Job Discussion Forums

[Aabra]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has noticed this. I love the internet. I use it constantly for all kinds of different things. Teaching English however is a true curse in this regard. I don't claim to be perfect. I'm sure I make errors all the time but the blatant errors I see in other forums drive me insane! Sometimes I wish I wasn't a teacher so I wouldn't notice all the errors. This place is really the exception to the rule as the people who post here actually know the difference between your and you're. It's a nice little sanctuary.

I don't ask for very much but when I see 6+ misuses of words like its, their, and your in a single post a little part inside of me dies.

What I want to know is if this was always the case and the internet has only recently brought the problem into the limelight, or if people's grasp of the English language has taken a drastic turn for the worse?

[MamaOaxaca]

[Guy Courchesne]

I think people are relying too heavily on spell and grammar checkers as more and more of the written word is communicated electronically. I'm a regular reader of BBC online, and have noticed the quantity of errors rising. I imagine in such vast media outlets, the rush to get to 'print' and the volume of content outpaces advances in software-as-editors.

Then again, some poeple must not use a spell chekcer at all when porsting.

[delacosta]

I think that English spelling and its non-phonetic system really makes no sense, and the common spelling errors are a reflection as such. The archaic rules and plethora of exceptions to rules only serve to confuse the masses-of course this is no excuse for English teachers to be unaware of them.

Hopefully the language will evolve, or devolve, in such a way that both spelling and grammar are easier for all to master. As it is now it takes way too much time and effort for the average English learner to come any where near close to learning all the rules and being able to use them correctly most of the time.

[eclectic]

inglish is prolly fallin apart cuz peep just make up shit how they want, but the weird thing is other peep get what they sayin, so it keeps perpechuating into a new language.

[J Sevigny]

Languages are things that evolve and change. No problem with that as far as I can see.

Few used this symbol @ until a decade or so ago. Now there are multiple businesses in Guadalajara that have replaced the A�s in their names with @�s. ie Gu@d@l@j@ra. I guess it makes P@co�s T@co�s look more "with it" and Web friendly or something.

Also, a lot of the rules that were just taught are no longer important. Examples: don't start a sentence with "but;" don�t end a sentence with a preposition.

There is no such thing as perfect English, just standard English, and that's what we try to teach.

[Phil_K]

[Aabra]

To quote Canadian Bacon:

[cucaracha]

[eclectic]

WE WERE ONCE MUD, THEN WE STARTED WRIGGLING. This was a few million yeaars before we had a voice box and vocal chords. Since then language has surely transmogrified into several deteriorations.

[Tarheel 13]

Actually, I, like you, learned that the English language was to be written in a certain manner. Then, I read F. Scott Fitzgerald as a young man. It was he who said: "If it sounds good, use it." Be well. Tarheel from the Outer Banks.

[vieux canaille]

Recently a Montana boy started his first day at Harvard University. He was walking around lost on campus, and stopped a sharp-dressed individual to ask for directions. "Excuse me, can you please tell me where the library's at?" asks the boy.
"Here at Harvard, we don't end our sentences with prepositions," replies the scholar.
"Oh, okay," says the freshman. "Where's the library at, a--hole?"

[eclectic]

...and if it does completely fall to pieces, it will still be called english, as it couldnt then be called japanese or swahili or any other language for that matter, but english.