Spelling and punctuation

Nexas · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2004 1:21 pm

Theres one user here who frequently spells our country as "AusTralia"...

Now THAT smeg me!

Views expressed by me are strictly my own, not of my friends, employer, or anyone else, unless otherwise stated.
*Back at RP for a limited time only*

Sonofagunzel · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2004 3:00 pm

J549 · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2004 8:09 pm

About my 60+ comment...that was only for a laugh, also to get a point across which was a joke of a point anyway. I dont think of 60+ people in that sense Smile

As for me im not against abreviations or for them. I have alot of ditzy friends who use it in which case i start to use it with them. When im talking to someone who doesnt use it i then use proper english and grammer. Although my spelling isnt always the best Razz

If someone who is over 60 could make my dad use a computer i'd be very happy. My father is in his 50 and computer illiterate. If he would take the time to learn soem basic internet and computer skills it would make life so much easier. (i wouldnt have to be his damned secratery Razz

)

Andy.
member of VGR/CMR.

M>train...another one bites the dust

zipitidoodah · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2004 9:03 pm

Disclaimer:
I don't claim to be the God of English, and I don't claim to never make the mistakes I hate myself! Also I realise some people find all of this more difficult or weren't taught properly in the first place.

The things that commonly annoy me, and this is in general everyday use of English: (some of which have already been pointed out):

Use of abbreviations or "chat"-style slang which forces the reader to stop to think what is actually being said.
Lack of capitalisation and general punctuation, especially when it leads to difficulty in ascertaining exactly where the start and the finish of a sentence is. Conversely, excessive capitalisation is annoying. Basically it's only capitals if it's the start of a sentence, an acronym or a proper noun (eg. a name of a place or a person), NOT if you just feel the word should have capitals.
Poor and inaccurate spelling.
Use of "your" when it should be "you are" or "you're". To check it, try replacing it with "you are" and see if it still makes sense. If it does, then you should use "you're" and if it doesn't you should use "your".
Incorrect usage of "their", "they're" and "there". To check it:
1. If it makes sense when replaced with "they are" then you can use "they're".
2. If referring to an object as belonging to someone else, as in "it was their apples" then you should use "their".
3. If saying "over there" then you should use "there".

I think the most common mistake is when people mean to say something like "they are going to fix the tap tomorrow" and they say "their going to fix the tap tomorrow" instead.

Apostrophes and plurals. Apostrophes are used to show either ownership or contractions.
- Ownership: if the dog belongs to Jack, then it is "Jack's dog". If you need to add an apostrophe and an "s" to a name that already ends in "s", like "Charles", then you can make it "Charles's" or you can say "Charles' ". The only exception is when using the word "it" to say that the "dog" belongs to "it", in which case noapostrophe is used and you just say "its". The only time you use "it's" with the apostrophe is when you could be saying "it is" instead.
- Contractions: like converting "they are" to "they're" or converting "it is" to "it's".
Now, if you want to make a word plural, ie. there is more than one of the object, like "dogs" or "cats", then most of us already know you just add an "s" unless it's a word like "sheep". BUT you never use an apostrophe and then an "s" because it's NOT a contraction and it's NOT showing ownership of anything. If you need to show ownership where the owner is a plural, like the toys that all the dogs were playing with, then the rule for showing ownership still applies: you have "dogs" (plural), and the word ends in "s", so you just add an apostrophe, optionally followed by an "s". In this case, you could say "Go and pack up the dogs' toys." If you had said "dog's toys" then you mean there is only one dog, and if you had said "toy's" instead of "toys" then you are just wrong!
Use of ie. and eg. ie. equates to "in other words" and eg. means "for example". ie. is often used when eg. should be used instead.
Starting a sentence with a number. Sounds stupid, but if you have to start a sentence with a number then it should be written in words, not in figures.
American spelling like "color" instead of "colour" and "standardize" instead of "standardise".
No paragraphs make a big wad of text hard to read. Ever noticed how newspapers paragraph all the time? That's so you can read it easily. Generally though, the people on the forums who do post lengthy posts paragraph anyway, so it's not much of an issue.
Technically incorrect grammar, although this is only because I am quite pedantic!! (like when people say "I'll try and do it" when really they mean "I'll try to do it")

Most of all the apostrophes annoy me, like when "All CD's are 20% off". There is no reason to use an apostrophe so it should be "CDs". Similarly, if you were talking about G classes or VQDW wagons (to make it more relevant Smile

) you should not say "I saw lots of G's and VQDW's today" but instead "I saw lots of Gs and VQDWs today". The only problem I have with that is that it's tempting to use an apostrophe in some situations like that, however incorrect, just to ensure people understand what you say.

Like I said at the top, I am pedantic so I take care to ensure anything I write is gramatically correct, but I know a lot of people don't care or don't know, so don't take it personally if you don't write "correctly" according to the above! Razz

Nexas · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2004 9:22 pm

Another thing that smeg me, this time verbally instead of on the computer.

Someone does something funny, and instead of laughing or saying "hehe" or something, people are now actually saying "L-O-L".

I find this ridiculous, coz as you all know, LOL stands for "Laughing out Loud", used to tell people over the computer that you are Laughing (out loud). If you say "LOL", then you technically not Laughing, you are Speaking Out Loud.

Views expressed by me are strictly my own, not of my friends, employer, or anyone else, unless otherwise stated.
*Back at RP for a limited time only*

ParkesHub · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2004 9:33 pm

John of Melbourne · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2004 10:32 pm

Sonofagunzel · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2004 10:59 pm

(I promised myself I wouldn't do this, but I'm just a slave to temptation ....)

zipitidoodah wrote:

"NOT if you just feel the word should have capitals"
"it was their apples"

Laughing

In fairness, I'm annoyed by bad grammar and bad spelling as well. I don't mind the chat-english, though - I enjoy the challenge!

SOAG

Tonymercury · Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2004 5:05 am

jm1941 · Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2004 8:48 am

Nexas · Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2004 10:00 am

TheLoadedDog · Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2004 10:27 am

ParkesHub · Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2004 11:52 am

Sonofagunzel · Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2004 12:16 pm

If those Tangaras take two days to clean, is it two days work or two days' work? I think it's the latter.

SOAG

J549 · Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2004 12:55 pm

All of a sudden i feel like im back in grade 4 english class Smile

Andy.
member of VGR/CMR.

M>train...another one bites the dust