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Punctuation


spospe

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spospe - 2009-08-27 2:13 PM

 

Why is it that some contributors to this and other Forums are quite unable to use the punctuation keys on their keyboards?

 

For example: Don,t

 

Don't they realise what they are doing? (lol)

 

 

No they don:t

 

Some people just think it=s not important, but I think it makes things easier to read.

 

 

 

 

 

:-|

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Hi Spospe, Or maybe they feel really angry, happy, giggly about certain topics and tend to type so quickly that they forget to use them - (I know I do in those instances). OR, we've become so used to texting that we cut back when possible.

 

Crumbs - getting paranoid then, Spospe: I read that posting three times in case I'd made a boo-boo! :-D

 

Personally, I don't really care if they use them as not everyone knows when to use what - think it's just more important that they post and keep in touch. But it DOES annoy me when books, newspapers, fliers don't use correct punctuation or English.

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I think that it depends on how people are typing, if they are thinking fast and don't want to loose the flow, then perhaps that's when the mistakes are made. Other people might just take things slower and get it right straight off. And of course there are the ones who really don't care, but they have valid points.
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I read Michael's post as being about knowing your way around the keyboard rather than a comment on use of grammar and spelling.

 

A common error is using a comma , instead of single apostrophe ' because a lot of people do seem to have trouble finding the single apostrophe key - note it's usually the one on the same key as the @ sign

 

 

it's not about greengrocers' apostrophes

or even

 

its' not about greengrocers apostrophe's

 

:D

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I do not (or should I shorten that to don't?) believe that contributors of posts who either mis-spell words or do not punctuate correctly, do these things on purpose. So, if the readers of the posts can understand the message being conveyed does it really matter ? *-)
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Big Momma - 2009-08-27 5:04 PM

 

I do not (or should I shorten that to don't?) believe that contributors of posts who either mis-spell words or do not punctuate correctly, do these things on purpose. So, if the readers of the posts can understand the message being conveyed does it really matter ? *-)

 

Well, to be honest, yes I think it does.

 

Communication is a very involved process.

 

Lots of things are communicated in any message between two people, some intentionally and some subliminally.

 

The message (or messages) that were intended to be sent by the sender are very often not the same as the messages that are received by the recipient(s).

 

What messages are actually received depend upon the perceptions and circumstances of the recipient.

 

When the medium of communication is an on-line forum, the sender of a message cannot accompany it with all the range of non-verbal information that accompanies a face-to-face communication (clothing, posture, facial expression, body movements, etc).

 

Thus the recipient only has the actual written words with which to make judgements about the message, and about the person who sent it.

 

It seems to me that in such a context it is all the more important to try to make the written message as clear and unambiguous as possible.

 

Sloppy grammar, spelling, or punctuation, all serve to reduce the effectiveness or clear understanding by the recipient of whatever the sender was trying to communicate; its effect is to devalue the message.

 

A classic example is of the job application candidate who writes in their CV "I pride myelf on attention to detail in all my work".

Self-evidently they in fact do not do so.

They could not be bothered to take the trouble to ensure that they spelt "myself" correctly in such an important document, (the only document from them that a recruiter may use in order to decide whether that candidate is worthy of interview), when they had all the time in the world to get it right.

They were intending to send one message, but in fact communicated a strong message to exactly the opposite effect.

 

 

Bruce will now leave his pedant soapbox..........

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Big Momma - 2009-08-27 5:04 PM

 

I do not (or should I shorten that to don't?) believe that contributors of posts who either mis-spell words or do not punctuate correctly, do these things on purpose. So, if the readers of the posts can understand the message being conveyed does it really matter ? *-)

 

Quite agree, does it really matter as long as you can understand it? We aren't all trying to pass our GCSE's at the end of the day.

 

Bas

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We are indeed not trying to pass our GCSE's, which is just as well, because some contributors to this Forum would fail miserably.

 

However, we are trying to communicate and all communication is made easier by the correct use of spelling, punctuation, syntax and grammar.

 

Does it matter?

 

Yes!

 

Can’t spell, can’t punctuate, grammar a mystery?

 

Type your prose in Word or some other word processing software and use its spell / grammar checker to make sure that it’s right and then paste into the Forum.

 

Easy!

 

(lol)

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I rejected 40 out of 50 CVs last week for exactly the reasons that BGD stated. However, life is way, way too short to worry about typing in an on-line forum, and that comes from someone who does care about the English language!

 

 

I want to get onto the next post or thread without worrying about what I typed. I see this type of post on at least one forum every couple of weeks and I used to care but now have a life instead.

;-)

 

Note the use of the smiley to convey an otherwise hidden message.

 

While I strive for perfection some of the time, mainly when it really matters, quite frankly, this is an online forum read by perhaps a hundred people and they will have forgotten my bad spelling and grammar by tomorrow (or even five minutes from now).

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Regrettably, the exhortation to "Get a life" is usually the riposte supplied by those who have no coherent argument to add to a debate.

In my opinion it is axiomatic that those people whose spelling and grammar is excellent are often more intelligent and better educated and usually have far more fulfilling lives than those who aren't.

If one goes farther down the scale to the barely literate, their lives are usually extremely miserable because their lack of education means that they never earn a decent wage and enjoy the comforts and security that it brings.

Imagine going through life unable to read properly, to be unable to use a timetable or read a newspaper or, God forbid, a good book, it must be like watching television with the sound turned off!

I blame no one on this site for poor English. What I do blame is an education system that has failed the majority of the population and resulted in a system where 80% of them are completely ignorant of the building blocks of our language. As an example I think that there are probably fewer than a dozen members of this site who know the difference between its (possessive) and it's (it is).

Finally, I am interested as to what makes people put apostrophes in some words and not others, it is fascinating to a purist.

Many people will write: "Last week I and some friends bought some Euro's." What makes them write 'friends', which is just the plural of 'friend', without the apostrophe, which is correct by the way, but then, when writing Euros, which is simply the plural of 'Euro' they put in a superfluous apostrophe?

As I said, this is not a criticism of anyone, I'm just really interested to know what motivates people to add apostrophes to some words that are simply plural and have no possession (as in the Euro's value).

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When I posted earlier I made the decision to do so conscious that there would be some members who would take it out of the context it was intended e.g. poor or non-existent punctuation on forums. Nothing was said about poor grammar when making job applications or even any indelicate references to literacy versus intelligence.

 

I too agree with the general concensus that if you were seeking a university place, applying for a job or promotion or even submitting a CV that it would be advantageous to convey a high level of literacy. However, this is not what the original post referred to.

 

To take a straight forward statement within a defined parameter and then argue points that are irrelevant to the original key point and outside the given parameter may also be construed as the inability to apply attention to detail, something else that both Examiners and Employers take note of :D

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RupertGS - 2009-08-28 5:23 PM

Regrettably, the exhortation to "Get a life" is usually the riposte supplied by those who have no coherent argument to add to a debate.

In my opinion it is axiomatic that those people whose spelling and grammar is excellent are often more intelligent and better educated and usually have far more fulfilling lives than those who aren't.

If one goes farther down the scale to the barely literate, their lives are usually extremely miserable because their lack of education means that they never earn a decent wage and enjoy the comforts and security that it brings.

Imagine going through life unable to read properly, to be unable to use a timetable or read a newspaper or, God forbid, a good book, it must be like watching television with the sound turned off!

I blame no one on this site for poor English. What I do blame is an education system that has failed the majority of the population and resulted in a system where 80% of them are completely ignorant of the building blocks of our language. As an example I think that there are probably fewer than a dozen members of this site who know the difference between its (possessive) and it's (it is).

Finally, I am interested as to what makes people put apostrophes in some words and not others, it is fascinating to a purist.

Many people will write: "Last week I and some friends bought some Euro's." What makes them write 'friends', which is just the plural of 'friend', without the apostrophe, which is correct by the way, but then, when writing Euros, which is simply the plural of 'Euro' they put in a superfluous apostrophe?

As I said, this is not a criticism of anyone, I'm just really interested to know what motivates people to add apostrophes to some words that are simply plural and have no possession (as in the Euro's value).

Will someone pass me my landing net,please
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dethleff - 2009-08-28 7:39 PM
RupertGS - 2009-08-28 5:23 PM

Regrettably, the exhortation to "Get a life" is usually the riposte supplied by those who have no coherent argument to add to a debate.

In my opinion it is axiomatic that those people whose spelling and grammar is excellent are often more intelligent and better educated and usually have far more fulfilling lives than those who aren't.

If one goes farther down the scale to the barely literate, their lives are usually extremely miserable because their lack of education means that they never earn a decent wage and enjoy the comforts and security that it brings.

Imagine going through life unable to read properly, to be unable to use a timetable or read a newspaper or, God forbid, a good book, it must be like watching television with the sound turned off!

I blame no one on this site for poor English. What I do blame is an education system that has failed the majority of the population and resulted in a system where 80% of them are completely ignorant of the building blocks of our language. As an example I think that there are probably fewer than a dozen members of this site who know the difference between its (possessive) and it's (it is).

Finally, I am interested as to what makes people put apostrophes in some words and not others, it is fascinating to a purist.

Many people will write: "Last week I and some friends bought some Euro's." What makes them write 'friends', which is just the plural of 'friend', without the apostrophe, which is correct by the way, but then, when writing Euros, which is simply the plural of 'Euro' they put in a superfluous apostrophe?

As I said, this is not a criticism of anyone, I'm just really interested to know what motivates people to add apostrophes to some words that are simply plural and have no possession (as in the Euro's value).

Will someone pass me my landing net,pleaseOh dear, missed the full stop.
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Hymer C 9. - 2009-08-28 9:33 PM

 

maggyd - 2009-08-28 3:31 PM

 

GET A LIFE (!)

 

 

Maggyd *-) :D (^) Carol. :-)

 

Well Carol :$ Some people really press my button! What the Hell does it matter if you don't use punctuation in a reply to a thread when your only thinking of replying quickly!! and Yes I know I'm very bad at punctuation but I'm very good at the things that matter in life. ;-)

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knight of the road - 2009-08-28 9:18 PM

 

i went out to work today and got soaking wet came back home and lit the woodburner in my workshop with a pot of coffee bubbling away and then set to work

no capitals fullstops or anything can you understand what i am writing

 

 

I can understand that.

 

(Although at first glance I thought you had "lit the woodburner in your workshop with a pot of coffee").

 

 

 

;-)

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knight of the road - 2009-08-28 9:18 PM i went out to work today and got soaking wet came back home and lit the woodburner in my workshop with a pot of coffee bubbling away and then set to work no capitals fullstops or anything can you understand what i am writing

yesterday I went to the birmingham post office

There's a sentence with no punctuation. Perhaps you'd like to hazard a guess at what I did and why I went to that place?

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dethleff - 2009-08-28 7:43 PM
dethleff - 2009-08-28 7:39 PM
RupertGS - 2009-08-28 5:23 PM

Regrettably, the exhortation to "Get a life" is usually the riposte supplied by those who have no coherent argument to add to a debate.

In my opinion it is axiomatic that those people whose spelling and grammar is excellent are often more intelligent and better educated and usually have far more fulfilling lives than those who aren't.

If one goes farther down the scale to the barely literate, their lives are usually extremely miserable because their lack of education means that they never earn a decent wage and enjoy the comforts and security that it brings.

Imagine going through life unable to read properly, to be unable to use a timetable or read a newspaper or, God forbid, a good book, it must be like watching television with the sound turned off!

I blame no one on this site for poor English. What I do blame is an education system that has failed the majority of the population and resulted in a system where 80% of them are completely ignorant of the building blocks of our language. As an example I think that there are probably fewer than a dozen members of this site who know the difference between its (possessive) and it's (it is).

Finally, I am interested as to what makes people put apostrophes in some words and not others, it is fascinating to a purist.

Many people will write: "Last week I and some friends bought some Euro's." What makes them write 'friends', which is just the plural of 'friend', without the apostrophe, which is correct by the way, but then, when writing Euros, which is simply the plural of 'Euro' they put in a superfluous apostrophe?

As I said, this is not a criticism of anyone, I'm just really interested to know what motivates people to add apostrophes to some words that are simply plural and have no possession (as in the Euro's value).

Will someone pass me my landing net,please Oh dear, missed the full stop.

Actually, you asked a question and missed a question mark.

Will someone pass him the Third-Form English book please?

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RupertGS - 2009-08-28 5:23 PMMany people will write: "Last week I and some friends bought some Euro's." What makes them write 'friends', which is just the plural of 'friend', without the apostrophe, which is correct by the way, but then, when writing Euros, which is simply the plural of 'Euro' they put in a superfluous apostrophe?

As I said, this is not a criticism of anyone, I'm just really interested to know what motivates people to add apostrophes to some words that are simply plural and have no possession (as in the Euro's value).

Not wishing to be pedantic but the plural of Euro is Euro not Euro's, Euros or any other combination! :-D Bas
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Basil - 2009-08-29 11:34 AM
RupertGS - 2009-08-28 5:23 PM Many people will write: "Last week I and some friends bought some Euro's." What makes them write 'friends', which is just the plural of 'friend', without the apostrophe, which is correct by the way, but then, when writing Euros, which is simply the plural of 'Euro' they put in a superfluous apostrophe?

As I said, this is not a criticism of anyone, I'm just really interested to know what motivates people to add apostrophes to some words that are simply plural and have no possession (as in the Euro's value).

Not wishing to be pedantic but the plural of Euro is Euro not Euro's, Euros or any other combination! :-D Bas

Well done! As soon as I posted that thread I knew that someone would come up with that one! Euro is, as you say, a mass noun, just like sterling, but I used it because it's the one where everyone slaps in an apostrophe. I'm beginning to think that people believe that if a word has fewer than four letters it must have an apostrophe! There's no other explanation that I can think of anyway.

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