Is Grammar Really That Important Any More?

[Justin Nemo]

Sorry my grammar checker interfered. It should have read:

Emma Woodhouse's reported thoughts:
"for they say every body is in love once in there lives, and I shall have been let off easily."

Well spotted.

[Justin Nemo]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

Topics are not concrete barriers, they are more of meandering streams.

Indeed they are Vincent.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Same can be said for putting down a good book because of a few grammatical errors. I've noticed several people here during the past couple of years talking about stopping what I found to be a very good book because they became upset over poor proofreading. It's called 'shooting yourself in the foot.'
Stitchawl

This is one thing I have never done. I have put down books that sucked, but it was because the story sucked. I tend to miss minor stuff anyways. If I understand what the sentence is trying to say, that is enough for me to miss errors, esply stuff like effect/affect, their/there, in to/into, its/it's and so on.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Justin Nemo

Sorry my grammar checker interfered. It should have read:

Emma Woodhouse's reported thoughts:
"for they say every body is in love once in there lives, and I shall have been let off easily."

Well spotted.

Jane Austen is a famously bad speller; her books are well-known for their "unusual" spelling. Eg, "freinds" instead of "friends". She could certainly have done with a good proofreader .

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by Justin Nemo

Sorry my grammar checker interfered. It should have read:

Emma Woodhouse's reported thoughts:
"for they say every body is in love once in there lives, and I shall have been let off easily."

Well spotted.

See that is below my threshold of caring. I would likely not even notice that.

[Justin Nemo]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

See that is below my threshold of caring. I would likely not even notice that.

Let's face it Vincent, you wouldn't have read it anyway would you?

[Justin Nemo]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Jane Austen is a famously bad speller; her books are well-known for their "unusual" spelling. Eg, "freinds" instead of "friends". She could certainly have done with a good proofreader .

I preferred her Plumbing for beginners books myself.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Justin Nemo

I preferred her Plumbing for beginners books myself.

In fairness, though, she was one of the very first English novelists, and lived at a time when spelling hadn't quite "settled down" yet. By the time Dickens started writing, 30 or so years later, spelling had become almost identical to what we use today.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Taking a second look at this, I realize that your intention was to provoke and inflame rather than discuss. In which culture do people adjust holes in hoses? When I said "someone who crawls under an RV and adjusts the breaks," there was no misunderstanding on your part, nor any confusion. You understood perfectly.



On which planet would this be reasonable. Have you ever hired a mechanic to adjust holes in hoses? Has anyone, anywhere at any time hired a mechanic to crawl under a car and adjust holes that shouldn't be there?

No... your real intentions are showing.


Stitchawl

Which mistake should we assume the mechanic made. Just spelling, or in light of the other errors you imply, misuse of the word "adjust" when he meant "repair."
If you do not need or want your mechanic to have any communication skills (a dumb stand since presumably you want him to understand instructions and work orders) that's fine. Don't even ask for a resume. Have the applicants come by for a practical tech test rather than submitting a resume. Once you decide to submit a resume, anyone with a brain in their head should have the sense to make sure it looks professional, or I would not trust that person with any work of consequence, especially involving customer safety. What else is not important to them? Buying quality parts? Following instructions? Treating customers well?
YOU do not seem to care about grammar and don't think it should carry much weight, but it is the height of hubris to conclude from that that it is or should be unimportant to others. It wouldn't even matter if everyone else was WRONG to make judgements of work ethic, respect, attention to detail, etc from bad grammar. Even if they were wrong (which I don't think they are a lot of the time) the mere fact that they DO should have long ago taught you that it IS important, and it would be a failing as a teacher to not impart THAT lesson. It's wrong to mug people, but it's stupidly dangerous to tell people "mugging is wrong, so go ahead an wave your cash around in dark alleys....."

When a mechanic shows up for an interview, I don't care that his job keeps him under a greasy car, he should show up in a relatively clean set of clothes with his teeth brushed (if he has any). Same with presenting any written representation of yourself.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by Justin Nemo

Let's face it Vincent, you wouldn't have read it anyway would you?

Reading books for enjoyment and reviewing resumes for potential employees are in two completely different categories in my mind.

[QuantumIguana]

I'll overlook some poor grammar if the story is good. But it has to be a really good story, because there are other good stories out there with good grammar. Bad grammar is like potholes on the road, it makes the experience less smooth. Of course grammarians are always wrong - eventually.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

I'll overlook some poor grammar if the story is good. But it has to be a really good story, because there are other good stories out there with good grammar. Bad grammar is like potholes on the road, it makes the experience less smooth. Of course grammarians are always wrong - eventually.

I just finished listening to all six volumes of Nathan Lowell's "Traders Tales" from "The Golden Age of the Solar Clipper."

Great series, and well told.
(Here it is, by the way.)

But it was constantly jarring to hear an otherwise well spoken main character, who was raised and educated by a lit professor, repeatly misuse "I" and "me." I had to keep telling myself "Well, this is set in the 24th century...maybe the rules of grammar have changed by then...."

I similarly had to wonder during the first two books if at some point in the next few hundred years people start referring to "steam rooms" as "saunas" having completely forgotten the distinction between wet and dry heat.
Still, I like the stories.....

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Being entirely ignorant of the workings of the oily bits of cars, I can well imagine that one might adjust the size of a hole to set the rate at which something flows through it?

... and still call those 'breaks?' I don't think so. You call those jets, apertures, or valves. You don't call them 'breaks.' Being ignorant of the workings of a car doesn't mean you are ignorant of English vocabulary. Something that is 'broken' is something that gets fixed or replaced. Something that is out of adjustment gets adjusted. Even people who know nothing about repairing cars know that brakes get adjusted as well as repaired and replaced. Holes in hoses do not. I made a spelling error. Please don't make a discussion error. It's beneath you.


Stitchawl

[Justin Nemo]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

... and still call those 'breaks?' I don't think so. You call those jets, apertures, or valves. You don't call them 'breaks.' Being ignorant of the workings of a car doesn't mean you are ignorant of English vocabulary. Something that is 'broken' is something that gets fixed or replaced. Something that is out of adjustment gets adjusted. Even people who know nothing about repairing cars know that brakes get adjusted as well as repaired and replaced. Holes in hoses do not. I made a spelling error. Please don't make a discussion error. It's beneath you.


Stitchawl

OK stitch, just give us the address of your garage and be done with it.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Please don't make a discussion error. It's beneath you.

And speaking of pots calling kettles black, what are you doing bring up this mechanic, who you seem to be arguing has no need for grammar skills, in "The Writer's Corner?"

Either the creation and presentation of a CV makes one a writer or it doesn't.
If it does, then the writer should demonstrate proper use of his tools, or seek the help of one who knows how to use them.
If it doesn't, then bringing up that case here in a writer's forum was a red herring and should be, as you say, beneath you.

ApK