I flunked English in school, but...

[R Walling]

I have learned that it is a subject that many people misuse on most web sites. Spelling and grammatical errors are rampant among the unwashed masses that attempt to communicate by way of the computer.

Most of the times you will find run on sentences with no punctuation. Paragraphs are in non existence and thoughts are scrambled with war stories and irrelevant thoughts.

I would like to ask everybody to please re read their post before posting to confirm that it conveys the message that you are trying to send, and is in an easy to read mode.

Better yet, copy and past it in Word and check for spelling and grammar, it will make your post more enjoyable to read and instill you to write with more influence.

(If anyone ever told me at age 17,that I would ever write something like this, I would have laughed at him.

I am now 73 and only recently learned the value of the written word.)

[LINC400]

The following errors have been found:

non-existence,

re-read

...enjoyable to read, and instill...

Otherwise, I agree.

[R Walling]

Thank you Linc400. I will try not make that mistake again. I actually questioned myself on those words but I took "Word" for it's word

[Guest Skyking]

Thank you Linc400. I will try not make that mistake again. I actually questioned myself on those words but I took "Word" for it's word

Not being picky here, but you forgot the word "to".........

We all make mistakes. It's nature.

[Guest BillP]

Hi Roger, good point. However, you took Word at its word, not it's word. English ain't easy.

[GLong]

You are making the assumption that they will recognize run-on sentences, misspelling, and bad grammar when they attempt to proof-read their text.

Greg L

[JD in KC]

I think it's more important that the poster be knowledgeable in the automotive subject of the post than know exactly where to stick the apostrophe or know the difference between break and brake or loose and lose (Word spell check certainly doesn't know). Not everyone has had the same educational opportunities.

[Guest BillP]

I suppose a certain level of illiteracy is inescapable.

[Guest myold88]

My favorite is the constant misuse of the word SEEN vs the word SAW, as in "Yesterday I seen an old friend".

[Bhigdog]

Hee, hee, hee. I saw all this coming......................Bob.

PS. Should the word "of" be inserted between "saw" and "all"? Should the previous three words be in quotes? Should the quotation marks after "all" be inside or outside of the question mark. Is the word "of" in the previous sentence superflous. How the Hell do you spell superflous?...................

[R W Burgess]

..................(If anyone ever told me at age 17,that I would ever write something like this, I would have laughed at him.

I am now 73 and only recently learned the value of the written word.)

Roger, you should hear me speak(spoke? talk?) in public??:eek:

We all have different talents, and some of us are better than others. As far as spelling correctly, my biggest problem is that the left finger types faster than the right, so a lot of the letters in some of my words are backwards. Hey, my wife says I am backwards in a lot of ways?????:confused:

Ummmm, I see she hasn't left me yet though, so I must be doing somethign right (see?.the left finger did it again) ???

Wayne

[Beltfed]

Being from the south and also a hillbilly from East Tennessee, I can and do overlook most of what is stated above. But some postings do grate on your nerves, like ALL CAPS. But most of ya'll talk funny anyway.

[keiser31]

The following errors have been found:

non-existence,

re-read

...enjoyable to read, and instill...

Otherwise, I agree.

Never use a comma before the word "and".

[Bhigdog]

Two specific situations call for the use of a comma before "and." The first is created when we have three or more items in a series. This mark of punctuation is called the serial comma. For a full explanation of why we use the serial comma, please read our previous tip on the subject. (See "Serial Comma" on p. 49 in our book of writing tips or find the link to the "Serial Comma" tip in our online tip archive.)

The second situation occurs when "and" is being used to coordinate two independent clauses. An independent clause—also known as a main clause—is a group of words that has a subject and a verb and can stand alone as a sentence. In the following example, the independent clauses are in brackets:

I dint rite whuts said above. I jist copy stuf wen I dont no fore sure whut too say.................Bob

Edited October 6, 2013 by Bhigdog (see edit history)

[joe_padavano]

There's a big difference between missing an occasional apostrophe and writing a forty line run-on sentence with absolutely no punctuation. I don't even waste my time trying to read the latter. For those who don't believe in the need for proper punctuation, I suggest the book Eats Shoots and Leaves.

Yes, note the use of italics to denote the title of a book...

[keiser31]

Another lesson learned.

[Bill Harmatuk]

Past or Paste?? I seen it and Past got past you'all.

Bill H

[JV Puleo]

Its all well and good to make light of Mr. Walling's comments but I think he has a very good point. I doubt he is referencing a misplaced comma. I am a terrible speller and, like Mr. Walling, I did poorly in English but I've come to realize that, if you want to be taken seriously, you can't sound (i.e. write) as if you are barely literate. This was brought home to me this week when I was contacted by the grandson of a collector I knew 40 years ago. His email was riddled with text-message jargon and misspellings... it made a very poor impression and left me wondering if I wanted to invite this person to my shop. When we did meet, he turned out to be intelligent and genuinely interesting... the sort of person anyone would be glad to call a friend.

It takes very little effort to review a post before pressing the button. If you are weak on spelling and grammar (as I am) it is easy enough to do as suggested and use the "check spelling" feature of Microsoft Word. You will be doing yourself a favor too... if I see a question I can help with asked in a polite and logical manner I am inclined to help. If it comes across as a barely literate demand (which may be unintended) I am much less inclined to share what I know.

[Guest cben09]

,,,,,,Most everyone may/maynot have their reasons,,,

My Moores lever self filling fountain pen has split its bladder again

Parker Quink is $15 for a tiny bottl now

I have lost the special knife made to whittle a proper nib,,,

I never did like those horrid steel nibs when 14k gold was the norm,,

I use the comma s because I cant see the dammmm liLL . anymore,,especially if I post in the evenin' ,,,What I type gets put where this Grrr keyboard wants it,,so indenting is a matter of chance,,,Yes I know its too many commas,,,,,Its the space I'm after,,

A couple of odd details,,If anyone has the chance,,to go to Deeds Court,,an early district,,

pull the book for the early stuff,,ie,, 1650-1750,,

It would seem that the flourish of the quill was more important than the spell'n,,

Many times I misspell on purpose to add the local accent,,which I find interestin' as

we have friends from so far away in time zones and climate,,

Every once in a while this thing EAATS a whole posting and wont give it back,,50-50 that

I'LL have the patience to replace it,,

another detail,,as above,,,I'LL,,,o-k,,put it ill if a good size font is O-K ,,BUT in that

mini sub size ,,I hate it,,so I use the cap to make it easier to read,,

xxxxxx,paragraph,,indent [key here somewhere??]]

The kids have/are working on a new form of written language,,Its sort of a phone/computer

shorthand all in one,,with its own font/charicters,etc. #from ma bell, ,@ from windows,, :-)

from where I don't know,,,with more to come,,

I now find my glossery is now 3-4 generations out of date,and the audience is also out of date!

Finally,,,,, What , is a 4 letter word that means huh,,,by Dennis Archambault '67

Cheers,,Ben in Maine,,,,finally figgurd how to spell eyuh,,,its our answer to grits an y'all,,

P/S Would like to hear from Leif in Sveeden,,who no doubt caught between at least 4 languages

Narveegin,Sveedish ,Gerrmann an' Dutch,,Recall friends saying they talked their own language

and the foreigners could understand,,to a workable degree,,,Thanks for tolerence,,Ben

[Studemax]

The purpose of language - both spoken and written - is to enable us to understand each other as clearly and precisely as possible. That is why proper spelling and grammar is so important. If we are not able to communicate, confusion and unhappiness is sure to follow.

You may not be a good speller, but you have spell checking software and yet don't use it. This forum self-corrects within certain parameters - and that's a good thing.

[CarlLaFong]

There is an excellent example, right here in this thread, of a posting that is ponderous and almost impossible to read and understand. I have never read one of them, past the first or second sentence, as my brain goes into overload mode. Sorry

The misuse of "seen" has become pandemic and it drives me nuts.

[joe_padavano]

There is an excellent example, right here in this thread, of a posting that is ponderous and almost impossible to read and understand. I have never read one of them, past the first or second sentence, as my brain goes into overload mode. Sorry

The misuse of "seen" has become pandemic and it drives me nuts.

Yes, and just as bad is the ever-increasing number of people who interchange "sale" and "sell" in Craigslist ads. And while I'm in curmudgeon mode, there are the folks who for some reason think it's correct to say "needs restored" instead of "needs TO BE restored"...

[Bill Harmatuk]

I really don't want to take this to the limit but... I was in Jiffy Lube this week, (oil and filter only!). There were three members of a family in the waiting room with me for almost 20 minutes. A 6 year old, adult and a teen aged male. The only words I understood were "know" and I think "saying".

I'll bet you my old Chrysler and 1000.00 that 1/2 of of America can't read and / or write or write where some one understands what they are saying.

Pitiful.

My 2 cts.

Bill H

[nzcarnerd]

This thread reminded me of a poem that appeared in a recent club newsletter.

My Spelling Chequer

Eye halve a spelling chequer

It came with my pea sea

It plainly marques four my revue

Miss steaks eye can knot sea

Eye strike a key and type word

And weight four it two say

Weather eye am wrong oar write

It shows me strait a weigh

As soon as a mist ache is maid

It nose bee four two long

And eye can put the error write

Its rare lea ever wrong

Eye have run this poem threw it

I am shore your pleased two no

Its letter perfect awl the weigh

My chequer tolled me sew

[Guest cben09]

This is a computer controlled robot and nothing can go wrong ,go

wrong,,go wrong,,g o wr ong go wrong go,,go,,ggo,,,,Simple,,eh,,,

Ben is still in SOuthern Maine,,,,,,

Oh yes one newer prolly,,,not only the kids cant spell ,,they cant read cursave longhand

Prolly sumthn new ty ate,or sniffed...,...is prolly in the new dictionary?,,,,omg,here we go,,

1906 was a perfectly good year,,[before the depression],, haha,,CB

[Guest Skyking]

I really don't want to take this to the limit but... I was in Jiffy Lube this week, (oil and filter only!). There were three members of a family in the waiting room with me for almost 20 minutes. A 6 year old, adult and a teen aged male. The only words I understood were "know" and I think "saying".

I'll bet you my old Chrysler and 1000.00 that 1/2 of of America can't read and / or write or write where some one understands what they are saying.

Pitiful.

My 2 cts.

Bill H

Bill, I agree, and it's going to get worst with all these young kids texting in short hand. Before you know it, that's the way they will communicate elsewhere. Most don't know how to tell time now unless it's in digital form......... We are being dumbed down for sure!!

[keiser31]

Bill, I agree, and it's going to get worst with all these young kids texting in short hand. Before you know it, that's the way they will communicate elsewhere. Most don't know how to tell time now unless it's in digital form......... We are being dumbed down for sure!!

O.K.......sorry, but I must comment on this. "it's going to get worst" should say, "it's going to get worse". I know.....picky, picky, picky! The one that absolutely bothers me the most is when someone uses the word "than" instead of "then" and vice versa. It takes a while to figure out what they are saying when they do that.

Edited October 6, 2013 by keiser31 (see edit history)

[Bill Harmatuk]

Me an Skyking is from the East Coast, Yo. Sorry I couldn't resist, John.

I'm finished with this thread. You guys stop.

Bill H

[keiser31]

Me an Skyking is from the East Coast, Yo. Sorry I couldn't resist, John.

I'm finished with this thread. You guys stop.

Bill H

I am originally from Detroit.....closer to the east coast than Oregon. Or is it "then"? snicker

[Guest cben09]

Pierce-Arrow,,,1928 model 36 dual valve

Radiator emblem,,motto,, Dixit Et Fixit,,,

Translation from high school teacher, "I said I would ,and did it "

Many years later friend who was 3 years in first grade,,Spanish,Portugese,English,

later on picked up Esperanto,Navaho and Waddinee and others,,

and spoke Latin w/a Portugese accent,,

Translated it a bit diffrently,,,,"I told you so" ,To me this was a whole different flavor

The kid digging ditches in London may be fluent in 7 languages,,

I was in the army with a fellow who couldnt read or write,,,BUT could speak most every

language from Finland to Turkey,,where he thought he came from,,not sure,,

He had a most unusual view of WW-ll,,,Been there done that,,keep me out,,

Cheers,,Ben

Edited October 6, 2013 by cben09 (see edit history)

[nickelroadster]

Everybody has made their point. People will probably continue to use bad English, punctuation and spelling. Now lets get back to old cars.

[trimacar]

Yeah, give me a brake...their's no weigh that were dummer than we used two bee....hour IQ is increasing all the thyme, write?

Phase it, grammar has dyed, and know spell check fixes pour education....

[Bhigdog]

Everybody has made their point. People will probably continue to use bad English, punctuation and spelling. Now lets get back to old cars.

Yes. Yes.... 31 posts from folks having a little fun. Lets knock this frivolity off and get back to the very serious business of being asked for the umpteenth time why his 1962 Belchfire 8 is making a funny noise or where to buy a wobbly nut for his 1923 Zipmobile. Neither poster will, of course, ever acknowledge getting an answer...............Bob

[Guest Skyking]

Yes. Yes.... 31 posts from folks having a little fun. Lets knock this frivolity off and get back to the very serious business of being asked for the umpteenth time why his 1962 Belchfire 8 is making a funny noise or where to buy a wobbly nut for his 1923 Zipmobile. Neither poster will, of course, ever acknowledge getting an answer...............Bob

Since it disappeared, I'll add my own.................."LIKE"

[joe_padavano]

Yet another automotive-related example of the dumbing of America is the folks who write "Camero" or "Cutless". Are you so lazy that you can't even walk to the garage to read the emblem on the side of the car???

[CarlLaFong]

^^^^^How about "Cummings"?^^^^^

My truck says Cummins at, at least, 3 different locations

Now, on to "Jagwire":)

[Guest lordairgtar]

I was told by my work supervisor to stop writing notes in the job log in cursive because some employees could not read it. These people are degreed individuals and they can't read cursive? The old nun who taught me the Palmer Method of writing will be spinning in her grave over this.

[Guest Skyking]

I was told by my work supervisor to stop writing notes in the job log in cursive because some employees could not read it. These people are degreed individuals and they can't read cursive? The old nun who taught me the Palmer Method of writing will be spinning in her grave over this.

Cursive is becoming a thing of the past. Many schools are not teaching it anymore..............

http://www.valleybreeze.com/2013-08-21/cumberland-lincoln-area/should-schools-write-cursive#.UlMIpVM_53A

[joe_padavano]

I was told by my work supervisor to stop writing notes in the job log in cursive because some employees could not read it. These people are degreed individuals and they can't read cursive? The old nun who taught me the Palmer Method of writing will be spinning in her grave over this.

I have to admit that my cursive has always sucked. Coupled with the fact that I was hand-lettering engineering drawings on a drafting board in the late 1970s and early 1980s (before computer aided design systems), I've printed exclusively since then and have pretty much lost my ability to write in cursive. Actually, since engineering drawings are lettered in all-caps, that's how I write ("capital" letters are just taller than "lower case" in my world... I guess Microsoft calls it SMALL CAPS). The only "cursive" (and I use the term loosely) I write is my signature, which would do a doctor proud.

[Dandy Dave]

That is it. I'm riten me a dicsunary fer the proper use of hillbilly. An thin i'm sendin it to Websters fur a provel.... Jr Samples. BR 549...