Is that "Oh, come on" aimed at my original post? Because I didn't defend awful use of English, I think I made the distinction between that and small mistakes pretty clear.[zonking great said:
Fair enough, I'll paragraph my first post.
Can't you cut people some slack when it comes to spelling, grammar and punctuation?
- Thread starter afrophysics
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Fair enough, I'll paragraph my first post.
Well, I would never call myself well off. My family struggled to make ends meet when we started out, my parents are both teachers (now both head teachers.) I didn't attend a fee paying school, I was just lucky to be intelligent enough to go to one of the local grammar schools in Gloucester. Oh, and I'm up late because I'm now in Australia (still no money though.)BardSeed post=18.69503.662630 said:
Testify, brother! Also, Your does NOT equal You're, one of them is a contraction, for Christ's sake...TheNecroswanson post=18.69503.662481 said:
Also, spell checker is good, but it's still no substitute for proofreading i.e. "Their is a canoe over they're." won't set off any red lines.
Take a minute and check your work...I mean, honestly, if you're here (not hear, har har), you've probably got the time for a quick proofread...
I don't care much about grammar mistakes, but the thing that I absolutely hate, is when people put millions and millions of punctuation marks. Like, is this really necessary??????????????????????? I get it, if you haven't learned English in your school, and don't live in a country that widely resorts to American-English, British-English, Australian-English etc. But seriously, everyone should know that "???????" or "!!!!!!" is in no way better than just ? and/or !
One thing I would like to point out is that the escapist is used by alot of people from different places, notably england and america, where we spell some words different than you do, for instance, here in the uk orange, green and blue are colours, but in america, i understand that colour is spelt color.
thats just my bit.
thats just my bit.
I find that the grammar issue is usually just one of many. The posts in question often have the following problems:
1) old topic revived again and again by a new user. Yes, some videogame bosses are harder than others. No, we don't really care that much.
2) horrible spelling or text language
3) "comedy" poll
Honestly, I think the above (combined in one post) should mean instant warning, because it seems that lately I see one of these topics every day.
However, keep in mind that not everyone on the Escapist are from English-speaking countries. I know my use of commas in particular is horrendous, because I can barely do it properly in my own language. I try though...
1) old topic revived again and again by a new user. Yes, some videogame bosses are harder than others. No, we don't really care that much.
2) horrible spelling or text language
3) "comedy" poll
Honestly, I think the above (combined in one post) should mean instant warning, because it seems that lately I see one of these topics every day.
However, keep in mind that not everyone on the Escapist are from English-speaking countries. I know my use of commas in particular is horrendous, because I can barely do it properly in my own language. I try though...
English is my native language. If I have to go Grammar Nazi on folks to prevent it being butchered by folks too lazy, stupid or ignorant to do the simple and decent thing of communicating clearly, then so be it. I'm willing to cut those for whom it's not a first language some slack, but everyone else ... fucking do it properly. If you can't be bothered to present yourself well on something as inconsequential as an internet forum, God only knows how you do so IRL.
![[zonking great]](https://eg-forums-escapist-data.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/data/avatars/l/36/36225.jpg?1620302945){kind=avatar}
Not true - how a person communicates says a great deal about how they carry themselves. Those with poor presentation have no pride in themselves.Imitation Saccharin post=18.69503.663103 said:
And that's a sad thing.
True enough, but dammit, she's my whore and I love her!
Semicolon is used, mostly, to stick two sentences together where a period would work, but doesn't feel quite right. I'd type an example for you, but my colon key shit out on me last night and I can't find my compressed air. Sorry.Saskwach post=18.69503.663360 said:
I let it slide as long as I can actually read what the person's trying to say. If the grammar is so bad I don't know what they're talking about, or if the spelling's so bad I can't even read it, I tend to call them out on it. I also hate when people mix up There, Their, and They're, and Your and You're. It's not really that difficult of a concept.
Some (okay, many) people in MSN, or in a game say to me: "Oh yea, I leave proper grammer (yeah) to classes." I mean, wtf? School is supposed to teach you how to freakin speak and write in LIFE! Not only in the classroom. If you haven't learned English, fine. You don't have to. But atleast don't be a douche. And saying that is douche.
Just some grammar spam (Thanks Wikipedia):Saskwach post=18.69503.663360 said:
1. Use a semicolon between closely-related independent clauses not conjoined with a co-ordinating conjunction: "I went to the swimming pool; I was told it was closed for scheduled maintenance."
2. Use a semicolon between independent clauses linked with a transitional phrase or a conjunctive adverb: "I like to eat cows; however, they don't like to be eaten by me."
3. Use a semicolon between items in a series containing internal punctuation: "There are several Waffle Houses in Atlanta, Georgia; Greenville, South Carolina; Gainesville, Florida; and Mobile, Alabama."
4. A semicolon can be used to separate independent clauses conjoined with coordinating conjunctions, when the clauses have internal commas that might be misread: "After the game, I won a red and blue pinwheel, four hundred thousand edible ingots, and a certificate of excellence; but when the storm came, I lost it all in a torrent of sleet, snow, and profanity."
Semicolons are followed by a lower case letter, unless that letter begins a proper noun. In documents, semicolons have no spaces before, but one or two spaces after.
Chatspeak annoys the living hell outa me, and I believe that most should atleast have spelling and grammatics in mind when writing their posts.
Although I do accept that no human being is flawless, and thus I don't mind a couple of misspellings or grammatical errors.
I'm swedish myself and don't have english as a first language, so I can relate to the issues some may have, and I'm not flawless myself.
However when your a sentence makes peoples heads hurt, you should either just leave or go train on your writing elsewhere.
Although I do accept that no human being is flawless, and thus I don't mind a couple of misspellings or grammatical errors.
I'm swedish myself and don't have english as a first language, so I can relate to the issues some may have, and I'm not flawless myself.
However when your a sentence makes peoples heads hurt, you should either just leave or go train on your writing elsewhere.