Grammar, punctuation, spelling

[Tim Kearsley]

I'm just interested in how others feel about this. Recently, on a forum I subscribe to, which is nothing whatever to do with model aircraft, someone complained that many contributors to the forum used the word "breaking" when they meant "braking" (it's a forum concerned with electric vehicles). The admin of the forum replied and told the guy to "put up with it, as grammar, punctuation and spelling don't matter here".

I just wondered how others feel about it - does it bother you where things are mis-spelt, wrong words used, no punctuation etc? Or am I too sensitive?!

Before anyone points it out, yes, I'm aware some folk are dyslexic and can't help having trouble with the written word. However, I think many are just lazy.

What do you think?

Tim.

[Ray Wood 4]

Being able to post on a forum is not a guarantee of correctness of grammar and punctuation, but we would normally get the drift of the contribution which is what I'd say matters ??

Regards Ray

Edited By Ray Wood 4 on 10/10/2020 15:31:07

[David Ashby - Moderator]

I find it more amusing than annoying Tim. But the bottom line is that so long as the writer can be understood then one must always accept that he/she may be doing their best to express themselves and that not everyone can write without errors. An attempt to pick them up for poor spelling/grammar/punctuation in public is just another form of online bullying and must always be resisted.

We have a few flyers in our club who obviously wouldn't win any literary prizes but they're good company, very keen modellers and can fly the pants off many of our more 'eloquent' members.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Nah, it don't bother me.

[Geoff S]

I've been a voracious reader since before I started school over 75 years ago and grammar has always interested me. I just like the way it works. I've also edited a few small circulation magazines for cycling and sailing. Towards the end of my professional career I also wrote quite a lot of software and mistakes in program 'grammar' can have all sorts of unforseen effects.

One of my bugbears is the loss of the word 'disinterested' to mean unbiassed and another is the confusion of 'less' and 'few' but really, in the scheme of things, they aren't very inportant. At one time I worked for a guy with a PhD in control engineering whose spelling and grammar left so much to be desired it made me wonder how he managed to write his thesis - his knowledge of his subjest was never in doubt, however.

So poor grammar/spelling doesn't worry me too much on a forum like this but does if I read a longer piece - a newspaper article, short story or, especially, a novel.

Geoff

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

I read every night, have done since my early 20s, trips to the charity shops require a boot full when I need to make room for new books.

The story and the characters are what interest me, and many a good author has their own quirks. I'm with David, I find it unpleasant when people get pulled on forums over their use of grammar.

[Tim Kearsley]

Thanks chaps, all interesting points. I guess it's all very much a personal thing. One of the ones that really bugs me is the one where people write (and say) "I would OF thought" rather than "I would HAVE thought". Still, as I'm clearly in a minority, I'll shut up now!

Tim.

[Robin Colbourne]

Its very rare that I post on here without having to go back and edit my ramblings. If I write late at night, its worse, because by the morning the window for editing has closed, yet I can see all my spelling and grammar errors on display to the world.

Tim's second to last paragraph sums it up. Some people are doing their best but are blind to their errors, others are just lazy. Most of the time I can see when I've made a spelling mistake, yet somewhere between my brain and my fingers, a simple word such as 'With' can get changed so that not one letter is in the correct place.

To me, a lack of punctuation is often more annoying and causes more confusion than the odd spelling mistake. As the old adage says, 'A lack of punctuation and capitalisation can give 'helping your uncle, Jack, off his horse' a whole different meaning'.

[Eric Robson]

I think too many people buy Chinese products and accept the spelling in the instructions which are in very poor English. Many years ago I was in the motor trade and continental cars were making inroads into or market almost all of the drivers hand books had breaking when braking was the correct term.

[John Privett]

Tim - I must admit my thoughts are probably similar to yours.

It does (slightly) annoy me when very basic errors are repeatedly made by native-English speakers on forums. However, as David says, pointing them out can be seen as a form of bullying so it's something that needs to be approached carefully - if at all.

Breaking and braking are one obvious example. And on another forum one specific former member could never understand the difference between 'there', 'their', and 'they're'. He would generally use 'their' for all of those! Whilst it was usually clear from the context, it did make his posts a little more difficult to read for the 99% of us who do know the difference.

Now you might say that both above examples (breaking/braking, their/there/they're) occur when you listen to somebody speaking and we manage to work that out. The difference though is that when we hear it we know that there are two (or more) possible meanings to the word. When we see it written down we know what the meaning is, until further on we realise that they used the wrong word and actually meant something different.

We should also bear in mind that (possibly less so in this UK-based forum) often members are not native-English speakers. They can be more easily confused trying to make sense of incorrect spellings and grammar. I occasionally dip into french-language forums, and with my intermediate-level french can find some of the abbreviations, 'deliberate' errors, 'text-speak', and other mis-use of their language somewhat confusing!

[Edited once already to correct a typo!]

Edited By John Privett on 10/10/2020 16:34:09

[David Holland 2]

Tim, I'm with you. While I would not dream of commenting on another's spelling, grammar, punctuation or phraseology, I do inwardly wince on occasion. My daughters think it hilarious that my text messages contain none of the popular abbreviations, are grammatically correct and punctuated. They both, however, were happy to let me cast an eye over their written submissions during their university years! So, not very important but easier to read if well written. That's my 1.2p's worth.

David

[Bob Cotsford]

I find the use of American terminology more annoying than spelling or grammatical errors, ie 'nitro' engines for glow, horizontal stabiliser for tailplane and vertical stabiliser for fin. Missing punctuation is just plain confusing too. I do find that as I get older I find myself looking at my posts and thinking 'how did I type that' and hitting Edit Post more and more often.

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

I always read my postings and correct obvious errors but this is because I feel embarrassed if I've made a glaring grammatical or spelling mistake. I don't claim any more than O level English and I know that my grammar isn't always perfect but yes, it does grate a bit when I see some very basic errors.

However, I recognise that some people are dyslexic or simply haven't been taught the basics and I realise it isn't fair to nit pick - although on occasions I might have pointed out where something doesn't make sense and commented for the sake of clarification.

Good punctuation does make text more readable but I was amused to learn that the use of commas is frowned on when framing certain legal documents in order to avoid unintentional interpretations.

[Steve Colman]

It does annoy me somewhat!

However, what really is irritating is when people start a sentence with "So......." and/or "I mean........" when it's not appropriate to do so.

I've heard professionals, academics and others use the terms in television interviews and it grates on me so much.

[Shaun Walsh]

Posted by Martin Harris on 10/10/2020 17:03:30:

I always read my postings and correct obvious errors but this is because I feel embarrassed if I've made a glaring grammatical or spelling mistake. I don't claim any more than O level English and I know that my grammar isn't always perfect but yes, it does grate a bit when I see some very basic errors.

However, I recognise that some people are dyslexic or simply haven't been taught the basics and I realise it isn't fair to nit pick - although on occasions I might have pointed out where something doesn't make sense and commented for the sake of clarification.

Good punctuation does make text more readable but I was amused to learn that the use of commas is frowned on when framing certain legal documents in order to avoid unintentional interpretations.

Same here, I do try to make my posts adhere as closely as possible to correct English spelling and grammar. However, I do sometime despair at the standard of English exhibited online. My pet hates are "should of" instead of "should have" (how does should of even make sense?) and the use of the superfluous apostrophe, usually in plural's (sic).

OK, I shall have to go now as my cumpooters' spillchucker appears to be bricken! (apologies to officer Crabtree)

Edited By Shaun Walsh on 10/10/2020 17:28:50

[kc]

Writing English that is not ambiguous is an essential skill in commerce and therefore is important. Correct spelling and punctuation are important. A lack of puctuation can give a total difference in meaning to some sentences. Writing something that is unclear or ambiguous can easily have a drastic effect if it is seen as a libel. It could happen to anybody now - see the case this week of the person who wrote an online review and ended up in prison. So, writing clear English is important.

My pet hate is to confuse 'lose' with 'loose' or 'there' with 'they are' or 'their'. Nowadays people are forced to stay at school 3 years longer than in previous years and they still cannot write correct English or do mental arithmetic!

I cannot agree that pointing out someone's errors is bullying!

[Shaun Walsh]

My daughter finds it amusing that I use correct punctuation in text messages!

[Barryorbik]

"Have you eaten Grandma" by Gyles Brandreth is a good book to read if you have any doubts about punctuation or good grammar. I am never perfect, but some of the gaffs you see on forums etc. are classics.

Barry

[Tim Kearsley]

This has become an interesting discussion!

I think some of us more, ahem, mature people were taught in school that grammar and punctuation are important. I went to a grammar school, as they were called then, and it was drummed into us.

I have to completely agree with the view expressed on the modern habit of starting every answer to a question with "So....". It's irritating in the extreme!

It made me laugh also to read that others are admonished for using "proper" English in text messages. I suffer that too!

Ah well, we're all different!

Tim.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Stuart C]

When the news headline proclaimed "Lewis Hamilton has break problem in the pits", I had a vision of him seated at a table in the garage entrance looking around to see which mechanic was bringing him a coffee! Good gaff, but not something that a professional sports editor should do.

[John Tee]

I like things to be as correct as possible, but would never pull anyone up for it on a forum such as this. I do admit to complaining to my wife about the amount of Americanisms taking over our language. I do crosswords on my Kindle which is set for British style grid and English spelling, but even so there are numerous cases of "American" English in the answers. Have done them for so long now I know what words to put in now even if they offend me. I try to self edit my posts but am still guilty of posting too quickly with sentences that make no sense.

A teching assistant I play tenpin bwling with , once told me that as far as schools are concerned, if the child is undersood the spelling and grammar don't really matter.A statement I do not really agree with. I am mature but I hope not old so it must be a modern "thing"

John

Edited By John Tee on 10/10/2020 18:10:11

[jrman]

One of my pet hates, along with all those listed previously is the incorrect use of "non" when "none" should be used.

[Peter Miller]

I must confess that my postings here often have faults, however they are typing errors rather than anything else. The articles that I send in are correct.

When I worked at an upper school as a technician in the CDT department I had an stand up argument with the head of English department because I said that the children couldn't spell, punctuate or use correct grammar he said it didn't matter so long as they could express themselves.

I pointed out that without correct spelling, punctuation and grammar they could not express themselves properly.

That, of course, was a waste of my breath

[Paul Marsh]

Poor spelling and punctuation really gets on my nerves, such as people at work, filing in paperwork and spell things wrong, even a SOP which was done in the office had errors, so I put red pen and corrected words, then gave it back so it can be corrected.

Also, seeing company names and descriptions wrong. For example: Retro Coating's. (told them about that) and a catering firm advertising their services.(and it was on the side of their van. Get this:

• Wedding's
• Funeral's
• Special Occasion's
• Party's

Oh, I give up,,