Have we lost the ability to write a proper sentence?

Question

As I attempt to read the questions and answers here, I cringe. The misspellings. Lack of appropriate capitalization. Lack of punctuation. Horrible grammar. Incoherence. And a reliance upon text message abbreviations.

Is this really how people, especially young people, write now? And if so, why do you think this is?

It was not my intention to suggest that this is found solely among young people. It certainly is not. It does, however, bother me most when I see it in these young, and often extremely bright, people. These sort of writing skills will not serve them well when they enter the working world.

And I do understand that this is an informal forum. But it is still a forum and one that requires reciprocal communication. If their "skills" are such that I can not comprehend their thoughts, then the entire communication has become nonexistent.

Answer 1

This is an informal forum, not a graded assignment.

Text message abbreviations are quicker (and somewhat slangy or in-groupy), thus appealing, especially to the young.

Most people can't write worth sh*t.

I don't know if "lost" is accurate, though. I don't think it used to be true that most people could write well. I've often been surprised at the poor writing of older folks -- reasonably well-educated and articulate (in speech) people -- when I've seen their writing.

You can't infer a person's age from how well they write. There are young-uns on this site who write very well, and a lot of the poorly written stuff is typed by people of all ages.

I'm less bothered by technical infractions, myself. It's the incoherence and poor quality of thought that get me.

If I can get what someone is saying, then I don't care a lot, most of the time. It's when I can't figure out what they're saying that drives my batty. (That and the utter lack of relevant detail or context necessary to understanding the question -- I tend to chastise questioners for this.)

That and the really low level of reasoning I so often see: Soundness, relevance, accuracy. That's scariest of all.

Answer 2

It's a race to the polls. They assume that they are pro typists and they want that best answer. Forget the spell check, forget the grammar and the lack of punctuation. Kids today think that they are so smart that they use a period to separate two sentences in the same sentence and they use a comma to end it. How about the homework, (math, especially)? They go to school to learn this and they come to the Internet for answers. What are we, "The World Wide Cheat Sheet"? It only goes to show that this generation is lazy and that they want quick solutions.

Answer 3

First off, I would like to say respond to another answer. To "Sane," if you are going to criticize other people for bad grammar, could you please check your own English skills? Starting a sentence with "Agreed," replacing "it's" with "its," and misspelling "sensible" are obvious grammar mistakes. Oh, and to attribute children's poor grammar to "liberalism" is a stretch, and I think it is merely you letting your political views intrude on education. In addition, I have never had a course called Pagan Rites or Lifestyles of a Homosexual Family. By the way, there are homosexual families in America? Since when could they marry and start a family? George Bush would disapprove.

To answer the question, though, I would have to say that it is not only deficient skills that cause poor grammar, but also laziness among today's youth. Many, though not all, children do not want to take the time to use proper grammar when they are not being graded for it.

Answer 4

I think that those who agreed to have text messaging acceptable for written communications tests believed that it would allow students to have their own form of freedom of speech and in turn it would encourage them to open up and expand on topics as they would with friends thus increasing test scores. It also takes about 1/3 less time to use 'textin' than to spell out the entire word which would result in actually being able to complete all the questions in the test.

I don't think however that they considered the long term outcome. If it's allowed on college acceptance tests, will it be allowed on college assignments/midterms? If it's allowed on midterms is it allowed on job applications and God forbid resumes?

I think the line has been crossed and thus leaves the knowledge of proper spelling and grammar blurred.

Answer 5

Agreed its really bad. Yes, its how the kids speak in writing today. It comes from the dumbing down of America. The schools do not dare teach good sensable courses like English, Math, social responsibility, religion, they get Lifestyles of a Homosexual family, and Pagan rites. Another problem is God forbid that they fail a student or tell them they are not doing well. That may crush their self esteem and ruin them for life. Political Correctness and Liberalisim at its best.

Answer 6

Well, I'd say that internet use is a major factor. People in a hurry write "u" instead of "you". Then there's the l33t speak, which makes me cringe every time that I see it. I've had professors tell me that they've received papers in which people write this way. That's scary.

Answer 7

Don't worry, I don't do that! In fact I am going to become a teacher one day, and would never let any of my students do that on any paper. I totally agree with you, g2g and ttyl and i no periods and <3 and & and # and etc......., it gets to me too. I totally understand what you feel.

Answer 8

The lack of proper grammar irk vs the abundance of retarded questions.