Correcting grammar and spelling - Good or Evil?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Has it become (or has it always been) acceptable to correct someone’s spelling and/or grammar? I admit that I used to do this, but it didn’t take long for me to figure out that it was generally not well received, and was actually rather rude. But I still see it happening, and not always correctly. I don’t have any specific examples - it happens on several of the boards that I belong to, as well as in emails that go back and forth at work. But I’ve seen posts that existed solely to correct a typo, and a minor one at that! To me, this just seems extremely egotistical, patronizing and beyond pedantic. Why does someone feel the need to call attention to the fact that someone transposed a few letters, or whatever the case may be?

The only time, IMHO, that it is okay is if someone indicates that they’re open to correction (by saying (sp?) or “How the hell do you spell that anyway?”) But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m the only one who sees this as a condescending exertion of the “Look what I know that you don’t” muscle.

Opinions welcome.

2

I’ve caught quite a few by myself and those I’m sure know better that occurred simply because we were “typing phonetically”. I agree that it’s kinda silly to correct single instances as they’re likely unintentional.

About the only time I’d actually correct someone is if the mistake is habitual and reoccurring and is made by someone being overly annoying in their attitude.

But then the typos that provide for amusement? Definately fair game!

3

Gotta agree there - I witnessed a “counting sheep” fiasco once that, to this day, brings me to tears.

4

Since this seems appropriate for this thread I’m wondering if reoccurring is even a word. I’ve always used recurring but I’ve heard reoccurring used more and more often lately.

5

I rarely do it to individuals, but if I see a misspelled sign in a store I let someone know about it. It’s my thing.

6

Well it exists in Merriam-Webster in the list of words that begins with re- so I’m thinking it’s okay. :wink:

7

Copyeditor here.

I have found that correcting someone else’s spelling/grammar is appropriate in three cases:

(1) when it’s requested,
(2) when it’s necessary for clarification (enabling a Google search, logical clarity), and
(3) when necessary to save someone from embarrassment or other detriment (resume, college essay, letter to a client, etc.). In this case you must be certain that the person will appreciate the correction.

On a message board or in other informal contexts, it’s rude, IMHO. None of us are immune from mistakes. I’m a great speller but a terrible typist, and I also can tell the difference between formal and informal writing situations. If I talked the way I write, I would sound incredibly pompous. There is a time and a place for absolute correctness. This ain’t it. (See?)

I will occasionally call attention to a humorous typo, but I make absolutely sure that I am laughing at the outcome of the inadvertent error and not the person who made it.

Leetspeak and IM-type shorthand is fair game, though, IMHO.

8

Dictionary.com has no entry for “reoccurring,” but does suggest “recurring.”

yourdictionary.com also has no entry, but brings up the root for it, “reoccur.”

9

Since I’m an editor, it’s not so much “good” or “evil” as “paycheck.”

10

Scarlett67 said it well. (Part of being an editor is knowing when to let another editor do the work.)
:stuck_out_tongue:

11

I guess I should clarify by saying there are obviously other times when it’s acceptable - my beef is when it’s an environment such as this one; informal, friendly, etc. - when it comes down to one friend correcting another.

12

I used to do it as well, but have since mended my ways. It came to a point where I realized I wasn’t really helping anyone. No one had ever replied to a correction in a thankful manner. It just wasn’t productive in a setting such as this one.

I now find myself far more annoyed by the corrector than the one being corrected.

13

Heh, thanks Juanita. I knew I should have SpellCzech’d.

14

You can always take a subtle tack by quoting the sentence or paragraph with the misspelled word, and, without calling any special attention to the fact that you’re spelling it correctly, spell it correctly in your reply. Whether or not they can spell it right is one thing, but you certainly don’t have to misspell it in sympathy! This approach only works when you would have quoted that sentence or paragraph anyway.

I correct more spelling than I probably ought to, but I’m just compulsive that way. I basically EXPECT to be snapped at for my temerity, so when the other person reacts by thanking me – or simply doesn’t give me a hard time – it feels so nice!

On the rare occasions where I give others an opening to correct my spelling, I’m generally pissed at myself for not already knowing, but I don’t really bear any ill will toward the person correcting. So, say what you will, but I can dish it AND take it, too.

15

I don’t point out spelling errors unless asked, although on occasion, I’ve almost had to break my fingers to stop myself. Not exactly a spelling error but when people mistakenly use then for than, it irritates me beyond belief.

I worry sometimes that my friends in the US may not understand the spelling differences between our two countries and think I’m a poor speller. There was a time I tried spelling everything the American way just to avoid this misunderstanding but these days I don’t bother. I think most people outside the US are aware that Americans do spell differently from the rest of us but I’m not entirely sure it works the other way around.

16

In Dutch, there is a certain kind of grammatical mistake that is particularly frowned upon. It is, more or less, the worst kind of mistake you can make. Strangely enough, this is not because the rules governing this particular situation are so easy to follow, quite the opposite: it is a particularly nasty rule that can even confuse the most confident speller. (IE me :wink:

It has to do with regular and irregular verbs. Depending on the situation, a verb like ‘antwoorden’ (to answer) may end up like this:

  • ik gaf hem antwoord (lit. I gave him answer, I answered him)
  • hij heeft zijn eigen vraag beantwoordt (lit. he has his own question answered, he answered his own question)
  • ik antwoordde hem (lit. I answered * him.)

(If I messed up with any of these examples, I will probably have to hand in my passport. We Dutch are like piranhas in this respect: if one is caught bleeding, the rest will eat him alive. Still, I’ve been thinking about it for so long I got confused again… :smack:

So that’s three possible options for ‘antwoorden’. Other verbs may have OTHER options, including one or two t’s, also depending on whether you are speaking in the past or the present tense. In this case, any version of ‘antwoorden’ ending in a T is definitely wrong, though many Dutch would pronounce it specifically with a sharp t-sound at the end!

Of course, there is a ‘trick’ to help you with this. We use the distinctly weird expression ‘t Kofschip (including the T which would be some kind of abbreviation for ‘the’ except a kofschip isn’t anything in particular either so that doesn’t exactly help foreign speakers OR the Dutch) and if the root of the verb (that is, the version of the verb that comes after ‘I’, like I Walk in English except (sigh…) there you’d say I am walking rather than I Walk… are you starting to see why foreigners hardly ever get this right?) ends in a letter that is in ‘t Kofschip (not counting the o or the I, did I mention that?), the variation you need is likely to end with a t rather than a d.

Anyway, fuck this up and people will correct you even though they may already have seen or heard OTHERS correct you! It really is the worst kind of mistake you can make, especially if you are a journalist. And you’re bound too, because no spellchecker has yet been invented that can deal with this kind of shit. Still, your editor will probably get a few letters complaining about falling standards in his newspaper! Any errors like this in a job-application and you will never work for that company again, at least not behind a desk.

Check http://www.taalthuis.com/course/beginners/les107.html if you’re interested. By the way, I cry easily when people correct MY mistakes, especially in English :wink:

17

It’s funny you mention this (and ironic that I’m going to admit to this because I’m the OP bitching here :wink: ) but I was told that this is what I do a lot in chat. I will use the word that was misspelled in my next statement, but in a totally innocuous way, with the correct spelling - like a subconcious pointing out of the mistake. I don’t do it on purpose but since it was pointed out to me, I have noticed that it’s true. At least that’s not saying “Hey, you misspelled that word, you’re supposed to spell it like this.” It’s when it’s simply correction for no real purpose other than to point out that someone made a mistake that it bugs me. I guess the funny thing is, I’m rarely the one being corrected, so as **Severian ** I’m usually getting more annoyed by the corrector than the correctee.
And Warnas, I am fairly fluent in Afrikaans, which of course is similar to Dutch (to the point that I can read a Dutch document and understand most of it), and have definitely come up against the strange idiosyncracies that you mention, but all in all, it’s far easier to speak than English, in my opinion.

18

None of us is immune from mistakes?

Sorry, somebody had to do it…

19

I dont normally do it on a message board, but if i use the word in my reply I will spell it correctly.

FWIW, my best friend other than Mr Aru is german, and we have an agreement where I will correct his grammer and occasional word choice and in person pronunciation [and getting him to spell it thighs instead of tights was a long effort=) but at least he was in the right physical location=)] and in my poor efforts to speak or write german, he corrects me=)

The only problem I have with him is driving me insane…

He will not believe me when I tell him that he speaks better english than many people born in america, and better english than probably 80% of the immigrants I have met that have been in the country for more than a couple years=\ He also couldnt understand why we didnt have any immigration policy requiring the cantidate to be able to speak english…to become a german citizen you essentially have to be fluent in everyday conversational german. Yikes!

<and as an aside, it is fascinating visiting germany, almost every person I have met speaks english to some degree>

20

You’re definitely right about that!

:slight_smile: