Overwhelming poor SPAG

[MagpiePi]

The proliferation of poor SPAG that I see on this site is just overwhelming, and I despair (or should that be dispare? 🙄)

Their/they’re/there, your/you’re, to/too used randomly and interchangeably, loose instead of lose, advise instead of advice, not to mention the abuse of ‘s.

I know we are all supposed to be forgiving and not correct anyone’s errors as not everyone is well educated or has dyslexia, or will be given an inferiority complex, or, we just have to accept that language evolves and meanings change. But there has to be a limit otherwise how do you know what anyone actually means?

But some of it is very confusing even if you give leeway and only try to discern meaning.

There is a proliferation of simply incorrect word usage which obscures meaning - two of the most frequent I see here are ‘been’ for ‘being’ and ‘his’ for ‘he’s’/‘he is’. These make any sentence in which they appear into gibberish.

@MagpiePi , you started a thread in Pedants' corner, what did you expect?

Too much time spent on fronted adverbials and similar nonsense and not enough on 'should have' instead of 'should of') etc.

🤣

It was just personal venting about the proliferation of basic SPAG errors that really get on my nerves, not an invitation to be pilloried because I didn’t write my OP as you think it should have been written.

I shan’t bother again.

You werent pilloried.

The worst is when it’s on the education boards (usually the private ones), from a pushy parent who can’t spell themselves.

Yeh but no but.

Typing on the MN app is often the cause of mistakes such as missing caps, bad spelling ect (just kidding, I know it’s etc) !

I currently have to voice dictate everything due to a disability. I don't really have a way to correct when my voice dictation gets the wrong version of words etc. .

The errors from dictation irritates me but I think these boards are best when they feel welcoming to everyone even those with dyslexia or with disabilities where they rely on voice dictation.
I don't think they want Mumsnet to become a place where you have to pass a written exam before you are allowed to use it

@ClickBeat , the thread is in Pedants' corner. The threads in other parts of MN are not going to attract the level of pedantry you'll find here.

I've not used a dictation tool but have seen the transcripts from meetings and they are not accurate.

I am well aware of that. It doesn't mean I can't participate in the thread though.

I have found it hugely illuminating both having to cope with voice dictation and also raising a child with dyslexia. I look back on how I used to judge others for their minor writing errors and realize I was a bit of a dick to be frank.

That's a pretty poor view of education, if you think that what you learned in class only applies in exam conditions.
What is the answer to the sum '2 + 2'? Is it only '4' in exam conditions and at other times it can be any number you fancy?

I don't judge minor writing errors. Typos and autocorrections happen. If I started a thread in here there would probably be an error in it.
If someone pointed it out, I'd not feel pilloried.

The worry I have is that many of the errors are probably made by posters who are not dyslexic or using a dictation service and have had about 11 years of English lessons at school.

It's estimated that 10 to 20% of people have dyslexia
Add to that people with disabilities whether that's once that affect them physically or things like CFS that cause brain fog (heavily overrepresented on forums because we are housebound often)
Add on to that probably 50% of people using the site are simultaneously doing something like cooking the dinner or watching TV.

I really don't think there's any need for handwringing

And that's before we include people for whom English is their second language

@ClickBeat , people with English as a second language often have far better English than mother tongue speakers. Some of the English on here is similar to my DP's; English is his fifth language and he's had no formal English education.

If the quality of a person's spelling and grammar drops below a certain threshold I don't bother to read it.
I find this method prevents me from becoming overwhelmed.

I completely agree OP but I think there is a bit if a culture within some streams of teaching to view excessive concentration on SPAG as class bias. The theory is if a pupil is writing or speaking in a way reflective of their parents style or background that should be accepted as an expression of their authentic selves.

It is such a shame as problems you have described are best addressed in childhood when the brain is developing but in some cases there is not the will. As adults we can't correct other people's SPAG issues or diction without insult 🫤

I bet more people read this web chat than read my English GCSE papers!

OP you cant start a thread complaining about SPAG mistakes and get upset when your own errors are pointed out. Quite funny really.
My DD has a first class honours degree and she often makes spelling and grammar errors and she is dyslexic, not lazy and she worked hard at school.
Some people have different levels of processing problems. It’s not fair to call people out all the time on mistakes - if you get the gist then that’s fine!

May I make the point that, if you don't edit your own writing, you are passing that labour on to your readers. If the labour is not worth it to them, they simply won't bother reading you, as a previous poster said.

None of those things excuse writing 'should of'.

there has to be a limit otherwise how do you know what anyone actually means?

Most readers can easily understand what is meant when someone uses 'their' in place of 'there' or 'they're', just as we can when someone speaks those words. It takes only a second to decipher.

There are a lot of sleep deprived people on here. Easy to write "to" instead of "too" when you've been up with wailing infant all night. Or you're simultaneously worrying about wayward teenagers and old folk with dementia. Or suffering from the fallout of some terrible life event like Waitrose running out of croissants. Maybe they are typing with fat fingers on a tiny phone.

Nd actlly, I thnk y cn wrk ou wht ppl mn wthout vry bldy lttr bing prfect!

But there has to be a limit otherwise how do you know what anyone actually means?

Does that extend to the gratuitous use of acronyms and abbreviations, @MagpiePi ?
I was baffled by your thread title and the first image that came to my mind was a vulnerable spaghetti dish, overwhelmed by something or other and requiring our sympathy.
For all the bad spelling etc on the site, none of it has caused me more than a moment's uncertainty - much as your thread title did.
The goal is communication. Spelling and grammar are the servants of that goal, not its masters. It is strange to fixate on them whilst ignoring other important ways of writing with clarity

More importantly, in contexts as informal as this it makes sense to accept that typing at speed, with the 'help' of autocorrect, is going to produce errors.

Writing is used for real-time conversational purposes now. That is very different from its use when spellings and grammar were originally formalised.
These days, what is required is the ability to switch between formal and informal contexts and apply the level of correctness that is appropriate to the context. We shouldn't have to waste time proofreading our posts any more than we have to spend time preparing our conversational input at the pub, to avoid hesitations, mispronunciations, etc.

In any case, when you complain that we are all supposed to be forgiving and not correct spellings, what, exactly, is it that you want to be able to do? If you genuinely can't understand someone, then you can ask them (or just scroll on). What more do you want to do? Keep us in detention and make us learn spellings for a test?