Correcting people's grammar - acceptable?

Mupette

I think this thread is done, its just playground snipes now

meritaten

Pollycat wrote: »

I think this is very sad.

For those posters who think other posters should be corrected - what are you trying to achieve?
A feeling of superiority by making the 'perpetrator' feel inadequate?
An upsurge in the quality of grammar, punctuation and spelling?
An easier understanding of what point a poster is trying to get across?

I do understand that some posters feel that the quality of SGP has declined.
However, they are on a forum - they do NOT know the level of education of each poster.
and I was taught it was extremely bad manners to correct a person in front of others. unless it was in the classroom!
Polly - I so totally agree with your post - if I could have thanked you a dozen times - I would have!

My own personal 'Bugbear' - is the 'Dumbing Down' of Microsoft Windows!
I have used every operating system since Windows Manager - and seen Dumbing Down on a grand scale!
from the beginning where there was always 'more than one way to skin a cat' on the tinternet - its now become 'its Windows way or the Highway'! its certainly less 'versatile'!

jellyhead

LittleMax wrote: »

Oh, don't be so melodramatic, it is obvious with princpals, stationary and practice what the person means from the context it is used in. If it takes your brain a while to work out what is meant then I would question who is actually the more educated!

When I see the incorrect principal, my first thought is that it is just a typo, but if consistently used and obvious the person does not realise the different spellings, then I am just thankful for the education that I have been given. None of us were born knowing the difference between principal and principle.

It's not purely down to education, but feel free to snipe at me and imply that I'm not as well educated as the rest of you on this thread if it makes you feel good.

Can you not imagine any other scenario than a lack of education that would cause a poster to become confused by the use of an incorrect word?

I was simply trying to point out that using the wrong word can affect a reader's perception of what the post means, but never mind, I've given you all a laugh at my expense. So much for sticking up for the poorly educated/people with conditions that affect their ability to process words and their right to use the internet, you're quick to stick the boot in when somebody says they get confused when they find something difficult to interpret.

missbiggles1

LittleMax wrote: »

Oh, don't be so melodramatic, it is obvious with princpals, stationary and practice what the person means from the context it is used in. If it takes your brain a while to work out what is meant then I would question who is actually the more educated!

When I see the incorrect principal, my first thought is that it is just a typo, but if consistently used and obvious the person does not realise the different spellings, then I am just thankful for the education that I have been given. None of us were born knowing the difference between principal and principle.

How can you hit a and l rather than l and e - they're at opposite sides of the keyboard! Too many people excuse bad spelling and grammar as typos when they're obviously nothing of the sort.

LittleMax

missbiggles1 wrote: »

How can you hit a and l rather than l and e - they're at opposite sides of the keyboard! Too many people excuse bad spelling and grammar as typos when they're obviously nothing of the sort.

A typo is not just mistyping by catching the wrong key, it is just another term for a spelling mistake. When proof reading my own work I sometimes find I have inadvertently used the incorrect spelling of a word even though I know which form I should have used. That is what I was referring to as a typo.

LittleMax

jellyhead wrote: »

It's not purely down to education, but feel free to snipe at me and imply that I'm not as well educated as the rest of you on this thread if it makes you feel good.

Can you not imagine any other scenario than a lack of education that would cause a poster to become confused by the use of an incorrect word?

I was simply trying to point out that using the wrong word can affect a reader's perception of what the post means, but never mind, I've given you all a laugh at my expense. So much for sticking up for the poorly educated/people with conditions that affect their ability to process words and their right to use the internet, you're quick to stick the boot in when somebody says they get confused when they find something difficult to interpret.

I certainly was not implying a lack of education jellyhead, rather the reverse. It is education that gives one the ability that you were describing about picking up a total understanding from the spelling of a word. But people without such a good education rarely seem to have the problem that you described.

The very example you chose is a homophone which can be readily understood in any sentence just by hearing how it sounds.

I'm afraid I cannot think of any scenario where a reader would be confused by a poster transposing principal/principle.

prowla

I have to say that I do tend to skip posts which have poor grammar, lack of punctuation, there/they're/their & gb/GB misuse, etc.

The medium we choose to use by being here is a written one and it's not too much effort to try and get it right.

Pollycat

prowla wrote: »

I have to say that I do tend to skip posts which have poor grammar, lack of punctuation, there/they're/their & gb/GB misuse, etc.

I don't because I can almost always get the gist of what's been written.

However, I do - and think this is true of most people - find that a massive wodge of text with no paragraphs very hard to read.

LittleMax

prowla wrote: »

I have to say that I do tend to skip posts which have poor grammar, lack of punctuation, there/they're/their & gb/GB misuse, etc.

The medium we choose to use by being here is a written one and it's not too much effort to try and get it right.

For some people it is a tremendous effort.

Ironically it is in this post advocating the use of correct spelling and grammar, that picks up on this. Where it refers to difficulty with the reader interpreting what is meant, the same difficulties could equally beset the poster trying to express themselves....

jellyhead wrote: »

So much for sticking up for the poorly educated/people with conditions that affect their ability to process words and their right to use the internet, you're quick to stick the boot in when somebody says they get confused when they find something difficult to interpret.

So bringing us back to the question posed by the OP - no we should not correct people's grammar.

missbiggles1

prowla wrote: »

I have to say that I do tend to skip posts which have poor grammar, lack of punctuation, there/they're/their & gb/GB misuse, etc.

The medium we choose to use by being here is a written one and it's not too much effort to try and get it right.

I don't skip them but I do give less weight to the opinions of people who post like that, especially on general discussion threads.