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Why Do Grammar Mistakes Upset People?


Kazoo

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Grammar and context are understandings only friends.

Edited by Likely Guy
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Grandma doesn't bother me but poor punctuation does because I think it's a sign of laziness however it could be that people don't know any better but I'm not sure....ya get me?

So, Grandma doesn't bother you much...but what about Grandpa?

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It's like JGirl pointed out; illiteracy is being ignored, especially in the US. On these forums it's not such a big deal because a lot of members are not native English speakers.

Somebody who is, however, should understand the difference between your and you're, their, there, and they're, it, it's, etc.

Mistakes will occur, of course. I'm guilty of that as well, but to willfully disregard and butcher your language "Cuz internetz kool", is just stupid. It makes people look stupid and I, for one, don't even pay attention to what they're saying. If you have a point to make, the least you can do is know how to properly address that point. Succinctly and eloquently, too, if I had my way.

These are things that people should have learned in grade/primary school. It speaks to a larger failing of standardized education.

Yes Imaginarynumber1 , the highlighted portion echoes my pet peeve. Under etc. I would include using then rather than than, and visa versa.

i'm personally guilty of using a small i ,when a capital I would be correct.. I do it as an act of humility... and dots.... i love dots.... nobody's perfect lol

*..

Edited by lightly
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this was great thanks for posting it!

not only did i love listening to this man's voice, i enjoyed the visual too.

i just finished reading a book called Eats, Shoots and Leaves - The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation

it sounds dry, but it was a very amusing and enlightening book - apparently a best seller in england.

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Poor grammar bother me too. It can reduce someone's ability to comminucate effectively in writing. I don't it point it out much and have never done that in this forum. It's taught in grade school and I would have thought everyone learned it there. For instance in English when you make a noun plural you add the letter s, no apostrophe. All the time you see people adding apostrophes when they are making a noun plural instead of just the letter s. Adding an apostrophe means that is the possessive form of the noun, not the plural form. When I see that I think 'What did this person do all those years in school'. They had to have come across this a few times. When I was in school you had to take an English class every year 1st through 10th grade. Most people had one in junior and senior years too. If some one didn't learn something as simple as that all the years they were in school then I have to wonder about their ability to learn.

And what exactly do you wonder? That perhaps they actually aren't able to learn in the way their teachers want them to? That they have poor teachers? That they didn't attend school much because of ill health or home circumstances?

It really doesn't matter as long as we understand each other, and if something isn't clear then we can ask for clarification, can't we?

In the forum I've noticed that there does seem to be a connection between being intolerant of other peoples' communication skills and being generally intolerant.

Sometimes I think people don't read through what they've typed because they're in such a rush to get their comment posted.

Last but not least: children perhaps don't read nearly as much as they used to. There's nothing like reading well-written books to instil in children how things should be done.

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One really doesn't need that many letters to understand what is written, or even in the right place.

But they cant be too jumbled up. :)

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteers be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe."

fit_515.jpg

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I'm not talking about smart asses or people who are being witty correcting the grammar of others.

I'm talking about people who just get angry and feel the irrational need to correct everything to the point it upsets them. Why is this? Is it some form of OCD? Maybe bad grammar symbolizes a sort of disrespect?

I'm not trying to be smart like "lul grammar nazi stupid". I'm seriously curious why.

I don't in general correct peoples grammar as mine is certainly not perfect, but I and several others had to repeatedly tell a certain UM user about two years ago that he needed to format his posts as they were simply unreadable. He used absolutely no punctuation, had run-together sentences, no paragraphs, and basically created very long "walls of text". Some of you might know who I'm talking about. He posted in the two religious forums.

This man simply couldn't write. Most just skimmed his posts and then told him to use proper formatting. He closed his account soon after. I really wish he would have kept his account open and learned how to properly format a post, but some just don't want to learn.....

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Okay, so I read all of your posts and made a list of everyone's errors. Haha some of you guys are so clever, it cracks me up.

Unless its completely horrible and hard to follow or they use like "wuz" and "dis", I don't pay too much attention to the grammar. I'm more interested in what the person is saying.

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Okay, so I read all of your posts and made a list of everyone's errors. Haha some of you guys are so clever, it cracks me up.

Unless its completely horrible and hard to follow or they use like "wuz" and "dis", I don't pay too much attention to the grammar. I'm more interested in what the person is saying.

wel ya ur a idiot to

Count the mistakes. You'll be graded at the end of the quiz.

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I recognize that language evolves over time, and improper grammar doesn't always bother me. However, I do have one major pet peeve--I hate it when people say "Where are you at?". The "at" is totally redundant. I sometimes hear it from highly-educated people who should know better.

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I recognize that language evolves over time, and improper grammar doesn't always bother me. However, I do have one major pet peeve--I hate it when people say "Where are you at?". The "at" is totally redundant. I sometimes hear it from highly-educated people who should know better.

That could be attributed to the shortened "Where you at?" but with a small everyday additional word. Will we one day be reduced to saying "where you?". It is the evolution of the shortening of colloquial language.

As for these people who make grammatical mistakes it could be associated with laziness, ignorance, lack of education, mind altering substances etc. But a lot of the time you have to be wary, they may be dyslexic.

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I recognize that language evolves over time, and improper grammar doesn't always bother me. However, I do have one major pet peeve--I hate it when people say "Where are you at?". The "at" is totally redundant. I sometimes hear it from highly-educated people who should know better.

You'd go mad living around here: a favourite expression is 'Where's he to?' :lol:

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That could be attributed to the shortened "Where you at?" but with a small everyday additional word. Will we one day be reduced to saying "where you?". It is the evolution of the shortening of colloquial language.

As for these people who make grammatical mistakes it could be associated with laziness, ignorance, lack of education, mind altering substances etc. But a lot of the time you have to be wary, they may be dyslexic.

It's not much shorter than the correct "Where are you?", so I don't see it as a function of ease, but of convention.

You'd go mad living around here: a favourite expression is 'Where's he to?' :lol:

That's even worse. <_<

Edited by Cybele
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Bad grammar doesn't bother me unless its so bad its difficult to comprehend what they are talking about. What really bugs me is lack of paragraphs. I don't care if you break them up in the wrong place just do it. I'll often skip over those long threads/posts that have no paragraphs.

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It's not much shorter than the correct "Where are you?", so I don't see it as a function of ease, but of convention.

"Where are you at" is also correct, the "at" being a clarifier or a connector for the receipient to respond with a "I'm at...".

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Bad grammar doesn't bother me unless its so bad its difficult to comprehend what they are talking about. What really bugs me is lack of paragraphs. I don't care if you break them up in the wrong place just do it. I'll often skip over those long threads/posts that have no paragraphs.

Also Writing Like This Really Bothers Me And Most Likely I Am Giving You A Headache Now Like I Am Getting One From Just Writing It.

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I'm a writer. I love language.

That being said, I never point out someone's grammar mistakes on forums and such. I understand people of all different ages, nationalities and education levels post here, and that's fine. But it does bother me.

If someone uses excessively poor grammar, I judge them by it. Things like the difference between there, their and they're might make me pause, but I can get over it. :) If people can't do simple noun-verb agreement or create something close to a complete sentence, it tells me something about them.

If people do not CARE, it tells me much more. That is what I have the biggest issue with. "Who cares? It's just the internet." or deliberate misspellings grate on my nerves. Even the lolcat stuff: I can haz cheeseburger or whatever. Ugh. It's like a systemic dumbing down of the next generation. This isn't the evolution of language. It's rot.

People shouldn't accept a lower standard for themselves. People should want to come across well, and be able to convey their information and opinions clearly so everyone can understand them. If you don't care, why should I?

Edited by Purplos
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"Where are you at" is also correct, the "at" being a clarifier or a connector for the receipient to respond with a "I'm at...".

It sounds extremely uneducated, imo. The "at" is unecessary; it gives you no further information and is therefore redundant. Sometimes having a preposition at the end of a sentence may be necessary for clarification purposes, but not here. People should know how to correctly respond to "where are you?".

Edited by Cybele
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I never, ever point out people's grammatical screw-ups but having spent a great deal of my working life dealing with languages ranging from Anglo-Saxon to Russian, via all the various stages of English, Latin and Nepalese, I'm a little saddened at the abuse that language and grammar suffer these days. Some of it, I'll concede, is the result of poor modern standards of education, but a huge amount is down to sheer laziness. I spent many years correcting poor grammar etc., but that's in the past. Occasionally, a post appears in the forum - half the length of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and containing not a single full-stop, comma, capital letter or paragraph. I just ignore them these days!

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I do my best to post good enough grammar... I prefer to make whatever I have to say, easy enough to read

Many of us will make typos here and there, but we try to keep it readable

I personally find it much harder to read something that is packed with poor grammar and words like - - dis and dat

I cannot stand the long blocks of text all clumped together.. Posts like that are so hard to read .. I used to do it myself without thinking, until someone on UM corrected me and told me it was hard to read. From that moment on, I spaced my posts out as much as possible

At times I don't mind being corrected, but if the person is being a jerk about it? I will not tolerate it..

I feel, that if you are expecting others to read your post, and give you some reply, then you should at least try and make it readable.. Maybe not to perfection, but make it readable Poor grammar is hard to read for so many... Many will correct your post, but I do not think it is to p*** you off, I feel it may be constructive .. Others can be a jerk about it, more so if they are loosing a debate...

Edited by Beckys_Mom
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