Terrible Grammar Lately?

Definitely laziness, for sure. Texting, Facebook, Twitter, for that matter, lot of the internet in general plays a major part in the loss of grammar skills in the US. A lot of it reared its head during the 2008 elections, especially with those infamous signs from various "tea party" rallies.

This problem is prominent everywhere I go, and that's from the west coast to the Midwest. We used to joke back in the day that this was just a rural thing, let alone something that just happened in the South because of how rural things were back then, but now, it's a problem nearly everywhere. Add into that the cuts going on in our education system, and you can see where the problem explodes.

What are the solutions? There are many of them, and I see that debate about to start here shortly.

BL.

 

To-day's lazy is to-morrow's proper.

 

To be honest it doesn't really bother me. It used to but I'm a bit more pragmatic these days (unless it is a more formal document than a web forum). As long as the point is made there's no real issue. Given autocorrect, dyslexia, english as a second language posters etc I don't think it matters too much. I'd rather more people where involved in discussions freely. I like MRs not pointing out grammar rules etc.

Having said that my only gripe remains "I could care less". That is the most ridiculous bastardisation of a phrase !

 

I bet you hate me I do that all the time but my talk is gooder than most peoples otherwise

 

Your title isn't in title case.

 

I think its people who don't care about texts, emails or similiar stuff having correct grammar. They want to type as quickly as possible and they make mistakes and appreviate stuff that shouldn't be appreviated. I hope they do better on their school work than on their tweets.

 

You have an extra period in your Ellipsis.

 

Now, please diagram what you just said.



BL.

 

Hey, wanna chip bro?

KGB

 

Yo its laziness fo' realz

 

At Uni I was a real stickler, but as you get a bit older you take the stick out your arse and realise what's important is the message people are tryin' to say - not how they dress it up. Also because I spend a lot of time with folk from different countries I can't afford to be a snob about grammar. Not when I only speak 1.5 languages and these folk speak 2 to 5 fluently.

I do think kids should be better educated over here in basic English though. It's one thing to use abbreviations and text speak or put on a relaxed front. It's another to not know how to be grammatically correct when you need to, which is the situation many British kids are in today.

 

Yea Boy.

 

Heyago mate.

KGB

 

Being able to write (and speak) using good grammar is a definite plus in pretty much any occupation you care to think of. And so if you have kids, or are currently completing your own education, it is something worth keeping in mind.

Whether its a business letter, a resume, or simply a note to a co-worker, a written document riddled with poorly constructed sentences and grammatical mistakes is going to cast a shadow over the image of the writer, if not the message itself. But more importantly, poorly written messages are frequently a source of confusion and errors.

If you have, and use, good grammar - be proud of it.

 

The fad to use the personal pronoun "I" as the object in sentences drives me nuts. As in, "Please issue the documents to John and I". As if the correct personal pronoun as object "me" is somehow embarrassing to use.

 

I'd like to offer a counter argument. Grammar today is far better than it ever has been. The difference is that a far higher percentage of the population produces text that other people see, and they produce far more of it to boot.

Just look at literacy rates over time:

http://nces.ed.gov/naal/lit_history.asp

Are you really suggesting that people in the past, who were more likely to be illiterate, were at the same time more likely to have a better grasp of English grammar?

 

"the kids did terrible" indeed.

 

That's my thought exactly. We're producing more written communication than ever before, what's more, the bulk of it is for public consumption. I can guarantee you that the personal letters I received in the days before texting and the Internet had probably the same level of errors.

 

I feel the need to resurrect this thread. It is mind boggling to me how many posts demonstrate a total lack of (English) language proficiency. I'm not referring to those posts written by an individual who clearly acquired English as a second (third, fourth, Nth) language, but rather to those who just seem to teeter on the edge of functional illiteracy.

There, their, they're... to, too, two... red, read... The list goes on and on.

It's really quite pathetic if the sample found here is representative of our society.

 

Umm, no. An ellipsis combined with the termination of a sentence needs four dots.

 

I cannot tell you, how many times I hear people say this, of all ages actually. And I quote "Me and my brother" "Me and my wife" etc... I rarely ever hear people saying or typing that correctly. It should be "My wife and I" or "My brother and I" It sounds so stupid to me when people say that, then they get offended that I am correcting them. I just tell them to look like a fool the rest of their lives. Oh and that's another thing , their, there and they're HAHA