Spelling and Grammar at cfl.ca

Trust me, folks. I see it every day - literally. Poor grammar is no longer simply errors and/or typos made. People are now unconcerned with how they portray themselves in written form. Poor grammar is the new norm, thanks in very large part to the increasingly socially-accepted forms of written language involving MSN and texting. It's to the point where high school students do not understand why "lol" is not acceptable in a formal essay, or why "idk" isn't acceptable in a written response.

I believe you can blame the internet for some of this as well. People will use the term "prolly" for "probably", "loose" for "lose" and "aight" for "right". Chat lines and blogs have their own lingo, and people are just too lazy to adjust when they post in a forum, or type up an essay, etc. Its a bigger problem than(sorry MadJack, almost used then :twisted: :lol: :lol: ) you might expect...

It is bad, getting worse; I've noticed it for a while now. I've heard teachers say that students hand in essays with the short forms used in texting, because it's become so normal for them.
I have seen posts on this forum with so many terrible spelling mistakes that they are nearly impossible to understand. Remember trying to decipher Kanga's rants?
One problem is that we have become so reliant on word processors with spell check that, if it doesn't catch an error, a lot of people never notice it. They don't read through their own things, or if they happen to miss it (easily done) they don't bother to get others to proofread for them.
"Loose" for "Lose" is a common error, largely because a computer spell checker won't catch it. Other such errors are the aforementioned than/then, and to/too. Usually you can tell by the context what the writer means, but at times it is not clear.

I guess those of us who are sticklers for such things are a dying breed. I can't imagine what the world will be like a hundred years from now.

And there is no excuse for an error like that in the headline going undetected.

If you don’t understand the meaning of that sentence even with the spelling mistake, then your grammar is just as bad. You did understand it, you just chose to ignore it and focus on the problem not the intent. That’s as much your problem as it is the headline writer’s. Mistakes happen, and yes I agree it’s inexcusable in a headline, but to complain that you can’t understand it because of the mistake is laziness on your part. I find it interesting and condescending that you actually looked up the dictionary meaning of the two words then presented them here as if nobody else understands them either.

That sentence makes no sense with “loose” in it, so it couldn’t be anything else other than “lose”. You saw that and ignored it, and now you’re trying to claim it does make sense and changes the meaning.

Are you guys for real? Arguing about grammar? Geez, I thought we were done with schoolmarms and nannies. Now this …

"I" before "E", except after "C".

With the way some people's language skills are deteriorating these days, I suspect that we'll see someone say "i before e accept after c".

…yeah but this one’s weird… :lol:

Guys, everyone did not take English 101. Lets not be critical. As Mahatma Ghandi once said " there is room enough in the country for all of us!"

His name is Gandhi.

Oops..................

Perhaps we didn't all take English 101...I never did...I took English 110.6, which had nothing to do with grammar at all, but everything to do with literature instead. I did, however, take a 400-level Grammar class, but the errors being discussed right now are generally taught at the grade 6-9 level. Trust me, I know...

Like height?

Thank you for pointing out the obvious.

Of course I immediately understood the meaning of the sentence.

I just chooose to make fun of people who use loose in place of lose, and those who accept that usage.

Condescending JerkFaceLoser out.