How to write

[Angela@Mirage]

Obvious reason. For many people English is not the first language. Some have come here when they were past school age. They may try their best but it is not always simple to master the peculiarities of the English grammar, or any other language for that matter. Put yourself in their shoes and show a little tolerance.

BTW how many languages to you speak?

This is so true. When i post, i am talking to ten or more people at any given time;on msn, my blackberry, my iphone, you name it. This is an internet forum, not an english tutorial.

 

[Bare.50]

For the Select Few not the Masses

I've seen so many postings here that are almost impossible to read, so I thought I'd share some basic writing tips.

Make short sentences. Don't write long, run-on sentences, stop for breath, stick in a comma at a suitable spot, and end a thought with a period.

If you put in a period, hit the space bar, and start the next sentence with a capital letter.

Make short paragraphs. No more than three sentences in a paragraph.

Use the spell check where available.

I value the reviews I read here very much, but when they are sometimes so hard to read its very frustrating.

I apologize in advance if this posting offends anyone.

Listen to yourselves; you people are the most narcissistic bunch of People around. You sit there in judgment of people who don’t participate in your childish degradation. And wonder why the average person won’t enable your sick need. You hide behind a keyboard and comment about people’s grammar and writing skills as if you have the right to. A far as I know you don’t need a PHD to get an erection or have an opinion.

Show a little tolerance and keep your un relevant opinions to yourselves. And listen to what is said
Hell you may actually learn something.

Long time lurker (for a reason)

Bare 50

 

[serviceman]

Listen to yourselves; you people are the most narcissistic bunch of People around. You sit there in judgment of people who don’t participate in your childish degradation. And wonder why the average person won’t enable your sick need. You hide behind a keyboard and comment about people’s grammar and writing skills as if you have the right to. A far as I know you don’t need a PHD to get an erection or have an opinion.

Show a little tolerance and keep your un relevant opinions to yourselves. And listen to what is said
Hell you may actually learn something.

Long time lurker (for a reason)

Bare 50

No, when it comes to narcissistic fervor for ones language, the French would have to be the most vocal. I think it's great to see people giving a rats ass about how to properly use English. With text messaging, auto spell correcting, etc., it seems that peoples language skills are degrading at an alarming rate.
Anyway, this IS the lounge, we're supposed to talk about whatever we want to, this isn't exactly an offensive topic.

 

[snowleopard]

Long time lurker (for a reason)

Bare 50

No kidding! Wow that's quite the first post! You've been keeping that bottled up for a long time. I love the "you people" characterization. If that's non-judgmental, I'd hate to hear from you when you are.

Remember, narcissists are only human too ... show a little compassion ... or at least a sense of humour.

 

[Angela@Mirage]

Listen to yourselves; you people are the most narcissistic bunch of People around. You sit there in judgment of people who don’t participate in your childish degradation. And wonder why the average person won’t enable your sick need. You hide behind a keyboard and comment about people’s grammar and writing skills as if you have the right to. A far as I know you don’t need a PHD to get an erection or have an opinion.

Show a little tolerance and keep your un relevant opinions to yourselves. And listen to what is said
Hell you may actually learn something.

Long time lurker (for a reason)

Bare 50

This post was very well said. People need to just enjoy the great life of hobbying. You do not need a dictionary for acronyms like: YMMV, SOG, TOFFT,DATY, or to spell just to get off.

 

[snowleopard]

This post was very well said. People need to just enjoy the great life of hobbying. You do not need a dictionary for acronyms like: YMMV, SOG, TOFFT,DATY, or to spell just to get off.

You make a good point Angela ... and I hate to point this out, but you spelled TOFTT wrong

 

[raydeon]

I agree, never too late to learn, but as I get older, my brain feels more and more full. I can't imagine how another language will fit up there.

As a side note, I did spell it with a 'c' but the spell check on my computer switched it to an 's', so naturally, I figured I misspelled it.

It's because your spell check is set for the North American English. You can set it for any English you wish, Canadian English, British English, Australian...etc.

It's another example of why Spell Check should not be relied on as a perfect tool proofing. It performs a quick, cursory check, but cannot replace a good dictionary. It does not check for contex.

According to Collins Cobuild (Collins Birmingham University International Language Database) both spellings of Offence and Offense are acceptable.