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English 101

Started by Hellsp4wn Oct 13, 2003 at 1:14 PM 18 replies 800+ views
Original Post
Hellsp4wn
Hellsp4wn
Well, I got an itch in my two index fingers, so I decided to write this rather long post about something that''s been bugging me a while. I''m not saying that I''m the english professor that never makes any spelling or grammar mistakes (Hey, english isn''t even my native language, nor do I live in an english-speaking country). ''Cause I do mistakes, and I know it. And I''m not trying to start a flamewar, which is probably what I would get from those who recognize themselves a bit too much Still, I''m growing tired of seeing all the common mistakes over and over, which isn''t really that hard to learn First of all: your and you''re Now, the strange little "you''re" thingy, is a short version of this: You are Now all of you who writes "You''re coding style sucks" can probably begin to realize why this is wrong. You are coding style sucks.... Not many would say or even write this. The strange little "your" thingy means; that which belongs to you (or equivalent). So who of you would now prefer this way: "Your coding style sucks"? All raise hands? Good Now let''s move on to the other thing that''s been bugging me. Then or than? Noone seems to know. > means greater than, NOT greater then "This is better then that" How many times haven''t we seen that? THAT IS WRONG!!! Next time you wonder which, think Greater THAN, and THEN you will remember. Now ain''t that wierd Wierd?? What does that mean? In the giant dictionary I own, I can''t find wierd anywhere. Maybe it''s incomplete then, ''cause everyone''s saying it? NO, it''s just misspelled WEIRD is the correct spelling Now everyone probably thinks of me as the nitpicking guy that thinks he is so much better than everyone. Well, I simply grew tired of translating every second post because of these very common mistakes that sometimes can make people''s points become lost somewhere between the i and the e in the misspelled wierd... Hellsp4wn ----------- I''m having deja-vu and amnesia at the same time. It''s like I think I''ve forgotten this before.
pamaro
pamaro
Well, we gotta live with that. Anyway, mixing up "your" with "you''re" or "than" with "then" isn''t nearly as annoying as having to read the "OMFG" language .

Anyway, you don''t have to force yourself to translate stuff... and here''s a short text I read somewhere explaining why:

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn''t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

Pedro
Taulin
Taulin
''Wierd'' is correct. Remember, "I befor E except after C".
Mscgamer
Mscgamer
Hellsp4wn, since you like to point out common mistakes that people make while writing E nglish, I decided to post a list of your mistakes:

- English is capitalized.
- You're supposed to end sentences with some form of punctuation (a period, exclamation point, etc.).
- "... All of you who writes" should be "all of you who write".
- "Noone" is not a word.
etc.

If you're going to make a post that insults people for making mistakes, make sure that you're not making the same mistakes.

[edited by - Mscgamer on October 13, 2003 3:56:57 PM]
msn12b
msn12b
quote:
Original post by Taulin
''Wierd'' is correct. Remember, "I befor E except after C".


Except it''s weird.

MSN
Oluseyi
Oluseyi
quote:
Original post by Taulin
''Wierd'' is correct. Remember, "I befor E except after C".
Every rule has it''s exception(s). "Weird" is one of them. "Their" ("their car") is another. "Heir" ("heir to a fortune of millions") is a third. And so forth.

"Rules" for English usually suck because it''s such an irregular language. German is far more regular, with only one or two exceptions per rule. Also note that the number of exceptions in every language is constantly on the rise because of word borrowing.
5010
5010
quote:

I''m not saying that I''m the english professor that never makes any spelling or grammar mistakes (Hey, english isn''t even my native language, nor do I live in an english-speaking country). ''Cause I do mistakes, and I know it.


"english" should be changed to "English".
"I do mistakes" should be changed to "I do make mistakes".
Don''t use a comma between "mistakes" and "and".

quote:

And I''m not trying to start a flamewar, which is probably what I would get from those who recognize themselves a bit too much


"flamewar" should be changed to "flame war" or "flame-war".
You forgot a period at the end.

quote:

Still, I''m growing tired of seeing all the common mistakes over and over, which isn''t really that hard to learn


You forgot the period again.

quote:

Now, the strange little "you''re" thingy, is a short version of this: You are


"thingy" is not a word.
You forgot the period again.

quote:

Now all of you who writes "You''re coding style sucks" can probably begin to realize why this is wrong.


"all of you who writes" should be changed to "all of you who write".

quote:

All raise hands? Good


You forgot the period again.

quote:

Then or than? Noone seems to know.


"Noone" should be changed to "No one".

quote:

THAT IS WRONG!!!


Only one punctuation mark is allowed for proper English.
-solo (my site)
Pouya
Pouya
quote:
Original post by pamaro
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn''t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

It''s been almost a week since that was last posted, I was thinking it''s about time someone brings it up again.

(If you haven''t kept track of it, there has been as many as 5-10 different threads resurrecting this every once in a while)
Pouya
Pouya
quote:
Original post by 5010
Only one punctuation mark is allowed for proper English.
Actually, ''!?'' is two punctuation marks and is proper English.
CGameProgrammer
CGameProgrammer
quote:
Original post by 5010
Only one punctuation mark is allowed for proper English.

Oh yeah? What about:
Were you eating lots of cake, cookies, etc.?
or even:
Those don''t belong to you; they''re the programmers''.
Also there''s the epsilon (...) but I guess you could count that as one punctuation mark.

~CGameProgrammer( );

-- Post screenshots of your projects. 100+ posts already in the archives.
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5010
5010
quote:
Original post by Pouya
quote:
Original post by 5010
Only one punctuation mark is allowed for proper English.
Actually, ''!?'' is two punctuation marks and is proper English.


You are right. I mean to say "exclamation mark". My bad!
-solo (my site)
Hellsp4wn
Hellsp4wn
Heehee, so many replies. Was kinda expecting to get many angry and "insulting" replies the second I hit Post...
I don''t think I was insulting people, but maybe that''s just me, not taking myself so seriously...

I usually never capitalize anything but the first letter in a sentence, and "I"... And who cares about periods at the end of a line anyway? It''s not like I leave out ALL punctuation (that can be hell to read...)

Everyone has their own writingstyle, but wierd, then/than, you''re/your, plus many more I guess, has nothing to do with that, unless you actually write them on purpose, trying to make nitpicking people like me.

As to the nitpicking part, I''m glad to see I''m not alone, 5010, mscgamer =)
And I DID admit that I was making mistakes, and I learn to avoid some of them everyday.

The main reason for my post was really because it''s frightening to see these 2nd grade grammar errors (in Norway anyway...) being made over and over by so many people. Non-English people (and hey, English people too I guess) may begin to think this is in fact the correct way. I even catch myself writing the wrong way from time to time, ''cause my brain is so infected by 1337-5p33k, or whatever you call it, that my subconsciousness(can''t spell that word...) keep writing u instead of you in schoolpapers and other work where it really doesn''t belong.

Hellsp4wn
-----------

I''m having deja-vu and amnesia at the same time. It''s like I think I''ve forgotten this before.
Zul
Zul
Which witch watched whether the well witch was with the worse witch which wasn''t worthy?

You''re your mother''s child.

There were three birds on a tree, but their feathers were not bright. They''re made out of plastic.

Whether or not the weather cooperates, we''re going to the beach.

Yay for homonyms.
oh hai
Taulin
Taulin
quote:
Original post by Oluseyi
quote:
Original post by Taulin
'Wierd' is correct. Remember, "I befor E except after C".
Every rule has it's exception(s). "Weird" is one of them. "Their" ("their car") is another. "Heir" ("heir to a fortune of millions") is a third. And so forth.

"Rules" for English usually suck because it's such an irregular language. German is far more regular, with only one or two exceptions per rule. Also note that the number of exceptions in every language is constantly on the rise because of word borrowing.


SWIIISSHHH!!!! And it flies right over his head!

[edited by - taulin on October 13, 2003 5:30:07 PM]
dave j
dave j
quote:
Original post by 5010
quote:

Now, the strange little "you''re" thingy, is a short version of this: You are


"thingy" is not a word.


Yes it is! It''s in the Oxford English Dictionary.

As is thinglet, thingish, thingly, thinglessness and lots of others I can''t be bothered to type in. ;-)


dave j
CGameProgrammer
CGameProgrammer
quote:
Original post by leinad
it''s ellipses...NOT EPSILON!!

It''s ellipsis... NOT ELLIPSES! ...unless you''re pluralizing it.

~CGameProgrammer( );

-- Post screenshots of your projects. 100+ posts already in the archives.
~CGameProgrammer( ); Developer Image Exchange -- New Features: Upload screenshots of your games (size is unlimited) and upload the game itself (up to 10MB). Free. No registration needed.

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