The spelling & grammar of a lot of questions are very poor indeed. Why is this?

Question

Frequent use of 'there' for 'their' and vice versa.
Unitelligable questions.
General misspellings.

Apologies for my misspelling. Spell checker did not pick it up. And spelling was my weakest point in English at school.
Thank you all for your answers.
They are thought provoking about present day standards of education and communication.

I used '&' to get the question on a single line.

Answer 1

I can totally forgive questions that sound like they are written by people whose first language is not English. I'm very reluctantly beginning not to cringe ever time I see text speak. What I can NOT stand, however, is the complete neglect of punctuation on a lot of questions/answers. I often see entire paragraphs with no periods, commas, nothing! It grates on my little nerves.

Answer 2

Don't you feel there is an over-reliance on spellcheckers - they cannot distinguish among there/their/they're for example?

Grammar checkers are also subject to error and, I feel, can constrict the writer. Occasionally, the use of a non-standard construction can be quite effective. But only occasionally.

That last sentence starts with a preposition and has no verb - the grammar checker would have a heart attack! It works, though, don't you think?

There really is no excuse for poor writing other than ignorance, laziness or when using a second language. When I asked a similar question a while ago most of the 190 replies were supportive, polite and intelligible. Those that were poorly written tended to be abusive. It seems that people can be quite hostile in defence of their own ignorance.

Answer 3

Hopefully this is in part due to English not being the first language for some users. Sadly though, I suspect it's mostly down to woefully poor educational standards, and the fact that few people actually seem to care any more. A friend of mine, a teacher recently had to spend a whole english lesson convincing a class that she was not being 'picky' in not accepting 'sms text' English in Essays. Wassup wiv dat??

Oh, and eja, 'mis-spelled incorrectly' is a tortology- 'incorrectly' is redundant.

ooh-err! did I mean tautology? Tricky language, English, what?

Answer 4

In addition to the deteriorating American education system, there are many people for whom English is a second language, as well as those who speak the Queen's English, which varies from American English in spelling and grammar.

I personally try to answer quickly (because I prefer to be in the top five responses) and I am a lousy typist; but I will go back and edit my answer if an error jumps out at me.

People have been complaining of these issues since the beginning of Yahoo! Answers. One early response compared trying to read something that's poorly written to trying to listen to a piece of music that has skips in it.

Answer 5

Because many questions are asked by civil servants and it has been established beyond doubt that, contrary to days of yore (your, yor, yoor ....) very many are so bad at spelling and grammar that they cannot be understood. For this reason they're having to take cramming lessons so that they can at least pick out the right two, to or too.

Another reason is that exam papers are now marked for content and neatness and not for spelling or grammar at all. Thirdly many teachers have lousy grammar themselves. I saw a teacher's union spokesperson on TV who said less pupils instead of fewer. I give up!

Answer 6

Well you used "&" instead of "and" some would say that is not the proper way to write a sentence.

To answer your question however I think it is due in large part to the fact that reading, writing and speaking English WELL is no longer valued in America

I have worked with those who have college degrees and their writing is horrible. They have no sense of how to construct a sentence not to mention a paragragh!

so long as one has the appearance of bling or edumacation they believe that is enuf

not true

Answer 7

Standards have been slipping for years in general, so schools have just followed, also the texting that goes on is all shortened, this must have alot to do with it. I get texts from my daughter, who's at grammar school....

Plz cn Hanna cm ova 2 sty 2nite?

Please can Hannah come over for a sleepover tonight?

its all going wrong.....

Answer 8

For a start you misspelt unintelligable incorrectly... but the answer is that the "Youth" of today no longer feel the need for basic education. They figure if you can work a calculator and computer... terrific.....let those instruments do it for you ?

Answer 9

It's because of trendy liberal do-gooders who don't think such things are important. A rap on the knuckles for misspelling words like "unintelligible" would work wonders.

Answer 10

You are one of the few people on Yahoo! that correctly writes "a lot" as two words, not one. You did, however, misspell unintelligible. You're forgiven because I'm on your side. You are right about this topic.