I hope this doesn’t come across as rude, but I would like to ask people to proofread their posts before submitting them. Over the past week there have been so many poorly worded sentences, misspelled words, and grammatically incorrect sentences lately that it hurts me to read them.
I don’t expect posts to sound like English papers, but can we at least try a little bit to use proper English.
Note: The average forum user actually has very intelligent posts. This is definitely the minority I am talking about, but it is still blatantly obvious when reading through various threads.
Never mind the hurt - for that, I use aspirin. But too often I can’t even understand what the question or problem might actually be. I understand there are probably many kids on the forum who don’t speak English as their primary language, so their errors are understandable. But it’s depressing to know there are kids on here who routinely speak English but are too durn lazy to read through their own posts even once.
Most modern browsers (Chrome, Firefox, IE, Safari) even put red squiggly lines below blatantly misspelled words and blue ones under deplorable grammar!
(I even just used spell check on four words in this post alone)
It always annoys me when people want to say like “2000s” (as in plural) and put “2000’s”, when it’s not possessive. Another thing are the its and it’s, but that’s less bothering :rolleyes:
I don’t think anyone is singling you out. And I had always suspected that you, and others, are thumbing your way through iPhones and such. Sometimes, tho, its jst 2 much 4 inny sane prsn too bare.
I always try to proof read my posts, but sometimes I miss things because I don’t have the time to fully proofread or I just plain old forget to proofread at all.
When I post, I make sure I proofread at least twice to make sure it sounds good and has proper grammar and spelling, and then if it is a really long post, and there is something that I can easily miss when proofreading, I copy it into word doc and use the spell check. When someone uses proper grammar and spelling it makes them sound intelligent. For all of the people that don’t proofread, I beg of you to at least read over your post and make sure it sounds good before posting. THANK YOU!
I agree with this. It is a lot of work to properly proofread posts and it may sound silly to put so much work into “just a forum post”, but the more conscious you are of your English skills the better you will become.
My issue isn’t with people who don’t natively speak English, my issue is when people type liek tis. It’s harder for me to read than people who miss a word because they don’t always speak English.
Yes, I agree with this also. My point of the original post was not to put down non-native English speakers. It is the laziness of not being willing to slow down and write proper sentences that bothers me. In fact, the non-native English speakers often have better spelling overall…their sentence “flow” is often a bit confusing, but that’s a different issue.
To be honest, I don’t even care if people are very accurate…just stop totally butchering the English language…that’s all I ask.
How about we all agree that these are not good to use on a public forum…
u (you)
i (I)
r (are)
tho (though)
your vs you’re (it’s not hard…use the write one!)
their vs there
its vs it’s (or any plural vs possessive vs conjunction)
did you catch it above…use the write one…right one…I hope you noticed it and that it annoyed you…because it annoys me.
Please add to this list of things we would like to see used correctly on this forum! (This could get interesting if people are willing to dig for examples)
First off, your first sentence is a run on. In addition, you use the word “and” five times, that becomes rather redundant and unnecessary. Second, you use “people” plural and beg them to read over their “post” singular. Since you have just proven yourself as unintelligent (according to your statement above), I have taken the time out to fix your poorly written “Desperate plea for proper English” with proper English.
When I post, I make sure to proofread at least twice to make sure my post sounds good and has proper grammar and spelling. If it is a really long post and there is something that I can easily miss when proofreading, I copy it into a word doc and use spell check. When someone uses proper grammar and spelling it makes them sound intelligent. For all of the people that don’t proofread, I beg of you to at least read over your posts and make sure they sound good before posting. THANK YOU!
If you are serious, you are a tad on the arrogant side my friend. At no time in this thread did people demand perfect English skills. Everyone has something they are not adept at doing in terms of writing. We are speaking of the ridiculously lazy errors that make posts hard to even read or comprehend.
I promise you have many technical errors in your post as well. I’m sure a college professor of English could find them. I found one easily…you said “redundant and unnecessary”. Hmm. Unnecessary is a synonym of redundant. So you my friend are “redundant and unnecessary”.
Let’s not be “grammar nazi’s”.
Im jst rlly sik of reeding posts that luk liek this.
There was nothing actually wrong with Aiden’s post. That first sentence is not a run-on, it’s actually a combination of lists and compound sentences–things used in intelligent language. When using “people” he indicating that his message is for multiple people–not for multiple posts. Aiden’s post is neither “unintelligent” nor “poorly written.”
While part of online courtesy is using “proper” language, not being a rude snot is more important. Most people don’t follow the exact rules of English perfectly in every sentence; to do so takes a lot of conscious effort or practice. As long as the message is clear, there are no errors from laziness, and sentences flow, it is fine (grammatically anyways).
Posts should contribute to the conversation. The ones that “hurt” the most are the ones that don’t do anything for the conversation besides comment on how comical it is. Some other things that I don’t like seeing are posts that are overly speculative, defensive of a side with no real evidence or analysis, include “lol,” or are purely inimical.
Since you’re attacking my post, I might as well make a small correction. There should be no semicolon between sentence and to, since it is not an independent clause. I understand that posts should be contributing, but how about not singling me out of using “poor english” or indicating that my posts are “unintelligent.” But finally, his first sentence was most certainly a run on.
I take great offense in being related to a Nazi. Just because I am German does not mean that I am a Nazi. Any time you refer to another person as “he/she is a Nazi” you are labeling them. It is a hostile act and you are indicating that there is something wrong with them that they can’t change, rather than referring to something that they did and that you disagree with. It is a form of name-calling, what positive can come out of that?
In addition, I believe that the word itself is offensive to people of German origin. Apparently, in English-speaking countries kids are taught that “all Germans are nazis”, and Germans who were born after World War II think it is not fair to be held responsible for something that happened before they were born.
If you feel that somebody is overly obsessive about grammar, why not just say that, instead of name-calling?
