammar but in other cases the person didn't have the opportunities or the environment that placed importance on proper grammar. And in some cases, you're probably assuming things you shouldn't assume, such as where a person was actually born.

How can one seriously consider the comments from a poster who writes,
"Nikon is better then Canon"

You're going to miss out on some really helpful and wonderful people if you're so judgmental that you can't take seriously those people who don't exhibit the language skills you demand, even though you admit you should not be one to talk.

I recently read a comment on the Oly SLR post from a woman who works in a school. She criticized a poster for not knowing the difference between 'to' and 'too'. In doing so, she just made herself out to look like a small, mean-spirited person.

Won't someone please scratch my eyeballs out?

I'll think about volunteering because this kind of snobby elitist attitude really bothers me. Not everyone born here is afforded the same playing field. Be thankful for the environment you had that made such things important and try being a little compassionate toward those who were not as blessed as you were.

Really, there are so many more important things to be bothered by, Brian, and I say that with all due respect.

 

[Gideon01]

How can one seriously consider the comments from a poster who writes,
"Nikon is better then Canon"

For that matter, how can one seriously consider the comments from a poster who writes "Nikon is better than Canon"?

OTOH, I've seen quite a lot of very intelligent posts riddled with spelling mistakes.

As a non-native speaker of English, I'm sometimes shocked by the mistakes I see here made by native speakers. However, I try to see beyond that.

If it's any comfort to you, languages are similarly tormented by most of their speakers in other countries, too. Ultimately, it's how they change and develop: today's mistake is tomorrow's rule.

BTW, a spelling-checker on the DPR forums would be nice.

--
Gideon



PAW - Week 43

 

[Mareda]

I'm not sure if this is the case in other browsers, but in Firefox, I now get a red line under any word that has been misspelled or is questionable to the spell check software. For instance, even as I type, if I enter the word 'instence' rather than instance, the first version has a red squiggle under it indicating the error.

Your spelling might be too good so you may not have seen this yet. ;-)

Maureen

 

[igb]

Or should it be "Brianse"?

Oh, Yes! I'm on a roll! )

Regards
--
-------------------------------------------------------
My Galleries: http://webs.ono.com/igonzalezbordes/index.html

 

[LeRentier]

english is not my native tongue but I use tools when in doubt : . . .

I Have a Spell Checker

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my Pea Sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

Sauce unknown

 

[Mareda]

I know this has been brought up before, but it really seems to be on
the rise.

I certainly should not be one to talk, but I'm going to any way.

Why is it that so many people don't know the difference between then
and than. or their and there? or chose and choose?

I know there are quite a few people who's native language is not
English and I excuse them right away. I'm talking specifically
people who speak English natively and should know better.

How can one seriously consider the comments from a poster who writes,
"Nikon is better then Canon"

Won't someone please scratch my eyeballs out?

--
Brian

And let's not forget the correct usage of "whose", the possessive,
and "who's", the contraction of "who is". I'd make some comment about
people who live in glass houses, but that would be too obvious.

----------------

Not to mention how hard it is to take the poster seriously? ;-)

 

[AdrianGB]

english is not my native tongue but I use tools when in doubt : . . .

Spelling and syntax errors are rarely a result of the poster using their second language.

Native speakers from the UK and the US are the usual offenders.

I also find it rather bizarre: We use written language more and more when communicating (email, text, forums), yet we are losing the ability to spell or make sense.

 

[Igloo Lunch]

Neither could Jimmy Carter though he was a nuclear engineer!

Jim Martin

 

[David Mazeau]

I think during the 70s and 80s, and probably even long before that, the use of written language was decreasing. People were reading and writing less. The television and the telephone, I guess.

But now with email and forums, the written word may be making a small scale comeback.

 

[Joseph S Wisniewski]

You, sir, have exceeded the boundaries of the typical "people who live in glass houses" post, and have built a veritable castle of glass.

I know this has been brought up before, but it really seems to be on
the rise.

I know that this has...

I certainly should not be one to talk, but I'm going to any way.

As has already been pointed out, the word is "anyway". That is a rather inconsequential issue, compared to the next. A logical person, having realized that they "should not be the one to talk" would have refrained from talking.

Why is it that so many people don't know the difference between then
and than. or their and there? or chose and choose?

The first problem with the above assortment of sentences and fragments is that the first sentence (really, the only sentence) needs to end with a question mark, not a period. A second problem is your failure to capitalize "or" in the pair of fragments. This brings us to the question of whether or not the fragments should exist at all.

Why is it that so many people don't know the difference between then and than, their and there, or chose and choose?

But the above would read much easier had you not used the double negative, had quoted words for emphasis, and had included another common case, thusly:

Why do so many people confuse "then" with "than", "their" with "there", "chose" with "choose", and "lose" with "loose"?

I know there are quite a few people who's native language is not
English and I excuse them right away. I'm talking specifically
people who speak English natively and should know better.

Your confusion of "whose" and "who's" has already been pointed out.

How can one seriously consider the comments from a poster who writes,
"Nikon is better then Canon"

This is a non-sequitur, as your premise re. Nikon and Canon is correct, but your punctuation is, again, atrocious.

How can one seriously consider the comments from a poster who writes:
"Nikon is better then Canon"?

Won't someone please scratch my eyeballs out?

This would be both messy and counterproductive. While many excellent products exist to enable blind people to participate in internet forums, these products still do not permit the ease of text entry and proofreading that a sighted person enjoys. So the removal of your eyeballs would simply result in further deterioration of your grammar and punctuation.

--
Normally, a signature this small can't open its own jumpgate.

Ciao! Joe

http://www.swissarmyfork.com

 

[aardvark7]

I can put up with a certain degree of bad grammar; as has been pointed out, one may not know the background of the individual concerned and it is of no great import if the meaning is grasped.
However, I cannot forgive that which is all too prevalent within these forums.

That is, complete misunderstanding of an opinion or point raised, regardless of how accurately the statement is made.

I would like to believe that I have a good mastery of English but, frequently, posts of mine are entirely mis-represented by those who reply, even though I am most careful in my choice of words and phraseology. Indeed, it is clear that I am far from alone in being treated this way, as I read replies to other posts.

Whether such is caused by deliberate mischievousness, outrageous partisanship, or just ignorance, I do not know. Of course I understand the likelihood of some of this would to be down to trolling and flaming, but it becomes tiresome when there never seems to be a single thread without examples to be found.

Perhaps my only recourse (and that of others similarly sinned against) is to allow the 'offender' one opportunity to grasp and accept my meaning before reporting them for one of the offences listed in the posting rules.