I showed my friend a comment that was made regarding a letter to the editor for The Daily Utah Chronicle -- University of Utah's student newspaper. The comment was riddled with poor grammar. Making it not very enjoyable to read but worth a laugh. The article can be found here : http://www.dailyutahchronicle.com/opinion/1.991540
This was the comment :
"well they don't have real football in seattle? Well bad behavior have you been to raiders game? Seriously what you describe is nothing compare to gang fights in oakland, and riots in england and france. Dude first of all shouldn't blue in a school of read and you should have schooled them about and I like to duh!!! What do you would happen? I don't know where there is civility in football is, but things you decribe will happen, so stop complaining."
In my personal opinion this person needs to go back to elementary school. And it bothers me how this person cannot form proper sentences when writing, and doesn't use much punctuation. This is a college paper so I have to say it is quite safe to assume, with a small margin of possible error, that the person who wrote this comment is on the college level. I know that my sentence structure and grammar isn't perfect but no one should be that bad unless they are still children.
My friend's reaction to the comment left me speechless. He said, "So?" Then he went on to say that the guy wrote as if he were talking. Which my friend actually makes a point there. However, people that have English as their first language should not perform so poor. Eventually, our conversation led to the education system and how problems, such as the comment, stem from the it. It's interesting when my friend just shrugs and says, "So?" to this and blames it on the education system.
Perhaps this is why America's education has fallen in the ranks, because of people's reactions. For my friend, instead of pointing out that whomever made the comment needs to get a better education he just shrugged it off like it was nothing. If one person does something, you can bet there are many more out there that are reacting the same way. And if American's are sitting there shrugging their shoulders, that basically means they don't care. And if no one cares, nothing gets done and if nothing gets done, nothing gets better. Think about it: who is more likely to advocate for change? Someone who cares or someone who doesn't care?
AMEN! I wish more people would care about proper grammar and take it into consideration. When I read old novels (like Charles Dickens and Jane Austen), they were supposed to be uneducated (because we've supposedly become more intelligent since then)! However, vocabulary and formality is incredible! Why don't we have that??? What happened???
Thanks for the awesome read!
RESPECT LIFE
http://progressiveu.org/blog/respectlife
"It is poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."
~Mother Teresa
it doesn't matter to me. explain why it is so important to have proper grammer and sentence structure, and then i may agree with you.
It's important so people can understand what you're saying. Usually when people use bad grammar, the point is still communicated. But sometimes the idea behind the words is lost.
true, but as you said the point is usually understood.
I think another idea is created.
bad grammar also makes you sound like a dumbass. That's harsh but it's true.
it makes you sound like a dumbass because you did not form your sentences well enough.
it sounds a bit judgemental to me.
but i understand.
I judge people based on their use of proper grammar. ;-)
It really bothers me that people, especially educated people, just don't care if they use proper grammar or not. Double checking one's writing, and making sure it's grammatically correct, isn't just for the individual writing. Think about who is going to read it.
Poor grammar gets you an audience with a 4th grade reading comprehension level, while something more thought out will be received better by people who also take the time to check what they write. Proper grammar is more likely to receive thought-filled feedback.
I know when I see multiple mix-ups of they're/there/their or your/you're, constant misspellings, lack of punctuation, etc., I usually don't bother reading it. Why? Because not caring about how you write leaves me with the impression that you don't really care about what you're writing. If you don't care, why should I?
Proper grammar also makes you look smarter. Maybe proving one's intelligence isn't necessary, but why would you purposely demean your intellect by not caring if your communication reflects how smart you are?
I also just hate when people don't live up to their potential, especially when they do it on purpose by pretending something is too trivial to care about.
"What a crazy random happenstance!"
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Read my Blog!
I think it is important because English is the No. 1 used language in the world. If Americans don't practice proper grammar or learn proper sentence structure now, whether one is writing in their diary, blog, essay, etc., they will never become good at it.
What if people attain a high seat of power in America's democracy and have to write a letter to a foreign leader? It will not only be frustrating for the foreign leader to read but it will tarnish America's reputation. Also if bad grammar keeps being used, the next generation of America will read it, learn from it and write like it.
Of course not everyone will become involved with politics but a lot of jobs require memos, letters, e-mails -- communication in other words.