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  • #2205218

    About being well spoken… Do you or do you not agree?

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    by yowye ·

    You hear it all the time… “What poor English,” they say, or “Can these people write? do they know how to write?” then there are the lines… “Are they educated, where did you go to school, I’m appalled by the number of mistakes in your answers or questions” and the favorite one… “Do you know how to use spell check?” etc. the list just goes on and on about how some individual wrote their question or response, that it overshadows the purpose or message of what they are trying to get across in the post. Not all posts initially have the fundamental purpose of pointing out someone’s grammatical errors, but rather have the intent of trying to show or share other issues.

    Yes I know its frustrating reading some of the strange writing with that unorthodox sentence structure and English wording, like these for example…

    If YOUR going to the PC conference fill me in on what I miss.
    I’m going to YOU’RE house after lunch.

    Both sentences we know are wrong. It should be…

    If “YOU’RE” going to the PC conference fill me in on what I miss.
    I’m going to “YOUR” house after lunch.

    Sure we can learn all the grammar tricks to help us show which one goes where.
    One way is to just look for the roots in the words. “YOUR” has the words “YOU” and “OUR” in it, so we know it can show a possessive meaning to it, where “YOU’RE” is the condensed version of the words “YOU” and “ARE”, so we know it can show a directive meaning to it. Then we just analyze the sentence’s structure and what it is trying to convey.

    Other words may be more difficult such as… There, They’re, Their, There’re and The’re.
    First… no one uses The’re any more, we simply substituted “There” for “The’re”.
    “The’re” stood for “THE” and “ARE” with a word divisor separating them, which could be any word that was plural. Ex- THE suitcases ARE in the room… THE’RE in the room. We just dropped the ( ‘ ) and use THERE.
    The same could be said for “THERE’RE”, which had been the condensed version of the words “THERE” and “ARE”, THERE ARE too many of them to count… THERE’RE too many of them to count. The ( ‘RE ) was dropped all together, and “THERE” had become the substitute for “THERE’RE”.

    We still use THERE, THEY’RE and THEIR, so how do we know which one goes where?

    Find the two Main root words. THERE has the words “THE” and “HERE”, THE apples’ HERE… THERE’S the apple. HER can also be found in THERE, but remember… the two (Main) root words. Usually they’re found in the beginning and end of words not the middle.

    We use “THEY’RE” which had been the condensed version of the words “THEY” and “ARE”, which we know it can show a directive meaning to it. THEY ARE in the pool house… THEY’RE in the pool house.

    Finally… the word THEIR is possessive and implies a single individual or multiple individuals. How do we know this? We look at the two main root words “THE” and “HEIR”, It was THE HEIR John and his dog… It was John and THEIR dog. Again a word could be found in the middle “HE” but it is the first and last that are the main root words.

    Anyways… How people write could be caused by many factors. Sure there is the possibility that they are uneducated, dyslexic, speak another mother tongue etc. or they could be in a rush with little time to spare. They could be more concerned about what they are asking or trying to convey, and not how they are writing. It could also be that it is a typo and they don’t write their post in a word processor like MS word or Word Perfect etc. and thus they cannot easily spell check it.

    What ever the case may be… Just because someone can’t spell or their grammar is all wrong, doesn’t mean they are less intellectual… maybe careless, but being careless doesn’t make one less intelligent.

    People should focus on what is being said, asked or conveyed, (That’s what Language was invented for) and not on how it is written… unless it can’t be understood.

    Do you agree?
    If I’m wrong… please explain why?

    P.S. Sorry for any Grammar or Spelling mistakes. 🙂

All Comments

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    • #2862711

      It depends on the circumstances.

      by charliespencer ·

      In reply to About being well spoken… Do you or do you not agree?

      In a casual forum like this one, I think making grammar and spelling errors is excusable, as long as it doesn’t affect the poster’s message.

      In a resume or professional communication, it’s inexcusable. There are plenty of utilities to prevent these errors.

    • #2862710

      Your sow rung

      by ansugisalas ·

      In reply to About being well spoken… Do you or do you not agree?

      Wad peeple rite is ferry importan’t!

      Um… Sorewy, I wuss rung. Your rite. 😀

    • #2862702

      Interesting…

      by neilb@uk ·

      In reply to About being well spoken… Do you or do you not agree?

      You’re post title is about being “well spoken” and yore post is all about the written word. Most of what you rail about is the misuse of homonyms and that surely isn’t a problem with the spoken word.

      Yaw point isn’t clearly made at all. You might want to change your title and then we’ll be into proper pedant territory.

      🙂

    • #2862696

      Yes, it’s important

      by fregeus ·

      In reply to About being well spoken… Do you or do you not agree?

      In forums, the written word is the only way we can judge you on. Let’s face it, we shouldn’t judge books by their covers or judge people by how they look, but we are humans and we do.

      With the lack of a picture or a way to judge you by your looks, in a forum, we judge people by their grasp of the written language. It’s normal, natural. Not polite, but we still do it.

      Writing a post with tons of mistakes amounts to showing up at someone’s desk dirty, smelly, and incoherent. No one wants to deal with that.

      If you don’t care enough to present yourself properly, then we don’t care enough to answer your post politely.

      It’s that simple.

      TCB

      Edited for typos. I’m not a great English writer, but I do my best to correct the mistakes I see.

      • #2862473

        Not a great English writer

        by oz_media ·

        In reply to Yes, it’s important

        That’s because the Quebecois keyboard doesn’t include and H isn’t it? 😀 Not exactly your fault, I am sure you speak and write better French than I do!

    • #2862693

      Define Intelligence

      by the ‘g-man.’ ·

      In reply to About being well spoken… Do you or do you not agree?

      Intelligence is an umbrella term describing a property of the mind including related abilities, such as the capacities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, learning from past experiences, planning, and problem solving.

      Communication you say…..

    • #2862691

      It’s vital – here’s an analogy

      by unhappyuser ·

      In reply to About being well spoken… Do you or do you not agree?

      Have you ever been to a county fair and seen the quilts that people make? Each piece of cloth in those quilts has a meaning. They come from an old shirt, a tie, a blanket, etc. Together they bring together a story for people to see.

      Each piece of cloth is sewn together with care and accuracy. This will make sure the quilt does not fray, easily tear, etc. The quilt is also much more appreciated for its work when done properly. A quilt done poorly is looked upon with less respect.

      The same is true with spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. These are the “stitching” that keep your document, post, blog, etc. together. Do it right and people will respect your work and think more highly of you and what you write. Do it wrong and they won’t see your point as clearly as it will be lost in the fray.

      EMD

    • #2862685

      inn or derr two bee

      by kenone ·

      In reply to About being well spoken… Do you or do you not agree?

      under stand a poster needs to bee a bull to ex press hiz ore her i dee ahs in sum sort off prop purr form.

    • #2862635

      Depends on the circumstances

      by the maverick phantom wanderer (formerly macoza, nodice, kp, etc.) ·

      In reply to About being well spoken… Do you or do you not agree?

      As I’m sure others have already said, it generally depends on the circumstances.

      In formal correspondence, serious debate, or particularly exacting issues, you want to be as strict as possible to ensure that you are seen in the best possible light (especially in serious debate, where opposing debaters will attempting to find anything they can in your argument that they can use to destroy your position).

      In informal correspondence or less exacting issues, you want to still try to apply some measure of spelling and grammar checking, but the overly strict measures demanded in formal or serious correspondence.

      In general communication and discussion, so long as your message gets across, it really shouldn’t matter; however, taking the time to check over your words shows that you have at least devoted some time and thought towards your message. But in the end, it really just depends on how much effort you wish to exert.

      Maverick Phantom Wanderer

    • #2862621

      It’s better to be

      by tony hopkinson ·

      In reply to About being well spoken… Do you or do you not agree?

      spoken well off, than to be well spoken.

      There are lots of people who can speak the queen’s english, does n’t stop a sizable percentage of them from being twats.

    • #2862598

      Might be a sign of the times/ ebonics leakthru

      by stillchip ·

      In reply to About being well spoken… Do you or do you not agree?

      When people use poor English and/or spelling, especially when the meaning of the sentence could change due to ambiguities of language, it bugs me. I have always had a reasonable command of nearly anything requiring technical knowledge and facility so I find it annoying at times when someone else who I feel should have such skills does not. But that’s just me and I realize that that is only me. I do hope that when I run into someone whose grasp of the English language is less than mine; I do not discriminate against them for their lack of ease with it especially if it is due to English not being their primary language. But if indeed it is supposed to be their primary language and they do not know it well, especially in a technical field I become irritated. It’s because language is important to “get right” because teams must speak the same language in order to be understood correctly. Poor language skills can do damage to teamwork and I for one do not wish to be embarrassed as part of a team due to simple or complex misunderstandings.

    • #2862594

      Not this again!

      by oz_media ·

      In reply to About being well spoken… Do you or do you not agree?

      We go through this a few times a year, I guess it makes everyone feel a little more eloquent anyway.

      Pet peeves:

      Their and They’re, don’t people understand what a contraction is, besides something Mummy had before popping out a few pups?

      THEN and THAN – ARRRRRG! that one gets under my SKIN! How can you not know the difference between two words that actually SOUND different?

      My BIGGIE! “I could care less” Uh, yeah…how about “I COULDN’T care less? Don’t people even THINK about what they are saying?

      I find that THEN and THAN are confused more and more often these days. I COULD care less, well that’s just stupidity and it seems to run rampant.

      If you don’t understand what you are saying, DON’T BLOODY WELL SAY IT!

      Gadzooks, important email, back to work for another 5 mins.

      • #2862592

        Contractions.

        by seanferd ·

        In reply to Not this again!

        Could of.

        • #2862476

          LOL

          by oz_media ·

          In reply to Contractions.

          I suppose that would be could’f 😀

      • #2862410

        Your Right!

        by yowye ·

        In reply to Not this again!

        Your Right!

        I sould of used the word “Contracted” rather than “Condensed” although when I used the word “condensed”, I was thinking of the phrase being condenced into a more compact form by contracting its individual parts.
        (They are) to (They’re)
        Your right though, it is the contraction of two words.

        As for using “Then” and “Than”, I know “Then” implies the stating of a position in a point of time… (He then told us what happened) or (It was like that then)
        “Than” implies a specific object or thing… (I through the book, than the book hit the floor), (The engine started Than it quit)

        what is interesting about “Then” and “Than” is that depending on certain situations, can they not be interchangeable? (The engine started than it quit) “than” refering to the engine, (The engine started the engine quit). Then there’s (The engine started then it quit) “then” refering to the time, (The engine started, soon it quit)

        I should of used “Than there are the lines…” instead of “then there are the lines…” when I’m talking about (“the lines” / “statements”) themselves. But what if I’m talking about the (“the lines” / “statements”) being used in past tenths while still continuing in present tenths and future tenths?
        You can’t say… “Then there were the lines…” since “were” only applies to past events, these lines are still being used.
        I looked at it as (“Back then, Now then, Forward then” – There are (was/is/will be) the lines…)

        Anyhoo thanks for the input.

        Yes anyhoo not anyhow 🙂

    • #2862556

      But As Important to Write Well …

      by dogknees ·

      In reply to About being well spoken… Do you or do you not agree?

      … given the amount of written material we encounter and produce these days. We are more known by our writing than by our faces, voices and manner of speaking.

      The thing that I have the most trouble with is verbosity. I was taught to be succinct and concise when writing. The ability to communicate concisely depends on the subtle differences in meaning between similar words. It depends on things like using the correct version of your/you’re and they’re/their/there and so on. Once we lose this, we’ve lost the ability to communicate on this level. And it appears we have lost it.

      My boss, however, believes that the more words, the better. He’s a little like the lecturer that marks on the basis of the weight of a submission rather than the content.

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