Galt's Gulch

Grammar and spelling

Posted by minesayn 7 years, 10 months ago to Culture
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While I do not always write grammatically correct and have the occasional spelling error or typo, it still bothers me to see it in articles and posts. The question is this: does it bother others, and if so, does it lower your opinion of the author and the subject at hand?

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  • Posted by starznbarz 7 years, 10 months ago
    Heres what bothers me, why wont the apostrophe show up in my comments, yet it will in others? As I type this I can see it plain as the wart on Hillary`s nose, but the moment I hit"add" it, unlike the witches bump, disappears.
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  • Posted by Seer 7 years, 10 months ago
    Ok, so I remembered the redundancy my husband used to rant and rave about. And I didn't have to sleep on it, MIke.
    A little background: my husband worked for a government agency, won't tell you which one, and at times was an expert witness in legal actions brought by the government in criminal and civil cases. He had no use for Bureau-Spk.
    But this one he really hated:
    "...in close proximity to...", or "...in the near proximity of..."
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  • Posted by Donald-Brian-Lehoux 7 years, 10 months ago
    It bothers me when I do it. When other people do it I just consider that they are a product of bad schools, computer error or to busy. No big deal unless the author is complaining about other peoples bad grammar/spelling.
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  • Posted by andrewtroy 7 years, 10 months ago
    That reminds me of an article that a friend of mine published in college whereby the spell checker found it equally acceptable for the government to issue pubic checks as well as public checks.
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    • Posted by minesayn 7 years, 10 months ago
      Yes, but both words are spelled correctly. That they don't mean the same is immaterial. The spellchecker only checks for spelling errors, not whether it is what is correct or intended.
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  • Posted by Seer 7 years, 10 months ago
    And some words just seem to be Freudian slips, as you have probably noticed in one or two of my posts. I always leave them in---they may have educational value.
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  • Posted by Seer 7 years, 10 months ago
    After seeing some of the comments, I'm wondering if the English language lends itself to more homonyms than other languages, due to all the many foreign words having infiltrated the language. It certainly adds to the fun, and the pun, (play on words, of course) of a language.
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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 7 years, 10 months ago
    No it doesn't lower my opinion of the authors of grammatical or spelling errors...why?..cause it happens to me.
    I compose on the spot like many here do and no matter how I scour my work...there is always something I miss.
    I often say: my best edits are always after I click...add!
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  • Posted by Steven-Wells 7 years, 10 months ago
    The initial post is, itself, grammatically flawed. Perhaps that was intended as a reflexive example, like: "Don't use no double negatives." I'm surprised nobody has commented on that yet.
    The initial post, "While I do not always write grammatically correct and have ..."
    The "correct" is incorrect.
    Either assume it is an adjective missing its antecedent: While I do not always write grammatically correct messages...
    --or--
    It's intended as an adverb describing the verb "write": While I do not always write grammatically correctly...
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    • Posted by Seer 7 years, 10 months ago
      Speaking of adjective vs adverb, I never understood the reason that "Mutual Assured Destruction" is used in place of "Mutually Assured Destruction". Does anyone know?
      I just remember that an adverb has to modify an adjective, and an adjective modifies a noun. So I guess it would depend on whether Assured is considered a noun or an adjective.
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      • Posted by Steven-Wells 7 years, 10 months ago
        “Mutual Assured Destruction” is probably just sloppiness for brevity. Like "direct dial" where dial is always used as a verb.
        By the way, adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs: directly dial, clearly good, extremely quickly.
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        • Posted by Seer 7 years, 10 months ago
          I think "direct dial" is considered one verb. And not a verb being modified. Probably started out as "direct-dial".
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  • Posted by Tbird7553 7 years, 10 months ago
    Yes, on both. While I don't have a full command of the English language, I do expect professional writers, e.g., journalists, to be able to write well. I am often amazed at the many typographical errors I see in news articles. What ever happened to editing? I can overlook writers who make errors if writing is not their profession.
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    • Posted by minesayn 7 years, 10 months ago
      Editing costs time and money so many newspapers don't pay for editing any more, and journalists are forced to self-edit, and it is difficult to edit your own stuff except, perhaps, in hindsight (after clicking).
      On the other hand, I once had a newspaper article in which the editor changed the headline from It's Spring to Its Spring. I wanted the contraction of 'it is' not the possessive form of it.
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  • Posted by term2 7 years, 10 months ago
    Incorrect spelling would bother me if done through unwillingness to learn. But in this age of autocorrect programs that frequently make things worse, I am more forgiving. The only answer is to do quality control on everything one writes, which does take extra time
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  • Posted by LazarusLong 7 years, 10 months ago
    When I see grammar and spelling errors in an article synopsis I will close and delete the item. Maybe I'm too critical but if a person can't use good grammar or spell common words correctly my built in ignoramus warning system goes off and I'm done reading.
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