Bad grammar.

[Shaun]

Bad grammar seriously annoys me. I have the seventh sense. I can instantly see bad grammar, and it sends a shiver down my spine. Whether it's on a billboard or a shop sign, I want to tear it down, or get a huge marker pen and put an apostrophe in there, for example.

However, I think that there's one group of people who are mainly to blame for bad grammar in today's society... Teachers! I know you're probably thinking "OMG TEACHERS FTW" but seriously, I think teachers are genuinely to blame for bad grammar. When they write stuff like "1960's" or "con's" on the whiteboard, people will automatically assume that this is correct.

Who's with me? I think that all teachers should have some serious improvements with their English skills in general. I mean, I'm seventeen, but I don't make the mistakes that half of these thirty-year-old (or older) teachers make. It's a growing problem, and it's only going to get worse. Whilst - to some of you - it will just seem like a small problem, to Grammar Nazis like me, it will always seem like something big!

What are your thoughts?

[Chris]

It doesn't really bother me, unless it's painfully obvious.

[Meat Puppet]

If I can understand it, I'm cool with it.

[Mirage]

I'm a grammar nazi myself. I hate it when things like newspapers, advertisements and other things that are viewed by thousands of people have typing errors or bad grammar. When you're getting paid for writing something, the least you can do is to check the spelling and grammar a few times before you release it.

[Shaun]

Yeah, I totally agree. I hate it when you get those flyers which say stuff like "New bar open - over 18's only."

At least someone is on my side.

[Flying Mullet]

I like to sneak into your room at night and scribble grammatical nonsense on your ceiling so you see it when you wake up. :yellowkin

[Tavrobel]

I too am a grammar Nazi, but that's because I have a trained ear. (I don't remember anything besides "yes", and "no" in my first language, even though I know what it was, and I learned English from Sesame Street).

Unfortunately, in our society, grammer isn't really a problem for the general populace. Having an English major means... very little. English skills are seen as something that helps everything else, but not a subject that is to be studied as a main point for your career.

You blame teachers, but students are to blame as well. No one speaks up to challenge a teacher if the need be. If you REALLY wanted to get technical, you would have to blame the gov't for not enforcing good grammar teaching, society for forgetting that English is a language and has rules and throwing it to the wayside, the media for using incorrect grammar the most, and exposing people to it, assuming that just because the media saiod it, it is automatically correct, and for isolation, the one thing that changes a language the most.

And some more stuff.

Languages evolve as dialects of the same language, but when enough isolation has occured over a period of time, the language is different. E.g., Spanish vs. French, both Romance languages, but different.

[Shaun]

I like to sneak into your room at night and scribble grammatical nonsense on your ceiling so you see it when you wake up. :yellowkin

So it was YOU!? Right, I'm installing a camera in my room now!

I too am a grammar Nazi, but that's because I have a trained ear. (I don't remember anything besides "yes", and "no" in my first language, even though I know what it was, and I learned English from Sesame Street).

Unfortunately, in our society, grammer isn't really a problem for the general populace. Having an English major means... very little. English skills are seen as something that helps everything else, but not a subject that is to be studied as a main point for your career.

You blame teachers, but students are to blame as well. No one speaks up to challenge a teacher if the need be. If you REALLY wanted to get technical, you would have to blame the gov't for not enforcing good grammar teaching, society for forgetting that English is a language and has rules and throwing it to the wayside, the media for using incorrect grammar the most, and exposing people to it, assuming that just because the media saiod it, it is automatically correct, and for isolation, the one thing that changes a language the most.

And some more stuff.

Languages evolve as dialects of the same language, but when enough isolation has occured over a period of time, the language is different. E.g., Spanish vs. French, both Romance languages, but different.

Yeah, the government are also to blame. I guess that with the English language - as opposed to phonetic-based languages - spelling mistakes are far easier, as well as grammatical errors - but there is no excuse. Like you said, the media are too to blame. They've actually protrayed it as 'cool' to use this so-called 'txt lnguage' (to teenagers, at least). It just really gets on my nerves. I see 'professional' company buildings, and they can't even spell 'you're' properly. Yet, I can't seem to get a job... No justice.

Anyway, yeah, I get what you're saying. It's just not acceptable. When people have job interviews for anything which actually involves sharing their English skills in some way, they should be given a 'complex' English test. But of course, that's never gonna happen.

[Resha]

I am a Grammar Nazi sometimes; but I love the semi-colon so much I constantly violate my own laws.

;!!!!!!!!!! ; POWER!

Oh, hyphens are pretty hot too. They look soooo distinguished in the middle of some random sentence -- no?

[Old Manus]

Shaun leads the crusade against bad grammar in EoFF

A thread in General Chat and Feedback, WHO'S NEXT?

[Shaun]

I am a Grammar Nazi sometimes; but I love the semi-colon so much I constantly violate my own laws.

;!!!!!!!!!! ; POWER!

Oh, hyphens are pretty hot too. They look soooo distinguished in the middle of some random sentence -- no?

I believe - that in most cases - hyphens should be used like this. No double-hyphen. I too love the semi-colon! A couple of years back, I didn't even know what it's used for! However, when you know how to write good English, it's pretty fun (you won't sound like an eejit).

Shaun leads the crusade against bad grammar in EoFF

A thread in General Chat and Feedback, WHO'S NEXT?

Hah, you're right there. I might create a petition against bad grammar at EoFF. Well, if you want to know why today in particular I've created this thread...

I've been in Media Studies lesson, and the lack of grammatical knowledge my teacher has really got on my nerves. I felt like getting up and explaining her grammatical errors in the middle of lesson. But of course, I'd look like an idiot, and everyone else (probably) in my class didn't know the difference. She wrote "N.M.T's" for New Media Technologies, and she put "pro's" and "con's" for pros and cons, and... *thinks* I'm SURE she put movies - or a word very similar - as "movie's".

Very annoying.

[Agent Proto]

Shaun leads the crusade against bad grammar in EoFF

A thread in General Chat and Feedback, WHO'S NEXT?

Writer's Corner of course.

[Dignified Pauper]

Do I smell a revival of the EGG? If so, I can't lead it, it will fail.

[Shaun]

Shaun leads the crusade against bad grammar in EoFF

A thread in General Chat and Feedback, WHO'S NEXT?

Writer's Corner of course.

That's what my thread in Feedback was about! And the "artist's" forums.

Edit: What IS the EGG? I heard of it somewhere... EoFF Grammar Gestapo?

[Shoden]

I'm the equivilant of semi-literate, I can spell, use basics commas, apostrophes and usually full stops, basically that's all that's needed, but when people type "liek dis lolz" it sucks, as long as people undrstand it you're fine.