Do You/Should You Correct Someone's Grammar ?

[peeonme]

It might depend upon 'how' they correct a person. To correct someone in front of others is a bit rude and makes me wonder why it would be done. To tell a friend in private or by means of a pm is a much kinder thing to do.
Back when I was about 30 I was teaching a Wednesday night adult bible class at our church. I read a verse from the KJV of the bible and it said 'thy speech bewrayeth thee...' A rather crabby old man poped up and told me that I must have had a misprint in my bible as the word was 'betaryeth', take note that he didn't have his bible opened because he had it memorized. Anther old man replied 'then I have the same misprint'.

It was obvious that old man number 1 was being prideful and condescending, if we correct others to exalt ourselves we will find that what the bible says is true 'pride cometh before a fall'.

 

[Kahaih]

/\ But, what is preaching if not "correcting", even shaming, people in front of others?

And far more often than not, in a condescending, prideful manner.

 

[Zeno Lorea]

One should correct incorrect facts, spelling and pronunciation.

Grammar is more flexible.

Indeed. Some people do screw up their grammar, but spelling errors are a lot more common. There's nothing wrong in helping each other improve.

 

[peeonme]

/\ But, what is preaching if not "correcting", even shaming, people in front of others?

And far more often than not, in a condescending, prideful manner.

I always looked for a way to encourage others, life can be a drag as it is without having someone full of hot air kicking you in the teeth. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for being prideful and condescending towards others.

 

[pat grimshaw]

... The should at least know how to use basic English. There will soon become a time when people speaking the same language won't be able to communicate. It's happening right now.

What would you say to Kavious McNeil (aka Kash Money) of Memphis who speaks like this?

“I’m still gonna do be. I’m still gonna pop my sh*t,”.

“My b*tch ain’t going nowhere. A mothaf**ka can’t tell my b*tch nothing that I ain’t already told her, you hear me?

Because I been put my b*tch on game, I been put my baby mama and them on game about this sh*t. F**k you talking about?”

 

[eddielee]

Prostate, not prostrate, as some ignorant people call it. Prostrate is not part of the male reproductive system.

 

[Cormac135]

/\ But, what is preaching if not "correcting", even shaming, people in front of others?

And far more often than not, in a condescending, prideful manner.

Indeed i was shamed, like a dagger to the heart.

 

[Telstra]

I am more than happy if someone correct my grammar.
If the grammar is illogical in my opinion, i would say so ....

 

[unloadonme]

It depends. When I'm checking outgoing correspondence at work, I'll correct major grammatical errors as well as technical mistakes. In everyday speech, I rarely if ever comment on grammar.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Indeed i was shamed, like a dagger to the heart.

I'd suggest that we're is merely a typo when your intent was "were," even if it was sloppy in a title, no pun intended.

Something that we must come to terms with is the autonomous aspect of typing on keyboards. Often our brains are so far ahead of our fingers that they type facsimiles of what we are thinking, not exact copied.

In my posts, and even at work, I've begun to truncate random words or end them with the wrong suffix at times. It's not the word I am thinking, but it's the word my hands type. The same happened with Nazi's earlier in this thread. I certainly don't use apostrophes to make plurals, but the hands sometime just type the pattern of apostrophe s so often that it appears in the muscle memory, I guess.

It would be interesting to know what research has been done in neurology to explain how that works, or if it's just a brain tumor or something innocuous like that.

 

[rareboy]

Some of the grammatical errors in this thread are melting my eyeballs.

But I only correct grammar of people who really should know better and are behaving like[STRIKE] an[/STRIKE] assholes...or where they have corrected someone else's grammar, but have made an egregious error in their own comments.

I actually appreciate people bringing any errors I make to my attention.

I can't believe that this was allowed to slide. It killed me when I was writing it. I was sure someone would pounce.

 

[NotHardUp1]

In my experience, grammarians are much more accepting of typos in casual communications than in printed work like programs, letters, signs, and other published media.

But, if you are making a sign, giving a title, or in some way promoting the words to prominence, then a lack of proofing at that point becomes a gaff.

And, as stated already, typos are generally not in the same circle of hell as ignorant mistakes of not knowing how to grammatically put something correctly.

 

[Kahaih]

Indeed i was shamed, like a dagger to the heart.

Good grammar is a matter of respect. I don't imagine many people on this website will understand that.


Respect for your topic/opinion.

Respect for yourself.

Respect for your potential audience.


Why should the audience care about the writer's opinion/subject if writer doesn't care enough about it to present it properly?

Why should the reader respect the writer if the writer doesn't respect the reader enough to present a case/inquiry legibly?

 

[jaysizzles]

I can't believe that this was allowed to slide. It killed me when I was writing it. I was sure someone would pounce.

It was pretty obvious you were baiting...

 

[Latimer]

Good grammar is a matter of respect. I don't imagine many people on this website will understand that.


Respect for your topic/opinion.

Respect for yourself.

Respect for your potential audience.


Why should the audience care about the writer's opinion/subject if writer doesn't care enough about it to present it properly?

Why should the reader respect the writer if the writer doesn't respect the reader enough to present a case/inquiry legibly?

Worth remembering, although I like to think that most people on the site do understand this.

 

[dpnice]

Good grammar is a matter of respect. I don't imagine many people on this website will understand that.


Respect for your topic/opinion.

Respect for yourself.

Respect for your potential audience.


Why should the audience care about the writer's opinion/subject if writer doesn't care enough about it to present it properly?

Why should the reader respect the writer if the writer doesn't respect the reader enough to present a case/inquiry legibly?

I agree totally apart from the high-lighted portion. I really don't find the standard of English poor on this site; most seem to write correctly with just the occasional faults.

 

[Hotrich]

Well, all of this has reminded me of an famous old Oxford Don, called Doctor William Spooner. He was famous for quite a number of malapropisms. Many of which were, by their very nature, actually quite amusing. Some examples now follow, and may the Lord Our God have mercy upon all our souls!

On meeting a widow, he remarked that it was very sad, "her husband came to a sad end. He was eaten by missionaries."
• Calling John Millington Synge's famous Irish play "The Ploughboy of the Western World.
• At a wedding: "It is kisstomary to cuss the bride."
• "Blushing crow" for "crushing blow."

I’ll say no more except to say that I’ll soon be having my evening meal. Or, as I’m sure Doctor Spooner might have said: I’ll hoon be maving hy mevening eal!

 

[jaysizzles]

I try to have grammatically correct sentences, but often find my posts to have odd placements of commas and run-on sentences. I'm much more careful when conducting business than I am on-line. I don't care much if I read someone's post here that has grammatical errors (if I even notice them), however I do get irked when I see obvious spelling errors. I mean, don't you see that red line under the word you just typed!? Basic words misused bug me as well...we should all know the "there/their/they're" difference by now, as well know that "alot" is not a word, nor does "allot" mean what some people think it does. (so many others!)

I don't correct others although I don't think it should be considered an insult when one is corrected either. Shouldn't we all strive to learn and improve ourselves? Since many people on-line don't care and think being corrected is an insult, the bastardization of the English language will continue in downward spiral. Whatever...

 

[gsdx]

Indeed i was shamed, like a dagger to the heart.

Now you know how I feel.

 

[JerryPic]

Being in the position as a foreigner like myself, of course I'm not a grammar nazi.
But I'm sure this one is... like an englishman in New York...

p.s. and when I make grammar mistakes, feel free to correct me