General Chat

Errol, you say "Correct English and grammar has absolutely nothing to do with ego or arrogance."

True but correcting others on social sites or forums seems a tad pedantic.

In the grand scheme of things, does it really matter that much?

Correct English and grammar has absolutely nothing to do with ego or arrogance.

There appears to be a concensus that those who use correct English are the ones to be criticised!

Again, what is wrong with correct grammar usage etc?

Sir John Cheke (16 June 1514 – 13 September 1557) was an English classical scholar who wrote:

‘I am of this opinion that our own tung should be written cleane and pure, unmixt and unmangeled with borowing of other tunges; wherein if we take not heed by tiim, ever borowing and never paying, she shall be fain to keep her house as bankrupt‘.

Spelling & grammar seems to have matured/changed somewhat during the last 500 years.

I recently saw a posting on F/B from a young woman asking if there was any member of the site that had gone to a certain school in the years she had.

Some man posted a snide remark along the lines of ' so you didn't get to have English lessons when you went there then?'

Unfortunately for him other members knew the school and he was soon put in his place because it turned out that it was a Special Needs school that the young lady had attended.

To his credit though he did post an apology.

Any room on here 4 another perfick 1 ;-) ;-) ;-)

Lesley x

I work in a school.......please let me type on here without correcting any errors I may make.

At school I would be fine about being corrected, at home just try it and see what happens :-P

:-D :-D

A very interesting thread. I think we have become a bit immune to bad grammar, spelling & punctuation - it is not a major problem as long as the reader can make proper sense of what has been written.

I admit I have made comments on one persons threads because I really do not understand what he is trying to say most of the time. One day I even asked if he was using something like Google translation because it made no sense at all.

My own biggest bugbear is the use of the word floor for when one is outside. Surely the floor is inside!

I can also remember as far back as the sixties ;-) when our English teacher came back from a meeting - she was so excited that she no longer had to teach grammar!

Some people eh, seem to think because they can string a few words together, and spell them all correctly, they are above the rest of us.

They must be 'aving a larf, face, bovvered ? nah

Have that :-D

I agree Joy :-D :-D
My command of the English language was commented on here - the ego and arrogance of some people beggars belief! :-| :-P

I am echoing the OP. That's all.

I have never once suggested that but was trying to make the point that correct grammar usage appears to be in decline.

Whenever this subject crops up there are always those who jump up and down claiming that correct English is unimportant.

Sorry to say, but it is. I fully understand that there are those who are diagnosed with a condition that may have an impact on their written or spoken English but this does not mean that ALL of us can throw out the grammar books.

What is so wrong with speaking correct English and why are people so quick to defend poor grammar?

I would never criticise somebody's command of English grammar
we are on a computer site not at school


and who are we to judge :-D :-D

What matters more to me is if somebody is a nice person :-D :-D

Errol its not as black and white as that,that everybody should know the basics.

Someone could be posting on here to is in the Autism Spectrum and for them to read that they could be potentially be being ripped apart because they havnt used the correct grammer,,,,,,,is shameful.!....dont worry about how anyone else uses grammer,if they are understood thats good enough with me,,,,,,,,oh and there is a Aspergers sufferer that uses this site,,,,can read well...spell good, do they use every correct usages of english,,,No ,,and I would be ashamed to even suggest it to them. or anyone who writes on this or any other site,

My english is not 100% by any means, but, it didnt stop me getting a university degree........

English may be important now, but when I left school it wasn't that important as I got accepted for a High St Bank before results were known. I didn't take the job at that time but reapplied 5 years later and was accepted again.

Most people that use this site are in that age group where qualifications were not as important as they are now.

I made any excuse I could to get out of English lessons. even taking up the violin as it excused me from a half hour lesson a week :-)

It is interesting to note that Mandarin is fast becoming one of the most popular languages taught in British schools.

Sadly, we are generally a monolingual nation.

That too is a drawback in many commercial circumstances.

How could anybody possibly not have an interest in their mother tongue?

It's a basic part of life.

It is not an academic subject per se. It is part of the very fabric of day to day life.

GCSEs (pretty dumbed down in my opinion) are designed to demonstrate an understanding of a subject (in pretty basic terms, usually). If English is so unimportant why do so many courses and professions insist that a competency is demonstrated?

Maybe so, not everyone can grasp it, or has any interest in English.

My 17 year old daughter has taken her GCSE English 3 times in the last year...but manages A+ in her maths and science subjects

A little drop of Wenglish now & then hurts nobody.

As John Edwards is known to say: "Talk tidy".

Nobody is suggesting that an English qualification is required but basic correct usage has declined in recent times and there is no need in many cases. One of my dearest friends suffers from dyslexia but she often says that there are those who use it as an excuse. Incidentally, she writes very complex reports and also works as a translator and her grammar is usually pretty damn spot on.

A lot of posts are written and computer uses predictive text which writes whatever it thinks you mean...we all understand that.
However ,I do think we have become very casual and not as careful with grammar as taught to a lot of us older generation .
It is noticeable to me ..although I have got used to it.
One thing that I notice a lot,not just on this site,but even the BBC is.....eg...I was sat....our old English teachers would have a heart attack if they heard all these grammatical errors.

P.S. I was SITTING in my garden earlier,but I had to go inside and do some housew***!!!