[Atmos (Colin)]

Originally Posted by michaellxv

As long as we are being picky, I am amazed at the number of people who can't tell the difference between then and than.

Not one that I have ever come across, I never would have thought it possible!

Originally Posted by multiweb

Not at all. Just common sense. Grammar is there for a reason.

Originally Posted by GeoffW1

Hope you have your (note that) tongue in your (aha, another one) cheek.

If not that makes you an illiteracy Nazi.

Only half-joking too

Geoff

Most certainly was meant tongue in cheek, I am as much of a grammar nazi as the rest. When I am writing a text I will go back to fix a grammatical error. Spent so much time having to be grammatically correct that I do actually find it more difficult to write grammatically incorrect as it requires more of a forethought.

Originally Posted by Kunama

English, being such an easy language, should be mastered by the majority by the time they have completed their secondary education. Unfortunately many teachers have yet to do so thus perpetuating the problem.
English, as it is spoken today, is but a mere shadow of the language it was a century ago. There are now so many words and concepts that originated in other realms that the language has come to resemble vegetable soup.

The primary purpose of a language is to communicate effectively but there is nothing written that states such aims could not be achieved with some flair. On the subject of capitals, a paragraph or chapter written without correctly placed capitals and punctuation, or worse still in ALL UPPER CASE, takes more than twice as long to read with much reduced comprehension.

Please pardon my poor control of this language for it was not my first, second or third language, being preceded by Finnish, Swedish, Italian and German.

I watched this a while back and found it quite interesting/entertaining Good ol' Stephen Fry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovi7uQbtKas

Originally Posted by csb

I have often wondered what is the use of certain grammatical marks and conventions.

Using a capital at the start of a sentence is superfluous. There is a full stop AND a space at the end of the previous sentence. Do we really need three alerts to show a new sentence has started.

I use/try to use correct written grammar at all times but it is becoming a little time consuming in the digital age. Our written grammar will surely change due to technology. And change is not an unusual occurance for any language.

Originally Posted by julianh72

i have often wondered what is the use of certain grammatical marks and conventions. using a capital at the start of a sentence is superfluous. there is a full stop and a space at the end of the previous sentence. do we really need three alerts to show a new sentence has started.

Which version is quicker and easier to process when you read it?

Grammar, punctuation and spelling conventions are there to aid readability and comprehension (even if the rules do seem a bit arbitrary and even contradictory at times).

i shddr evry tym sum1 snds me an email in unpnctuatd txt-speek and xpcts me to undrstnd wot they r syng!

I personally find it considerably easier to read WITH capital letters at the beginning of each sentence. A full stop it pretty easy to glance over, as do all of the spaces between words because every wordhasone

Going back to the point that Stephen Fry was making, it is not always 100% about being grammatically correct, just getting the point across in the easiest and most comprehensible way possible. We've dropped all of the "thee, they & thous" out of todays speak, kids these days do not really know what they mean. Calling someone "dumb" in the distant past meant that you were a mute, unable to speak, hence the word "dumbfounded" or rendered speechless.

It was not that long ago that Tom Elliot on 3AW (talkback radio) was talking about grammar these days, bought up by what I think may have been a letter to The Age from someone saying that we should just have one “there” and forget all of the others.
The email I ended up sending in is as follows.

Originally Posted by Atmos

Here is a sentence for all those people who think "there" should be unified.

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There're eating their lunch over there.
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Just imagine trying to understand it without the three "there"s.

Cheers