Grammatical mistakes


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I?ve also set up MS Word to automatically correct "u" to "you" (amongst other things), so I find myself writing "u" all the time

Good idea. I commend the effort at least.

Remember, the comma is just a pause. Nothing more and nothing less. People try to over-complicate such things.

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I don't mean to throw cold water on your proposal, but it is impossible to creat a forum for boosting Neowin members' English grammar and rhetoric, at least for the present, though this thread is well-advised. :)

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one for me is to, too, and two - and my best friend spells horridly, lol: ex: makeing, comeing, haveing, includeing, etc. also tomaroow, pritty, and a few others.

For some kicks:

Reasons Why The English Language Is So Hard To Learn

1. The bandage was wound around the wound.

2. The farm was used to produce produce.

3. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse

4. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

5. Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

6. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

7. I did not object to the object.

:)

we should use the accents above letters like french, that's all is really needed to be changed.

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Good idea. I commend the effort at least.

Remember, the comma is just a pause. Nothing more and nothing less. People try to over-complicate such things.

Apart from when it's concatenating two halves of a sentence. Or separating direct speech from prose. Or separating items in a list. Or separating interjections. Or bracketing a statement. Or...

Edited by danshome
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Apart from when it's concatenating two halves of a sentence. Or separating direct speech from prose. Or separating items in a list. Or separating interjections. Or bracketing a statement. Or...

Erm and so what are each of those doing if not creating a pause? <Confused>

But OK, let's get wild. Use a comma to separate clauses and items in lists. I'm sure that has helped the poster no end.

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Please understand that the intention of this thread was not to offend the people here at Neowin, but to simply start a discussion. I agree that this is a discussion board and grammar/spelling shouldn't come into play in such a casual environment. However, I feel that overuse of internet lingo can even spill over into our formal speaking and writing. There was one occasion in which I was proofreading my friend's essay for English class, and she literally typed "lol" in the middle of a paragraph. Many of my teachers agree that the quality of our writing has diminished so greatly that it is almost shameful. If you were to take a look back at Civil War era letters that soldiers had written home to their families and loved ones, the language used is extraordinary considering the fact that many of these people never had a formal education as we know it.

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Erm and so what are each of those doing if not creating a pause? <Confused>

But OK, let's get wild. Use a comma to separate clauses and items in lists. I'm sure that has helped the poster no end.

Well the main reason I mentioned them was because a comma isn't just used to insert pauses. It is meant to "illuminate the grammar of a sentence and to point up - rather in the manner of musical notation - such literary qualities as rhythm, direction, pitch, tone and flow". Saying that a comma inserts pauses only covers one of those definitions and leaves out a whole host of jobs that the comma does.

The problem with comma usage is that at times, using it to illuminate grammar destroys the rhythm of the sentence and vice versa, at which point it becomes a matter of personal style.

As to helping the poster, I actually thought that using a comma to separate items in a list was one of the most common (and easiest) uses. After all having a list of items without commas makes it look positively naked:

"The refreshing fruit flavours of Starburst are orange lemon strawberry and lime". Mmm... Orange lemon strawberry. What a unique flavour! And although it's nice to pause slightly between items when you're speaking, in order to help annunciation, it is by no means necessary and certainly not implied by the comma.

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Please understand that the intention of this thread was not to offend the people here at Neowin, but to simply start a discussion. I agree that this is a discussion board and grammar/spelling shouldn't come into play in such a casual environment. However, I feel that overuse of internet lingo can even spill over into our formal speaking and writing. There was one occasion in which I was proofreading my friend's essay for English class, and she literally typed "lol" in the middle of a paragraph. Many of my teachers agree that the quality of our writing has diminished so greatly that it is almost shameful. If you were to take a look back at Civil War era letters that soldiers had written home to their families and loved ones, the language used is extraordinary considering the fact that many of these people never had a formal education as we know it.

As it happens, there are suprisingly fewer rules to punctuation than you might expect. A fairly robust, yet simple, education ought to teach every child perfect punctuation - even if they learn it by rote. How that translates into decent, readable grammar is another matter though and is, in many respects, a matter of personal style. I don't think we should necessarily expect every single person to produce beautifully crafted sentences in everything they write. However, we ought to be raising the bar and demanding that those sentences, as clumsy and rambling as they may be, should at least be properly punctuated and readable. Really, it's a combination of lax standards and the fact that often people are too lazy to write properly.

I wouldn't suggest that we demand everyone on the forum wrote a masterpiece in each and every post - apart from being a ridiculous suggestion, it would destroy the participation of all our extremely valued members who aren't native English speakers. On the other hand, I do think that those capable of writing a decent sentence should take the time and make the effort to do so. By raising the bar, we're encouraging everyone to make an effort themselves - rather than take the lazy option and tell them it's an okay thing to do. Once again, I'm not saying perfect every time (that's unrealistic) - just that people should try and put the effort in...

It's a nice idea, at any rate.

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Good knight!

Feel the irony?.>:rofl::

I do notice spelling and grammatical errors in lots of posts while reading them. Especially if you are helping somebody, it really reflects badly on you with lots of errors in your post. The most common problem I see in posts here is no capitalization. In IMs you shouldn't have capitalization, but in forum posts you should.

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Ode to Spell Checkers

I have a spelling checker

I disk covered four my PC.

It plane lee marks four my revue

Miss steaks aye can knot see.

Eye ran this poem threw it.

Your sure real glad two no.

Its very polished in its weigh,

My checker tolled me sew.

A checker is a blessing.

It freeze yew lodes of thyme.

It helps me right awl stiles two reed,

And aides me when aye rime.

Each frays comes posed up on my screen

Eye trussed too bee a joule.

The checker pours o'er every word

To cheque sum spelling rule.

Bee fore wee rote with checkers

Hour spelling was inn deck line,

Butt now when wee dew have a laps,

Wee are not maid too wine.

And now bee cause my spelling

Is checked with such grate flare,

There are know faults in awl this peace,

Of nun eye am a wear.

To rite with care is quite a feet

Of witch won should be proud,

And wee mussed dew the best wee can,

Sew flaws are knot aloud.

That's why eye brake in two averse

Cuz Eye dew want too please.

Sow glad eye yam that aye did bye

This soft wear four pea seas.

nice lil poem! :D

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In IMs you shouldn't have capitalization, but in forum posts you should.

Noooooooooooo! Why not use capitalisation in everything you write?! What harm has the shift key done to you that you hate it so!

And more importantly, why is an IM less important than a forum message?

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To reiterate - what problem does spelling on the internet pose? as long as we all know how to do it in reality, that's all that matters. Admittedly, we may be setting a bad example. I find SMS messaging bad enough.

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Hopefully most of you understood that I did intentionally mispell night. Just wanted to make sure!

Well, when I IM, I normally ignore many grammatical/spelling rules as well. The most important thing to me is the get the message across, as quickly as I can. So I do use "u" in the place of "you", leave out periods, and perform many other criminal grammar and spelling mistakes.

I just remembered something else that annoys me - the incorrect use of many and much. But I hear that a lot less these days.

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To reiterate - what problem does spelling on the internet pose? as long as we all know how to do it in reality, that's all that matters. Admittedly, we may be setting a bad example. I find SMS messaging bad enough.

The point is the Internet, while digital, is the "real world". Since when was typing an email different to typing an IM? Or different to writing a book on a word processor? It's only a matter of context, so if you do one, you may as well do them all. Otherwise, what's the point in punctuating anything?

And the problem is that no one bothers - and it spreads. First SMS messages dropped punctuation (and decent spelling) because space was limited, then IMs, because they're pretty similar. Then messageboard posts and emails... it just carries on.

How come I always end up becomming more radical as threads progress! :whistle:

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Because IMs are quicker.

Example for IM:

a: yo

b: hi

b: whazzup

a: nm

b: o

a: whatcha doin?

b: workin on sum app

a: cool

Example for forum posts:
I do notice spelling and grammatical errors in lots of posts while reading them. Especially if you are helping somebody, it really reflects badly on you with lots of errors in your post. The most common problem I see in posts here is no capitalization. In IMs you shouldn't have capitalization, but in forum posts you should.
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The point is the Internet, while digital, is the "real world". Since when was typing an email different to typing an IM? Or different to writing a book on a word processor? It's only a matter of context, so if you do one, you may as well do them all. Otherwise, what's the point in punctuating anything?

And the problem is that no one bothers - and it spreads. First SMS messages dropped punctuation (and decent spelling) because space was limited, then IMs, because they're pretty similar. Then messageboard posts and emails... it just carries on.

How come I always end up becomming more radical as threads progress! :whistle:

:)

post-7-1071284624.jpg

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