They're dropping like flies

[Varky]

Could be two alternatives

There, dropping like flies or
They're dropping like flies.

[Jimgym]

Not everyone can spell correctly or for that matter could be dislexic. So as long as the message gets across I think it is OK.

I agree. I don't care how you pronounce or spell something, I can usually figure out pretty quick the meaning. If not, I can always ask!

[WHL]

People need to get a life, we all know what posters usually mean to say, just some people like moaning,

[Jimgward]

Many post from phones and auto-correct can be a mugger!

[Paul]

Bang another one gone!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... ation.html

[jagwheels]

I've given up with the correct use of English after taking friends kids to school recently. A 10 minute drive & I honestly did not understand what they were saying. I am sure they could probably talk perfectly clearly to adults if the need arose - but when chatting between themselves, they didn't need to.

[Dominic]

Your parents would have probably said the same back in the day!

[Jimgward]

Grammar and spelling are becoming much worse. When we interview anyone, part of the process is testing grammar and spelling and numerical capability. It would surprise you how even people with degrees cannot spot grammatical errors.

When you communicate officially by email it is a reflection of the professionalism of the company.

[JimX]

There are a lot of people on this forum who know English as their second language so if wrong words are used it becomes difficult for them to understand what is being said. It's one thing to be grammatically incorrect but if the wrong word is used it changes the sentence's meaning as in Jim's post above where I'm sure he meant to say 'literacy skills' not 'literally skills'.

Austin give over, try and enjoy what life we all have left, I came from a working class background and in fact had no need of a pen in my working life, in fact it would have melted in my fire proof overalls, did not stop me starting a very good forum that you were a member of, please stop picking members up for thier ''literacy skills''I meant to say what I posted Austin, only you seem worried about this, most of us do not care mate.

[Jim B]

I agree with Austin 7. It's no great hardship to check what you have written.
As he said, badly written English confuses people whose first language isn't English and this applies to a number of contributors on the forum.

Jim

[J B]

From the number of 'thanks' some of my posts have received on this subject I believe other forum members agree with me to an extent.

Also remember that folks like me that use the 'subsilver2' style forum can't offer you our thanks ... so ... thanks!

[WHL]

Maybe Dominic could split threads one for people like me, who dont give a monkeys if someone spells somfink wrong, and another one where all these spelling wannabe monitors can post, with out having all the stress and hardship, they seem to be getting following a thread.

[WHL]

I would stick to the one thread if I were you - you might learn a thing or two!

Yes I agree, im learning, that I wish the only thing I had to moan about in my life , is how fellow forum members spell when posting

[Jim B]

WHL
It's the old adage; "If a jobs worth doing......"

Jim

[WHL]

WHL
It's the old adage; "If a jobs worth doing......"

Jim

Heres another one, life's too short.

[Jimgym]

WHL
It's the old adage; "If a jobs worth doing......"

Jim

Heres another one, life's too short.

[Devil]

Re grammar/spelling/punctuation mistakes. I believe there are several distinct problems:
- the worst one is possibly laziness by English mother-tongue writers. They are simply too lazy (not ignorant) to read/correct what they have written or spell-checked .
- then there are those who simply don't know (differences like 'who's' and 'whose', 'of' instead of 'have', 'loose' instead of 'lose' etc.) and spell-checking doesn't catch them out (a grammar-checker should). Non-English-speakers may think that e.g., "store" means a window-blind or shutter (in French).
- punctuation can be tricky. PW in Polemi wrote earlier:

I am reminded of a little grammar book called "Eats shoots and leaves" with a photo of a panda, doing exactly that. Eating bamboo shoots and bamboo leaves.
However, if you then take the same words and punctuate them, the sentence becomes "Eats, shoots, and leaves." Somewhat different scenario.
Punctuation is important because it clarifies the meaning of the sentence or phrase.

(His book was by Lynne Truss, published by Profile Books Ltd., if you want to buy one). Possessive apostrophes have a simple rule if the word ends with any letter other than "s". "Dog's dinner" refers to one dog; "dogs' dinner" to more than one dog sharing food ("dogs dinner" is a pan of boiled poodles!). If it ends with "s", there does not seem to be a fixed rule, e.g., "Cyprus's roads" and "Cyprus' roads" both seem correct.

It is obvious that correct English is not easy, even to Brits, but the important thing is to make your meaning clear, even if there are mistakes.

The devil has spoken!

[Firefly]

I well remember being in an English lesson at school, when I was ten. I made a couple of mistakes in the punctuation on an envelope, for my sins, I was rapped across the knuckles with a ruler. Happy days (not).

[kansas]

The... over the..., with the... friends.

My favourite six word sentence with all three homophones (look it up)

[WHL]

Cant argue with that, but what some people on here fail to grasp is, not everyone has had the same education, some people, left school at 15, some went to uni, some became professors,... generally we know what someone is trying to say. To have members picking you up on the wrong ..there, etc is just not needed, in my opinion....... maybe they should go start their own forum, where people sit an on line English exam before being excepted as members?