Mistakes that make you look dumb

It depends. Rhetorical questions are emotion based. It's very hard to convey emotion over the internet. People don't know when I'm being sarcastic or when I'm asking a rhetorical question. When I post a question which doesn't require a real answer, I won't post a question mark.

I've been around. People in other countries don't use their own language correctly. I speak 3 other languages. It has nothing to do with the intellect and everything to do with how people speak. If you bring a Colombian and a Cuban together and let them speak with one another, both of them will tell you that they speak differently from one another. Although they speak the same language (Spanish), they just speak it differently.

That is your opinion. Thanks to technology I don't remember the last time I ever physically wrote anything down on a piece of paper for my own purpose. The only time I write things down is when I'm one an airplane and I just need to fill out a customs form. Other than filling out a form, I don't write things down. People only use grammar when it's convenient for them. Unless their profession is involved in academia or journalism, very few people actually use grammar for their own purpose.

And does this one grammatical error take away the overall message the author is trying to convey?

 

But if I make one mistake someone is the first to point it out and call me stupid.

What is the point?

 

On a side note, I'd add that if you want to cut down on the offensiveness of a potentially insulting topic, i.e. poor grammar, the pronoun "you" ought to be replaced with the word "one". The word "you" creates the implication that the message is directed toward each person who reads it, making it more likely that each reader will take it personally. The word "one" has no such implication.

 

Technology can't be trusted to improve poor grammar. Besides the obvious spell-checker issues, most grammar issues aren't even covered under automatic editing software.

Sometimes, yeah. A number of times I finished news articles unsure of the overall message because of some grammar mistake. One often needs to be a grammar expert to see the mistakes, and many laymen will simply apply unconscious assumptions to fill in the blanks created by such mistakes, but those assumptions aren't necessarily true.

 

I only started using a computer 5 years ago and I turned out pretty fine. You can say that technology is dumbing us down but will you really be better off without it?

It's not the grammar it's your comprehension. Being able to read and being able to understand are two different things. Case in point, try reading this.

 

What do you mean by using their own language correctly? A Cuban, Spanish or Colombian will talk correctly. Their own dialects but a correct Spanish.

What is a correct language? That one that follows the standard rules? Ok, just that is a dialect.

 

They'll speak Spanish, just not the same way as all other Spanish cultures.

Only as correctly as the other culture acknowledges. For example, Surfer Joe does not acknowledge your English has correct English.

It depends if you acknowledge the Galican dialect as the correct Spanish or the Castilian dialect.

Prefect use of the language.

Pretty much.

Some languages have the luxury of being the only root dialect.

 

If we're only talking about grammar, then yes, I think we're better off without it.

I'm not really addressing spelling mistakes. You can read correct spelling mistakes on the fly without any trouble with comprehension because improper spelling does nothing to change the meaning of a properly written sentence...most of the time anyway. And considering the amount of English words that aren't pronounced the way they are spelled, most native speakers have little difficulty decoding spelling mistakes unless they are dyslexic or have some other reading disorder.

What I'm referring to, however, are structural mistakes in sentence formation: faulty parallelisms, improper comma splices, fragment and run-on sentences, ambiguous pronouns or pronouns without antecedents, incorrect tense forms, etc. These kinds of mistakes can make a message incomprehensible to even the best readers.

 

this thread is lame

 

Fortunately Grammar is not the only thing technology helps us with. Technology helps us with spelling and math far more than grammar simply because it's more important.

Spelling has everything too do with grammar. Even if someone misspells the word 'your' with 'you're' is it going to make a difference as long as you can comprehend what the person is saying?

Other than fragments and run-on's I really don't understand how anything else is important outside of where it had any purpose. I will admit if I see a post or comment with big fragments and run-on's I won't even take the time to read it.

If I have to work too hard to figure out what someone is trying to say I'm not going to try and understand. But if I can understand someone regardless of what they write or type, why does it matter?

 

It's about grammar. What else would you expect?

 

Yes, it has everything to do with grammar, but you just proved in your last post how little spelling has to do with comprehension. That's what I'm saying: spelling doesn't really affect comprehension, but I'm not talking about spelling mistakes.

That's not a spelling mistake; it's a sentence structure mistake. The word "your" is mistakenly used in place of the phrase "you are", or vice versa.

Because, if there's a problem with the grammar, you may not understand what you think you understand. Grammar has a purpose in comprehension, so faulty grammar leads to faulty comprehension.

 

It is a form of a spelling mistake. If you don't know that the 'e' is formed at the end it's like a spelling mistake. The only thing is that it won't be registered as such because 'your' is spelled correctly. People who don't nitpick or don't care will understand because it has no overall barring on the rest of the sentence.

Like for example words or nouns which have the same spelling regardless of it's singular or plural: Sheep. If someone post twenty 'sheeps' instead of twenty 'sheep' it is considered a spelling error, not a grammatical error.

That's only if the message is conveyed in a way which is suppose to make me feel a certain way. Like the question mark example from earlier. If you forget to put a question mark at the end of a question, does that change the fact that I asked a question? People understand statements or questions because of the information given by the rest of sentence. We still know that someone asked a question due to question words: who, what, when, where, why and a few others.

 

No, it's not a spelling mistake. It's not that the word was misspelled; it's that the wrong word was used.

Yeah, so how is this in any way related to mistakes using "your" and "you're"?

Sure, some grammatical mistakes are small enough that the reader can logically compensate. Some, however, are large enough to that the reader cannot make such a compensation, even if he or she may think they have. I've read articles with grammar mistakes bad enough that I couldn't be sure of the author's message. After I read a second, better written article, that clearly conveyed the message that the first could not, I could understand the story.

I've also seen others make assumptions about what was stated in a grammatically improper statement, only to find out from another, better written source, that their assumption was false.

Good comprehension is not just the responsibility of the reader. The writer needs to use effective grammar as well.

 

First off, the fact that you're a teacher, and are able to rot the minds of children with your leftist propaganda and vitriol is disturbing.

Second, you look stupid in just about every thread you participate in, with your incessant race-baiting nonsense that eventually gets you so far in over your head that you have to run away when people call you out on your BS.

If you think your superior grammar skills make up for your obvious shortcomings, you are sadly mistaken.

 

Yeah, you should have said "one", man.

 

One of my HS English teachers messed that up regularly. It took me about ten years before I stopped mangling it all the time...I still do it occasionally.

 

Well said Sir..... I have often thought that one of the little known factors in the determination of how your life will go, is your ability to get your thoughts across in a somewhat coherant manner. More than a grasp of the language you are speaking, and on to a "command" of the language. Seriously... ever read an email from someone, that has every "I" written as an "i". It basically screams at the reader, "I am a child... do not take anything that I have to say seriously...".

I wish more younger people would understand. There are so few left any more that can speak well... show respect in their tone and demeanor, and look you in the eye when they are speaking to you. It seems to be such a rare skill anymore, that to actually do that would give you a huge edge I would think.

 

I'm getting a bit fed 'UP' with all of your 'UP-PITY' remarks.

The word 'UP' has more meanings and uses than any other word in the dictionary. 'UP' can be used as a/an [adv], [prep], [adj], [n] or [v].

http://open.salon.com/blog/catnlion/2009/03/02/whats_up_with_the_word_up

Now do us all a favor and just shut the f..... 'UP'! It will be 'UP' to the dolts here to 'UP' their grammar game so as to discourse with you 'UP-ward' high society types. So I ask you...what's 'UP' with the word 'UP'? Oh yeah.....'UP' YOURS!

 

Is it learned or learnt,, spelled or spelt?

Thats is the question.

 

I agree with you that sometimes you try to read something and the misuse of grammar actually interferes with the meaning of the words and it takes several readings just to figure out what was actually being said.
The average reader is more likely to form the wrong impression than to make the effort to discover the real intent of the writing.
It's not about simple spelling mistakes or typos, although these can also lead you to form a negative opinion of the writer and what they are trying to argue.
Many foreign posters have atrocious spelling and use of syntax when posting in English, but they are not writing in their native language, so nobody takes notice.
But when native Americans habitually mangle the grammar of their own language and post semi-literate gibberish, it diminishes the influence of their arguments.
The fact that they don't even care further cements the perception that their ideas are too ignorant to be taken seriously.

I saw a movie a while back called, Idiocracy, and it was meant as a silly farce, but it left you with an uneasy feeling that this is where we are heading.
I can see a qualitative shift in my students during the past 30 years toward ever greater self-indulgence and pursuit of mindless consumption, and this is a result of what they see at home and what they are exposed to in the popular culture.

Back in the 60s, students were the conscience of the culture, standing up for what they believed was right and willing to confront authority.
They weren't always right, but they lived as is life had a worthwhile purpose.
Today, they are more likely to be standing in line for days just to be able to buy the next iphone, and they go through life with earbuds stuck to their heads. This is not the result of schooling or teachers. It comes from the home and the popular culture.

The ones who are still focused and serious about their schooling will find it a lot easier to rise to the top since their competition grows less each day.
The majority are apparently happy to embrace mediocrity and haven't learned to think ahead to what the consequences of their attitudes will be.
Many actually just dream of being famous or a celebrity and seriously try to defend those ideas with the most puerile reasoning imaginable.
It's a pathetic state of affairs.

It was interesting to see the number of people who trotted out here to defend illiteracy or to ridicule the message or to try to turn it into a political attack along ideological lines when it was nothing of the sort.

 

Lol...In the interest of truth in packaging, you really should go back to your baby in a diaper avatar, son.

 

It goes far beyond just these forums. I'm currently reviewing a paper submitted by a grad student toward her program.

In three pages, the paper has several basic spelling errors, several run-on sentences, paragraphs with very erratic and mechanical transitions and several simple grammar errors. The paper failed to acknowledge works referenced or even quoted in the paper.

I would probably give a paper like this a low 'B' or a 'C' if I saw it from a high-school student. It is just disappointing to see something like this submitted as an assignment from a graduate student. Worse yet, this seems to be a fairly average paper based on others I've read.

Writing skills aren't only lacking on forums, the decline seems to be fairly universal.

 

Is the double 'i' in your name the correct spelling?

 

It is if you parse the phrase I use as a handle.