Quote:
Originally Posted by Stitchawl
I have to disagree with that. My wife was able to read it, and her ability with English is marginal. I'd estimate that she understands less than 40% of spoken English.
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Facility in a language does not necessarily translate to facility in reading (or vice versa); many people with dyslexia are very articulate. If you have time, read through the article to which I linked; it explains the point further down. Generally, people with those forms of dyslexia that include transposition of words have the greatest difficulty with this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stitchawl
In terms of content, does the ability to use a semi-colon correctly really have that much effect on the actual transference of information? How about ending a sentence with a preposition?
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Possibly not, but the internet is littered with examples of how a sentence can be drastically changed by omission or insertion of a comma. One episode of the Jonathan Creek mystery series hinged on that very thing. Most of the other examples you give relate to the changes that take place in any language, and may argue against 'precriptivism', as the noted Professor David Crystal puts it, but do not argue against language use
per se.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stitchawl
Toilet training, or the academic equivalents, grammar and spelling, should be kept to the primary schools,
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Ah, well, now you mention it
:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/ed...e-6612068.html
Sadly, it's not possible to make assumptions about either a child's toilet training or reading age any longer!