High School Level Education

[Guest jamongo]

This being a science forum, I reckoned the majority of the participating members had completed, at minimum, their high school level education.

Yet as I read the various threads, I am appalled at the poor grammar as well as the mistakes in spelling.

I realize there are members from various parts of the world and English may not be their mother tongue. I exclude these from this discussion and do, in fact, give to them a "high five" for their ability to communicate in a second language.

But many of you from the English speaking countries seem to not care at all about your spelling or your grammar. I am curious as to why.

Understand that I am not writing here about typing errors, "typos". (Although you are given a chance to review your post before submitting it.) There are some free "spell checkers" that can also be used to help reduce the mistakes.

I am wondering if I am alone in my concern or are there others that agree with me.:)

[Tormod]

The issue has been raised before. Like you mention we do have a number of members who have english as a secondary language (I am among them).

 

Built-in spell check is sadly not available at the moment but hopefully we can offer it in the not-too-distant future.

 

I would however also like to say that while I commend people for checking their own spelling, I don't want to see this site turn into a spell check hell. I'd rather everyone have the opportunity to post, rather than stay away because they fear being slammed for errors.

 

Edit: Had to fix 2 typos myself right now. :)

[LJP07]

But many of you from the English speaking countries seem to not care at all about your spelling or your grammar. I am curious as to why.

 

Why not!?, I'm sure everyone is every other country wouldn't be perfect writing in their own language.

[Guest jamongo]

Understand that I am not writing here about typing errors, "typos".

I thought I stressed that very well.

 

I don't want to see this site turn into a spell check hell.

What in the world is that?

I would like to believe that those persons having completed high school would know the difference between "there", "they"re", and "their". If they haven't been taught that, I would suggest someone in authority check out the school system.

 

Why not!?, I'm sure everyone is every other country wouldn't be perfect writing in their own language.

Absolutely correct. So who is talking about being perfect?

 

But many of you from the English speaking countries seem to not care at all about your spelling or your grammar. I am curious as to why.

 

I'm still curious.

[Cedars]

I would like to believe that those persons having completed high school would know the difference between "there", "they"re", and "their".

 

umm... its they're.

And single quotes around the their's.

 

So there!

:);)

 

Many times a poster who tends to write well inspires others who dont spend much time on spelling to improve, just by continuing to post without pointing out spelling errors.

 

That said, one error that makes me smile when I see it in a post:

 

Weather or not....

instead of whether.

 

It always makes me think of a storm brewing and I will wonder for a nanosecond what impending rain has to do with the post before it registers, they meant whether.

[LJP07]

Yet as I read the various threads, I am appalled at the poor grammar as well as the mistakes in spelling.

 

I bet you cherry-picked those words in case of a mistake.;)

 

I know of a good English Forum all about perfect writing abilities, if you want to use it, private message em....me.:)

[Tormod]

What in the world is that?

 

A spell check hell is what this place would be if people were more interested in pointing out each other's spelling mistakes than actually discussing the topic at hand.

[LJP07]

" It's always quantity not quality. "

 

erm.......!?

[ronthepon]

But many of you from the English speaking countries seem to not care at all about your spelling or your grammar. I am curious as to why.

Probably because they are interested in getting their thoughts across, rather than focussing actively in their language.

 

It's their way of living life.

 

Yes, I also dislike the way the people who are extremely fluent in their english, and excellent in their writing abilities just don't bother with their language on the net.

 

nvr mind D spl rrs, da tht cnts. (Imagine having to decipher a whole paragraph like that on a regular basis.)

[LJP07]

nvr mind D spl rrs, da tht cnts. (Imagine having to decipher a whole paragraph like that on a regular basis.)

 

We don't have to as the english is good enough, say 90% right. We don't do text talk here, but I'd and everyone else would rather write lol than Laughing Out Loud, it's common for this on the internet, although it's not done much on this site.

[eric l]

Well, I'm one of those participants for whom English is just another second language. And I know that I make spelling errors, even in my mother tongue (although there I have the excuse of having lived through 2 spelling reforms).

I may make some errors because I write in other languages as well, and sometimes mix up things a liitle (but I try not to do so on your German and French forums).

I don't know about "native speakers" but to me it is surely much easier to read standard English with few spelling or grammar errors than to decipher those SMS-like codes or more or less phonetical transcriptions.

In fact, if I come upon such a reply, I am less inclined to take it seriously, and sometimes will need an extra incentive to read it (e.g. the fact that the poster's location is somewhere out of the US or the UK).

Spelling or grammar errors actually take some of the attention away from the message - and that's where you want the reader's attention focussed on !

[cwes99_03]

Occasionally, I will ask a poster if they are writing in a secondary language, and sometimes I get flack back when they aren't.

 

There are a couple of people who regularly can't get their ideas across to the rest of us though, because they don't take the time to formulate their ideas.

 

These I call ramblers. They generally have no paragraph structure, write a whole lot of run-on sentences, use little punctuation, have almost no capital letters, ........ oh and write posts about 4 pages long. These I chide and regularly ask to pare down their writing.

 

Even I make mistakes, but rather than click preview post and check everything I write, I generally post, and then do a quick once over and edit if I need to. However, I don't always have the time and have at times editted even days later.

[Mercedes Benzene]

I believe that a lot of people posting on these forums have the ability to write properly, however due to the informal environment here, choose not to.

In my opinion, one can still write an intellectual thread response despite a sacrifice in formality.

 

Proper english does make things a lot easier though... :)

[HydrogenBond]

A few things that would help are spell check and something that requires a review post prompt before the submit reply. I know myself, I used to be excellent at spelling, but much has atrophied. To me the content is more important than the cosmetics. On the other hand, smudged make-up can make a babe look a little under the weather.

[GAHD]

O...Somheow I tihnk grmmaer is much mor imopratnt to conyeving infomration then speeling.

 

:)

[Mercedes Benzene]

O...Somheow I tihnk grmmaer is much mor imopratnt to conyeving infomration then speeling.

 

I agreey muchly.

Butt mix of bothe just is stoopid.

 

:) :hihi:

[TheBigDog]

My posting controls have a spell check built in. I had to download a program the first time I used it, but it works really well. I think this option is available to everyone. :)

 

I think that the ability to edit so easily leads to a lack of value to each keystroke. As a result we do not learn to be as perfect in execution as generations past when a mistake was more costly in terms of fixing it. So instead of people becoming better for making it easier to fix things, it actually increased laziness. My opinion.

 

Bill