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Ditto - and instant messaging, too, though I seldom use it anymore. I capitalize things appropriately, and simply can't bring myself to use stupid abbreviations or drop punctuation.
I have long conversations every night on Messanger with a close friend. I notice that we try to spell things right and puncuate them as well. When it's 3am and we're tired then... But at least when we start out we try to be proper. It may be that both of us value that, but it's also that we want to say our bit where the meaning is clear.
Newspapers really bug me. They no longer have editors. Sometimes it takes someone else to fix the mistakes and we are all less literate because they are no longer considered important.
Spellcheck isn't a substitute for knowing how to spell or looking up words to make sure they're spelled correctly. Spellcheck will not correct a word that is being used in the wrong context and therefore the wrong spelling of a homophone. There are words that are not in particular Spellcheck dictionaries. Grammar-checking programs both miss a lot, and try to correct things that are not incorrect. Relying on these programs is not even close to foolproof.
I check for the it's and its meanings by doing a search. In a rush of creativity I don't always remember. There is also their/they're and a few others. I do proof read and if its to be a posted story someone else proofreads it too.
One thing I learned to do is write down the words I frequently misspell. Then when I use them I copy the spelling rather than letting the spell checker fix it. After a while I don't need to.
We can ALL be proactive and teach ourselves to do better. I beta (edit) stories for people. I'm honest but selective. If it's a brand new writer I give them a good list of what needs to be fixed, but remember they are learning. When it's someone who should know, not so gentle. The best way to learn is do, and as they do I expect to see it reflected or its a sign of lazy.
I check for the it's and its meanings by doing a search. In a rush of creativity I don't always remember. There is also their/they're and a few others. I do proof read and if its to be a posted story someone else proofreads it too.
One thing I learned to do is write down the words I frequently misspell. Then when I use them I copy the spelling rather than letting the spell checker fix it. After a while I don't need to.
We can ALL be proactive and teach ourselves to do better. I beta (edit) stories for people. I'm honest but selective. If it's a brand new writer I give them a good list of what needs to be fixed, but remember they are learning. When it's someone who should know, not so gentle. The best way to learn is do, and as they do I expect to see it reflected or its a sign of lazy.
You're a proofreader? But twice you typed "its" for "it is" (should be: it's).
I consider language usage to be as important as dressing well and paying attention to cleanliness and grooming, dressing for the occasion.
It is your first introduction, the first impression that you leave with people, often a yardstick by which they measure you for a prospective future relationship.
It, like your appearance, conveys that you care about yourself, that you pay attention to details, that perhaps the rest of your thinking/decisions may be of interest.
In general, although first impressions can be misleading, no one wishes to be thought of as sloppy or unclean or untrustworthy or ignorant.
Speaking well, like brushing one's teeth, just makes life easier for a person. Most people would rather do it than not.
Newspapers really bug me. They no longer have editors. Sometimes it takes someone else to fix the mistakes and we are all less literate because they are no longer considered important.
They still have editors (I was one from 2001-2007). But editors aren't proofreaders. They're page designers, choosers of content, writers, columnists. They have a lot on their plates other than straight-up proofreading. Most newpapers used to employ people who strictly proofread, but when cuts needed to be made, those were generally the first positions to go. Trust me, it isn't a matter of your average newspaper editor finding vigilant error detection unimportant, it's a matter of publishers and owners determining that since the majority of the reading public cannot identify most errors, that's a really easy place to cut costs. What you see in newspapers now is largely the result of an industry that is circling the drain and down to skeleton crews.
I've been a copy editor for the past seven years. I made a post on one of the threads about being a copy editor and how I only had a high school education. I was editing for highly educated individuals (or so they said). As I was tooting my own horn, the next poster pointed out punctuation errors that I had made in my post. LOL, I guess the best of us still make mistakes.
Having said that, however, I don't correct other posters, I just laugh to myself when I read about how bright, articulate, independent, highly educated, and successful they are and they want me to "here" "there" story.
I've been a copy editor for the past seven years. I made a post on one of the threads about being a copy editor and how I only had a high school education. I was editing for highly educated individuals (or so they said). As I was tooting my own horn, the next poster pointed out punctuation errors that I had made in my post. LOL, I guess the best of us still make mistakes.
Having said that, however, I don't correct other posters, I just laugh to myself when I read about how bright, articulate, independent, highly educated, and successful they are and they want me to "here" "there" story.
There are just people who love the language, as a kind of hobby. There are innumerable books written on grammar. A person needn't have a college education to use the language properly, just to have an interest, and hopefully a good teacher in high school.
I heard a spokes person, a teacher herself, for the NY teacher's union. She spoke such horrid English and she was demanding more money. She should have been fired.
A good teacher is worth so much, but there are so many bad ones out there. That woman should have been ashamed of herself. That she was not tells me that her associates were just as bad, or worse.
Only a generation ago the New York public schools were the pride of the country, and it is shameful that they have fallen so far. No wonder the students can't speak. We cannot blame them with such sorry role models.
The country as a whole must raise its standards. If something so obvious as the language, where all can witness your inadequacy, is found wanting, one can only wonder at how well the rest of the syllabus is being taught.
It is no wonder that we are so low on the list of educational competancy when compared with other nations. The US is quickly declining as a world power, I fear, on so many levels.
Obama, I believe, has his heart in the right place, but he cannot do it all alone, and the population that he has to choose from for assistance seem to mostly be found wanting themselves.
[quote=goldengrain;7381090]
I heard a spokes person, a teacher herself, for the NY teacher's union. She spoke such horrid English and she was demanding more money. She should have been fired.
When my daughter was in elementary school, she received her report card. The teachers write little blurbs on the bottom about progress, attitude, etc. I was appalled at the spelling and grammer of this one little paragraph. Thank god most teachers use standardized materials to teach the kids. If some of them had to rely on their own intelligence, I think we'd have a nation of illiterates.
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