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Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I shall not put.

lol It does look a bit clunky though.

Actually, I'm quite the chatter, if I do say so myself. Honestly, I've never stopped to spell "a lot" as one word, or fallen to many of the lingual grievances spoken of in here. Of course, each community I frequent has its own lexicon, and I am known to adapt and use certain phrases from those areas. An interesting note on that, however, is that most of these words do not involve using fewer letters than the "proper" spelling, and generally deal with a simple mixing-of-letters or substitution.

A few simple rules that I try to suggest to any and all who insist on speaking with me on a fairly frequent basis would be:
1. You're and your. If you're (you are!) not going to use them right, that's your problem.
2. Their, they're, and there: If it's not here, it's there. If they're (they are!) playing with it, it's theirs.
3. A lot. There's no such word as "Alittle", though "allot" is a word, it refers to rations.
4. I. If you capitalize nothing else, at least capitalize the pronoun "I."
5. Then and than. <,>, are both use than. Then refers to time. Time doesn't have an "a" in it, so neither does the word that correlates to it.
6. Accept and except. It is not acceptable to make exceptions for poor grammar on a thread. There is an edit button, and you can make full use of it. (accept is generally pronounced as "ak-sept" while "except" should be pronounced as "ik-sept." Sound out your words, because an 'i' sound is never made by the letter 'a.')

I find these are good rules to follow anywhere, and people who can't take the time to educate themselves on these words (they were 4th grade words when I learned them, but my niece just started 3rd grade, is 8-years-old, and ALREADY knows them and their differences) then you shouldn't attempt to affect a higher stance than others who are more willing to learn than you.

While I do think being literate is important, I also try to keep in mind that not all people who own a computer and can use the internet have a degree in English. For some, English may be their second, third or even fourth language, and for some people it's a difficult language to grasp. Other times, these are kids who haven't even graduated high school yet, or might not even be in high school. I just try to take things with a grain of salt. So long as I understand the gist of what they're trying to get across, I really don't care if they use proper grammar or spelling.

And if we're going to turn this into a discussion about proper English, then most people should remember that when writing formally, you should never use contractions. ^_~

Since everyone else is quoting you, I guess I might as well join in on the fun.


I can understand why literacy being a virtue is a hard pill to take, but keep in mind that most of the mistakes seen in boards are things known to most fourth graders--that is, if they paid any attention whilst in school.



I have to point to Seanne here, for her apt response to this statement. Might I add, though, that the underlined word above is not in its proper form? You should use "literate" instead.


Again with the literacy/literate mix-up. Blah blah blah.. Language in which.. blah blah blah.. instead of learning a new ones... Wait, what? A new ones? ... The new ones? A new one? Hmm... an ambiguous statement, for where does the true typo lie? Well, back to reading. Typing quick in alternating caps and leetspeak. Not exactly things I'd be proud of, but then again, I recognized leetspeak for the idiocy it was when it first reared its ugly head. Yeah, I'm that old.




I prefer to say, "I'm fairly fluent in [that language]," in which case, I may say either English, American Sign Language, or Spanish. I'm still learning German, Russian, French, Italian, and Japanese, so I claim no mastery or even base skill in speaking these latter languages, although I'm developing a fairly good Japanese accent. It is nice to see that you aren't ending sentences with prepositions, but what good is that grammar rule if you forget so many others?

I'm actually quite pleased with the level of literacy in the geezer threads. As I said to a young whipper-snapper a while back, if I want to decipher cryptic writing, I'll look at what my almost two-year old drew me.

I think it was a doggie.

The point is, you have time to think out an answer and type legibly. You should. That way everyone is clear of what you're saying.

ninja

I enjoy the literacy. Just because that its easier for me to see and know the moods and meanings. I'm again looking this matter as foreigner.

Being clear with writing gives better impression of the person. Typos and misspellings doesn't bother me when its not 13375p34k or otherwise mindless gibberish. I too use dictionary regularly and word check too (that doesn't work on this small laptop). For most parts I know what words are hard for me to type, even if I could say those out loud and I'll check those. I need almost copypaste word "foreign" each time. XP Edit-button is a friend.

I don't either expect people being perfect with grammar. Hell, I can only see if sentence looks a bit weird but I might not have a clue why.

I feel strange to write this, but. Internet is used by people all ages, even surprisingly young, almost all around the world. Even adult can be bad at English but still s/he has a need to use it. In Finland these days, kids age 14-15 speak and write much better English than their parents. Damn, they get even better linguistic teaching that I got just ten years ago. biggrin

LOL I guess that's the main reason why I love heart the geezer guild. Everyone here IS literate, and has a GOOD command of the English language. Granted, I use "noobspeak" and "L8r" once in a while, but I don't do it on a regular basis. Also, I was able to read even before I started school. Granted that English is changing, but if you want to be understood, spell clearly! mrgreen