JohnD

iTrader: (5)

O.K. so I may be one of the "old brigade" but looking through the various forums has revealed some appalling examples of spelling and grammer. I certainly don`t profess to be the best speller by any stretch of the imagination but I do try!
I assume pretty well everyone sits at their computer to indulge in Scoobynet so why all the text-message shortcuts? Mobile phones have got a lot to answer for! The occasional LOL and IMHO etc. are fine, but lately there has been a couple of examples where I`ve had to read the message two or three times to understand what the guy was on about!
Phew, I feel better now! Vote for the "Speak English" party at the next election. Honestly though, is there anyone else out there who feels the same?
JohnD

Terzo 333

Prbly not. Dsn't rly bthr me

PeterPerfect

See me after class !

Here are your corrections:
grammer is spelt grammar
don`t is written as don't
I`ve is written as I've

andrewjlane

Computers have a lot to answer for as does the education system. I only achieved a B at O level English some 19 years ago but feel I have a pretty good grasp of spelling and grammar. It amazes me how those younger than I lack these basic skills. Our business is quite "correspondence based" and thus the standard of our letter writing reflects on the standard of our service and the quality of our people. I have to grammatically correct so many letters. Even with spell checking, basic spelling errors still land in front of me. Rant over!

Tiggs

its only a BBS- its like having a conversation with ppl, as long as they understand 90% of what you are talkong about thats enough to get by with.

in the same way you dont walk up to some one at a party and say "Dear John Smith, I am speaking with you regarding the party that we have attended....." you dont need to worry about using capital letters and the odd typo on here, IMHO!

Tiggs oops!, i mean...

Yours Sincerley

Mark Tigwell

The Zohan

Recon phone text, BBS's and Email have a lot do with it.
Business wise a lot of Email correspondence is almost 'shorthand', grammar does not seem to get a look in.

As far as my own experience goes, I have found that since using a PC my spelling, grammar has improved somewhat.

As far as the up and coming generations of kids/workers goes suppose the next few years will tell.

Most of my errors on 'ere are down to cr@p typing

I am suprised by how many CV's i have seen that have had spelling and gramatical errors!

Paul

Edited due to my typing



[Edited by Paul Habgood - 5/6/2002 7:58:46 PM]

JohnD

iTrader: (5)

Whoops! Told you I wasn't the best speller.
I am certainly not trying to make any kind of issue out of this, I just find it a shame that people can't be bothered to even try to use the Queens English.
As for the education system, I agree. I teach (not English of course!)in the post 16 F.E. sector, and all mainstream students have to study key skills in literacy, numeracy and I.T. in addition to their chosen subject. A sad reflection of the school system maybe, but lack of incentive and poor motivation on the part of so many students is a major problem.
JohnD

Alpine

Language evolves.. always has... always will.. even if we fuddy duddies don't like it..

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

I find it quite scary that there is such a poor level of spelling about now, even simple words are being spelt incorrectly, ffs what do they do in schools these days???

As for punctuation, sometimes I have to read and re-read posts to make any sense of them, sometimes I just give up

So just call me **** but it annoys me too - although I think it frightens me more

Edited to please fast bloke

Edited again 'cos I still got it wrong, goddam

[Edited by scoobychick - 5/7/2002 4:47:07 PM]

[Edited by scoobychick - 5/7/2002 5:14:02 PM]

fast bloke

Sal....

'Spelt wrong'

*cough*

Dracoro

Don't care too much about a bit of poor grammar, and the odd typo (as opposed to bad spolling! ).

The error I see mostly is silly 12 year old errors like the mis-use of there/their/they're etc.

David Lock

english - she is well stufed nawdays

DL (one of the old brigade!)

David Lock

Anyone remember this?

Jones, where Smith had had had had, had had had had had. Had had had won the examiner's approval.

Alpine

Funny thread this.. of those complaining most have made grammatical, spelling or other, what they would term 'basic' errors.

Diversity I believe they call it?

carl

Diversity: recognizing people's right to spell badly?
Spelling badly isn't a right, it's laziness and/or lack of education.

(How many people on here ask about 'warrantees'? What's a warrantee? I know what a warranty is -- it means it's 'warranted', i.e. there is a warrant that says it's OK, and if not it'll be put right.)


[Edited by carl - 5/7/2002 3:52:00 PM]

MichelleWRX1994

I don't think that enough emphasis is put into punctuation, spelling and grammar in schools.
When I went to school, we had continuous spelling tests and grammar tests.

Later on, I became a proof reader and charged a certain amount per hour for proof reading articles and such.

A lot of the time, my writing suffers because I type too fast and don't re-check my work.

Michelle.

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

Cheers fb, corrected it (I think ) fer gawds sake it's donkey's years since I was at school

Phill

From a young persons point of view, BBS's text messages and alike are not spelling bee's and as long as what your trying to say is clear enough, then type o's or general spelling are largely ignored.

I spend half my day writting very long reports, that are customer facing as such my focus on grammer and syntex is somewhat different, it is sometimes nice to talk /text/post in a less formal manner !!

One thing though, whilst i was down in the west country i started doing my 11+ exams, my family moved half way through but once i was back in class up near london the empahsis on the three R's, was clearly shifted in favour of more modern subjects, such as DT and CEA (design tec, and creative and expressive arts !)I guess bill gates is far enough into our pyscie, that the spell check will always be there to sort things out !

Phill

fast bloke

Sal - 'Spelled wrongly'. Should really be spelled incorrectly. Wrongly isn't technically a word

Shark

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

Oi fb - bog off

I'm signing up for English lessons

Dracoro

Spell check is no use if you're using the wrong bl**dy word!

They're you go, some people, there useless with words, now theirs a good example

David_Wallis

my grammar and spelling is cr@p and I dont care If I get the message accross then its served its purpose.. and I can think of better things to be doing than correcting my spelling.

David

carl

How arrogant is that? You spell and use grammar properly for other people's benefit, not your own....

Do you have "better things to do" than spell properly when writing a job application letter?

Little Miss WRX

It is laughable to see the letters and memos posted up by our management.

When I worked in the warehouse, I used to get a pen out and correct all of the mistakes. Having been promoted to the operations side, I tend to leave them and snigger privately. It is quite despairing to see the poor grammatical and spelling errors. I have offered to proof read the documents, but they are too up their own rear ends to take me up on it.

If they wish to look unprofessional, who am I to stand in their way?????

There, their and they're, all are not picked up by the spell checker for use in the right context. You cannot rely on spell checkers for everything.

carl

Indeed. I have a large book on the shelf at home, called a 'dictionary'. If I'm not sure how to spell something (even when posting on Scoobynet) I look it up in there

Dictionary + Roget's Thesaurus + Fowler's Modern English Usage is all you need.

Magic Boot

Have you ever been in a crisis situation where precise and informative instructions need to be written?

Now tell me good English grammar is not important.

Incorrect use of the language and modern text messaging/internet abbreviations of words can and have lead to confusion with disasterous consequences.

boomer

Why on earth do "the yoof" of today continue to use abbreviations in text messages, when most phones these days do the spelling for you via T9????

mb

yoza

Some of us didnt have an education,or it was offered but refused.
I think that so long as you get your point across,who cares about the grammar and spelling!
Also I have seen people on this board getting stick over thier spelling and I know that two of them are dyslexsic (so think before you slag em off they have a disability)Were as I just cant spell
ps..what a horrable word to use for somebody who has problems with how they see letters?

P1Fanatic

boomer, text messages are generally a max of 160 characters and a pain to type out. Abbreviations mean less typing.

Todays youth may find it laughable how useless many old codgers are when it comes to computers.