To think that it is very unfair, to pick someone up on spelling or grammar, just because you disagree with what they are saying.

[smokepole]

I posted recently on a ongoing topic in this section, I was picked up for my "appalling" grammar, my use of punctuation and for my sentence construction. I noticed that when my opinion changed , strangely enough my grammar or incorrect use of exclamation marks was not picked up upon. I have noticed that this happened on other threads as well. I think this is wrong for two reasons, the first being that it is a kind of bullying, intimating that because someone struggles with spelling, punctuation or correct sentence construction, that there are thick, therefore their argument or view point does not stand up. The other point it is very unfair to pick people up who have not benefited from higher education, or in my case not even education post GCSE'S, people need to realise this and accept that they have been fortunate to have been able to access higher education, but they need to give people like me some slack over my poor grammar or sentence construction.

I've seen people who're nervous about mistakes in CVs ask for tips, or even for proofreading - but it's better when it's a separate thread.

Re-paragraphing the OP bothers me a little as I think sometimes it can upset the OP, but other times it is really helpful, so I'm a bit on the fence there.

I think this is a bit beside the point, though. Loads of OPs need questions to tease out what they mean, even if they're perfectly well written, just because you don't always even know what you're really upset about when you post at a bad time.

It is entirely possible to paraphrase an ops post without ever criticising their spelling or grammar.
It's the manners thing again.

I suspect a poster who as had a bunch of smug, superior wankers correcting her spelling is more likely to have given up and binned her CV rather then rejoiced that they taught her to spell some magic word well enough to secure a job previously out of her league.

I would have ignored him. His work wasn't in the public domain and I'm a bit wary of speaking to strangers.

tbh it is important though. Many jobs require a good grasp of written English. I recently got gegot a letter from the NHS containing two spelling mistakes, one of which changed the meaning of what I think they were trying to say. I knew what they meant, but it made me nervous about a forthcoming procedure, in that I got the impression their competency might be low, or they might be slapdash and careless. (still haven't been for the procedure, lets hope I'm wrong).

I find "loose" for "lose" unfathomable. It must be pretty well known by now.

That's really difficult.

I can't think of a way to say it without worrying I'd come across really rudely but I wish I did know one. I realize you asked chelsy not me, I'm just thinking about it.

?English is not the only language folks, and I applaud all who post in a second language.
English correction is for pendant corner. Unless it is a valid query to add understanding..
?
Kim147 I would have but gently and judged on this response.

Oh are you doing a CV? What's the job? Would like me to help? I'm an ex blah blah and love a good CV.... Can you tell they don't let me out much? ...

I don't know which was worse, to be called for my lack of parenthesis ( did you go to a grammar, I was asked?) on a thread about my DDs1 modern's school, or having your thread moved to the local pages..

On a current thread one poster accused another poster today of "being a bit economical with the actualité".

It was all, ALL, I could do not to post: "Well, if you're going to be all pretentious and Frenchified you should know that "actualité" doesn't mean "truth" it means "news". Better to use the word "vérité"."

Only I didn't. Cause that would have been mean and derailed the thread. such a relief to have the excuse to get it out now though, phew, that's been annoying me for hours

Exactlyment.

I don't know how that post upset some people, I was praising the school, for educating my DD1 brilliantly against perceptions and yet still fall foul of the grammar police.

I have an idea, why don't we have a 40 minute multiple choice exam before you can join the site. The standard required for a pass and entry to this site is a minimum of 66/80 correct answers. Those who do not meet this requirement will be required to look for an alternative forum else -where .

It is not automatic that a poster will be allowed to continue on this forum the following year, the poster must achieve at least 75% or a minimum B standard on their posts. Posters who do not achieve this standard will be interviewed by the head of the "Grammar Police" and may be allowed to continue on the site though with reduced privileges , they will be subject to "punctuation review" and required to show improvement.

OH NO . I must be under 'Punctuation' review, for my use of FALL instead of FELL.

smokepole
Second para, first sentence. That is a question and should have finished with a question mark.

Can we play top trumps i see your Frenchification and raise you ...?????????????????????

Sunclassique

"It was all, ALL, I could do not to post: "Well, if you're going to be all pretentious and Frenchified you should know that "actualité" doesn't mean "truth" it means "news". Better to use the word "vérité"."

but 'economical with the actualité' is a very famous Alan Clark quote so it's probably an intentional reference rather than pretentious and Frenchified.

It does show this correcting thing is probably best avoided. It's a minefield. Innit.

Chelsy I doubt whoever wrote the letter will be performing the procedure.

Not that it makes any difference to their competence

Perfect SPAG is not a skill I would insist a Dr or surgeon had, a tattoist aybe, but I don't expect a Dr or surgeon to be writing on my body.

I'm not perfect and I do make mistakes when writing. I never back down in an argument, and if I am "losing" and can undermine someone in some way then I will.

Perfect SPAG is not a skill I would insist a Dr or surgeon had, a tattoist aybe, but I don't expect a Dr or surgeon to be writing on my body.

Perhaps not perfect, but yes I would expect a doctor or surgeon to have a good general education including good literary skills as well as in medicine. Theres quite a lot of room for error in getting drug names wrong.

Perhaps not perfect, but yes I would expect a doctor or surgeon to have a good general education including good literary skills as well as in medicine. Theres quite a lot of room for error in getting drug names wrong.

I would expect a medical professional to be literate, but I don't think flawless literacy skills are necerssary.

Considering it is a failing Trust with a record of proven incompetence, I do think its highly relevant.

This is a point I think is important.

We all use SPAG not just for themselves, but also as an index of what we think of a person's other skills. For example, we tend to worry that if a doctor cannot punctuate properly, he or she might get a drug name wrong too.

The difficulty is identifying when that's a valid worry, and when it isn't. If you're happy with the idea that very, very, very few people should qualify as doctors, that the system should be fairly inefficient with very high wastage, and that some people who might have been good at medicine fall by the wayside, then you'll be able to produce doctors whose SPAG is perfect, without bothering to check whether it's an accurate reflection of their ability to know their drugs, because you'll test that separately.

I think (not sure) we are slightly moving away from that picture, partly because disability laws keep making the point that, for some people, these things don't correlate well and exceptions should be made.

I do think it's important to recognise we're looking at something that might indicate skill levels in other areas, not something that automatically does.

To be fair, OP, I think some posters raised the grammar issue because your initial unreasonable opinion (as admitted by you) looked even less balanced with all the random capitals and speech marks and so on. It is only a perception, but it is one that lots of people share.

Your views have changed in the course of that thread and that has been matched by a toning down of speechmarks and capitals and more conventional use of grammar - is that because of the comments from others, or because you're feeling less strongly?

Either way I read the whole thread and posted and I admire you for considering your view and admitting it had changed, and I think that's much more important than how you use speechmarks. But as someone who proof-reads for work (NB not when posting on MN from phone) I am really glad you're using fewer .

Yes but the training to become a doctor is - what? 7 years? That's a hell of a lot of book larning so it's a fairly safe assumption that a doctor will have excellent literacy. If we then come across a doctor with poor SPAG it upsets our perception of how we think they should present themselves. And at what's normally a stressful time - no-one is seeing a doctor because everything in their world is rosy - that adds another layer of worry. N'est ce pas?

People can be very snotty about spelling and grammar. Unnecessary criticism of spag comes across as little more than a passive/aggressive style ad hominem.

ChelseyHandy - if you're worried about your surgeon or the hospital, why not find out about success rates for both in relation to your procedure? Much more relevant than speculating about a letter the surgeon may not have written.