Find It Hard Not To Correct People

[tigercub50]

I think I am turning into my DM, as she is very hot on grammer (or is it grammar?!), spelling etc. I have got into trouble a few times on Facebook etc as I have (unintentionally) offended people who are dyslexic. A lot of the time though it isn't dyslexia or learning difficulties but just laziness or ignorance. I just can't seem to help myself! Yesterday I saw a pic of a Facebook friend at her Christmas party - her DH had captioned it "X's Xmas Due" instead of "Do". I commented that since he had written due, I thought he was saying that she was expecting again. I noticed today that the comment had been removed & the caption now read "X's Christmas Party". I felt bad! But as I said, I just can't seem to help myself. I wonder what some folks actually learn in school. Does anyone else get bothered by stuff like that? Misused apostrophes are another one!

I'd only suggest corrections if I was proofreading something, or if the person making the mistake was calling out someone else for their SPAG.

How would you feel if someone corrected your spelling of grammar, OP?

The strange thing is you hardly ever see "man" and "men" mixed up.

I don't find that one strange tbh, if you consider the difference in the sound of the 'a' and 'e' in man/men compared with woman/women. The extreme irregularity of English pronunciation is not exactly conducive to good spelling!

OK let me tell you that my Ex husband used to lick on my errors when we were having fights, because English is my third language and I make mistakes and have a strange accent.

He is now my ex husband.

It is used as a method to belittle others, to make them feel inferior. Now you know, so don't do it.

lick on my errors? that's a good one.

Pick on my errors

If you don't know whether it's grammar or grammer then I think you are brave to even attempt this! I teach English for a living but still make mistakes especially typos.The only time I correct is when I think it has real life consequences e.g someone asked for feedback on their wedding stationary website - that is one business I'd never use!

I think one of the worst real life consequences has to be from tattooists - ouch x 2.

I hate people that correct other people more that I hate to see the error in the first place. It just makes you look smug and superior.

You can help yourself by the way, you just don't want to.

You can't behave like an unkind dick and claim not to be one. Your actions speak for themselves. You CAN help yourself and you should. Stop making excuses for why it's acceptable to make others feel shit about themselves. Be a decent human being.

I've said this on other threads but I've lost a lot of ability to form a coherent sentence and a lot of SPaG due to either brain issues or medication. I have to think about and can't automatically remember their/they're etc like I used to.

I took it for granted and used to be a total pedant - but in my own head! I wouldn't have dreamed of saying someone was thick or ignorant. It's not very fair karma now I have lost my "abilities" but someone who is a judgy dick about other people can carry on smugging, is it?

I always equate the overuse of exclamation marks with the sort of person who says “I’m mad, me”.

I thought ampersands was a holiday Park in Norfolk.....

Mine too @Goingonandonandon

Except my first language is English, but I’m Scottish.

Cue HILARIOUS corrections from exH.

It does my head in, people using 'use' instead of you (you's) and discusting instead of disgusting.

I sometimes comment on here but not on FB. Just don't do it. They won't learn and use the correct spelling next time... they're adults and they won't change so what's the point? Waste of energy

I usually ask if I want someone to correct my language. The guy I wrote my dissertation with was very good. If I wrote a sentence with a mistake in it he would say Redexpat? and then I would know there was a mistake and would be able to find it.

Correcting someone on social media is basically a punch to the guts infront of EVERYONE and is really humiliating.

I work in a gift shop and I answered a query about Christmas ‘serviettes’ with, oh do you mean napkins? Yes, we have those.

I also mutter ‘fewer’ under my breath as required.

I am an awful person.

I'm an English teacher and see errors everywhere, every day, including in books, newspapers, online. I couldn't care less about those on social media, but it does annoy me when someone is in paid employment and cannot be bothered to write correct English - or even worse, doesn't know what is correct. The thing I hate most is the ungrammatical use of 'sat' or 'stood', as in 'she was sat', 'I was stood' but as this is now used by journalists, BBC presenters etc it seem to be passing into general usage. The weird thing is that I'm sure some of these people didn't use to say 'sat', but have adopted these words as they are so commonly used now. Also annoying when people use words which they've heard around, such as 'literally' and 'source', when they're completely inappropriate. Rant over.

Just read your comment Knittink. Agree it's easier to conflate women/woman due to sound but weren't we all taught about plural nouns in primary school? Literally writing them out and understanding the difference. So many adults getting it wrong seems strange to me.

Ginghamstarfish - you'd hate me. I'm an English teacher who says "I'm sat". I do hate it when people mix up who's and whose - it throws off the whole sentence

I have a bone to pick with you LadyRochford. I am now behind on my work as I've been reading up about Lady Rochford (though not her Frosted Gusset) instead of writing the press release I was supposed to write!

LadyRochford - even if everyone were taught properly (a big 'if') that doesn't mean everyone would learn equally well. Some people are good at remembering spelling and grammar rules they've been taught and others aren't - just as everyone is taught maths, but not all of us get the hang of it very well. I'm surprised that anyone is surprised by that tbh.

I'm sure the internet makes spelling worse too, because in the past pretty much everything you read would have been written by a writer of some kind and edited too. If people who are not confident spellers constantly see words misspelt in the same way, they will quite likely become confused as to which is the correct spelling. Poor spelling and grammar does not mean you are stupid.

In any case, grammar was barely taught in English state schools for decades. It came back in with the new SATs a few years back, but primary school teachers are ill-equipped to teach it, as many of them never learned it themselves. They still ditch it the minute the SATs are done.

Yabu, there are so many reasons why people get their spag wrong. Can you really not help yourself?!! For example if they have dyslexia, and cannot help it.
Surely if you can hold back then, you can hold back at other times.

I did ask for this thread to be removed as I am not doing myself any favours.

I'm not RTFT

I'm Wound Up Enough By The Title And Want To Correct You That Capitals Are For The Beginning Of A Sentence

People make mistakes because the have dyslexia, because they have missed out on education or sometimes, yes, because they are thick.

It doesn't matter does it? Not having great English skills or even being a bit thick is not a crime. Why on earth would you seek to belittle and embarrass someone for that? I judge the people who correct far more than those who make mistakes.

I'd only question something on social media if I just didn't understand what they were trying to say. I will pick people up on SPAG errors in documentation or other formal stuff at work, but usually not in instant messages or the like. (There are a couple of people with whom it's a bit of an in-joke, so then I will.)

Even the best of us are thwarted by autoincorrect at times. I suspect my phone of being on glue, some of the suggestions it comes up with. It could at least try suggesting actual words as alternatives, rather than random garbage.

Also, some things are stylistic. I do love an Oxford comma.