Correcting people's grammar - acceptable?

Gloomendoom

I frequent an American forum with an almost 100% male membership. In its equivalent to the MSE Arms or Discussion board, anyone guilty of poor grammar and spelling will almost certainly get corrected and nobody will berate or belittle those who correct either.

It's very different from MSE. Generally speaking, the standard of (albeit American) English is much higher too.

getmore4less

I think it is bad form highlight the errors unless in the context of clarification to add to the discussion.

if there is ambiguity and the meaning will change the reply then get clarification if just reading shut the FU and move on.

I don't do words, never have since a kid, but do get numbers well proper, don't get me started on those that can't add up.

McKneff

'Can I get' in a shop or restaurant makes me cringe.....


It is can I have or may I have.


And don't get me started on 'could of' or 'would of'

GwylimT

Mine is awful as English is my third language and learned by listening to native speakers, so I'm actually happy to be corrected to improve my written English.

paddy's_mum

pinkshoes wrote: »

In the hospital, they had a sign on the wall asking partners to refrain from laying on the bed. I was going to ask if many eggs had been layed prior to the sign having to be put up...

....or laid, do you think!

Peter333

pinkshoes wrote: »

In the hospital, they had a sign on the wall asking partners to refrain from laying on the bed. I was going to ask if many eggs had been layed prior to the sign having to be put up...

paddy's_mum wrote: »

....or laid, do you think!

There should be a question mark there! ^^^ After 'do you think!' Not an exclamation mark.

Tut tut! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

pickledonionspaceraider

duchy wrote: »

Correcting your children's grammar is acceptable . Part of a parent's role is to guide and educate their children.


Correcting the grammar of adult strangers makes you look like the sort of insecure person who always has to make others look bad to make yourself look better than you believe you are.

Perhaps you might want to think about why you feel the need to educate adult strangers- most people would consider it crass and rather bad manners.

Bad grammar might grate but it doesn't actually harm you - so why say anything ? Mrs Thumper has some advice applicable to your question.

Would you stop a burly stranger in your local high street to correct their grammar ? If not- why not ?

If you are genuinely concerned about education - many LEAs are looking for volunteers to assist on adult literacy programmes. Perhaps that might be a more useful outlet for your crusading nature without making you look like a crass busybody.

Personally I find bad manners far worse than poor spelling (which is what you appearing to be moaning about rather than actual grammar-There is a difference !!)

Agree 100% with this post

FredG

McKneff wrote: »

'Can I get' in a shop or restaurant makes me cringe.....


It is can I have or may I have.


And don't get me started on 'could of' or 'would of'

I think "Can I get" is an Americanism that's crept into our culture. I'd love it if the person working behind they counter told the person using the expression to fetch it themselves.

*Robin*

Any native English speaker sending me a CV littered with spelling mistakes can expect it to be binned, no matter how well qualified the applicant otherwise appears to be!

Pollycat

FredG wrote: »

I think "Can I get" is an Americanism that's crept into our culture. I'd love it if the person working behind they counter told the person using the expression to fetch it themselves.

Or if asked 'Can I get a latte?', the server says 'no, you can't come behind the counter to get it, I'll get it for you'.

*Robin* wrote: »

Any native English speaker sending me a CV littered with spelling mistakes can expect it to be binned, no matter how well qualified the applicant otherwise appears to be!

But MSE isn't a Human Resources department, is it?

It's a public website with all manner of people from all sorts of backgrounds posting.

Just because they misspell a word or put an apostrophe where it doesn't belong is their opinion worth any less than that of someone else?