Grammar

[rogerthomas]

Not specifically for this topic but it applies to all.

Please make your posts readable by using correct grammar. Remember, full stops break up sentences and make their meaning obvious.

Apostrophes are used to show possession and missing characters. They are not used to pluralise nouns.

Please learn the difference between there, their and they're.

When writing about something that belongs to more than one person, use 'our' not 'are'.

Please, please, please don't use text writing.

The word etcetera is abbreviated to etc. not e.t.c.

I could go on but I think you've got the point. Language is power - use it correctly.

[MargeB]

good one roger; your right. And its going especially to be important to get you're grammar right with all eye's on it now.

[MargeB]

Did you just join this site? When did you rogerthomas?

[georgit79]

Please do shut up roger.

[georgit79]

PS: Morning Marge, darlin'.

[pixi]

oi rogerthomas its all rate for thee mebbe avin a proper education and all but fink of us poor sods from council estates

[Skids]

If you can't handle a few grammatical errors in something as inconsequential as a typed question or answer on AB then I daren't think how much of a misery your entire life must be, picking holes in everything you see that's written in English.

Those among us who appear to have the least grasp of their own language, or those who prefer to 'text write', can carry on for all I care.  I, as are most users of AB, tolerant toward these people.  If I read a question that contains grammar, or spelling, so bad that I can't understand the content, or can't be bothered to read anymore, then I don't answer the question.  What I also don't do is complain about it.

But let's not forget those who have genuine difficulty with English, such as those who use English as an alternate language to their own, like foreigners, and also those who may be dyslexic.  Dyslexia isn't just manifest as spelling errors.

Plus, a lot of people like to write in the same manner in which they speak, it can be more informal that way.

[rogerthomas]

I definitely hit a raw nerve there. Skids, for someone who claims to be tolerant of others, you are being very intolerant towards me.

To georgit79, why should I shut up. Unless the situation changed overnight, Britain is still a free country where opinions can be freely expressed.

To pixi, I attended a local comprehensive school in the 1970s and left with just two CSEs, one of which was English language, but learning doesn't stop the day you leave school.

Anyway I want you all to be good children from now on and make shore u wright proper like wot i does.

[lady_p_gold]

Well I can see both sides, however when my local Council's internet site starts off "this site compromises of lots of interesting facts" you do start to get a little exasperated .......

[Fat Boy]

"To georgit79, why should I shut up."

Erm, shouldn't that be, "To georgit79, why should I shut up?"?

People in glass houses...

[pixi]

to rogerthomas-calm down twas but a joke

rofl @ fatboy nice one lol

[gen2]

I was told that we learn from our mistakes (but only if we are made aware of them).

On the other hand, 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.' and most of us come on here for fun and not for work/school.

Please moderate your angst, rogerthomas.

[georgit79]

Wot wil hapen 2 us if we dont ewes it corectly?

[Dagman]

Are you prejudiced against those with dyslexia too? It is a very real problem for some people with this word blindness. In fact I think you're pretty arrogant and rude! Where do people like you come from? 

[delilahcat]

Sorry to be against the majority but I agree totally with rogerthomas. This has come up before and I think you'll find that quite a lot of us get exasperated when people use language so badly.

I'm sure every one of you has has things that annoy you, and complain about them. Is Roger not allowed that privilege?

Many employers complain about the poor standard of spelling and grammar of job applicants. If we were all a bit more critical perhaps schools would go back to actually teaching English!

By the way, my own pet hate is when people use 'of' when they mean have, eg ' I should of paid attention in school' - where did that come from????

[georgit79]

delilahcat- you may well be entitled to get frustrated about the standard of English grammar and its usage, but is this really the forum for it? This is a site to which people come from all walks of life to post questions, offer answers and, in some cases, just chat. Enforcing correct grammar and spelling upon them will just serve to exlcude some, and that is not what this site is all about. So relax and little and let the odd pselling mistake slip by!

(Yes, I did that on purpose)

[fo3nix]

Grammar and spelling etc. is something that can annoy me.

However, i think the point is that this place is not requiring you to be as accurate as writing an english essay. it's simply a place to ask questions and give answers. it doesn't matter how correct the english is, as long as it's easily understandable.

[druiaghtagh]

Please do not be so formal rogerthomas, we are not so paticular on here it does not matter an awful lot s long as you can be understood.

[stevie21]

I agree that as long as you can make yourself understood then typos and the like are fine.
One thing that does annoy me is something that's clearly not a typo such as lady_p_gold's council example or (personal annoyance of mine) people typing "I would of done that..."
in place of "would've" or "would have".

Mishearing "Would've" is understandable but I'd prefer people to figure out that "would of" makes no sense at all. Think lad, think!!!
Bah!!

[stevie21]

Oh, and sentences being peppered with "innit" annoy the **** out of me.
Asking "isn't what?" doesn't seem to help :(

[bernardo]

I agree entirely with rogerthomas.  Anybody who can't be bothered to spell or punctuate correctly should have custard squirted into their ears, their skin slashed with sharp knives, pepper and gravel rubbed into the wounds, their eyes poked out with sticks of soggy broccoli, their feet and hands twisted round until the bones and tendons in their wrists and ankles crunch, force-fed on 46 kilogrammes of bananas, trampelled by a herd of stampeding buffaloes, tossed in the air by a rhinoceros, injected intravenously with hydrochloric acid and poisonous gas, thrown off a cliff, shoved out of a third-floor window, sent to Guantanamo Bay and cut in half with a scythe.  Then they might learn to be tolerant and reasonable and open-minded like the rest of us normal people.