Bubba po

Surely "people who care" is a single group: either people care or they don't care, so Telboy's use of "the" is perfectly correct.

TelBoy

Thanks, BP, you beat me to it. In fact, "a" minority would actually be grammatically incorrect, in this context. That'll be £20 please, Mr nixxon.

little-ginge

or practise instead of practice.. some people, hey?

and what are you doing in here.. at night?

Spoon

Telboy posting in the evening shocker.

TelBoy

Yes i know, it must be a full moon


LG, well yes, a perfect example - sorry, couldn't resist!

nixxon

A comma after "Surely", please, Bubba.
"people who care" is an undefined group, so the indefinite article is used.
I'm counting...

ronjeramy

iTrader: (1)

This could be fun.

*Sits back *

TelBoy

Nope, a comma after "surely" would have been as superfluous as the one you think ought to have been inserted between care and these in my post. You can overdo grammar; i think you're verging on that point if you're not already there.

Spoon

People who care are carers! Surely not an undefined group. They do a superb job and deserve far more recognition.

TelBoy

And sorry but i'm totally not accepting this undefined group thing. If you have two groups, those who care and those who don't, you are either in THE minority or you're not. You're making an unnecessary distinction. You're overdoing it again.

little-ginge

nixxon

Too true, but many carers are unpaid and unrecognised, even by those for whom they care.

mart360

To all you pedants,

"I before e, except after c" that's what was drummed into us at school.

so where does "being" stand?



Mart

Dracoro

Poor spelling and bad grammar are useful as a stupid-o-meter.

Have bad spelling and grammar? Then people WILL think you are stupid, irrespective of whether you are or not.

Personally I don't care if people make mistakes in their writing, we all do that(especially when quicky replying in forums, e-mails etc.), however there are some that really don't know or care that they're crap and stupid.

I saw an old deer the other day. Now, was I spotting some old lady or was I cutting the limbs of a four legged animal?!

I think the worst is there/their/they're. People who get this wrong are clearly as thick as pigsh1t.

Dracoro

Somewhere after seeing themself peeing or should that be sieieng and pieieng and bieng

TelBoy

Loads of examples like that, in fact i think it's one of the daftest "rules" out there. The number of exceptions almost outnumbers the words actually spelt according to the rule. Science. Weird. Reign. To name but three more.

TelBoy

Agree about there/their/they're, Drac. On a par with your/you're, which i reckon is the number one most common error.

Has the general level of spelling always been so poor but we're only noticing it these days because more people are able to communicate publicly? Who knows. If i could teach the world the difference between your and you're, i'd die a happier man.

pwhittle

I felt like that with many application forms, but in Public Sector (Equal OPs) recruitment, you can't not interview someone over a criteria not specified in the person spec requiremensts for the job. We always include 'I high standard of written communication' or similar now.
I wanted to reject a form which had been typed and included typos. I was told I couldn't, but pointed out that the spec included the requirement to be proficient in Office applications, which I would consider to include spell-checking!

I wonder how many people don't get jobs because of their spelling / grammar, then blame being female / black / old etc

Spoon

However, they are still defined as carers even if unrecognised.

BOB.T

I can accept typos and I don't expect everyone to go to the far end of a fart to write every sentence exactly by the book, BUT! people who say 'I can't spell, leave me alone' or 'I'm dyslexic' really annoy me! OK maybe some people really are dyslexic and I don't mean to belittle them but I'm sure dumb people just assume they're dyslexic and use it as an excuse!

If you know your spelling is bad, try harder ffs! Online spell checkers are out there and easy to use, there's no excuse!

[sits back and waits for post to be ripped apart]

Spoon

PWhittle, you might want to change recruitment.

TelBoy

Recruitment, requirements, "A" high standard.


Somebody stop me.

TelBoy

You can tell properly dyslexic people though, usually. Genuinely poor spelling these days is in my opinion a function of intelligence. Few people spell all words right all the time, but it's the your/you're type of error, for example, that makes me wince.

lozgti

Hmmmm,a Thread has just popped up about a windy Bank *

Edit..could have sworn it said 'draught' a minute ago.I must be hyper dyslexic

Bought and brought confusion always annoys me as well

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

I tihnk terhe is too mcuh emasphis on spllenig as you dno't hvae to hvae wrdos taht mkae snese as the hmuan brain wroks tehm out for it'slef

Spoon

Since the use of emails I've cringed too many times to remember. Talking to people that I've previously respected in their particular field of expertise, only to find they couldn't construct a simple paragraph and their spelling was appalling.

pwhittle

Microsoft probably doesn't help, I've just written '...assess their needs', and was told by Word to change it to 'there'.

pwhittle

my spelling isn't too bad, but my typing is terrible - I have dyslexic fingers some days and can't hit any of the right keys (I've just correct 4 words from that sentance).

Let's face it though, the English language has many totally illogical spellings, maybe it's about time for some sensible changes. Maybe America has it right?!!

TelBoy

Sentence

TelBoy

Actually i wonder if the word sentence is in any way responsible for the occasional appearance of sence that you see instead of sense. Never thought of that before.