Internet grammar?

[The-Dark-Knight]

I admit i dont have the best grammar, but people nit picking at it bothers me.

Sometimes i just type fast to get in a quick responce and yeah grammar goes out the window, whats worse is when your having an internet argument with someone and the only thing they can mention is my grammar, i mean come on how un original is that.

At the end of the day as long as you can understand it, its not gonna be here for long anyway in the grand sceme of things, nor is it THAT important on a message board, not like a job depends on it, THEN the effort should be made.

 

[Victarion]

<we really need a ra's al ghul smilie>

 

[xwolverine2]

It does.

lies

 

[Sentinel X]

No, if I can understand, I'm usually fine. I just don't like when people use too much abbreviations...it becomes annoying.
But people seem to think that a person's grammar has some sort of correlation to intelligence...which isn't necessarily true

 

[Enriquespy]

Good gramar is good

 

[Tropico]

Exqueeze mee mistar, Hot Topic casheer men, ¿habla español? Yup, it's important.

 

[Warhammer]

Acronyms are no problem.
Anything else is stupid.

 

[BlackCat19]

To Me, It really dosnt matter. If you misspell things on purpouse then, thats just you. If you have no idea how to spell something and you take a shot at it like I do then good on ya! I learn from spelling mistakes. It also depends on the conversation. If it is a very intelligent conversation you dont really want to be saying "lol" or "k thts kool" but if it's just a casual msn thing then whatever. I am also 50/50 on it, I guess.

 

[unstoppable]

leave me alone I failed english !!!

 

[Dr.]

Since I'm a bit of an English grammar/spelling/syntax/usage nerd, I thought I might start a thread on the topic. The basic premise: anyone with a similar interest (in writing, composition or just English language trivia) could pose questions, vent their nitpicks and pet peeves and/or offer helpful hints on tricky grammar, usage, etc..

However, a quick search revealed a few existing (though long dormant) threads. So I decided to bump one of them.

*

An example of the sort of geeky minutia I have in mind:

The expression: She waited with bated breath.

Often, this is misspelled as "baited breath." Understandable - as "bait" is still a common word, while "bate" is pretty much obsolete. "Bate" means to reduce, restrain or restrict. And it's the root of the more familiar "abate" (as in "The flood waters eventually abated"). As such, "bated breath" means that breathing has temporarily stopped (because of excitement, anticipation, fear, etc.). Whereas, "baited breath" makes much less sense.

Granted, "bated breath" is a somewhat flowery phrase. But if you're going to use it at all (for, say, dramatic effect in your upcoming novel), you probably want to get the spelling right.

*

Anyone else? Post 'em if you got 'em.

Edited to fix formatting.

 

[Iceman]

Is it unimportant to you to spell correctly, something you do properly but don't think much about, or feel obligated to do and enforce?

I talk in a much more casual way on here but I would prefer to have no mistakes in there. I seem to have many more typos when using mobile to post.

 

[Iceman]

Since I’m a bit of an English grammar/spelling/syntax/usage nerd, I thought I might start a thread on the topic. The basic premise: anyone with a similar interest (in writing, composition or just English language trivia) could pose questions, vent their nitpicks and pet peeves and/or offer helpful hints on tricky grammar, usage, etc..

However, a quick search revealed a few existing (though long dormant) threads. So I decided to bump one of them.

*

An example of the sort of geeky minutia I have in mind:

The expression: “She waited with bated breath.”

Often, this is misspelled as “baited breath.” Understandable - as “bait” is still a common word, while “bate” is pretty much obsolete. “Bate” means to reduce, restrain or restrict. And it’s the root of the more familiar “abate” (as in “The flood waters eventually abated…”). As such, “bated breath” means that breathing has temporarily stopped (because of excitement, anticipation, fear, etc.). Whereas, “baited breath” makes much less sense.

Granted, “bated breath” is a somewhat flowery phrase. But if you’re going to use it at all (for, say, dramatic effect in your upcoming novel), you probably want to get the spelling right.

*

Anyone else? Post ‘em if you got ‘em.

"Would of" instead of "would have" or "would've" annoys me lol. I see it all over the place, even in people's novels when they are trying to get things right. By that time they have picked up too many bad habits though.

 

[Mandon Knight]

For me, it's vital.

Edit - I mean for me to ensure I adhere to it, obviously I wouldn't want to come down on people for theirs, if there was an error. On here, I'm sure English is not everybody's first language, an you ask me to write in a foreign language and see how I do.

 

[Asr]

One thing I don't get is why so many people on the Internet seem to think the past tense of "pay" (as in giving someone money) is "payed", when it's not. I see "payed" in so many places online and it's just...

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/paid-payed/

 

[THUNDERSTRIKE]

damn uneducated riffraff...

 

[Dr.]

it’s vs. its

These words are often confused. And unfortunately, there isn’t one, easy “trick” for keeping them straight. Mostly, you just have to memorize the correct usage. To wit:

It'’s is only ever a contraction of “it is” (or, past tense, “it has”).

Its is only ever the possessive form of “it.”


Speaking of possessive pronouns/adjectives, there'’s a similar confusion about…

Who’'s vs. whose

Who’'s is a contraction of “who is” (or, past tense, “who has”).

Whose is the possessive form of “who.”


Finally - and just to be cruel…

Ones vs. one’s vs. one’s

One (when referring to a person or people) is a so-called “indefinite pronoun.” This group also includes: someone, anyone, somebody, etc. And in their possessive forms (unlike other possessive pronouns/adjectives), they do take an apostrophe s (‘s). So the possessive of one is one'’s. (Likewise: someone'’s, anyone’'s, somebody'’s, etc.) Additionally, one’'s can also be a contraction (of “one is” or “one has”). But since the spelling/form is exactly the same, that’'s one less thing to worry about. To review:

Ones (non-possessive plural of “one”): “I wanted a five-dollar bill, but the clerk only had ones.”

One’'s (contraction): “This one'’s for you.”

One'’s (possessive): “A jury of one'’s peers.”

 

[Dr.]

Not a grammar pet peeve - an adage pet peeve.

“…the exception that proves the rule.”

It’s for good reason that this expression annoys a lot of folks; it’s often employed as a weak excuse for a prior mistake.

However, in its original usage and meaning, the adage actually does make sense. It refers to a situation in which the normal state can be deduced from an atypical one. Classic example: a sign that reads “Free admission on Tuesdays.” This represents the “exceptional” case. And from it, we can establish (“prove”) the more general “rule” - that on the other six days, there’s a fee for admission.

 

[Immortalfire]

One thing I don't get is why so many people on the Internet seem to think the past tense of "pay" (as in giving someone money) is "payed", when it's not. I see "payed" in so many places online and it's just...

Payed or Paid: What’s the Correct Spelling?

The other day, I payed good money for those new cloths at the Gap.

 

[Teelie]

Language is ever evolving and trying to fix it in place is futile. Even "Modern English" is practically unreadable. The Elizabethan portion anyways. Try reading something from even the early 1800's and it will be very different to what we use now.

 

[terry78]

I sometimes use slang or use terms like wanna or gonna or aint just because i feel like it. I can just as easily type perfect grammar but I tend to type as i speak in ppaces like this.

 

[Hotwire]

My biggest pet peeve has got to be when people can't get a figure of speech right! The phrase is, "I COULDN'T care less," not, "I could care less!" Saying the second version means you DO, in fact, care, and are capable of caring less than you currently do! Get it straight, people.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

The expression: “She waited with bated breath.”

Often, this is misspelled as “baited breath.” Understandable - as “bait” is still a common word, while “bate” is pretty much obsolete. “Bate” means to reduce, restrain or restrict. And it’'s the root of the more familiar “abate” (as in “The flood waters eventually abated…”). As such, “bated breath” means that breathing has temporarily stopped (because of excitement, anticipation, fear, etc.). Whereas, “baited breath” makes much less sense.

Granted, “bated breath” is a somewhat flowery phrase. But if you’'re going to use it at all (for, say, dramatic effect in your upcoming novel), you probably want to get the spelling right.

It suddenly hit me; the name Norman Bates makes sense when you think about it like this within the context of the movie.

 

[terry78]

I honestly thought it was a play on the other word featuring bate.

....

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I honestly thought it was a play on the other word featuring bate.

....

Richar Pryor's movie the Toy did just that.

 

[Aximili86]

Yeah, pretty middle-road on this. It's casual discussion, not English class, too much scrutiny on it is getting a little anal.

That being said, the "lol imo omg lol" stuff has to die.