Say your kid had a teacher you really liked and....

[kenny]

Unlike today, back in the 1960s VERY few people were free, or felt free, to ignore spelling and grammar rules.
Tech does not justify, or let you get away with, being wrong.
You can pay attention and correct things before hitting that send button.

One of the most irritating ads on Youtube is that 'Writing Is Hard" one for a product/service call Grammarcy, or something.
I hate that thing and can't mute it fast enough.
While hitting the mute button I say, actually yell, at the monitor, "Not if your get a f-ing education!"



2019: Jus stai stoopid n lazee, but buy software to appear smart.
The world's going to shit. GRR.

Now, you kids get off my lawn.

 

[ForteKitty]

Tech does not justify, or let you get away with, being wrong.
You can pay attention and correct things before hitting that send button.

Did you miss the part where I said it changes it AS I press send? Not before, but as it is in the process of sending. But whatever, judge away.

 

[kenny]

Did you miss the part where I said it changes it AS I press send? Not before, but as it is in the process of sending. But whatever, judge away.

Maybe it's not that it changes it AS you send it, but it just takes a while to process it and decide what to change.
IOW maybe you are pressing send too soon.
If so, be patience and wait longer.
Send only after you've seen the changes and accept them or fix them.

If your device truly sends out incorrect stuff no matter how long you wait, or rejects your corrections, I'd stop using it and demand a refund.

His crimes were WRONG, but the unabomber was correct that technology is f-ing up the world.

Fight back people.

 

[Matata]

As I former editor, my butt gets puckered and my panties get in a twist at grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors most especially when I make the errors, and I'll correct others who make errors because I'm inflexible when it comes to communication. My bad and I own it.

 

[ForteKitty]

Maybe it's not that it changes it AS you send it, but it just takes a while to process it and decide what to change.
IOW you are pressing send too soon.

If so, be patience and wait longer.
Send only after you've seen the changes and accept them or fix them.

If your device truly sends out incorrect stuff no matter how long you wait, or rejects your corrections, I'd stop using it and demand a refund.

NO I REFUSE TO WAIT. LOL sometimes it changes a word three sentences above and I see words change in the split second before it goes through. I type fast but not that fast! It's alright, I usually don't respond to any important emails on my phone, and people I text have been warned. My phone's 6 years old and worthless. Maybe it's their way of getting me to upgrade since it wasn't doing that a few years ago. Won't even let me swear anymore.

 

[arkieb1]

As a former English/History teacher my phone spell corrects and creates errors like this all the time. Having said that it would still bug the c@#* out of me enough that I would have typed, "No problem, you're welcome!!!!" So you are pointing it out without pointing it out.

16 kids? I want to work there, I used to teach classes of 30+ kids aged between 12 and 18 x 6 different classes so at the beginning of the year I had to learn around 200+ names.

Teachers have enough stresses at school they don't need to be told they are wrong.

 

[amoline]

I am a high school English teacher, and my advice would be to smile and cringe inwardly if you need to and otherwise let it go.

There is a degree to which everyone cares about these types of things, and it's not worth your own stress, truthfully. Plus, sometimes a particular pair of words is just really confusing. Even though I know the rule and why which is which, I still get "affect" and "effect" occasionally confused - I studied English for four years and for whatever reason it's still something that confuses me.

I could talk to you all day long about the philosophies and literary-specific relations of Nietzsche, Foucault, and Borges. I'm almost fluent in 3 languages, and I know more about English grammar than most of even my colleagues (because of the German).

But I can't get affect/effect correct very well. It's just a thing.

And ultimately, one pair of words commonly screwed up is not an indicator of someone's overall intelligence or ability to do his or her job. Now, if she sends you a bunhc of 3males that l00k lik3 thiz -- then it may be time to wonder.

 

[mrs-b]

Why not just kick her in the balls and tell her she has ugly children? Gees Louise....

If she truly doesn't get the difference, then it will take more than a cheery little correction to explain to her why it's 'you're', not 'your'. You are assuming here that pointing it out would fix the problem, which, of course, it wouldn't if she truly doesn't know. If she doesn't get it now, you'd best include a Grammar for Dummies book or be prepared to give an hour of your time, explaining this at length with examples. Which, I'm sure, would be very warmly received. And by 'warm', I mean 'fuming'.

On the other hand, if an in-passing correction is sufficient, then it means she already knows the difference, in which case your complaint isn't with her grammar, it's with her lack of attention to detail, her overly fat fingers, her auto correct, her arthritis, her poor eyesight - or any number of things. In which case, your email should look something like this:

"Dear Ms Fabulous Teacher,

Are you aware that you typed 'your' instead of 'you're'? I would like to suggest you get YOUR eyes checked in case YOU'RE suffering from a loss of vision. If this is not the problem, perhaps you might need to schedule an appointment with YOUR rheumatologist in case YOU'RE suffering from a loss of flexibility in YOUR digits. Failing this, please be aware that either YOUR fingers are too fat for YOUR keys, or YOUR sensory perception is faulty as YOU'RE typing too lightly and are skipping certain important keys. It's also possible YOUR phone sucks. Please buy a new one; on a teacher's salary, I'm sure you can afford it.

On the other hand, maybe you just have poor attention to detail. I'm sorry if this offends you but hey! Somebody had to say it and I'm sure you appreciate it.

It's always possible, I suppose, that you don't understand the appropriate grammar needed for the correct usage of 'your' and 'you're'. I have thus enclosed a textbook with this letter which I'm sure you have time to read and will no doubt appreciate at the age of 60.

Lastly, thank you for all the ways in which you've made Little Johnny a better human being. I can sincerely say that you are a parent's dream as a teacher. If only you were perfect, we wouldn't need to have these little chats. Since I'm doing this for YOUR own good, however, I'm sure you won't mind.

Obviously, I know the difference between 'your' and 'you're' and could teach Little Johnny myself. But this letter is for the benefit of the rest of your students whose parents may not be as assiduous as I.

Kind regards,

Little Johnny's Dad

@Rockdiamond - you nailed it on the head when you said "If my kid wrote this, I'd correct it." So - if your child does write it, then do. But since this teacher is neither a child nor 'yours' - then - for the love of all things holy -

DON'T.

 

[Karl_K]

It took me like 10 minutes to figure out tht there was anything wrong because almost everyone writes it that way.
English has always been an adaptive language and what and how words are used changes over time.
So who is to say ur not just behind the curve on adaptive English?

 

[Gabbycat]

@kenny Please tell me that your last two responses were meant to be ironic. Namely: "Not if your get a f'ing education", and "be patience and wait longer".

I'm thoroughly enjoying this thread as my husband and I discuss grammar and spelling pet peeves all the time. And @mrs-b, that last response gave me a much needed chuckle for today.

Sorry to horn in since I'm mostly a lurker, but I've always been more of a watcher than a participant.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Rockdiamond is talking about a missing apostrophe and a missing e when the English teacher wrote, "Your welcome."
She should have written, "You're welcome."

The word your refers what you own. Example: That is your house.
The word you're is a contraction of two words, you and are. Example: You're the owner of that house.

Though they are pronounced the same, or very similarly, they are totally different words with totally different meanings.

Why would you misspell "on purpose"?
Serious, is this some new cool thing?

I'm in my 60s.
School in the 1960s and 70s taught that correct spelling and grammar was important and those who don't bother to learn and use the agreed-to rules are poorly educated, lazy or rebellious.
We were taught to admire whose who write correctly.
Everything professional published was checked for adherence to standard rules.

I admit to taking liberty by using shortcuts and slang, but I'm not an English teacher writing to a pupil's parent.
When it matters, like writing a resume, I try to follow all the rules.

Has that all changed?
Does PCness, freedom, and equality now mean everyone can make up their own spelling and grammar?
Is marking down little Jonny's math quiz because he wrote 2+2=5 now a thing of the past?
Are we stunting little Jonny's potential by forcing him to learn 2+2=4?

These are serious questions.

thanks for the explanation Kenny
i honestly wasn't sure

i have disgraphya where i can't spell or write nice so ive had a life time of being over criticised over my writtem language skills and often from people who were surposed to love me or be my friends because its a condition that didn't exist in my day at school
so i would never ever critize someone over their written English no matter what their occupation because i do unto others as i wish them to do unto me

me saying i was not using punctuation on purpose was kind of a joke

 

[kenny]

Thanks Daisys and Diamonds.
Hugs.

 

[kenny]

I have no intent to attack anyone, let alone kick someone in the balls.
I often post in response to the content itself and don't even pay attention to who posted the content.
That doesn't matter.
It's about the ideas.

It's like idea A is presented, then idea B responds.

Idea vs. idea.

I suspect this is very not usual.
I think most are mostly concerned with being liked as much as possible by others, and not speaking their true mind out of fear their popularity will decline.

I'm not much for the get-liked-priority thing ... one reason I campaigned against PS's Like button.

People vary.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

As I former editor, my butt gets puckered and my panties get in a twist at grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors most especially when I make the errors, and I'll correct others who make errors because I'm inflexible when it comes to communication. My bad and I own it.

my big concern is really bad grammar by journalists
also fact checking


a well meaning older friend gave me a dictionary for my handbag for my 21st birthday
i find that incredibly insulting but it was ment well

 

[kenny]

One person means one thing, but the other person feels insulted.

At times weird & perplexing, but a very common problem.

 

[kindred]

My phone changes "you're" to "your", "we're" to "were", and a whole bunch of other crap that makes zero sense and don't even sound the same. It changes "Saturdays" to "Saturday's", and adds random apostrophes. Not just text, but emails too. Sometimes it changes the word as I'm pressing send and I'm going NooOOOoooooooo... but it's too late. If I see it, I change it. Sometimes it takes 5+times because my phone thinks I'm wrong. I don't even know how many I might have missed, so there are probably people out there who think I am an idiot. Oh well.

This happens to me, too! At first I thought I was crazy but I have literally seen this happen as I hit send. So annoying, especially when it decides to change a person's name!

 

[kenny]

This happens to me, too! At first I thought I was crazy but I have literally seen this happen as I hit send. So annoying, especially when it decides to change a person's name!

Try texting the exact same thing again, but wait a long time before hitting send.
Could you possibly be hitting the send button before the software has time to do its job?

I'm not saying that explains it.
I'm wondering whether this explains what two posters have reported.

I do know people often are in a hurry when texting.
I also know that my phone takes a while to make up its mind what exactly to text when I text.

 

[rockysalamander]

Eats, Shoots and Leaves : The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. Good book for the grammar folks.

One thing about correcting these things is that you don't know the recipient's story. I have a learning disability in my visual processing center. I literally cannot see the difference between similar words when I write them (e.g., the/then)...my brain auto-corrects as I go lying to my visual center. In order to catch such errors, I have all sorts of tools and tricks (and a fabulous assistant). I've made many such errors not out of ignorance, I've memorized all the rules, but out of needing to get something out fast and lacking time to apply all my writing fail-safes. Anyone reading my writing on this forum may have caught such errors.

So, give her a little grace.

{and...you might look pedantic...}

 

[AV_]

I couldn't think of any admonition that doesn't make me cringe, so I asked Google:



Formal contraction is live'n well!

I wouldn't say any such thing in writing. In person, yes.

 

[Wewechew]

I am a high school English teacher, and my advice would be to smile and cringe inwardly if you need to and otherwise let it go.

There is a degree to which everyone cares about these types of things, and it's not worth your own stress, truthfully. Plus, sometimes a particular pair of words is just really confusing. Even though I know the rule and why which is which, I still get "affect" and "effect" occasionally confused - I studied English for four years and for whatever reason it's still something that confuses me.

I could talk to you all day long about the philosophies and literary-specific relations of Nietzsche, Foucault, and Borges. I'm almost fluent in 3 languages, and I know more about English grammar than most of even my colleagues (because of the German).

But I can't get affect/effect correct very well. It's just a thing.

And ultimately, one pair of words commonly screwed up is not an indicator of someone's overall intelligence or ability to do his or her job. Now, if she sends you a bunhc of 3males that l00k lik3 thiz -- then it may be time to wonder.

This makes me feel so much better. Affect/effect is something i struggle with as well. To the point it makes me self conscious when I’m writing a work email and have to use one of the two.

 

[missy]

My phone changes "you're" to "your", "we're" to "were", and a whole bunch of other crap that makes zero sense and don't even sound the same. It changes "Saturdays" to "Saturday's", and adds random apostrophes. Not just text, but emails too. Sometimes it changes the word as I'm pressing send and I'm going NooOOOoooooooo... but it's too late. If I see it, I change it. Sometimes it takes 5+times because my phone thinks I'm wrong. I don't even know how many I might have missed, so there are probably people out there who think I am an idiot. Oh well.

This happens to me, too! At first I thought I was crazy but I have literally seen this happen as I hit send. So annoying, especially when it decides to change a person's name!

Try texting the exact same thing again, but wait a long time before hitting send.
Could you possibly be hitting the send button before the software has time to do its job?

Same. Frustrating when you keep writing the correct spelling and your phone keeps "correcting" you and it's wrong. What you have to do is hit the "X" when the autocorrect word pops up with an x next to it. At least on the iPhone. It's exasperating when my phone tells me I am wrong and I know I am right and it keeps changing it to the wrong spelling until you hit that x. It autocorrects the word so quickly you might not even see that x unless you catch it right away and then hit it and it will allow you to send the spelling you want to send.

Anyway it is so easy to mistakenly send the wrong word and takes effort to make sure it doesn't go through. That effort may or may not be worth it to some people. It is to me but I am not perfect.

 

[missy]

There is a degree to which everyone cares about these types of things, and it's not worth your own stress, truthfully. Plus, sometimes a particular pair of words is just really confusing. Even though I know the rule and why which is which, I still get "affect" and "effect" occasionally confused - I studied English for four years and for whatever reason it's still something that confuses me.

This makes me feel so much better. Affect/effect is something i struggle with as well. To the point it makes me self conscious when I’m writing a work email and have to use one of the two.

Maybe this will help. I hope my sharing this will not offend anyone.

A trick remember affect vs effect. Affect comes first alphabetically, and an action (to affect) has to occur before you can have a result-an effect.

 

[Wewechew]

A trick remember affect vs effect. Affect comes first alphabetically, and an action (to affect) has to occur before you can have a result-an effect.

I’m taking a screen shot of this, although I can’t say it will help me figure it out 100% of the time lol. Figuring out when to use “effect” is a lot easier for me than figuring out “affect”.

 

[Slickk]

I’m taking a screen shot of this, although I can’t say it will help me figure it out 100% of the time lol. Figuring out when to use “effect” is a lot easier for me than figuring out “affect”.

Example:
This thread will affect the way I respond to parents in the future.
The effects of reading this thread will be with me for years to come.

I rarely correct people IRL on grammar it doesn’t usually go well. Carry on, you’re all so funny! Enjoy your weekend.

 

[Wewechew]

Example:
This thread will affect the way I respond to parents in the future.
The effects of reading this thread will be with me for years to come.

Carry on, you’re all so funny! Enjoy your weekend.

You’re all so helpful

 

[kenny]

The words I'll never get straight is lie, lay, lain, & laid.

But I cannot lie, at least I have an excuse for inability to things straight.

 

[missy]

The words I'll never get straight is lie, lay, lain, & laid.

But I cannot lie, at least I have an excuse for inability to things straight.

Quick chart...



"Frank decided to lay the cat on the dog while the dog lay sleeping."



Yanno what? NM this is making my brain hurt and another good thing about getting older...I just don't care that much about this anymore. Let's just lay this to rest shall we?

 

[Rockdiamond]

Kick her in the balls??
Your amazing - all yous guys

 

[lyra]

My spelling and grammar are things that are getting worse for me with age and the hard part is realizing it and not being able to change it. I've had to google single syllable words. It's somewhat shameful to me. This may be part of one of the medications I take, or part of one of the diseases I have, I've heard both things, but in reality it's really embarrassing and hard to take. YMMV. Not everyone loses these skills with age, but I have.

 

[nala]

Funny to read how forgiving many of you are and yet when Trump misspells in his tweets, all hell breaks loose. Just saying....This teacher is not the president, but she does have the responsibility of distinguishing between these 2 words. So if we are willing to overlook her mistake as a chronic typo, chronic time issue, then you all can surely do that for Trump. Btw, I don’t even like Trump. But just had to point this out...lol