How much do you care about how correctly you write?

[JRA]

Well... If ya need a written invitation...
Running Poetry Thread/Contest

i've peeked into your thread a few times, volker, it's a great idea --- but i'm afraid i'm not clever/talented enough to make the cut!

 

[ElectroVibe]

I like to mess around with the rules of grammar. They are constantly changing anyway so who can say what is correct at any given time?

 

[TOOL460002]

My early TB posts were typed as I did on AIM, which is using hyphens to denote cadence. Completely does not translate and came off weird. Or so I was told. So I changed.

 

[fdeck]

I aim for correctness, but also prefer an informal writing style. I just used the latest MS Word, and it hates me. It pretty much dinged every contraction.

I'm reminded of a story: I submitted a report on something, and the project manager pulled it up on the screen to review it in front of the project team. While he was talking, and without even thinking about it, he casually did a global search-and-replace, to replace every instance of "use" with "utilize." I told him that I'd change it back after the meeting.

 

[Stewie26]

I all ways poof reed mine poost be for i post.

 

[marchone]

Proofreaders do it backwards.

Seriously.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

Because I edit people's writing for a living, I do try to express myself according to generally accepted standards of "good" writing for the most part. Also because I edit people's writing for a living, I don't particularly care to work when I'm not being paid for it, so I typically can't be bothered to edit other people's writing on sites like this. Nor am I overly concerned about fixing every single typo in my own posts (I'm a far better editor than I am a speed typist). Here, I'd much rather focus on music and bass.

I do like talking and thinking about words and language, but fixing people's writing, even my own, isn't why I come here.

 

[Mike N]

Because I edit people's writing for a living, I do try to express myself according to generally accepted standards of "good" writing for the most part. Also because I edit people's writing for a living, I don't particularly care to work when I'm not being paid for it, so I typically can't be bothered to edit other people's writing on sites like this. Nor am I overly concerned about fixing every single typo in my own posts (I'm a far better editor than I am a speed typist). Here, I'd much rather focus on music and bass.

I do like talking and thinking about words and language, but fixing people's writing, even my own, isn't why I come here.

Starting a sentence with "Because?"

I may have failed HS English, but I was taught that starting a sentence with 'because' was a no bueno..... maybe I was taught incorrectly, or things have changed since the stone age.

While it may be (and probably is) ok to write what you've written, it looks odd to me. You're likely more versed in English than I am, but if it was I that wrote your opening I'd have said either "Since I...." or "Being I....."

 

[Frank Tuesday]

I try to write with proper grammar and correct spelling. But I make mistakes sometime, andI don't worry about it when I do.

The important thing with writing is that you are trying to convey information to another person. If I convey the information despite having made one or more errors, my communication was successful. I achieved what I set out to do. If I correctly follow grammar rules and make no spelling mistakes, but the person reading doesn't understand the information, I have failed.

The goal isn't to follow rules, the goal is to transmit information.

 

[Frank Tuesday]

Starting a sentence with "Because?"

I may have failed HS English, but I was taught that starting a sentence with 'because' was a no bueno..... maybe I was taught incorrectly, or things have changed since the stone age.

While it may be (and probably is) ok to write what you've written, it looks odd to me. You're likely more versed in English than I am, but if it was I that wrote your opening I'd have said either "Since I...." or "Being I....."

This is exactly the type of grammar rule that is completely unnecessary. Starting a sentence with "because" is a perfectly understandable way to speak/write. It's just a pointless arbitrary rule that fails to make language easier to understand.

It's the same as ending a sentence with a preposition. How is "...of which I am certain." more easily understandable than "...which I am certain of." It isn't. Both are easily understood by the listener or reader. The rule only exists for the sake of having a rule. It does nothing to improve understanding.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

Starting a sentence with "Because?"

I may have failed HS English, but I was taught that starting a sentence with 'because' was a no bueno..... maybe I was taught incorrectly, or things have changed since the stone age.

While it may be (and probably is) ok to write what you've written, it looks odd to me. You're likely more versed in English than I am, but if it was I that wrote your opening I'd have said either "Since I...." or "Being I....."

You were taught incorrectly. It's perfectly legitimate to do so. "Since," though it can substitute quite well for "because" in many contexts, doesn't have the nuance I wanted. "Being I" would have been judged wrong by most educational and professional standards.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

It's the same as ending a sentence with a preposition. How is "...of which I am certain." more easily understandable than "...which I am certain of." It isn't. Both are easily understood by the listener or reader. The rule only exists for the sake of having a rule. It does nothing to improve understanding.

That reminds me of a (possibly apocryphal) story about Winston Churchill. Supposedly he had written something that included a sentence with a preposition at the end, and an overzealous clerk had "fixed" it for him. Churchill is then said to have remarked, "That is the sort of pedantry up with which I will not put!"

I wouldn't say that there are no rules (or, if you like, commonly accepted practices) for what's widely regarded as "standard" written English, but many of the things we were taught as rules really aren't, and never actually were. Some were simply invented, often through misguided analogies with other languages, particularly Latin. For example, "preposition" is from Latin elements meaning "placed before." Some overreaching pedant got the idea that because prepositions are nearly always placed before the words they go with in Latin, this had to be true in English too, even though centuries of actual practice by good writers should have made it clear that it wasn't.

 

[Tom Bomb]

Insights.​

 

[Jeff Scott]

Starting a sentence with "Because?"

I may have failed HS English, but I was taught that starting a sentence with 'because' was a no bueno..... maybe I was taught incorrectly, or things have changed since the stone age.

While it may be (and probably is) ok to write what you've written, it looks odd to me. You're likely more versed in English than I am, but if it was I that wrote your opening I'd have said either "Since I...." or "Being I....."

Hows bout dis, den:

"So anyway, because..."

 

[ElectroVibe]

I remember accidentally enabling a grammar check option on a paper I wrote for a class years ago.

The end result may have been correct, grammatically, but it was poorly written and I couldn't get it back to normal.

 

[5StringBlues]

Because the world is round, it turns me on.

 

[James Collins]

That reminds me of a (possibly apocryphal) story about Winston Churchill. Supposedly he had written something that included a sentence with a preposition at the end, and an overzealous clerk had "fixed" it for him. Churchill is then said to have remarked, "That is the sort of pedantry up with which I will not put!"

I wouldn't say that there are no rules (or, if you like, commonly accepted practices) for what's widely regarded as "standard" written English, but many of the things we were taught as rules really aren't, and never actually were. Some were simply invented, often through misguided analogies with other languages, particularly Latin. For example, "preposition" is from Latin elements meaning "placed before." Some overreaching pedant got the idea that because prepositions are nearly always placed before the words they go with in Latin, this had to be true in English too, even though centuries of actual practice by good writers should have made it clear that it wasn't.

That quote is incorrectly attributed to Winnie as far as I know.

Invalid Link Removed

This is an interesting article on the topic. I particularly like the examples they give of worse formal sentence construction to avoid dangling prepositions.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

That quote is incorrectly attributed to Winnie as far as I know.

Invalid Link Removed

This is an interesting article on the topic. I particularly like the examples they give of worse formal sentence construction to avoid dangling prepositions.

Yeah, I figured there was a pretty good chance that Churchill didn't actually make that remark, though I've never heard it specifically attributed to anyone else. Churchill seems to be one of those people to whom quotes get attached simply because they sound like something somebody thinks he might have said. Perhaps he's like Yogi Berra in that he didn't really say everything he said. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0167PICT2/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0

Regardless of who said it, the point about the legitimacy of ending a sentence with a preposition remains.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

I remember accidentally enabling a grammar check option on a paper I wrote for a class years ago.

The end result may have been correct, grammatically, but it was poorly written and I couldn't get it back to normal.

Generally speaking, a grammar check option is not going to turn a well-written paper into a poorly written one, though it may affect the tone to a degree. Writing well includes a great deal more than just Microsoft's idea of correct grammar.