when did Grammar and the English Language die?

[Spargano]

I know I am going to be flamed for this, but I have to ask. The rampant misuse of the language has gotten beyond merely bad.

[Donney60]

Unfortunatly, the problem is much bigger than individuals. My local newspaper does not bother with these mundane tasks either. Long ago in my school days I would not see a single mistake in a dozen daily papers. Now I usually find basic errors in every article and usually several. There are mistakes like said above but also using the same word twice in a row and often ending an article mid sentence. The average person does not even see examples of proper writing on a daily basis. My "smart" phone mangles my messages as it "auto corrects" as I hit the send button --often leaving them unintelligble.

[Denube]

It's rare to see a good example of writing. I'd like to think I am one of the few people my age who actually gives a damn about not mutilating the English language, but there are times in which I do get a little lazy. However, I think you're exactly right Donney. Most people don't see examples of good English on a regular basis.

[Darkfinn]

Grammar and the English Language didn't "die" at all. Language is a living thing, it EVOLVES as people use it. Get enough people to speak or write "incorrectly" enough times and it suddenly becomes correct. How do you think modern English developed in the first place?

[dlsmd]

i would like to say one thing about this discussion

there are people out there that have issues like dyslexia, or mental things that hinder them from using the correct words/spellings

i am one of these but i do try but it just does not always work

[Bettypooh]

How do you think modern English developed in the first place?

[Thad]

personally i belive it to be the work of so called "hip-hop" and "rap" "artists". now i realize the rampant use of quotation marks, but i belive it to get my point across. that is my personal view anyways your may be different,

what is this spell-checker thing you keep mentioning? i must be too old to recall such a thing, lol (jk)

[Sticks]

I think I agree with most everyone's posts.

[Spargano]

Grammar and the English Language didn't "die" at all. Language is a living thing, it EVOLVES as people use it. Get enough people to speak or write "incorrectly" enough times and it suddenly becomes correct. How do you think modern English developed in the first place?

you are correct. It is supposed evolve, not devolve. The rules changed to fit the common vernacular of the people. That is nothing new across languages across the globe. Middle English and Modern English owe a lot to Shakespeare and poets who added new ways of speaking, but they followed basic rules of language. We have devolved into not knowing how to spell at all. We have devolved into not knowing what diction and syntax mean.

[timmyc]

these is a gud thread, i learned lotz form. it

[DavidMW]

One summer back in college I took a couple classes, one of which was Modern English Grammar.

[Dirty Diaper/Maxipad Lover]

Darkfinn already hit one of the points I was going to make, but there's a difference between the language evolving and people just butchering it. When it comes to a place like DD I might occasionally screw with my writing style to avoid people who know me personally from somehow figuring out who I am on DD. That's only a small part of the problem though.

[Dill_Pickle]

Here's my .02 on this:

[rusty pins]

I will be the first one to say my spelling is not good, but it is getting better.

[Denube]

I will be the first one to say my spelling is not good, but it is getting better.

[Bettypooh]

I think that part of this (probably the largest part) is pure laziness too. It takes a bit of effort to write something using decent grammar. When I see that someonje hasn't put much effort into their writing it tells me that what they are saying is probably of little worth to me. If they wanted me to understand they would try to make it understandable If they don't care then I don't care either

[kevindhca]

Let's face the facts.

English is a hard language to learn.

Only a very small percentage of people who speak English can write it correctly.

Any language that has a lot of contradictions and special rules, will only be executed correctly by the most intelligent educated members of a society.

People with lower intellect will never be able to navigate all the special rules that English writing demands.

I would speculate that we will never achieve better than 70% literacy with the English language.

The question should be:

Why do we stick to a language that will never ever result in close to 100% literacy.

Some saw this problem more than 300 years ago.

Korea had a very low literacy rate. A new language was developed that was easy for everyone to learn and write.

The literacy rate there has been around 99% for a very long time.

Why are we so stupid?

[Elfy]

You want to see bad use of English? Try the chat room!

[BabyJune]

This is just my opinion, but I believe that the problem comes from parents who are not involved enough in their children's learning. Parents expect that the schools will do it all. When I was a kid, the first question I was asked when I came in the door after school was, "Do you have any homework?" My parents and my grandmother would sit with me and double-check my work. If I didn't understand something, they were there to fix the problem. Many parents today are simply "kid owners." I don't mean to offend any parents here, but let's face it: most kids will not show enough self-discipline to learn without adult prompting and coaching. English is not an easy language to master--that includes spelling, grammar, and punctuation. When time and guidance are lacking, it shows. Modern-day texting doesn't help any, either. I hope that my "two cents" makes "sense."

[DavidMW]

It can be some teachers, too.

[BunnyGirl]

It died when the US had to make the American English language different from the English English language. People like to be different, and the slangs are no different.

[Darkfinn]

Darkfinn already hit one of the points I was going to make, but there's a difference between the language evolving and people just butchering it...

[Angela Bauer]

Bernard Shaw, who as we all know was Irish, but this language divide well: England and The USA are two great nations separated by a common language!

[Denube]

Honestly, the main point of this story is the complete butchery of the English language in publications--places where this butchery should not be happening. Yeah, there are some things that can be a bit grey such as American and British English spelling differences, but as mentioned in the first post, an article confused 'here' with 'hear'. One is a place, the other is the act of detecting a sound. There is and will always be a massive difference between the two, despite the homophonic tendencies of the words. It's a massive pet peeve of mine as well.

[Dubious]

American is simplified so its easier to learn