Written grammar; a thing of the past?

[achris]

Hi all,

Is it just me or are other people seeing the same thing?

The number of posts I read in the repair forums, where I spend a lot of time , that lack any sort of punctuation. No capitalization of the singular pronoun, no commas. It's just a stream of words. At times it's very difficult to decipher.

Can anybody offer a reason for this fall in the standard of our written language?

Chris.............

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

People are lazy. :redface: In defense of everyone I think we are all more literate as a result of the internet and forums.

I am just very happy that we have all become adept at typing. Imagine how hard it really would be if we had to read each others handwriting!

Oh.... yes...... what is really missing is the infamous red pen that graded our paper's and the strict teacher at the head of the class!

 

[j442w30]

Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

I've wondered the same thing when looking at some of the first time posters asking for help. I cannot understand why you would not take the time to read it over and make sure your wording is clear so you get the answers you want. The people who write with the caps lock on are the best.

 

[bjcsc]

Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

Hi all,

Is it just me or are other people seeing the same thing?

The number of posts I read in the repair forums, where I spend a lot of time , that lack any sort of punctuation. No capitalization of the singular pronoun, no commas. It's just a stream of words. At times it's very difficult to decipher.

Can anybody offer a reason for this fall in the standard of our written language?

Chris.............

This post is hilarious. But first, I'll answer to say that this is a forum and not an english test . Think of it like a written accent. Now for the hilarious part: your post:

1) " The number of posts I read in the repair forums, where I spend a lot of time , that lack any sort of punctuation." Hmmm...fragment...not a complete sentence...
2)"No capitalization of the singular pronoun, no commas." SAME
3) Your sig " The world take on a whole new perspective when viewed from 100' below..." takes?

 

[WillyBWright]

Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

its a symptom of the times we are living in and i guess i at least have to be grateful that people can still find the space bar or id be totally lost its the very internet that weve all come to enjoy on this forum thats at fault with all the chatrooms and such common english is just not recognized anymore i think of the commercial thats running on tv now where a mother is chastizing her daughter about the phone bill where the daughter is texting big bills the radio commercial version is even funnier with the girl parting the room with grrrr b4 u no it therl be no more . or , or ? or shft on kebords nemor

But PLEASE feel free to ask any poster guilty of that to translate or be passed by.

Hey mods, maybe we can make that a rule? Or at least a warning "Old farts inhabiting iboats do not speak interneteese. Please write in English."

 

[JB]

Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

Interesting. I tend to see the amount of attention to detail posters give to their writing as indicative of the attention to detail they give their boats and engines.

I also tend to ignore unintelligible posts by people who obviously could be clear if they gave a flip.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

Takes me back to school and the "thick red pen" as stated above.
There are various levels of grammar etc seen on any and all forums. I do not think that people should be ignored if they can not explain themselves in writing but could be asked to explain themselves a little better and try using the spell check function on their computer.

 

[POINTER94]

Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

JB,

Interesting post. With that said, what do you think the condition of my boat and motor are?

I tend to not judge someone who has either poor typing skills, uneducated, or perhaps is just lazy. Language is meant to bring us together, not to be used as a tool to segregate or as a means of establishing heirarchy.

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

For some, English is not their first language. I'd hate to think what a post of mine would look like if I had to do it in French, Italian, Spanish, German, etc.

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

herked Onn Fonics Werked Fer Me :d

 

[Plainsman]

Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

Interesting. I tend to see the amount of attention to detail posters give to their writing as indicative of the attention to detail they give their boats and engines.

I also tend to ignore unintelligible posts by people who obviously could be clear if they gave a flip.

What a load of carp! I thought folks came here for help, and we helped them if we could. Judging someone for their spelling or lack of punctuation is just downright wrong.

 

[Limited-Time]

Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

Publick ed-u-k-shun herein the states!

 

[Kiwi Phil]

Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

Goodness, lets see how many excuses we can make for the moroons and idiots.
I try not to judge anyone by their written word, but when I see a message written in what I term the modern form, ie like texting......just as Achris mentioned....then I do no read it.....and if they are a regular poster, then I always skip their posts.
That is totally different to someone who genuinely has difficulties with the written word, and I WILL take the time to decipher their sentence....no problems.....
It is easy to tell the difference between the two. One is genuine, the other trying to be a clever-richard.
Cheers
Phillip

 

[RPJS]

Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

Interesting. I tend to see the amount of attention to detail posters give to their writing as indicative of the attention to detail they give their boats and engines.

I also tend to ignore unintelligible posts by people who obviously could be clear if they gave a flip.

This is so wrong.

I employ a dislexic engineer, I doubt there is a person on this forum who would not be awstruck by the guys workmanship and attention to detail.

If he were to post here you would just ignore him as a person who could not give a flip.

Your coments are probably the most arrogant thing I have ever seen you post JB.

 

[boatsource]

Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

I have never had a great grasp on the formalities of grammar so my views are much less strict than others. Medical conditions and non-native language posters aside, I think 'formalities' may sum it up.

Consider how a person dresses in most situations to how one did years ago. Formal attire or even dressing 'presentably' is much less common. Again, on this I'm not one to point fingers on this matter but I have experienced someone wearing a half top and low rider jeans with their butt crack showing at a funeral! That was a bit over the top for me.

Further it seems the same goes for manners and common courtesy. North American society as a whole is much less formal in many ways. I would also suggest some people are less formal as a way of being more personal and open.

For example, I've received an email inquiry from a person who came across as intelligent and who had obviously spent time on writing their email. After the initial email the formalities were dropped and the following correspondence had colors and font changes, Internet speak and it was disjointed and difficult to understand.

How you communicate in email and on message boards has very little to do with how intelligent you are, what your education is or any number of factors. Much like wearing fine clothes and having exceptional manners, a person with good grammar may come across better but it doesn't necessarily mean they're a better person.

Just the thought of grammar made my post come across as uptight and preaching. That was so not the intention.

 

[PW2]

Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

I have two personal pet peeves in this area.

1. Lack of "white space". I tend to skim posts for those topics that interest me, and skip over those that don't. It's difficult to deal with a wad of prose with no clear breaks.

2. Attempts to write in some sort of dialect, in order to be "folksy". It was hard enough to read Mark Twain, and he had a lot to say.

As far as spelling goes, it is my experience that some people know how to spell, and others don't. It's some sort of a right brain, left brain thing. It has nothing to do with intelligence. Communication is the key.

 

[WillyBWright]

Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

I don't think any of us are expecting perfect English, but at least some attempt at legibility and punctuation. Chaining sentences together with no indication whatsoever of where one ends and the next one starts is discourteous and confusing. They know how, they just choose not to out of pure laziness. The ones I truly enjoy are the translated ones. I pick them out intentionally because the poster is of a different language and has used a computer based translator to ask a question. Some are very hard to understand, but it's a challenge and I like challenges. That's a different category altogether.

what i dont like is reading things written like this where the writer makes little to no effort to make himself understood they just assume the reader is on the same wavelength and i am not AND WHEN THE CAPS LOCK IS ON IT DOESNT BOTHER ME BECAUSE I KNOW SOME ARE USING THE INTERNET ON THEIR CELL PHONE AND SWITCHING BACK AND FORTH MAKES A TEN MINUTE SENTENCE TAKE TWENTY MINUTES

When it comes to the point where we see texting, I'll be out doing something more constructive...like boating. I know what LOL is, but not a whole lot more. Speeling iz nevver the issu.

just the endless chains of sentence after sentence with no capitalization or punctuation or anything telling me when one sentence ends and the next one starts after all i am not the great willboni and i have no crystal ball when i have to take the time to read and reread a post three or four times to understand it it takes time away from others i can help that were courteous enough to at least try to make it readable the first time through when i see posts written like this i just move along to the next one or ask for a translation before i respond just a quick question how many times through did it take you to understand what i just wrote there are six sentences in this paragraph and one is a question

Or did you give up halfway through like I do?

 

[RubberFrog]

Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

There's no excuse for lack of punctuation. We've all seen the 10,000 word post without a singe comma. I hate that. And I agree with JB.

 

[JB]

Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

Hmmmmmm. Arrogant? Well, maybe. The use of the English language has been my primary tool in life for a loooooong time.

I think I can tell who is trying to be clear and concise and who is just sloppy, who has reread and edited and who hasn't, who is at the limits of his/her ability to use our language and the keyboard and who just isn't trying.

Am I judging? I don't think so, but it does influence my perceptions. When that's all you have to go on you are kidding yourself if you don't think it does.

As people my age have for many generations I see some changes in values and standards as deterioration in our culture. Can't help it. It comes with being old.

 

[cmyers_uk]

Re: Written grammar; a thing of the past?

Grammar is a set of rules that you need to have been taught and understood. As can be seen from the original post people may think they understand good grammer but other peoples view may be different.

If you base your views on whether a person is deserving of help based on there understanding of English Grammer or there ability to spell thats very sad.

Certainly guaging somebodys mechanical ability based on there knowledge of English Grammer is plain stupid.

I cant spell and my grammers crap but the rest of my life's great. So if your one of the narrow minded people please dont respond to this posts I wont take offence.