Jump to content

Grammar, punctuation, spelling


Tim Kearsley
 Share

Recommended Posts

I've always wondered how i'm doing in this field. Born and raised in Belgium, my second language was French at school. I do admit, when i'm writing,my mobile isn't far away to help me translate.

What i find annoying is ,when writers forget comma's spaces and points ,wich can make reading harder. wink

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Back in 2012 I brought this subject up and received a very hard time from forum members. I was reflecting that some posts were almost unreadable. It became quite personal and the thread had to be closed!

It is a tricky subject, as some people may be dyslexic or have motor issues when typing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

An irritating habit that has developed over the last few years is the tendency to omit the word 'and' from certain phrases.

Let's go eat, rather than go and eat etc. Not only a younger persons habit, some oldies seem to be influenced by the power of the modern media and advertising. Even BMFA magazine and RCM&E fall into the trap of putting 'just go fly' now and again. 😡

 

 

 

Edited By Cuban8 on 10/10/2020 19:13:12

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Posted by kc on 10/10/2020 17:33:58:

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!

 

One has to take care when criticising others. I may well be wrong & do not claim, by any means, to be an authority but:-

Do you not mean " write the English language correctly" & "carry out" mental arithmetic".

However, is a very long time since I attended grammar school. To each his own.

Edited By Sam Longley on 10/10/2020 19:35:06

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can accept that the fact that I find grammatical errors distracting and annoying is my problem, not the writer’s. However I do come across many posts where the English is so poor that I really can’t be sure what the writer is getting at. Usually though, such posts are followed by one or more responses from people who seem to have had no such difficulty - so maybe that problem lies with me too.

I think this is partly due to an engineering background. We are trained to read what is written and not to make assumptions. So, if something doesn’t make sense as written, my brain doesn’t automatically assume the writer must have meant something different.

Oh, and while we’re airing our pet hates, can we add such things as servo torque in kg or lb and battery capacity in milliamps!

Okay, I’ll stop now and read through the above rant very carefully!

Trevor

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Posted by Barryorbik on 10/10/2020 17:50:52:

"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

I've not read that but I have a copy of 'Eats shoots and leaves' by Lynne Truss which is probably similar.

An interesting exercise is adjusting the punctuation in a simple sentence eg "What is this thing called love?" (as sung by Ella Fitzgerald). It doesn't help that my keyboard has lots of the letters worn away and, unlike my wife, I'm not a touch typist. I sometimes get double letters, too. At least that's my excuse.

As someone mentioned earlier, commas are not permitted in legal documents because they can affect the interpretation, often seriously.

I've written a few short stories in the past and came across them a few months back. Not great literature but passable

Geoff

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Posted by Doc Marten on 10/10/2020 20:22:58:
Posted by john stones 1 on 10/10/2020 19:39:40:

You need a hobby fellas.

Would you pull the flyer down the field who ain't that good ? He's been doing it years, still bends em a lot, tries his heart out, great club member, but just don't have it.

Of course you wouldn't. Vive le Difference.

It's a thread asking if we care about it John, you don't, others do.

Vive la différence. wink 2

I know Doc, can't I comment ? Or don't you care ?

Sorry bout my poor Spanish. wink

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My personal list of pet 'peeves' in terms of language is rather long I'm afraid. I appreciate that everyone uses the language in their own way, but some things just irritate.

Starting sentences with "So"

Using "Like" as a punctuation

Ending sentences with "Yeah?" Or "D'ya get meh?"

Using "Literally" for things which are not. "I literally died"

The Pacific is an ocean. Specifically, the largest on Earth.

The use of "gate" as a participle for every scandal since Watergate.

We was going. I were going. They was there. I weren't there.

"Least worst"

Meaningless management speech e.g. "Horizon gazing"

"I'm going shops"

Baby speech e.g. "Doggy Woggy", "Gee Gee", "Broom Broom" and so on. Why teach children to speak twice?

I try not to be a pedant about these things. I understand that language continually changes. But there is a tendancy towards the belief that providing that one is understood, that is sufficient. I personally disagree, especially in the written word.

However, I do accept that it isn't always easy when using a phone (as I am now) with a rather tiny touch screen keyboard. My podgy digits are not a helpful attribute.

 

 

Edited By Matt Carlton on 10/10/2020 23:18:02

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Posted by Paul Marsh on 10/10/2020 18:32:51:

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,,

We had a new van back when I was still at school and it wasn't until a customer pointed it out that we noticed the sign writer had written 'Radio and Televison' below our name. The van was several months old at the time. I suppose we saw the outline of the word and, as we knew what it was supposed to be, we accepted it Impossible to correct, of course.

Yes, the so-called greengrocer's apostrophe can be both irritating and amusing.

Geoff

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mattt ^ that post is 100% bang on.

I don't mind the odd spelling/grammar mistake, we're not all scholars. But on the written format such as online, there is always a chance to read, and proof, before pressing send/post, glaring errors have the chance to be caught.

My biggest gripes would be:

The addition of the unneeded aprostrophe's.

People who use.......in the middle of a sentence, or use it as some form of punctuation.........I'm not aware of any school or workplace that teaches to insert a minimum of half a dozen periods in written text..............so where does this habit come from?

Using an exclamation mark to end every sentence! Again, not something I'm aware of being taught anywhere! Completely devalues the importance of the punctuation! And it reflects badly on the writer!

Every workplace seems to have a person who enjoys producing a sign, (as often as not, "Your mother doesn't work here, clean up after yourself" or similar, running it through the company laminator (usually only purchased to make said signs) and pinning to a wall to be ignored by all. Invariably the person who produced this sign is the person with the worst spelling, grammar, and design sense in the company.

Professional written services, especially journalism/news websites who let stupid little errors of spelling/grammar and the like (e.g. the aforementioned "breaking" be published without fixing them. Since these outfits businesses are based on the printed word, I do expect them to be accurate .

Don't get me started on lazy, inept, inaccurate and regularly just incorrect journalism.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...