Comments on: Gross Writing Errors Found on the Web

By: Ravindra

Ravindra — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:45:49 +0000

‘. . . .you can reach literally 1.2 billion of people without . . . .’

Isn’t ‘1.2 billion people ‘, omitting the ‘of’ the correct usage?

And, if Jo (post no. 48) had used the spell check, ‘grammer’ and

‘colleages’ would have been caught.

By: jo

jo — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:00:49 +0000

Perhaps we can thank Microsoft for some of these problems. Too many people rely on the built in spellchecker and grammer corrections, instead of proof reading their work.

As an ex-secretary who learnt on a manual typewriter, before computers were smaller than rooms, it’s a habit I continue today.

However, the odd one still sneaks through, especially if I’m rushing a reply to an e-mail. Most of my colleages are non native English speakers, so nearly all typos go unnoticed by the recipients. Just the occasional groan from me when I notice the mistake.

I’m not a stickler, but I find that if you try and use correct spelling, grammer and punctuation it makes it easer for other people to understand what you’re trying to convey.

That said, I still understand my nieces’ messages that are written in text speak. I’m old, but not that old!!

Apologies in advance if you find mistakes, I’m writing this quickly in work without the aid of Microsoft!!

By: Rod

Rod — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:54:26 +0000

I’m from Mexico and all this stuff about countable and uncountable things is rather confusing when using quantifiers; Much, little and less SINGULAR; many , a few and fewer PLURAL It’s much simpler;
For example if you eat a lot of beans or rice you say much or many I mean both are countable but nobody would count them

By: rml

rml — Sun, 17 May 2009 17:31:31 +0000

As a professional chef, I see many people applying for a job who cannot use proper English and grammar and who obviously don’t care a whit about learning same; so I look at the application as if they can’t get a simple thing like grammar, spelling, and using the proper pronunciation correct, then I have to question how anyone can become a professional cook and a valuable employee under my tutelage. We cannot simply look at language as evolving but if someone wants to be ignorant (such as kirbinator on October 23) then so be it but DO NOT hold us professionals accountable when your raises and your promotions are denied. We did our job.

By: Ravindra U. Rao

Ravindra U. Rao — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:52:28 +0000

This is from Prof. Paul Brians’ website, http://www.wsu.edu:8080...

In the United Kingdom, “practice” is the noun, “practise” the verb; but in the U.S. the spelling “practice” is commonly used for both, though the distinction is sometimes observed. “Practise” as a noun is, however, always wrong in both places: a doctor always has a “practice,” never a “practise.”

I don’t remember where I read the following suggestion:

A good way to remember the distinction is:
‘ice’ is something which we can see and feel; so it is a noun.

There is no such thing as ‘ise’; so it is a verb.
(This applies to pairs like advice/advise too.)