Grammar

[Native_NM]

The Internet has pretty much killed formal writing, and in most cases I ignore it.  Text message speak is even worse.  This email from the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, however, really bothered me. Two instances of starting a sentence with "so", one a fragment.  Whatever the Board pays this guy is too much. Either he wrote it and didn't have it reviewed, or somebody else wrote it and he didn't notice it when he reviewed it. Informal posts on a forum, email with your brother, or sending text messages to your wife, are instances when perfect spelling or grammar are not that critical.  A letter from the CEO demands a little more care.

I'm done ranting now.

[MountainDon]

I agree wholeheartedly. The evening TV news drives me nuts at times too. Not the the news, the delivery.

[Redoverfarm]

I'm guilty.  Seems that since I retired my grammer has retired as well.  When I was in the mainstream I did did not struggle as much with proper grammer in daily correspondences.  Now I find myself spell checking more often.

[peternap]

I'm guilty.  Seems that since I retired my grammer has retired as well.  When I was in the mainstream I did did not struggle as much with proper grammer in daily correspondences.  Now I find myself spell checking more often.

I'm even more guilty John!

When I was with the state we wrote long, dry reports and letters. As a way to better address the public, the Commission sent my entire department to a"Plain Writing Class".

In a nutshell, we were taught to write the same way we spoke. It was a three week class and after the first week, I was instructed to write the way I spoke except for four letter words, mountain slang and colorful stories.

That greatly reduced my vocabulary and my writings were generally four word sentences and one or two sentence paragraphs.

I've gone downhill since and now that I can't type well and have to use Dragon Speak, my poor grammar closely resembles Chinenglish if I don't proof it very carefully, which I often neglect.

The result is, I don't write good no more!

[considerations]

Ok, I write differently on this site than I do professionally....but that would make sense.  Writing for work demands the accurate conveyance of fact, and communications regarding intent and/or timelines must be precise or they are worthless. 

I notice when someone on the forum is attempting to explain/help another member, that the information, if not the spellling (that was deliberate ) is accurate the first time most of the time.

It is a nice thing to not have to hash and rehash every phrase until any possible misinterpretation has been hammered out of a sentence. So called "plain" language can convey a lot that "business" writing strives to avoid. 

For me, it is a relief to relax and just tap out what I think, let alone feel.  And much more interesting to read the same coming from other members.  By and large it is refreshing to read spontaneous and unrehearsed entries.

I do miss voices.  I had the dreaded fate of having to call customer service a few days ago.  I got this silken voiced young man from North Carolina who not only knew his manners, but knew his job as well.  I was actually smiling when I got off the phone.  The regional variations of spoken English are a joy to experience...especially one like that.

[Gary O]

Native, you are dead on.
Today's written communication has taken quite a few steps back, but a letter (not memo) from the desk of any upper level manager, let alone a CEO of a well known conglomerate, should at the least be an example of proper grammar.

In reading the sports page a few weeks ago, I noticed a certain columnist had a couple sentences that ended with a preposition.
AHHHH-HAH!
I began a letter to the editor, pounding out a tirade of shame on you.
Then, before I hit the send button, looked up proper grammar in relation to prepositions. Turns out some rules have changed, and grammarians have abandoned some once rigid rules. The formerly revered 'with which' is no longer needed, because ending with prepositions is now okay. Something about relaxing  the long time strict adherence to latin based rules of sentence structure.
Then I got lost in the mini thesis explaining the subtle classes of prepositions and my mind exploded somewhere between preposition stranding and ambipositions......


The one thing that has concerned me is the acceptance of texting structure and spelling.
When I see youngsters with twittering thumbs tapping away at their phones I cringe a bit. But then I guess it's jealousy of today's technology and my refusal to adhere. OK, my thumbs (all ten) cannot find the tiny keys and I am not going to pack around a #2 pencil so I can communicate with the eraser end.
I'm sure my 5th grade teacher is turning in her grave like she was on a spit.
So I console myself, saying there their they're now, U jst dnt no hw 2 hndl 2dyz wyz......

[Squirl]

That was the first thought I had when I read that.  I have been reconditioned in a profession that demands better writing skills.  Now I notice it.  I'm far from perfect, but I try hard to be passable.  I was also taken aback by the informal nature of it.  This is a company that I do business of a few dollars a month with.  He wrote it like we were old friends.  At first, I was wondering how it got through my spam filter.

Thank god I know longer have to worry about penmanship.  You would think I was in the second grade if I hand wrote this.

[RIjake]

Thank god I know longer have to worry about penmanship. 

Here, let me fix that for ya

God

[firefox]

When I was a wee tyke I was sent to a British boarding
school in Jamaica, BWI.

My report card that was sent to my parents living in Puert Rico,
read as follows:

Grammar, to your son, is an aged female relation.

[Native_NM]

I was sent to Catholic school, and have memories of diagramming sentences on the chalkboard.  One of my pet peeves is "her and I" instead of "she and I".    If one diagrams the sentence, the error is obvious.  I'm not a grammar Nazi by any means, and rarely correct anyone other than my kids.  They are old enough now that it is seldom needed. 

I hired a young lady once who had the worst grammar and writing skills I have ever encountered;  professional accounting is not just about numbers.  I literally had her in tears with my redlines.  It took a solid two years to break her of the nasty habits she had developed.  The day she sent her first real letter was a big day at the office - we referred to it as her "red letter" day.   I'm still amazed she ever passed an English class in college.  From a math and finance perspective, she was quite smart.  Excellent analytical skills and a critical thinker - she just could not write properly. 

[Gary O]

Yeah, we've got an engineer, fascinatingly sharp, calculations, schematics in moments, and dead on, but he can't spell his own name.
Just not a priority for him.

I remember those grade school diagrams, all went well up until the exceptions.
And spelling, 'I before E except after C'......however, their rules had other exceptions...........

It's just extremely hard to have a set of rigid rules with such a rich language base (Latin/Teutonic)

[considerations]

I think that in "American English" every grammatical rule has at least one exception. 

[MountainDon]

When my brother in law was in high school his parents complained about him not being graded or penalized on poor grammar in his written papers. The teacher told them not to worry. When he gets a job he will have a secretary to make the corrections for him. That was 30=some years ago. I shudder to think of what goes on today.

[sparks]

   

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   sparks