For those of you who can't spell or do grammar...

franco_22 said:
This amuses me more then you would know.
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I'm sure you'll tell me why that is.

And if you're about to tell me that your first language is not English... Well, just consider it a testament to your good English. My point was that where people make mistakes, it's usually clear whether their mistakes stem from English not being their first language, or from the fact that they're a bumbling idiot.
 
I make mistakes on here... I know I make them, I know how to spell and am ok with my grammar.

At the end of the day it's a bloody forum full of gamers, graphic whores, racists and scammers. Hence, why I never consider my grammar or spelling as it's a messaging system and not important.
 
Ampeg said:
I worked as a proof reader for quite a while. Whilst I might not care about peoples spelling and grammar in general I still cant help automatically picking it apart :(.
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Proof reading is a job that I sometimes think I wouldn't mind doing but it's quite surprising the number of books I read and notice fairly elementary errors either through spelling mistakes or simply the wrong choice of word e.g. it is a homophone of the correct one.

vonhelmet said:
See, this is the trouble. The lack of structure and whatnot also makes it one of the most versatile languages. It absorbs everything it comes across. The result is that there are no rules, and it's impossible to teach formally, but the upside is that you can use it in so many different ways.
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That's one of the things that I like about it, English is almost endlessly versatile and you can never claim to know everything about the language.

vonhelmet said:
Not sure, to be honest. It might benefit from a comma.
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I wouldn't, since in the song the phrase has no pause in it. Arguable either way though.
 
semi-pro waster said:
I wouldn't, since in the song the phrase has no pause in it. Arguable either way though.
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Indeed, and this is one of the interesting quandaries of punctuation. The original purpose was so that actors knew how to read their lines - when to pause, how to intone things and so on. The origin of the word is to do with timing, hence the common root with punctuality and the like. The modern use of punctuation is to structure sentences correctly, to keep the clauses separate and so on. These two things are often at odds. So, from a structural point of view, the phrase "Back once again with the ill behaviour" probably should have a comma, but in terms of how it is said in the song, it definitely shouldn't.
 
vonhelmet said:
Indeed, and this is one of the interesting quandaries of punctuation. The original purpose was so that actors knew how to read their lines - when to pause, how to intone things and so on. The origin of the word is to do with timing, hence the common root with punctuality and the like. The modern use of punctuation is to structure sentences correctly, to keep the clauses separate and so on. These two things are often at odds. So, from a structural point of view, the phrase "Back once again with the ill behaviour" probably should have a comma, but in terms of how it is said in the song, it definitely shouldn't.
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Sounds better without the comma tbh :D
 
The problem with posting on here is that it's difficult to gauge the delivery and intention behind posts, so people tend to write a bit like you'd speak, just to get the point across. I think anyway.

Saying that, by my untrained eye, around 95% of posts contain good grammar and spelling, if not prefect, it's at least not painful.
 
It really winds me up when folk pick up on the minor spelling or punctuation mistakes people make on what is in effect, a PC enthusiast forum. Sure, a modest grasp of the English language is required to get ones point across but those who see fit to criticise someones post purely on the basis of grammar rather than answering the question at hand is bad form imho (sorry txt haters!). I tend to think that those who do post such comments such as, 'it's their not there', really need to get out more.

If the writing style is not to your liking then move on and dismiss it. Nobody is forcing you to reply! Don't post your drivel with the sole aim of taking the high ground while doing nothing to help the OP (other than to point out the spelling/punctuation/grammatical mistakes of course).
 
I've always had trouble with some words rather than grammar, Definitely and Definately have always been 2 conflicting words I've used, sometimes in the same sentence but spelled completely differently.

As long as People can understand me, I'm fine with it. but I absolutely hate text speak, I've never bothered to shorten words now I've got unlimited texts. :D.
 
franco_22 said:
Jose Saramago who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1998 is famous for not using punctuation in his books.
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Wikipedia said:
Saramago's experimental style often features long sentences, at times more than a page long. He uses periods sparingly, choosing instead a loose flow of clauses joined by commas.[5] Many of his paragraphs extend for pages without pausing for dialogue, which Saramago chooses not to delimit by quotation marks; when the speaker changes, Saramago capitalizes the first letter of the new speaker's clause. His works often refer to his other works.[5] In his novel Blindness, Saramago completely abandons the use of proper nouns instead choosing to refer to characters simply by some unique characteristic, an example of his use of style to enhance the recurring themes of identity and meaning found throughout his work.
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Sounds like heavy going, but it could work, assuming there was some way of following what was going on. Long paragraphs must come across as very stream-of-consciousness. ee cummings was of course very free and easy with his use of punctuation, as well.

More amusingly, George Orwell once wrote a book and deliberately avoided using any semi-colons, as he felt they were an unnecessary punctuation mark, and was then very cross when no one noticed their absence.
 
This type of question has been asked like 4 different ways in what seems to be the last few months. People that have issues with grammar or spelling will say why they do while other people who don’t will laugh and grammar Nazi it up to hell as normal. I don’t see the point in this post you will always have people that find something harder than someone else does. We are human not perfect. Simple logic really.

My example is that you will have a kid good at football and another whos good at English. They both have something they are personally good at so whats the point as long as the message is understood I dont see the point in trying to make someone look stupid. I mean dont get me wrong text speak gets to me. But a general spelling mistake or grammar mistake I couldn't care about.
 
vonhelmet said:
Sounds like heavy going, but it could work, assuming there was some way of following what was going on. Long paragraphs must come across as very stream-of-consciousness. ee cummings was of course very free and easy with his use of punctuation, as well.

More amusingly, George Orwell once wrote a book and deliberately avoided using any semi-colons, as he felt they were an unnecessary punctuation mark, and was then very cross when no one noticed their absence.
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I'm not surprised. They're my punctuation anathema. No matter how many correct examples of sentences I read, I still don't properly understand them in all honesty. I mean their use within conditions, rather than a list of long terms.

In English they're not that easy to grasp, that much can easily be said due to how people choose not to use them, ignore them, or as Orwell noted not realise they were supposed to be there in the first place.

The boy didn't want to ruin his appetite by eating the penis cake; he will wait to return home and munch on some pasty.
 
Greenlizard0 said:
I'm not surprised. They're my punctuation anathema. No matter how many correct examples of sentences I read, I still don't properly understand them in all honesty. I mean their use within conditions, rather than a list of long terms.

In English they're not that easy to grasp, that much can easily be said due to how people choose not to use them, ignore them, or as Orwell noted not realise they were supposed to be there in the first place.

The boy didn't want to ruin his appetite by eating the penis cake; he will wait to return home and munch on some pasty.
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The way I think of it is that a semi colon is used where you have two independent clauses that are linked closely enough in their content that a full stop is overkill, but not so closely linked that you can get away with just a comma. In the above example, the two clauses both revolve around eating lewd foodstuffs, so a full stop would divide them too much, but they're also independent clauses that stand alone in their own right so a comma puts them too close, as it were.

All that being said, for most purposes you can use a comma or a hyphen and it'll work nearly as well. It's a subtle thing, and while I enjoy a semi-colon as much as the next man, I'd rather go without than see them be needlessly abused.
 
If you are posting on a forum, your written language is your persona.
I do not wish to look like unintelligent knuckle dragger.

It's really not that hard to spell correctly on here with all the tools and technology available today.
It should be used to increase your knowledge and understanding of the language.
If you can't be bothered to even try, then you may as well go out and play in the traffic in my opinion.
 
This issue has been around for a long time. What amazes me is the new ways in which trogladites manage to find to obliterate and abuse the English language. For example, it is a recent evolution to use "are" instead of "our". Seriously guys, that's not funny on any level.
 
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