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Because spelling (and grammar) are extremely important. If you cannot spell, I can't take you seriously. (General 'you', not you personally, OP.) If you can't string a sentence together, I won't even bother trying to communicate with you.
So often I see people make excuses that they aren't writing a paper or something at work, but if you know how to spell, you don't make the same errors repeatedly. Typos are one thing, misspellings are totally different.
Just about everything that I see misspelled should have been taught in elementary school, so there is no excuse for people not to know how to spell. It's like they were told to just go ahead and spell everything phonetically and they would still get an A for effort. Some of my biggest pet peeves with spelling happen on this forum all the time:
* would of, should of, could of instead of would have, should have, could have
*to instead of too when describing too much of something, or using it as "as well" or "also"
I will never believe that people did not learn these things by grade 6.
So, why does it bother me? To me, it shows laziness. It shows apathy.
Well, if you're too lazy and apathetic to care, why should I care what you have to say?
(Again, general "you".)
In my opinion, using the wrong "your/you're," "there/their/they're," "too/to/two," and messing up apostrophes as relate to possessives and plurals are the most unconscionable, and damage credibility the most, because they're taught from the elementary level on. They also should be learned practically by osmosis by anybody who reads even a little. None of those are confusing.
Some of what people do, too, is write the way they speak, including using regional dialects that lead to alternate spellings, colloquialisms, etc. The "would of/could of/should of" is one of these things - people just spelling out what the contractions "would've/could've/should've" sound like to their ears. People write "gonna" instead of "going to," or "wanna" instead of "want to." I know have in certain contexts, and it's a stylistic choice, versus not knowing the difference. Would I write it that way in formal writing? Of course not. Might I write it when messaging a friend on facebook? Sure. It's more casual.
I think it depends on the nature of the OP's posts. If someone comes across as angry or trollish, people are going to pick apart any mistakes in the OP's posts. If the Op is simply seeking advice and interacts in a normal, respectful fashion, people generally don't mention any typos or grammar errors.
This post hit the nail on the head. If the thread is contentious or controversial then people will get angry. If they get angry they will use spelling and grammar to demean the poster and diminish his position. I have noticed that most of these posters who do this have a liberal world view, and attacking the intelligence and education level of conservatives has been a long time left wing tactic when confronting conservative positions. I personally do not care if there are minor spelling errors/grammar errors. I can read a post and get the point of it with or without them. Now if the post is so bad that its difficult to understand because of errors then we have an issue. I do not agree that someone who misspells words has to be stupid, I know several people who misspell a lot of words that are reasonably intelligent people. Judging peoples intelligence by the amount of spelling and grammar errors simply seems to be a tool for some in these forums to use against people they disagree with.
Yes - it's the new rule precisely because so many people didn't know any better. The Oxford comma is now a thing of the past, according to the Associated Press Stylebook. So many Americans were too dumb to remember when they were supposed to use a comma that there was no longer any meaningful uniform standard, so the AP decided to accept the inevitable and dumb the language down to the level of the average American high school student.
Welcome to the United States of America, the most poorly educated developed country on the entire planet.
Language changes constantly and what you're saying isn't really true. I already know that you can use it both ways but I prefer to list something as "this, this and that" over "this, this, and that" because, and I know this sounds stupid to some people, it is more pleasant to my eye.
People complain when sentences end in a preposition but if you read around, it is a myth. Even though that began as a bunch of nonsense, it weaved its way into our language.
Language changes constantly and what you're saying isn't really true. I already know that you can use it both ways but I prefer to list something as "this, this and that" over "this, this, and that" because, and I know this sounds stupid to some people, it is more pleasant to my eye.
I feel the opposite way. To me, the inclusion of the additional comma looks much better.
Which is, of course, arbitrary. But it is my preference.
Whats with people here mAking a deal out of spelling?
Its a forum where you create threads and get help and information
While yes the technology has changed, but persons have been dashing off notes or whatever to others for centuries, and yes grammar and spelling counted.
If my mother, grand-mother, great grand-mother were leaving a note giving instructions to the milkman, maid, or whoever they used the same standard English they would if writing a letter to say the New York Times. Ditto in the offices one worked in bosses left notes to secretaries or others again in the same "good" English they would use in any other circumstance. It is like saying someone has a wonderful singing voice but only uses it for Carnegie Hall, otherwise will sing off key because it "doesn't matter".
If you want people to take you seriously, use correct spelling and grammar. It becomes a habit over time. If you want someone to hire you or do business with you, it is much better to appear to be intelligent and educated.
Here I use the `` ieSpell `` which is a easy program that you have to down load and will correct spelling on all email pages , which this forum is based on , I used this program on my computer for years and it has 95% of the words that are common , some times I have to go and find the correct spelling on line , which is rare....... and you still have to go over the letter and look or words that are correctly spelled word but not the right word ...... there is grammar programs on line if you have the time......................
Some people who make corrections do it in a passive/aggressive manner meant to put down the poster and make themselves appear superior to the poster. Instead of giving a short simple, non-offending correction, they give a small dissertation. That's just ego, and it tells us something about that person's personality.
Exactly. I hate it when people use the excuse that it was a typo or a mistake. No, it was not; you just don't know how to spell or use grammar or punctuation properly.
I especially hate it when I am reading news stories online and they contain errors. Apparently people are graduating from journalism schools these days not having those basic skills (and no copy editor?) and that is just wrong.
I agree. I may be a little looser, such as ending a sentence with the word "it" or other less-than-tight grammar. But in general I try to write in an intelligent manner. Even though my IQ is 79.
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