Ask Lemmy

To anyone who has a problem with singular they:

Roses are red, violets aren't blue
Singular they is older than singular you

someone corrected me on spelling "at least" "atleast"
like... alright? (wink wink nudge nudge)

anyways I was in a bad mood and wrote a passive aggressive message I ended up not sending

Words condense over time, it's not a crime to not type a space.

do you say "goodbye" or "God be with ye"? what about "gossip" or "farewell"?

What about a purpose misspelling being turned to one of the most common words in conversation? "all correct" -> "oll korect" -> "ok"

Using "they" as singular. Also, referring to animals besides humans as "he," "she," or "they" instead of "it."

I usually am a grammar nazi, but these are things I do very intentionally.

By some standards, the Oxford comma is still incorrect grammar. I'll die on the hill that it has utility, and I'm glad it's becoming more of a commonly accepted convention.

Putting contracted words in the wrong places. Like ending a sentence with "you're".

Using "less" instead of "fewer".

Not getting spellings 100% accurate all the time.

Using the wrong version of 'your' or 'their'.

*defense

End a sentence with a preposition if you want to. And start one with a conjunction.

Putting question marks or exclamation points after "quotation marks"! I've never understood the point of putting the punctuation inside the quotation unless it's part of the quotation itself.

I really like to write 'gonna.'

If I am clearly referring to myself (as in a text), I shouldn't have to inlude myself in the sentence. Ex: "just grabbing food" vs "I'm just grabbing food".

Ending a sentence with a preposition has been standard in English for longer than the language has existed, it's nothing to be ashamed of.

The right to gleefully split infinitives.

It is perfectly cromulent to use "less" in place of "fewer".

I feel like a lot of the grammar sticklers out there only speak one language, and their lack of sympathy towards people speaking English as a second or third language is low.

If you can convey your point– good enough for me!

I think outside of highly formalized writing (usually found exclusively in academia) grammar only matters to the extent that it doesn't interfere with the voice of the author.

It matters because it makes things easier to read. A wall of text with no punctuation or capitalization is difficult to parse, both for the reader and for the writer if they need to go back and make changes.

On the other hand, punctuation can be used incorrectly to convey things that might be part of how the author speaks. Examples being: using ellipsis to indicate trailing off at the end of a sentence, perhaps because you're still trying to find words to finish the thought, or using parentheses to indicate a slight tangent or clarifying statement, or failing to use a period at the end of a text message to indicate a softer tone and an openness to a response.

Capitalization and misspellings can be used similarly. Such as intentionally misspelling a word to indicate that it should be pronounced differently than usual, or capitalizing all or part of a word to add emphasis.

TLDR: Proper grammar matters for clearly conveying information, but intentionally breaking grammatical rules is a good way to add your voice, personality, and tone into your writing. And that is more important than being technically correct.

Nothing, and the whole "grammar nazis" thing is rotten. There is never a reason to have any other reaction to being corrected about objective things than learning from the mistake. If someone shows you the spelling or grammar mistakes you made, read it and memorise the corrections. You're not losing anything by getting better at communication, you only gain. It doesn't take you five minutes longer to spell the words correctly and you don't make yourself look like an idiot, child with learning disabilities or someone who seriously doesn't care about the most basic and expected shit we do for others. Language is an astounding tool and people who spot on it by not caring about spelling and grammar should be forced to take classes and taught to see how important it is.

Conversational/informal English, there are no rules and anything goes, speak/type however the fuck ya want. if you wouldn't wear a tuxedo to the gas station you don't need 100% proper punctuation and sentence structure for internet shitposting

written formal English, yeah I personally will judge you if you use the wrong "there/their/they're," but maybe future generations will collectively decide on one universal spelling cuz it's just fuckin easier, and that's fine! languages evolve no matter how much grumpy old women like me enjoy bitching/memeing about it lol