Are teachers no longer doing their jobs or have students just decided that grammar and spelling are no longer important? I never knew that the uses of two, to, and too or they're, there, and their were so hard to master. Furthermore, what happened to the over-worked apostrophe, I find it missing a lot here on YA (notice that "a lot" is two words not one).
I would like to reccomend a copy of The Elements of Style by Strunk & White for all my grammatically challenged friends here on YA. Does anyone else have a favorite book or website relating to proper grammar?
2007-01-10 14:34:54 · 10 answers · asked by Legally Blonde 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
I have read Eats, Shoots & Leaves, and now I find myself wondering "Is this the British rule or the U.S. rule?"
2007-01-10 14:57:26 · update #1
I see you haven't been on this forum very long. Wait till you've clicked open a few more questions. It only gets worse!
Unfortunately many of the askers are minimally educated and wouldn't understand The Elements of Style even if they had a copy.
(I must point out to you that you have misspelled 'recommend')
2007-01-10 19:11:13 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I know what you mean. It drives me crazy. I can understand if English is not the person's native language, but there are so many people on here, especially the young adults, tweens, and teens, who are typing in ways that I have no idea what they are saying. Don't they want to express themselves intelligently? There are so many words in the English language, but they can type 100 words and only use about 30 actual words that can be found in the dictionary. And like you said, the grammar- oh my gosh.
You talked about the teachers. Well I have seen parents get mad at teachers before because points were taken off their child's paper because of grammar and spelling errors. The parents encourage the misuse of the English language by doing this and also by not communicating with their kids. Many kids start school without language skills because no adult would talk to them intelligently, and it continues as they grow up.
2007-01-10 14:45:44 · answer #2 · answered by Jack 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Says the woman who put w/ instead of with.
I'm just kidding but that's the kind of thing that had changed over the years. As the girl who spells out EVERYTHING, I understand your question. I apostrophe everywhere and I have to say that the things that annoy me the most are people who use words like thanks and girls and turn it into thanx and girlz, lovingly incorporating two of the worlds least used letters. That said, why do they do it? It doesn't make you seem more cutting edge, in fact it seems to make one slightly stupider.
My favorite grammar book is Eats, Chutes, and Leaves which can be found at any book selling website. Thanks for bringing it up, I liked responding.
2007-01-10 14:40:31 · answer #3 · answered by snowbaby 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Favorite book is the most obvious: Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynn Truss.
Everyone makes mistakes, but most people think that people like us, who think grammar and spelling and punctuation are important, are just uptight. I guess they just don't care that they look like morons.
EDIT
By the way, I AM uptight about this sort of thing, and I acknowledge that.
I also hate, hate, hate the over-use of ellipses.
2007-01-10 14:51:28 · answer #4 · answered by spewing_originality 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yeah, I've asked the question before.
It's not so much about people being lazy, but I doubt they care at all. If you don't practice proper grammar and spelling, when it comes time for it to matter, you won't know what to do.
And " w/ " is a proper abbreviation....
2007-01-10 14:43:25 · answer #5 · answered by Sgt. Pepper 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm sure a lot of people know how to use correct grammar however, this isn't a spelling bee, or a class room, or a 100% factorial site. People tend to type quickly and in abbreviations to save time and it's also more casual. Chill back and study for your own good.
2007-01-10 14:39:06 · answer #6 · answered by your_numba1_hustla 1 · 1⤊ 2⤋
It's part apathy and part ignorance. Poor grammar is rampant on YA but I also see it in everyday life. People just won't learn to speak and write their language correctly. And sometimes they just don't care.
2007-01-11 07:04:37 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Thank you! Oh my god...I'm not alone, some days I don't even know why I try... It seems to me that the younger users are the worst. I agree with lazy teacher theory, I've even resorted to leaving rude or snarky, even uppity comments for answers to questions that are littered with horrible grammer, poor spelling, and incorrect punctuation and run on sentences ...Oh Noh...mE tHinkds i'v'e got the infucted from exspossure...NNNnnooooo.....
2007-01-10 14:44:19 · answer #8 · answered by Ediddy 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
You're no grammatical genius yourself.
2007-01-10 14:42:19 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
I like:
'dis'
'dat'
'skool'
'wud'
Maybe dictionary.com would be useful?
2007-01-10 14:41:13 · answer #10 · answered by pinwheelbandit 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋