Written grammar; a thing of the past?

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kevinrude

Cadet
Joined
Apr 21, 2007
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14
Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

(no disrespect intended)

whats funny is someone can ask a legitimate question and not get a single response. then someone finds the need to start criticizing someone for punctuation....or lack there of. how about we stay focused that this is a boating forum and not an english exam. perhaps some people arent as educated or find that punctuation , structured sentences , or spelling isnt on their high list of priorities on a internet boating forum, or just maybe that english and grammar wasnt their strong point in life. there are far more important things to worry about in this world than internet grammar. so why not just respect people for sharing the same interests as you(boating) and read between the lines, instead of ridiculling them. :rolleyes: internet hypocrites...you got to love them:(
 

OldMercsRule

Captain
Joined
Nov 30, 2006
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3,340
Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

Hmmmmm, Guess some of ya don't like me cornpone, n' Lord knows I can't spell. That said: it does help to have some order and clarity in a person's posts. JR :D :D
 

ricksrster

Commander
Joined
Jun 19, 2005
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2,022
Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

Not everybody on the forums is an USAer. There are Canadians, British, Australians, and others that have problems using our American English properly. We just have to be a little patient and understanding.
Y'all know what I'm talking about?
 

bjcsc

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Jun 1, 2006
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1,805
Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

Y'all know what I'm talking about?

Y'all?? Don't you mean "youz guys" or whatever y'all say during the 5 months of the year things aren't frozen...;)
 

studlymandingo

Commander
Joined
Mar 22, 2006
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2,716
Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

ROTFLMAO!!! Wow, this one certainly ruffled some feathers! As long as I can follow a post and it is of some interest to me, I will read it. I have a tendency to punctuate but only because I spent a good bit of time in English classes. There are lots of people who come here to seek help with their boats, but not everyone can be the winner of the county spelling bee. I occasionally get a little chuckle out of the way some things come across, but I will still try to be helpful if it is called for; sometimes I find it refreshing to add a little wit and certainly enjoy it when others do the same.

BTW (By The Way): The topic of this thread is a sentence fragment, and you would not use a semi-colon.​

Can't we all just get along?;)
 

drewpster

Commander
Joined
Oct 17, 2006
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2,059
Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

I do my best to prevent run-on sentences and use the spell check, often, I male mistakes, sorry.
 

Tail_Gunner

Admiral
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Jan 13, 2006
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6,237
Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

Generally well writen statement's and puncutaded correctly are done by expert's. That is those who excel in the art of literature, most of the population does not adhere to such strigent standard's, so we hire someone to do it for a minium fee.

Now that might be trivialing our langauge but it does have a certain quality when it's done right. Other than that, who care's as long as the info is passed on correctly.

Just a opinion your milage may vary.....;)
 

WillyBWright

Fleet Admiral
Joined
Dec 29, 2003
Messages
8,200
Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

I think many have misinterpreted the topic here. The title is a bit misleading. Achris isn't complaining about "proper English", just chaining sentences with no way to tell where one stops and the next starts. It's not hard to do. You can do it by punctuating, you can do it by Capitalizing, you can
separate
them
by
line
with the Enter key, you can make one sentence in all small FOLLOWED BY THE NEXT IN ALL CAPS. It's the reading and rereading to get the endless chains straightened out in the reader's head that frustrates him...and me. Theonlythingmorefrustratingwouldbenotusingthespacebar
 

achris

More fish than mountain goat
Joined
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27,468
Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

Hello to all the people who have replied to this post,

Thanks you all. I now really, really wish I hadn't started it!!! I had no idea that it was a topic that would inflame such passion. I had no intention of starting WWIII (again). :eek:

The initial point of the topic was to highlight the difficulty in reading totally unpunctuated posts. Basically everything WillyB has said. I don't give a rats about spelling, as long as the word in recognisable, and sentence structure isn't all that important. But when I have to read a string of words and put my own full stops and commas in, that makes life hard. I even don't mind (I actually enjoy) helping non-English speakers. Before my enforced exile I helped a couple of guys from Norway and even one from Scotland! The thing that made it easier was that they used full stops, commas and capitals. That's all I was talking about....

Now can we close this topic so I don't get sent away again, please?

Chris..............
 

JB

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Mar 25, 2001
Messages
45,907
Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

I have found this a very interesting thread. I am a bit disappointed that some read much more into my comments than I intended, but perhaps I could have worded mine more clearly.

My interest is twofold. Let me explain.

On several occasions I have referred posters on other sites to iboats to get better advice than they were getting there. At least twice I got replies that offended me. One fellow referred to iboats helpers as being of "low caliber" and another sneered at "shade tree" technicians. Those were from a forum where the moderator edits like a grade four teacher correcting English papers, but language and conduct suitable only for a drunk tank are common and allowed. Fights and insults are routine. I don't go there anymore.

Another site I visit is a lot like an English gentlemen's club. The moderator actually rewrites member contributions if they are the least bit clumsy or hard to read. The contributions are called "articles", not posts, and the moderator posts regular lectures on his idea of proper use of the language. Oh, yes, it is a boating forum! I still go there because it is a site loaded with excellent information but I really watch myself because if you make an error there you really get put down.

When I compare those places to iboats it is easy to see why this is such a popular site. I have no problem, like most of us here, with a post that is clear and easy to read and I get chuckles when I realize that "loose" is the more common spelling of "lose" and that many homonyms (words that sound the same but have different spelling and meaning) are passed on by spell checkers. (Boy! There is a run on sentence that I would get scolded for elsewhere!)

As a boy and as a student I was regularly told that the world will get lasting first impressions and often pass lasting judgements of you based on your skill with the language. That may not be as true now as it was 70 years ago, but I think it is still a valid bit of advice.
 

Turin

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Apr 21, 2007
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343
Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

I'm a person who has English as his second language.
But I try to make it as readable as posible..
So use a point or comma now and then.
But I CAN'T help that not all my words are spelled correctly or all my grammer isnt correct.

So I'm sorry if you can't read my posts, you could ask what I mean with a certain word..(you mght even tell me how it is written correctly so I can do it right the next time.)
 

studlymandingo

Commander
Joined
Mar 22, 2006
Messages
2,716
Welcome people of the world

Welcome people of the world

Glad you are here and trying Turin!!! Where is West Maas?​
 

JB

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Mar 25, 2001
Messages
45,907
Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

I have no problem reading your posts, Turin. You do very well with English.

Actually, I have no problem with any of our members for whom English is a second language. I don't think any other members do either.

If I/we have a problem it is with those clearly capable of posting clear, concise and complete statements or questions who don't read their posts for clarity and spelling before posting them, don't use capitalization or punctuation and don't break their 300 word posts into paragraphs with white space between. Those are sometimes very hard to read or to understand.

Perhaps it is harsh of me to conclude that most of those posters aren't trying very hard to be clear.

I am a terrible typist. I leave out letters, add unintended letters, misspell many words and make sentences that run on forever. If I didn't read and edit my posts before posting them they would be terrible and I would get a lot of shots.
 

achris

More fish than mountain goat
Joined
May 19, 2004
Messages
27,468
Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

I'm a person who has English as his second language.
But I try to make it as readable as posible..
So use a point or comma now and then.
But I CAN'T help that not all my words are spelled correctly or all my grammer isnt correct.

So I'm sorry if you can't read my posts, you could ask what I mean with a certain word..(you mght even tell me how it is written correctly so I can do it right the next time.)

Turin, As the original poster let me clarify what I meant. Your post is easy to read and I wouldn't even think twice about answering a question posed by you.

Let me quote JB

If I/we have a problem it is with those clearly capable of posting clear, concise and complete statements or questions who don't read their posts for clarity and spelling before posting them, don't use capitalization or punctuation and don't break their 300 word posts into paragraphs with white space between. Those are sometimes very hard to read or to understand.

From what I see of people who's first language is not English, they are some of the better ones!

My girlfriend is Russian who has only been speaking and writing English for about 5 years. Some of the naive English speakers/writers on this forum should be ashamed of themselves by comparison.

I now believe it is borne out of pure laziness, nothing more. And if they are asking for help in the Help forums, then as least put some effort into describing the problem, AND MAKING IT EASY FOR THE PEOPLE HELPING THEM TO READ IT!!!

Please, JB... close this thread before WWIII breaks out.....

Chris................
P.S. If there are mistakes here, I apologise. I'm in Myanmar and have to use a poxy server. Can't view pictures or edit my posts. Paranoid military regime!
 

muskyone

Master Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Mar 17, 2003
Messages
814
Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

well you can all go **** yourselfs i think the fact that if it wasnt for people like me none of you would be on here to ***** i build splice and design the fiber that run your internet so as i said go **** yourselfs
 

bjcsc

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Jun 1, 2006
Messages
1,805
Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

Whoa!! Easy musky...we're all friends here...we just poke at each other from time to time...but's it's all in fun...
 

ob

Admiral
Joined
Aug 16, 2002
Messages
6,992
Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

Thanks for those warm and heartfelt comments muskyone.:rolleyes: Wouldn't it be 'yourselves' though? :cool:
 
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