commas incorrectly used with conjunctions

chiefie:

 

I found this site and browser extension of great help. https://www.grammarly.com/ 

 

Yup it's awesome.

MadEngineer:

 

commas incorrectly used with conjunctions

 

 

 

Punctuation  - capitals and full stops.

Rikkitic:

 

I have given up expecting anyone under the age of 60, or anyone raised in New Zealand, to use correct English grammar.

 

Under 60 (anywhere) OR raised in New Zealand?

One I've seen a bit lately is people writing "are" when they mean "our". I guess it's based on how they pronounce it but... how could you mix those up?!

Bad grammar (and spelling, of course) is now endemic throughout the world, at least the English-speaking part of it. I chose an arbitrary cut-off of 60 because I think a lot of it has to do with the rise of the Internet and texting, hence, the 'younger' generation. Of course, a lot of it also has to do with the collapse of education, which brings me to New Zealand.

I don't like pedantry and I don't insist on perfect English usage. I make plenty of mistakes myself, some of which I am aware (of). But there has to be a line somewhere. The constant confusion of words like 'there' and 'their' drives me slightly crazy, as do the apostrophe errors (that really is a hopeless cause). Most of this is just laziness, can't be bothered even to use the spell checker or read over what you just wrote. I just wish people would care a little more before they start randomly bashing the keyboard.

The evidence is in every newspaper and magazine article I see, not to mention official documents from various government agencies, that are riddled with misspellings and grammatical errors. I have become somewhat inured to it by now, but I was really shocked by it when I first came here. I love Kiwis. They are wonderful people. I have become one. But they can't spell to save their lives. If that is not a failure of the educational system, I don't know what is.

I'm sorry but I find this all very elitist as what it seems you are saying is that anyone who does not use correct grammar is uneducated or young which is a total generalisation.

There are many well educated and young people who may have had difficulties in learning which has meant that they do not have good grammar. I am one of them (well, educated but not young). The two things that I could just not get were grammar and fractions.

What really pisses me off is you high and mighty "everyone who isn't as good at grammar as me is stupid" people going on about it incessantly.

Should people with bad grammar not be allowed to voice an opinion through text just because there is an apostrophe in the wrong place? Discrimination?

That is a fair criticism and I certainly am not trying to be elitist about it, but with modern technology there are tools to help, like spelling and grammar checkers that may not catch everything, but do filter out the worst errors. Those who suffer from dyslexia and similar conditions are not to blame for the mistakes they make, but surely there cannot be that many dyslexics in the country and the world. I think for many it is just a matter of can't be bothered, and those are the ones I am pleading with.

MadEngineer:

 

https://litreactor.com/columns/20-common-grammar-mistakes-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong

 

^ not taught in school.

 

I'm nowhere near 60 and I already knew most of those :) (although there are a couple that I don't agree with; indeed the OED lists "having little or no practical relevance" as a valid definition of "moot").

MikeB4: Collapse of education? Evidence please.

Threads like these remind me of a song by Mac Davis...

"Oh lord it's hard to be humble,
When you're perfect in every way....."

Rikkitic:

The evidence is in every newspaper and magazine article I see, not to mention official documents from various government agencies, that are riddled with misspellings and grammatical errors. I have become somewhat inured to it by now, but I was really shocked by it when I first came here. I love Kiwis. They are wonderful people. I have become one. But they can't spell to save their lives. If that is not a failure of the educational system, I don't know what is.

 

 

I particularly hate the people mixing up then and than.

That's me :(

but hey, I'm immigrant :D

littleheaven:

 

My bug-bear is people who say 'asterix' instead of 'asterisk'. Asterix is a cartoon character.

During Auckland Universities Open Day last year, my daughter and I sat in on a Linguistics talk. It made me look at this mispronunciation in a completely different new light. At it's core, it discussed language as being a living, evolving creature.

One of the examples used was very similar to this (ask/aks). The lecturer explained how it is easier for us to make the 'ks' sound than the 'sk' one, which is why some segments of our population are starting to favour that usage. She posited that over time, it could evolve to be the commonly accepted way to pronounce it, and those saying 'ask' would be considered old fashioned.