Correcting people's grammar - acceptable?

pigpen

As I am far too lazy to read the whole thread my response to the OP is yes, it is acceptable.


Most people do not realise they are wrong so how can they ever get it right unless someone points it out? There is no need to call them names and be rude just a simple 'this should be that, for future reference '


If I was doing a physical task wrong or there was a better way if I was told politely how to do it correctly I would thank the educator. We are never too old to learn, whether that is grammar, crochet, driving or painting a door!

And baff.. I use millions of ...... and !!!!!! I think they are pretty

I caused a major rumpus on a FB group because someone had made a logo and written 'planing' instead of 'planning' .. had it been an individual post I would have ignored it but I picked it up as it was a logo.. advertising something using the wrong word does not look professional, anyway, all hell broke loose.

Pollycat

pigpen wrote: »

Most people do not realise they are wrong so how can they ever get it right unless someone points it out? There is no need to call them names and be rude just a simple 'this should be that, for future reference '

But why is if necessary for them 'to get things right' on a forum such as this?

Newlyboughthouse

Peter333 wrote: »

Why do people post threads and then not come back to them? :huh:

Lighting the touchpaper and then running off and not coming back. It's so annoying!

And I know for a fact the OP has been back on since. (In fact, they're online now!)

If someone's going to post something quite controversial, at least have the decency to respond to the replies people have given.

I think if the OP of a thread doesn't return within say, 48 hours, the thread should be deleted! :mad:

Hi Peter, the reason I am online is that I work from home, so while I do have this site open, I am also working, but thanks for your concern as to where I am.

Also, not sure it matters too much if an OP returns? It has started an interesting discussion, no?

Pollycat wrote: »

Maybe the OP was busy with other things.

Maybe the thread has had far more replies than the OP expected and he/she is busy reading them, formulating an answer.


But the OP only posted at 1:41 pm yeserday!

That's less than 24 hours!

I think getting :mad: is a bit premature.

Exactly.

Pollycat wrote: »

But why is if necessary for them 'to get things right' on a forum such as this?

I feel it is necessary to get it as right as possible, because we are evolving and unfortunately may be 'dumbing down' with it becoming acceptable to write in poor English, be that on forums, on social media etc. etc.

duchy

It isn't some people just think that something annoying them is a chance for them to bully the less well educated .

Bullies will take their opportunities where they can - whether online or otherwise. No-one normal would actively look for ways to embarrass or demean a stranger publicly.

Newlyboughthouse

FredG wrote: »

From my dabblings in Facebook I've noticed that the people who are intent on defending English values are the most adept at !!!!!!!ising the language.

Yes! I have been known to comment on such posts saying 'anyone else notice the close correlation between racists and the inability to get there, they're and their' correct?' Ha

prowla

Newlyboughthouse wrote: »

Everywhere I look, I see terrible spelling and grammar. It is shocking. Check out the post in Pets and Pet Care titled 'out of hours vet', for example.

Question: is it acceptable to correct perpetrators? I feel that I can't without fear of being accused of being the grammar police or a grammar nazi. So I just seethe on the inside.

However, I can see the population getting dumb, and feel such corrections should be made. Otherwise, eventually, 'to' will be accepted as 'too', or 'loose' will be accepted as 'lose' etc.

Thoughts on a postcard...

Well, I would have tended to write the first paragraph without the comma and with a semicolon rather than the first full-stop.

I think that "nazi" should be written with an uppercase 'N' and I would have tended to use a comma rather than a full-stop just after it.

Can a population get dumb, or become dumb?

(That's my postcard, anyway - HTH!)

LittleMax

Newlyboughthouse wrote: »

I feel it is necessary to get it as right as possible, because we are evolving and unfortunately may be 'dumbing down' with it becoming acceptable to write in poor English, be that on forums, on social media etc. etc.

But the English languauge does evolve and who are we to halt that evolution and decide that it is dumbing down? With the internet and texts, people are probably writing a lot more as adults that they would have done a generation ago, yet rather than seeing greater standardisation, we are observing more and more variation in the language. One of the other posters talked about local dialects, and whereas historically dialects would have only been preserved in the spoken word, now we can see evidence of dialect being written in informal settings.

Whilst poor spelling and grammar does frustrate me, I do see these forums as an informal setting, and so I do not feel the need to correct people.

It saddens me that in a few years I will be considered old fashioned for the way that I speak and write, but doesn't that happen in every generation?

Jagraf

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Well, a failure of etiquette is bad manners, and if I were rude to someone I could not complain if they protested.

In many cases poor use of English reflects laziness, and it is simply rude to ask for help yet fail to take the trouble to make your post as easy as possible to read and understand.

Other people's laziness is their own concern. Correcting someone else's errors is a error in itself (on a social level), which is hypocritical. It shows a lack of demeanour.

Anatidaephobia

duchy wrote: »

Bullies will take their opportunities where they can - whether online or otherwise. No-one normal would actively look for ways to embarrass or demean a stranger publicly.

Yes, but I think this is the case for anything anyway, particularly online where you can hide behind your computer. If someone is looking to embarrass or demean a stranger publicly then I would think that is doesn't really have anything to do with the person's grammar; the bully is just seizing an opportunity to put someone down. If there are no errors in the post then the bully will find something else to have a go about.

Bullying is not acceptable but it's important to be clear that if someone does try to correct someone else's grammar, this doesn't automatically make them a bully - it probably does show them to be rude though. (I'm not implying duchy was suggesting everyone who corrects grammar is a bully, btw )

Nice, normal people would love to be able to discuss* spelling and grammar openly and civilly but sadly bullies often wade into these conversations and they descend into chaos.

*Note the use of 'discuss' rather than 'correct'. I sometimes read the discussions in the comments on posts on a Facebook page called Grammarly which can be interesting/educational.

Peter333

Pollycat wrote: »

Maybe the OP was busy with other things.

Maybe the thread has had far more replies than the OP expected and he/she is busy reading them, formulating an answer.

Yeah OK then.....

Pollycat wrote: »

Maybe the thread has had far more replies than the OP expected and he/she is busy reading them, formulating an answer.

Formulating an answer? What does that even mean? :rotfl: