Grammar, spelling and punctuation

[jebeth]

I heard an item on Radio 4 recently which might explain the lack of the above.

Apparently in the early 1990s some politically correct person decreed that teachers should not put nasty corrections on children's school work. This might make them feel inferior or 'got at' in some way. It is fine to spell things wrongly, use no punctuation and ignore grammar.

I guess the dictionary has died a death and the spellcheck on the computor is no use if spelling is no longer an issue.

Is the generation who no longer uses even the comma or full stop as ignorant in their day to day work as they appear to me in their grasp of English usage? Would you hesitate to sell a horse to someone who lacks what we considered basic English when I was at school? I wonder what else they have overlooked & I would have to have a good think about it!

I thought I would put this as a separate item and then I can't be accused of getting at any individuals. It is not be very politically correct to complain about such things. This is meant to be a moaners area so I hope I can have a moan without a lot of personal abuse! Laughing!!!!

J

[Onthebit]

Oh gosh, I hate the whole "txt spk" language on anything apart from a text! Then again, I'm pretty awful for that on facebook, so I can't really talk, ha! xx

[gtr121]

Totally agree with you Jebeth. It also annoys me when the B.B.C. have a presenter with an accent so strong that I am unable to understand a word they are saying. I am afraid standards are slipping.

[nici]

I can't even do text speak in a text! All my texts are written in full, complete with punctuation - apostrophes, commas - even the occasional semi-colon appears (and not just for a wink )

My daughter is 6. Her teachers do correct her written work - as do I when she writes in her diary at home. If she is not corrected, she will continue to get it wrong, and that won't help her in future.

I also automatically correct her grammer (usually incorrect mix of past tense / perfect tense) when she is talking - again if I ignore her mistakes she will continue to make them, and in future years will appear to be uneducated or ignorant.

I am sometimes involved in recruitment in my work and will not look twice at a CV that contains spelling or grammatical errors. Documentation is a significant part of my role and I don't have time to be correcting basic mistakes.

I am grateful that in my day teachers were allowed to use their red pens!

[brindlerainbow]

Im a teaching assistant in a primary school and all staff are very hot on spelling, using dictionaries,puncuation and neat hand writing!!!!! I cant stand text speak and text using puncuation and the Queens english!!!

[Milliesmum]

I do like to see proper grammar and punctuation, and proper spelling in written work. On here though, I think you type as you would speak, which is not always quite so correct! Although I don't think that you need to be quite so correct on a forum, I really cannot stand the text speak, I find it lazy and sometimes quite abrupt. For instance on a for sale advert someone just posting 'pics pls' - just lazy and bad manners. I think we can all be permitted a slight slip up or spelling error though, if it's genuine and not just slapdash.

[ruftytuftyrider]

I like to see proper grammar and punctuation. If the primary school my daughter went to is anything to go by they were very hot on punctuation and grammar plus every piece of work had a positive remark but also had some constructive criticism so that they had something to work on. Senior school is the same - very hot on hand writing, puntuation and grammar.

Seems to me it is when people leave school and start relying more on computers to spell for them etc when standards slip. Also introduction of texting has had the greatest impact on standards.

[hollycane]

Oooh spelling and punctuation. My pet ranting subject. I loathe text speak and poor spelling and grammar. I cannot believe how poor they are these days. I agree about discarding CVs that contain spelling or grammar mistakes.
Worse still I was watching Wimbledon today with my aged MaMa, she had managed to turn on the subtitles on her brand new TV but neither of us could find out how to turn them off. There were a lot of spelling mistakes in the subtitles, on the BBC!!!! What is the world coming to.

[melons]

Have to admit when I'm typing on a forum like this I do let things slide, hence trying harder tonight ha ha. However, when I first started out at work we had to type letters using full punctuation eg. full stops after abbreviations etc. I too worked in a primary school up to last year and do think that teachers are still keen to correct grammar and punctuation but it is also important to encourage kids to get their ideas down on paper without being bogged down and worrying about whether speech marks are in the correct place etc. x

[sarahp]

The point about using correct spelling, grammar and punctuation is to make writing understandable. I've been prompted to put this up by having to puzzle to work out what was meant by one post tonight. And I'm assuming those posting on here are a bit beyond primary school children learning so should be able to make themselves understood, it's a very basic life skill.

[Julie(luke3)]

I think mobile phones and the computer has a lot to do with the way people write these days!

[nici]

Jun 27, 2010 21:37:45 GMT sarahp said:

The point about using correct spelling, grammar and punctuation is to make writing understandable.

We recently went to a dressage practice evening at a local RC. We weren't sure whether we would be able to go, as the farrier was due that day, and I don't like committing to anything afterwards, in case he is held up. So I asked whether entries had to be sent in advance - and received this reply:

No entries are allowed on the day, it's a relaxed and fun evening.

My immediate interpretation was that we couldn't enter on the day, but then I read the reply again, and decided the real answer was meant to be:

No, entries are allowed on the day, it's a relaxed and fun evening.

A simple comma completely reversed the meaning. But I wonder whether others read the response (which was on FB) and didn't come because they hadn't pre-entered...

Oh yes, we did go, and entries were allowed on the day, so we had a great fun evening