"ECT" - Grammar Correction

[Cooker]

Many brilliant people just can't get the knack of spelling, no big deal

I new someone wood come to my defence

 

[Wise]

I'm pretty good with grammar, but I find that I often leave words out of my posts. Sometimes I correct them; sometimes I don't. I often wonder if I look like stupid in print (or is it just in person).

The biggest pet peeve I have regarding grammar is when our local newspaper screws it up. It should, at least, be correct in the finished copy.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

Hey, I learned something NEW today...

... i.e. how to go back and EDIT a previous post
.... to correct (er, um, ah, grammatical errors.)

Thanks Lisa!

'AL Capshaw'

 

[Adrienne]

Now, don't look too close! I'm sure you'll find errors!

CLOSELY!! Not using adverbs are one of my pet peeves!! That being said, I'm sure I make lots of mistakes too!!

 

[Dennis S]

I new someone wood come to my defence

I am sure Bina will make a noble effort. But do you really think that one person will be sufficient? Perhaps you could use another volunteer? I defended a lot of characters before I retired from the practice after 25 years.

 

[hensylee]

well, shall we wait for Bubba's input?

I love words. I love them used correctly, but don't always use them correctly (see that adverb?). Word games are favorite hobby.

I live in the deep south and INTrest, your whole heart would not only stop ticking, it'd plain quit altogether at some of the words we hear daily. But it's the way it is here and is accepted, often with cringes.

You should hear Miss Granbon and me when we talk. All pure southern, except we don't say 'ain't. We say 'idn't'.

I am disappointed when I hear my children and grandchildren use improper grammar. They learned it elsewhere, certainly not at home.

Robthatsme has wanted a spellcheck in here for years. I always understand his posts, tho and so does everyone else. (yes, tho is incorrectly spelled).

Someone needs to post that one again about what we actually see when we read a paragraph. It was in here a couple of weeks ago.

Yes, we had a high old time with that argument a few yrs ago. It's a long ago memory and most of us have forgotten what made it such a hot issue.

Glad to get your post INTrest. All of us need to get stuff off our minds from time to time. I don't think anyone of us is offended.

 

[RCB]

To the group collectively:

To the group collectively:

I have sinned!

I?m guilty of all these transgression.

It is not because I don?t value the English language or am lazy. I just don?t have a talent for editing my own prose.

Please forgive me.

 

[geebee]

I used to work with a young lady who always used the phrase, "I have no ideal", when she actually meant "idea". I never corrected her but it did drive me a bit insane. Since then, I have heard a number of people make the same mistake so it must be an area thing.

Now, should there be a comma after "mistake"? Also, does the last quotation mark belong before or after the question mark?

 

[Dennis S]

The best and smartest lawyer I ever worked with had certain words he never got right. If he wanted to say frustrated-or flustered- he used the single word "flustrated". I used to watch opposing lawyers grin at some of those mistakes. But by the time Paul got through with them and their cases-no more grins.

 

[hensylee]

Gina, since the advent of computers, much punctuation and form letters have gone by the wayside. I was really disappointed because in school we had all the right moves and were graded on what we typed or wrote. They probably teach it that way now. Saves time? Is it efficient? Don't know. Oh well, guess we have to get with the program.

Larry King never says 'me' or 'I' on his program. The other day they news named how many times certain presidents used the word 'I' and some used it maybe once. Roosevelt used it about four times. Lincoln seldom, if ever, used it. That's really interesting to me because most of us use 'I' way too much. Esp me. sorry.

 

[debster913]

My students often complain when I check their papers and find a spelling/grammar mistake (to me, spelling and grammar are separate but equally important), "Well, Mrs. N, the grammar check/ spell check said it was right!" I remind them that the programs are just that, and don't recognize the sentence/word in context. For example, the spell check might say that the word "to" is spelled correctly, but used incorrectly because in the sentence the correct word might be "too." That's why I do my best to conference with my students during writing workshops and remind them to proofread (or have someone else proofread) their papers.

My honors students think I'm a hard a** about their writing, but since many of them are Advanced Placement-bound and I know that the AP teacher is very hard on them, I want them to be well-prepared. Besides, when I was in college and worked as a tutor, I recall many a professor who would assign Fs to essays that had more than three typos/grammatical mistakes, etc. (not ect. )

 

[maka]

Yes, I agree good grammar is very important, but, make sure you don't miss the beauty of the forest while searching for the lonely tree. I take content over perfection, anytime.
When you think of it, who decided that ETC. was correct and not ECT.? Why the sky is blue?

 

[Lisa in Katy]

When you think of it, who decided that ETC. was correct and not ECT.? Why the sky is blue?

I always wondered about don't and won't. If don't is do not, why isn't won't wo not? Shouldn't it be willn't? Of course, can't should be cann't. Again, I tend to be anal when I am grading papers or critiquing letters to parents, but in informal writing, I'm pretty loose (not lose!).

 

[Cooker]

I am sure Bina will make a noble effort. But do you really think that one person will be sufficient? Perhaps you could use another volunteer? I defended a lot of characters before I retired from the practice after 25 years.

Character I take that as a compliment!!

 

[Ross]

As the resident English teacher, I thought I'd chime in on four of my personal grammatical pet peeves:

1. Improper use of apostrophes: "I bought three apple's" instead of "apples." Apples, in this case, are plural, not possessive.

2. "Everyday" should be two words when talking about every single day, as in, "I take my beta-blocker every day." "Everyday" is an adjective, as in, "Students listening to their iPods in class is an everyday occurance in some classrooms."

3. Leaving out "-ed" endings on past-tense verbs, such as: "I walk to school yesterday." Much of this error is due to lack of enunciation in our speech that translates to writing.

4. Any formal writing (excluding VR.com posts) in which students write as if they're texting: "LOL," "2" instead of "two" or "to", and the like.

Teaching grammar is a lost art, and I'm happy to see that the English teachers at my school are coming together to teach more grammar in our classes next year. However, I'm afraid grammar instruction won't make that much difference as many middle school teachers in our district no longer focus on grammar.

Debi (debster913)

Ah come on Deb, I graduated from Hoover. What do you expect from me?

I bet there isn't a one of you that can't tell when I've been typing without my glasses on.

 

[Mary]

Character I take that as a compliment!!

I have been called feisty before, Cooker.

I use to consider it a put down, put-down, or putdown, but now I regard it as a compliment.

DAMM! NOW I'M NOT SURE IF I SPELLED FEISTY CORRECTLY!

I knew I should never have posted to this thread!

 

[ALCapshaw2]

I have been called feisty before, Cooker.

I use to consider it a put down, put-down, or putdown, but now I regard it as a compliment.

DAMM! NOW I'M NOT SURE IF I SPELLED FEISTY CORRECTLY!

I knew I should never have posted to this thread!

FEISTY is fine -

BUT, for 'past tense', you should use "used" instead of "use".

Putting on my body armor,

'AL Capshaw'

 

[hensylee]

"I use to consider it a put down, put-down, or putdown, but now I regard it as a compliment."

How bout: In the past I have considered it, etc...........

INTrest, you have opened an entirely new train of thought for those of us who are 'word' people. Fun

 

[Mary]

FEISTY is fine -

BUT, for 'past tense', you should use "used" instead of "use".

Putting on my body armor,

'AL Capshaw'

Here's some REAL body armor, Al. Our son in Iraq bought it for the steel plates that can be used for added protection, and his brother and father played knock-the-knife-out-of-my- hand with it.

You're probably right about the used to; it just doesn't sound right to me!

 

[weekycat]

I was about to post the same thing...

I was about to post the same thing...

I must say that the ect. and your thing annoy me the most; however, I will say that, even as an anal grammatical person, I often make mistakes when typing posts. I read my posts before I send, but I still find mistakes after they're sent. For instance, in INRTest's post, I would say that there are some missing commas. In Al's post, homonym is spelled wrong in the second sentence, and there is an extra apostrophe in the same word. In Debi's post, the word occurrence is spelled wrong. My point is not to pick on these people, but to note that we all make mistakes, and sometimes our mistakes are the ones that drive other people crazy! In fact, in the previous sentence, I had originally typed "are mistakes"!

Now, don't look too close! I'm sure you'll find errors!

I totally agree with the whole bad grammar thing...but I've caught myself using the wrong to/too/two, or the wrong are/our myself in posts. It's not that I don't know the difference, I have always been a stickler about such things. I think it has to do with getting the thought from the brain to the keyboard. I believe that I think in "word sounds", and sometimes, if I don't carefully look over my post, I don't notice the error until I post it. Thankfully, we have the ability to edit our own posts on this site. There are others that I belong to that don't have that option.

I think what INRTest was referring to was people that habitually use the wrong grammar and have never learned correctly. Yes, we all make mistakes...mostly typos...but we should never stop trying to learn more about correct grammar and usage.