Do grammatical errors bother you? - Page 9

Under the Covers · 10-24-2010, 04:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

Words are a writer's tools. I would no more want to read a book by a writer who didn't know how to use his or her tools than I would want to have my car repaired by a mechanic equally unfamiliar with the tools of the trade.

Well said!

Bikeridr · 10-24-2010, 06:51 AM

I've lurked about in this thread since the start, and I must say that I've learnt a lot. Being a native non-English speaker/writer, I still consider my English skills as above average compared to my fellow countrymen and -women. That said, I also "tilt" when I see how grammatically and semantically bad some books are written. That goes both ways, though. I've more or less given up reading English (all flavours) writers translated into Norwegian. Google Translate seems very often to have it more correct..

I weep every day over the way the youths *Fornication-Under-the-Conscent-of-the-King*'s up my proud language.
We have a (is it conjunction it is called?) "double letter" -"kj" which is pronounced a little "thicker" than "hu" in "huge", close to the "ch" in the German "Ich", and the youths and children (especially from the eastern part of the country) more or less consistently pronounce it as "sj/skj" or "sh" sound. The problem is, we have quite a few words that means completely different things if pronounced erroneously. For instance; "kjøre" ("hu"(ge)-sound) means "to drive", whereas skjøre ("sh"-sound) means "fragile".

Another problem are the journalists; they have lost all their grammar into the ctrl-F7 in MS Word. The spellcheck does *NOT* correct semantics, only (from time to time) if the word is written correct.
Thus, "han" (he) and "ham" (him) is consistently and *always* incorrectly used.
"I told *he* that I liked his book" vs the correct "I told *him* that I liked his book".

There are a plethora of other examples, though I gather one have to know Norwegian language well in order to understand all the screw-ups people do with our language.

Me, personally, I really would like to throw out the two (four)* official languages we have in Norway and reinstate Norse

*
The two "official" Norwegian languages:
Bokmål ("Governmental", strong Danish resemblance)
Nynorsk (Mostly Western part of Norway)

In addition we have:
Lapp or Samic, spoken by the Samic people (of where there are at least 3 flavours)
Kvaani ("Kvensk" which is a Finnish-related language, spoken by a few people mostly living in the two northernmost counties).

(I do not speak or understand Samic or Kvaani, it's completely different from the two flavours of Norwegian).

patrickt · 10-24-2010, 07:57 AM

I think everyone has a good story. I spent time riding around back roads in the U.S. listening to people tell stories and there are a lot of good stories out there. There are not, however, a lot of good writers.

SameOldStory · 10-24-2010, 10:54 AM

Dyslexia n. A learning disorder marked by impairment of the ability to recognize and comprehend written words.

In my case letters can appear backwards, or to be completely different letters.

As a dyslexic I miss a great many spelling errors, but not necessarily the grammatical errors. Proofreading my text is a significant problem to me. On the other hand I have a great deal of fun reading what others have written. I'll often think to myself "NO! They couldn't have meant that!"

To me, it's not so much the grammatical errors as the factual errors that will cause me to put down a book.

Seanette · 10-24-2010, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SameOldStory

Dyslexia n. A learning disorder marked by impairment of the ability to recognize and comprehend written words.

In my case letters can appear backwards, or to be completely different letters.

As a dyslexic I miss a great many spelling errors, but not necessarily the grammatical errors. Proofreading my text is a significant problem to me. On the other hand I have a great deal of fun reading what others have written. I'll often think to myself "NO! They couldn't have meant that!"

To me, it's not so much the grammatical errors as the factual errors that will cause me to put down a book.

I would assume that you, were you trying to sell your writing, would have enough self-respect and respect for your audience's time and effort to make use of a proof-reader who can catch those mistakes.

To me, lots of spelling/typing/grammar mistakes in "professional" writing say the writer and the publisher just don't care about actually giving the customer quality for the money being spent. I'm not that picky on Web forums, obviously.

boxcorner · 10-24-2010, 11:22 AM

Edited by boxcorner

SameOldStory · 10-24-2010, 11:22 AM

I have enough respect for others that I will not subject them to any attempts I might make as an author. I may be able to recognize good writing, but I am totally incapable of creating it.

I strongly support new authors, but I also strongly recommend editors.

Seanette · 10-24-2010, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SameOldStory

I have enough respect for others that I will not subject them to any attempts I might make as an author. I may be able to recognize good writing, but I am totally incapable of creating it.

I strongly support new authors, but I also strongly recommend editors.

You sound like me. I'm good on the mechanics of writing, such as spelling and grammar, but don't seem to do too well on plot and characters.

There's a reason Protection From Editors is not considered a good thing.

Andrew H. · 10-24-2010, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boxcorner

less and fewer
affect and effect

It annoys me inordinately when people confuse affect and effect.

But notwithstanding what is sometimes taught, using less with countables (i.e., "less than ten items") isn't incorrect. For more discussion on this than anyone needs: http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/langu...es/003775.html

Bikeridr · 10-24-2010, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boxcorner

Bikeridr, I wish I could write Norwegian as well as you write English.
How does this snippet strike the native British English speakers here?

Thanks

Anyway, I see that my own semantics is a tad off beat here.

It should be "... whether if the word is correctly written ..."

SeaBookGuy · 10-24-2010, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boxcorner

Bikeridr, I wish I could write Norwegian as well as you write English.
How does this snippet strike the native British English speakers here?

I think "if" is okay here, "whether" would be more formal.

I'm curious as to why Boxcorner asks only British people?

LDBoblo · 10-24-2010, 01:04 PM

dam strait: if are english its to bad than every people can not no it's means.

boxcorner · 10-24-2010, 02:19 PM

Edited by boxcorner

crich70 · 10-24-2010, 02:35 PM

While your words didn't flow completely naturally Bikeridr you didn't do too badly in making your point. I have read some fan fiction elsewhere where the grammar is less than perfect, but in a lot of cases the writer has a language other than English as their 1st language. If I know that the writer isn't a native speaker of English I'm more likely to overlook the occasional error I think. Even with good proofreaders some errors still make it into published books, though not so many I would hope. If however the author is supposed to know and speak English well and there are a lot of such errors I'm likely to wonder why I should keep reading their book.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bikeridr

Thanks

Anyway, I see that my own semantics is a tad off beat here.

It should be "... whether if the word is correctly written ..."

Jakie · 10-24-2010, 04:21 PM

Some of my pet peeves are the following:
its, it's
two, too, to
used incorrectly.
My teeth grate when I hear "irregardless".
But, then, I am ancient.

10-24-2010, 11:22 AM	#126
boxcorner »(°±°)« Posts: 826 Karma: 775629 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: divisive reader	Edited by boxcorner Last edited by boxcorner; 10-26-2010 at 02:33 AM.

10-24-2010, 02:19 PM	#133
boxcorner »(°±°)« Posts: 826 Karma: 775629 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: divisive reader	Edited by boxcorner Last edited by boxcorner; 10-26-2010 at 02:34 AM.

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10-24-2010, 06:51 AM	#122
Bikeridr Information Acquirer Posts: 436 Karma: 4265156 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Latvia, Rigas Rajons Device: Kindle 3 International, Pocketbook Color	I've lurked about in this thread since the start, and I must say that I've learnt a lot. Being a native non-English speaker/writer, I still consider my English skills as above average compared to my fellow countrymen and -women. That said, I also "tilt" when I see how grammatically and semantically bad some books are written. That goes both ways, though. I've more or less given up reading English (all flavours) writers translated into Norwegian. Google Translate seems very often to have it more correct.. I weep every day over the way the youths Fornication-Under-the-Conscent-of-the-King's up my proud language. We have a (is it conjunction it is called?) "double letter" -"kj" which is pronounced a little "thicker" than "hu" in "huge", close to the "ch" in the German "Ich", and the youths and children (especially from the eastern part of the country) more or less consistently pronounce it as "sj/skj" or "sh" sound. The problem is, we have quite a few words that means completely different things if pronounced erroneously. For instance; "kjøre" ("hu"(ge)-sound) means "to drive", whereas skjøre ("sh"-sound) means "fragile". Another problem are the journalists; they have lost all their grammar into the ctrl-F7 in MS Word. The spellcheck does NOT correct semantics, only (from time to time) if the word is written correct. Thus, "han" (he) and "ham" (him) is consistently and always incorrectly used. "I told he that I liked his book" vs the correct "I told him that I liked his book". There are a plethora of other examples, though I gather one have to know Norwegian language well in order to understand all the screw-ups people do with our language. Me, personally, I really would like to throw out the two (four)* official languages we have in Norway and reinstate Norse * The two "official" Norwegian languages: Bokmål ("Governmental", strong Danish resemblance) Nynorsk (Mostly Western part of Norway) In addition we have: Lapp or Samic, spoken by the Samic people (of where there are at least 3 flavours) Kvaani ("Kvensk" which is a Finnish-related language, spoken by a few people mostly living in the two northernmost counties). (I do not speak or understand Samic or Kvaani, it's completely different from the two flavours of Norwegian).

10-24-2010, 07:57 AM	#123
patrickt Wizard Posts: 1,221 Karma: 8381518 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Oaxaca, Mexico Device: Paperwhite 4 X 2	I think everyone has a good story. I spent time riding around back roads in the U.S. listening to people tell stories and there are a lot of good stories out there. There are not, however, a lot of good writers.

10-24-2010, 10:54 AM	#124
SameOldStory My True Self Posts: 3,126 Karma: 66242098 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Trantor, Galactic Center Device: Galaxy Tab 2 7.0	Dyslexia n. A learning disorder marked by impairment of the ability to recognize and comprehend written words. In my case letters can appear backwards, or to be completely different letters. As a dyslexic I miss a great many spelling errors, but not necessarily the grammatical errors. Proofreading my text is a significant problem to me. On the other hand I have a great deal of fun reading what others have written. I'll often think to myself "NO! They couldn't have meant that!" To me, it's not so much the grammatical errors as the factual errors that will cause me to put down a book.

10-24-2010, 11:22 AM	#127
SameOldStory My True Self Posts: 3,126 Karma: 66242098 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Trantor, Galactic Center Device: Galaxy Tab 2 7.0	I have enough respect for others that I will not subject them to any attempts I might make as an author. I may be able to recognize good writing, but I am totally incapable of creating it. I strongly support new authors, but I also strongly recommend editors.

10-24-2010, 01:04 PM	#132
LDBoblo Wizard Posts: 1,385 Karma: 16056 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Asia Device: Kindle 3 WiFi, Sony PRS-505	dam strait: if are english its to bad than every people can not no it's means.

10-24-2010, 04:21 PM	#135
Jakie Connoisseur Posts: 52 Karma: 225544 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Keremeos BC Device: Kindle PW5, Kobo Libre2	Some of my pet peeves are the following: its, it's two, too, to used incorrectly. My teeth grate when I hear "irregardless". But, then, I am ancient.