Yahoo Q&A-The Level Of English Is Appalling In Here Now! Why Is This?

Question

I love being able to answer questions posed by the good people on Yahoo. I am appalled however that the English language is going to be ruined judging from the way people write.I have never seen such poor use of the English language.Far too many people use incorrect grammar.I have seen questions which are not quite specific.The wording is usually appalling as is the use of the words being used in terms of mis-spelling.I also note many punctuation mistake and errors.Many people here have no idea of when to start and end a sentence,or put a comma in it.Many people are clueless when it comes down to using proper English in their replies.If this is what our dumbed-down education system is teaching people these days,no wonder so many of them cannot read or write properly.Is it not about time English was given a priority in our education system? Is it not time people were taught to write properly or read properly? Clearly from here in the many Yahoo! forums the answer is clearly no! Alan L.

Soz2foreignaz!Me awt2lern2rite in txt cht on ere!4me2rite4u dis way not please me!Got2 4get bout propa inglis dis forum!Me off2cane my fingaz2rite proper agen!Soz4writin posh-it aint rite fing2do! X

Answer 1

wot?

Answer 2

I'm glad so many people have pointed out that many of the people posing questions are not using their first language. It's definitely a factor which should be recognised in this debate, though it's not the only issue.

Yes, I do get a bit irritated when it seems obvious that whoever typed in the question or answer couldn't be bothered to make it comprehensible. I'm not sure how much you can relate that directly to our education system, however, as there are so many other factors influencing how people choose to express themselves.

And lastly, let's remember that one person's good English is different from another's, and there's a lot more involved than just grammar and spelling. Garik's said all that much better than I can, but I will just add that if I were to be really pedantic I could find eight errors of punctuation, grammar or syntax in the question you've asked :)

Answer 3

I agree. I have actually not been able to understand a question or an answer because they didn't even use proper words, it was all that txt speak.

It is a priority in the education system. The problem is that people don't listen anymore. Or its not cool to write properly.

I'm only 17, I used to use txt talk. But I've grown up a bit. It takes me a while to understand what some words mean. I use lol sometimes but I do try and write as best I can. Unless I can't be bothered, lol.

Answer 4

Yes I tend to agree with you.I had assumed that as we are on UK and Ireland Questions and Answers that the majority of people posting queries would be from these English speaking countries.However a couple of polls and survey questions recently have opened my eyes.The replies required the answerers to state where they were The replies came from all over the world,many from countries where English would not be the first language.In English speaking countries one accepts that the standard of education is not always equal and some are better able to express themselves with a wide vocabulary while others m,ight be much more limited. Similarly with spelling and punctuation.Americans whilst speaking English sometimes seem to have much different ideas of terminology, spelling and punctuation than English speaking Europeans.I can only speak from my personal experiences, but at the moment I have 8 grandchildren at school,at different levels,in England.I see their school reports,and they all tell me about their schools and lessons.They all get good marks and comments in their reports by their English teachers.The standard of teaching they are getting seems very good to me.One factor that I think may play a part in spelling and grammar is reading.Children do not read nearly as much as we used to at their ages. We didn't have TV's in our bedrooms,play stations and computers ,we read books instead.I visited my local library every week, and I learnt a lot from the books, not only the subject of the book,but also the manner of it's composition and the phrasing of the author. But as I have said allowances must probably be made for those Yahoo participants whose language isn't English and the English speakers who are just lazy and careless. They probably know better but can't be bothered to correct their errors.

Answer 5

The English is not that bad considering you're talking to a bunch of people who only have an ASBO as a qualification other wise they would have better things to do than to listen to someone complain about the abuse the English language is receiving. If you feel that strongly I suggest for you to sit a modern day English exam and see how well you think you are. It's harder than you think. Done my GCSE English this morning and had to summarise an extract from Bob Dylan's autobiography, comment on the language and structure on two articles regarding Big Brother (I permit you to laugh. It was beyond pointless) and write on who we admire the most. Harder than it seems as I don't admire anyone so I made something up about how I admire my mum and that she dies from lung cancer or something along the lines of that. I made it up so it shows creativity.

Answer 6

I sympathise inasmuch as I am depressed by how poorly native speakers often express themselves. I'm far less depressed by those non-native speakers who express themselves as badly (although in some cases it's evidence of a very poor attempt to grasp that a foreign language operates differently from one's own). In that context, I am more depressed by the global dominance of just one language – although this is to be depressed by the inevitable!

But we also have to be clear what the problem is. First, grammar has two meanings. People who study linguistics, use the term to describe the partly acquired, partly innate (the degree to which it is one or the other is much disputed) knowledge of a language in the mind of any individual. In this sense, grammar is equivalent to a person's ability to walk. We can't sensibly talk about incorrect walking; we can, however, distinguish walking that is clumsy from walking that is graceful, bearing in mind that a great part of this distinction is subjective.

This difference in gracefulness is something like what most people call grammar: the table etiquette of language. Linguists research how people digest their food; lay-people discuss how they use their knife and fork. But that's not to say that linguists consider all knife-and-fork work equally good. What some people have apparently failed to acquire in school is an ability to express their thoughts clearly (especially in writing). I think part of the problem is that this is not stressed: teachers talk about different modes of expression in terms of right and wrong, and this can lead them to denigrate the normal speech patterns of the pupils. To tell a pupil that a double negative, or the word "ain't", is bad English is ridiculous. Both are perfectly normal English for a very large number of its speakers. What many teachers don't realise is that they're actually teaching two things: the first is a foreign dialect (native to a few) called standard English; the second is the ability to use language in general as gracefully and as clearly as possible.

If I say: "Him what lives next door don't know nothing," I'm actually expressing myself just as clearly and as well, to speakers of this dialect, as if I had said: "The man who lives next door doesn't know anything."

One trick is achieving this clarity in the two dialects (though I admit the example is a very simple one!); a second trick is knowing when to use one and when to use the other.

Answer 7

If you're so good at English, don't use a comma after the word "or" (couldn't resist that - sorry)

I appreciate your concerns but, in an informal setting such as Yahoo answers, do we have to be so strict?

The way I type, spell, punctuate on here is not representative of the way I would construct a formal letter or write an essay etc.

Answer 8

I totally agree with you Alan. I also think that many people believe that "on here" good English does not matter.
I am probably guilty of a host of errors myself just now but that would be due to my lack of education rather than my lack of interest in using "good English".
My Mother on the other hand, has a Master's degree in English something I hope is in my own future.

Answer 9

I am usually quite irritated by badly-spelled signs and misplaced apostrophes cause me to have palpitations. However, in fora such as this, usually typographical errors are made due to lack of ability to type or typing too quickly rather than a lack of education about grammar. I think you have to turn a blind eye to such errant behaviour otherwise you will spontaneously combust.

What I do find difficult to understand, and therefore loathe with a passion, is infernal text language. This should be banned in all circumstances. I understood the need for it when you used to have to pay for texts on mobiles per letter but these days, it's just pure laziness or maybe it is my age?

Answer 10

Maybe it's because we are not writing essays and submitting arguments - we are simply sharing opinions and experience in a conversational and sometimes terse / speed typed manner.

Add in txt e msg shorthand practices and the absence of a grammar checker and you have in-part your answer.

The final touch is that many contributors will have finished their formal schooling pre-tertiary and not have had the benefit of learned chairs assessing the presentation and content of papers.

Answer 11

If this wasn't an international forum, I'd agree with you. But, since it is, you can't lose sight of the fact that for many people here, English is a second language. For those that are English speaking, you are correct in your assertion that we could do a better job at using proper sentence structure, spelling and grammar. But, in the scheme of things, this is a fun site and not a university English class, so we could stand to lighten up a little. Is it really that important?