For the Grammar Police

[Uncle Al]

Grammar 2018-04-08.png

Uncle Al

[Sinned]

Just basic grammar and not anything that would confuse me and shouldn't confuse most here, even those for whom English isn't their primary language.

[Jim]

Those mistakes just indicated carelessness. Maybe it's OK for some not to care if they are spelling things right?

[crfriend]

Those mistakes just indicated carelessness. Maybe it's OK for some not to care if they are spelling things right?

The problem is that all of those will pass a spell-check. Grammar-checkers will (usually) catch such gaffes, but they also catch real usage altogether too frequently -- especially if one is writing creatively. This is especially pernicious given the vagaries of the English language. For grins, see Ode to the Spell Checker (sometimes spelt "Owed").

Homonyms are always difficult for beginners to master. E.g. "During the Reign of Terror, heavy rain caused at least one horseman to lose his grip on the reins and who was summarily bucked off." or, "I voted 'aye' on the motion and received a poke in the eye for the effort."

Then, of course, there's my old favourite: lose vs. loose. Loose grammar, like loose morals, is no excuse to lose one's ability to use the language properly; this can frequently cause the literate in the room to loose a stream of abuse at the illiterate loser.

I do love the English language. There are so many ways to have fun with it. And one needn't even invoke archaic words to have fun, although that does add some spice to the mix. Or, (mis)appropriating slang from another culture ("Her outfit was pants.") or time (Me, on the CIA: "It's full of spooks."), the latter of which got me branded, temporarily, as a racist until I told my accuser to, "Look it up, and then publicly apologise."

[r.m.anderson]

Return with us now to the thrilling days of Babylon common communication - one common mother tongue - ah er foot in mouth -
never going to happen even if using Google Babelfish Bing or other rudimentary form of translation service - always something lost !

And what's Grandma got to do with all this - yeah I know it is grammar - just seeing if you are paying attention and reading this !

We now resume are regularly schedule diatribe of language miscommunication punctuation innuendo so on and so forth ........

[Feeling freedom]

To judge someone due to grammar is absurd, the person who just got judged may have jumped in a river and saved someone's life the day before or donated their time to the needy, then someone turns around and judges the person due to their writing skills?? Judging people should be left to the courts and GOD!

[Sinned]

FF, I don't think anyone is judging because of poor grammar. In some respects the person hangs themselves because of their ignorance of the rules of good communication. Admittedly there are mitigating circumstances, such as being a second language and early in the learning code and generally allowances are made,

Moon made a statement in another thread which demonstrates the importance of punctuation:

"I've seen the phrase "man up" used by quite a few angry feminist when God forbid a man find himself on the loosing end of a already biased situation against him."

{ Sorry Moon, no disrespect but this just jumped out at me on first reading. }

The sentence should read: "I've seen the phrase "man up" used by quite a few angry feminist when, God forbid, a man find himself on the loosing end of a already biased situation against him."

In the original you read that God is forbidding a man until you read further and have to revise your thinking. Read "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" by Lynn Truss.

[crfriend]

The sentence should read: "I've seen the phrase "man up" used by quite a few angry feminist when, God forbid, a man find himself on the loosing end of a already biased situation against him."

Nitpick here: "loosing" should read "losing" (only one "o"). See my earlier comment on that one. For that matter, "feminist" should be plural.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave...

In the original you read that God is forbidding a man until you read further and have to revise your thinking. Read "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" by Lynn Truss.

By all means, Lynn Truss' book should be mandatory reading for folks. It's a sensitive, sometimes hilarious, and all the way through a great read and a veritable fount of wisdom when it comes to the world of punctuation. I still get a chuckle out of a gaffe made on a very public sign hard aside Massachusetts Route 9 in Framingham which stated, "Pant's shortened $5.00". Worse, it stayed that way for some years. It was eventually corrected, but the slight space taken up by the errant apostrophe remains there to this day (or, at least the last time I drove by it).

Encourage and feed your inner stickler.

[moonshadow]

No worries Dennis. I appreciate the correction. I admit I google often words that I'm not sure of. To vs too, then vs than. Carl is supposed to slap my hand on lose, but he missed the last post.

The comma was just an error. Normally I catch stuff like that on a proof read. But considering the number of words I type, sometimes one slips through. Like that odd shaped m&m in the bag.

So on that note, it's time to go eat Dennis.

Oh uh, sorry:

It's time to go eat, Dennis.
_______________^

What's really sad is thanks to the grammar police on this site, I have learned so much that I actually find myself seeing grammar errors on published works. Most often in newspaper articles, but sometimes even in actual published books.

At any rate, I make the effort. I'm not going back to grammar school at the age of 37, especially when I believe I'm already pretty far ahead of most others in my generation. At this level in my life I'm more interested in pursuing other more advanced knowledge.

At any rate... you all got the point regardless.

On another note, language is somewhat fluid and not fixed. Grammar, words, and even letters themselves change over time.

Iudge not, that ye be not iudged. For with what iudgment ye iudge, yee shall be iudged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you againe. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brothers eye, but considerest not the beame that is in thine owne eye?
Matthew 7:1-3 (1611)-KJV

For all you that insist on putting a "u" in color.... take that!

[moonshadow]

Besides, I know I'm not the worst here. As I've said in may situations, I try not to be the best, nor the worst. The first, nor the last. I like my place somewhere in the middle.

If you're the best, you never get time off from work.
If you're the worst, you're constantly getting canned.

If you're the first, you're the first to discover the trap hole in the floor (by falling in), or that snake (by being bitten).
If you're the last, the monster eats you.

It's us middle guys.. we're the ones who survive.

Here's to the Jimmy Buffets of the world.

[crfriend]

Carl is supposed to slap my hand on lose, but he missed the last post.

I am not my brother's keeper. Nor his shepherd.

So on that note, it's time to go eat Dennis.

That's just too much to pass on, save that it was corrected in subsequent sentences. You, sir, are no Jeffrey Dahmer.

At any rate... you all got the point regardless.

Go on, it's "y'all". You want to use it, and you know it! (In all honesty, I get the term's usefulness. "You" as both singular and plural can confuse the daylights of of folks. Just like "moose" and "moose".)

On another note, language is somewhat fluid and not fixed. Grammar, words, and even letters themselves change over time.

Ah, but is it for the better?

For all you that insist on putting a "u" in color.... take that!

To quote Bill the Cat, "Thppt!"

If we cannot laugh at ourselves, we have no right to laugh at others. Full stop.

[moonshadow]

Go on, it's "y'all". You want to use it, and you know it! (In all honesty, I get the term's usefulness. "You" as both singular and plural can confuse the daylights of of folks. Just like "moose" and "moose".)

Actually, I don't say "ya'll" often. Normally only when I'm agitated about something. As in "Aayette, ya'll get da hell out da kitchen, yuin-ma way!"

Yes, I actually speak a lot worse than I write. In fact, if you heard me in person you'd probably think you were talking to someone other than the Moon Shadow you've come to love.

Generally the faster I talk, the worse I get.

Yep, us southerners are quite a hoot to listen to. Then when someone comes down from Boston... oh boy...

Carl meets Moon and is about to head back home:

Carl: "I can't find my khakis".
Moon: "Wait, what? You're wearing a skirt!"

[Feeling freedom]

Noted sinned.

Moon......add a Canadian to your Boston and southerner mix. It would be hard to understand the conversation. Every time we say "about" Americans think we are pointing out a boot. Then the mix of all the huh, uhuh and eh.

[trainspotter48]

And, we are rapidly reaching the situation of requiring American - English and English - American dictionaries.
You say color, I say colour, you say gotten, I say got, and then we go into jelly/jam, cookies/biscuits, pants/trousers etc.

[Fred in Skirts]

My favorite word is aluminum.
State side we pronounce it A-LUM-IN-UM.
British side it is AL-U-MIN-E-UM.

So in my prospective lets all agree that the spoken word is fun to speak in the many dialects that happen on this flat earth.

Fred, who says all kind of weird words....