Grammer on the internet.
- Thread starter Deadlyveggie
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Yes, grammar can be very important. I'm not entirely sure where the discussion value here. I think that as long as you can understand what someone is saying, the grammar doesn't have to be perfect; I can forgive a few minor errors. In the example, grammar obviously does make a huge difference.
i dont understand why anyone would care. so long as whatever is posted is understandable then does it matter?
Because no-one will take you seriously, or even read your post, when you don't try to use decent spelling. If you want to get your opinion across, you're only hurting yourself if you're not using proper grammar.carlsberg export said:
Obviously, the critical point is that "jack" in (B) is neither capitalised nor otherwise made distinct from the rest of the sentence. It does not suggest proper noun, and as a result, the less complimentary reading is made more obvious. If it were capitalised, the hypothesised ambiguity would swing the other way, favouring the interpretation that names an individual.Deadlyveggie said:
One could forgive the lack of punctuation in such a sentence, especially in isolation. There is not much obvious need for a full-stop when the sentence has some other terminating point, such as the end of a line or a new bullet point. One could also forgive the lack of capitalisation when the rest of the punctuation was in place - "i helped my uncle, jack, off a horse" is in no way ambiguous as to its intended reading.
What seems to be at issue is that with no means of dividing sentences up appropriately, ambiguity comes in to play, and that as a result there is a continued need for the adherence to grammatical convention. But the case under consideration also draws attention to a certain amount of redundancy inherent in said conventions.
This raises the following interesting question: is there such an ambiguity in the sentence "i helped my uncle jack off a horse"? If not, we might wonder whether the internet, as a mode of written communication regulated by typeface conventions, facilitates the use of grammatical rules whose actual syntactic implementation can be personalised. This would be interesting, and kinda cool - it would enable, for instance, replacing capitalisation for proper nouns with hypertext links to a facebook page.
i think its a bit of a bold assumption to say 'no-one' will take you seriously or even read your post but i can understand your point.GundamSentinel said:
you could say that if somebodys not even going to listen because of a minor error in your post are they worth reasoning with?
Of course it matters. The Internet is where grammar and spelling go to die. I'm an English tutor at a local high school and however you write online seeps into your day-to-day writing. It's why people no longer know the difference between "everyday" and "every day", for instance. If you grow accustomed to using poor spelling and grammar on the Internet and are on it often enough, it will become habit, but that's the same with any behavior.carlsberg export said:
Considering that the written word is the primary form of communication on the Internet, I'm surprised it isn't valued more highly than it is. I assume this is true for all languages, not just English, but as I'm predominantly monolingual it's the only one I recognize as being butchered on a regular basis.
if you were reading a factual article and it was litterd with errors then yes i totaly agree with you but for something informal like a forum or you tube, it is (in my opinion) like getting upset when someone uses slang in their speech.Trivea said:
True, but there's a world of difference between a minor error and 'I can haz spelchecks'. It's like primary school, you get points for trying.carlsberg export said:
fair enough if thats how you feel, i just dont think in some instances it really matters.
so long as the point of the poster gets across and its readable.
so long as the point of the poster gets across and its readable.