Punctuation, help us help you!

[Old Ironmaker]

Oh no, the Grammar Police. Actually I agree 110%. When I run out of oxygen reading out loud a post I just ignore it. When it is obvious English isn't the 1st language of the poster I will try my best to understand it and give some quarter. I try my best to try and be grammatically correct as most forums don't have grammer or sphell chick. I hate acronyms unless the author has spelled it out at the beginning of their prose. The more and more I post I find myself cheating too, or is it as well? Until I asked here I had no idea what WOT and OEM meant. Don't assume everyone knows common acronyms are meant to be in subject specific conversations such as NFL OTA's, NFI, DL to name a few. I am sure by the end of the generation born today we won't be able to read the newspaper, oh yes no newspapers in a few years. .

Johnny D ACOC. (a citizen of Canada)

 

[bassman284]

Every party needs a pooper and every internet forum needs a grammar corrector (sometimes called other things). I'm a bit of a grammar, punctuation and spelling fanatic myself (taught by nuns with brass edge rulers) but I've learned to keep it to myself. Nobody ever thanks you when you correct them.

Paragraphs are nice, too.

{Edit} Yeah, I know, I used the word "myself" twice in the same sentence. Bad form but I couldn't think of anything else.

 

[Tim Frank]

I'm sorry, but some of these post are so hard to understand only because posters do not know how to use a comma or a period! If you are going to ask for help we need to know where your sentences start and stop. Some of the posts can be read ten different ways!!!

So, please use some punctuation so we can at least figure out what you are saying!!!

Sorry for the rant, but it drives me crazy

I hear ya; but one problem with posting a rant like this is that it may be your pet peeve but someone is bound to point out the errors in your post.....including at least 3 punctuation errors and syntax errors.

("post" should be plural, no comma after "So", no comma after "I'm sorry" etc. You can, in fact, overdo punctuation.... )

We do not all write the Queen's English perfectly. If this is your biggest gripe, relax....it is definitely a "First-World problem".

 

[JASinIL2006]

I know it's fashionable to blame Twitter or texting for the apparent decline in folks' ability to write a coherent message on an Internet forum, but I think what's really happening is that more and more people who are barely literate are now using computers and the web. It used to be the case that only relatively educated people had computers and participated extensively on the web. Now, everyone does it.

I don't think the situation is improved by texting, etc., but I think there have always been a lot of folks with minimal literacy among us who went unnoticed.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

A pal has a 16 year old High School co-op student going into Grade 12. He has been with him since January. He can hardly scribble a legible word and can't speel, the word spell. He has been working on his fathers Hot Rods etc. since he old enough to walk and is a sharp kid, picks up anything quickly, and retains it. He doesn't need practical experience in the workforce he needs some more skoolin'.

One might be surprised at how many Canadian born individuals I came across at the Steel Plant that were functioning illiterates. Smart men that just never learned how to read and right. It must be a stressful life to try and hide illiteracy. We made up one of the hourly rated workers to a front line supervisor. He was a functional illiterate and basically had a nervous breakdown the first 2 days of training. He was copying reports from previous shifts. He eventually committed suicide, very sad.

 

[bassman284]

I hear ya; but one problem with posting a rant like this is that it may be your pet peeve but someone is bound to point out the errors in your post.....including at least 3 punctuation errors and syntax errors.

("post" should be plural, no comma after "So", no comma after "I'm sorry" etc. You can, in fact, overdo punctuation.... )

We do not all write the Queen's English perfectly. If this is your biggest gripe, relax....it is definitely a "First-World problem".

Also the comma after rant. Not to mention beginning the post with the phrase "I'm sorry, but" when the poster is obviously not a bit sorry.

 

[shrew]

I figure there are three kinds of people:

1) Those who don't care about spelling, punctuation, and grammer.

2) Those who care, but say nothing.

3) Those who care and choose to comment, correct and reprimand.

The third group is really the 'grammar police'.

I'm in group #2. If the post is hard to read in the first few sentences I skip it. If someone can't have the common courtesy to take the time to write a thoughtful post, I don't bother wasting my time attempting to read it. I quietly employ the 'you get what you give' approach.

I don't have the time to teach someone grammar, spelling and punctuation. Either they are too stupid to learn, or too lazy to care. There is no amount of words that will change the behavior.