Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Alle sprechen hier einfach doof...

 d-usa wrote:
Alle sprechen hier einfach doof...

Sen kural kırılıyor musun. Ingilizce sadece!

Honestly, I really don't care about people making minor grammar errors. I've never really gotten my head around when you should use its and when you should use it's... and I'm certain I overuse ellipsis.

I think what matters is it is fairly easy to figure out what a person is saying. If I have hard time trying to figure out what someone is trying to say then I'll just skip their post. To the extent that grammar helps to make a post clear, then it's important, but honestly I wish people would spend more time on the substance of their point, than on the technical details of its grammar.

 sebster wrote:
I've never really gotten my head around when you should use its and when you should use it's

Its = something belonging to "it". ie "its taste was very strange because it had been eating biscuits and gravy".

It's = "it is". ie "It's very strange to eat biscuits and gravy".

 SilverMK2 wrote:

 sebster wrote:
I've never really gotten my head around when you should use its and when you should use it's

Its = something belonging to "it". ie "its taste was very strange because it had been eating biscuits and gravy".

It's = "it is". ie "It's very strange to eat biscuits and gravy".

Which is backwards from the regular rule for a possessive 's isn't it?

 d-usa wrote:

 SilverMK2 wrote:

 sebster wrote:
I've never really gotten my head around when you should use its and when you should use it's

Its = something belonging to "it". ie "its taste was very strange because it had been eating biscuits and gravy".

It's = "it is". ie "It's very strange to eat biscuits and gravy".

Which is backwards from the regular rule for a possessive 's isn't it?

This is English. It doesn't have rules

 d-usa wrote:
Which is backwards from the regular rule for a possessive 's isn't it?

Kind of but not so much as you might think: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/exercises/grammar/grammar_tutorial/page_13.htm

The errors in spelling and grammar which one may find on Dakka.

I don't really care about it online, unless I find it hard to understand.

I don't mind an occasional error. Even Kronk makes them from time to time. We should remember that we also have international posters (Norway, Germany, Spain, California) and other areas where English is not the primary language, and yet they post quite well. Cut them a little slack if they confuse words/spelling here or there.

However, when post after post from a US or UK poster is filled with with constant punctuation, spelling, and other errors, I tend to just stop reading from them.

As for which tends to have the worst spelling/grammar errors (UK vs US), I don't notice a difference, actually. I do tend to notice a trend that the younger posters have worse grammar/spelling, but that's just a trend and I may be biased.

Get off my lawn!

 dæl wrote:
I have a somewhat irrational annoyance at people using then when they mean than.

There are pictures going around (still) on Facebook and others that lists the correct uses for this kind of thing.
Then/than (one I only came across after reading Dakka),
There/their/they're,
lose/loose,
etc

Look up the grocers apostrophe problem. It goes back centuries, and there's no end in sight. http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/jul/08/books.booksnews

But, since the English language seems to have been standardised earlier in the US than elsewhere, we drifted more than you have 'before the lock'. Also, we keep more of the imported words. Coup de grace, voila and such, got brought in by the French aristocracy after 1066 IIRC, and it's stuck.

The bits that get me are the over-simplifications. Airplane instead of aeroplane. Sailboat in place of sailing boat, dinghy or yacht. At least the more complex versions stayed, like television, instead of far-viewer or something.
Albeit is one that gets torn apart, as a lot of people don't know it exists as a work.

The "Ro/Ro" ship comment really threw me. notprop's reply sorted it out, but I'd had no clue what was meant. I assume it's a 'roll-on/roll-off' type of ferry, not a rowing-boat.
We have pubs everywhere, even on motorways these days. British society was built in the pub. How many technological breakthroughs were made over a pint?
I work for the local council and there's a huge amount of old floorplans that list the office bar, or the beer store in fire stations, etc.

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 d-usa wrote:

 SilverMK2 wrote:

 sebster wrote:
I've never really gotten my head around when you should use its and when you should use it's

Its = something belonging to "it". ie "its taste was very strange because it had been eating biscuits and gravy".

It's = "it is". ie "It's very strange to eat biscuits and gravy".

Which is backwards from the regular rule for a possessive 's isn't it?

This is English. It doesn't have rules

Or rather we have rules which apply only half the time.

I blame the french.