[BrandonSternfield]

I refuse to do grammar homework on a web forum!

[Smuck]

Originally Posted by BrandonSternfield

I refuse to do grammar homework on a web forum!

lol I'm with ya!

[SEO Nick]

Originally Posted by seogerry

That's a good one, Nick. It's so common.
But your explanation is misleading, because "effect" can be a verb.
"It's time to effect some changes in America's literacy."

Ahhh! you got me. You know what made me post that? Oprah did a show on annoying grammar mistakes last week.

[Smuck]

Originally Posted by SEO Nick

Ahhh! you got me. You know what made me post that? Oprah did a show on annoying grammar mistakes last week.

Oprah? I suspect this thread has just taken a turn!

[OHMwebmaster]

Back on the writing topic, , I think most people make mistakes because they don't check their own work, or they check it right after writing.

I like to sleep before publishing articles online (well, sleep is good in general, too) and usually in the morning I see mistakes that I didn't the night before.

Pet peeve: mixing up "weather" and "whether." That poem reminded me of it.

[Homesurfer]

I never mis-spell anything. I just make typos. Of course, sometimes I also type too fast for my wireless keyboard to keep up (or the battery is about to go dead).

Those are my excuses, and I'm sticking to them.

[Dan Connolly]

I get emails all the thyme with words that have bean spilled wrong. I hate that so I always do a spill Czech to make sure noon of my words are miss spilled. That way everyone down thank I’m stooped.

[Homesurfer]

Originally Posted by Dan Connolly

That way everyone down thank I’m stooped.

...Or an idjut.

[Sam Chapman]

Really good stuff here - wow, that was good grammar! Seriously though, it frustrates me to see the number of kids in high school and college who can't spell and don't know proper grammar. The language of the IM world certainly doesn't help the situation either.

[BrandonSternfield]

Ironically enough, with internet lingo on the rise, grammar shouldn't decline.

lol means laugh out loud. You lol. You can lol. You can make someone lol. It can be used properly (this is assuming we don't have lollerskaters, lolcat, and all the other online variations of 'lol').

Spelling on the other hand.. with every browser out there having a spell checker either built in or easily installed, there is no excuse to spell things incorrectly. Granted it can't check grammar, so things like their/there/they're won't get fixed, but at least you can spell the and potato right (here's looking at you Mr. Quayle).

Here is an excerpt I wrote on another forum I frequent[I'd like to preface the other forum is a much more casual, non-professional area, so excuse the casual tone]:

Originally Posted by BrandonSternfield

One of the biggest problems now a days, is the unlimited amount of chat speak. This is of course, cuz, u, r, etc. Yes, in that IM you sent, it makes communicating faster, and generally, the person you are talking to understands it. When you ask some random person in an email "d00d can u plz move, ur blckng meh' They might simply type back 'Was that English?'

Web

For web sites, whether forums or other websites, you might think you only have one option. To type into another program, for instance Word (whether MS or Open, your choice) and spell check it, then copy/paste. My friend, you are seriously mistaken.

You are in fact, not the only person to have this affliction known as poor spelling. There are others like you out there, and there is a solution! Fear not, for I do not require a donation, or any earthly possessions. Your simple ability to post coherently will be more then enough gratitude for me.

Here is a simple list, of plugins, addons, extensions. Give them any name you wish, yet they all simply do what we need. They do spell checking. As I type this, the word 'plugins' has a red underline. My current addon thinks this is spelled wrong. I personally like that spelling, so I will add it to my dictionary.

This means you could even add 'u', 'r', and the rest in there. But what's the point in that?

http://www.iespell.com/ - Internet Explorer Plugin that can spell check for you
http://spellbound.sourceforge.net/ - Spell checker Extension for Fire fox
http://www.opera.com/support/tutoria...ra/spellcheck/ - Spell checking with Opera
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/uiuc/d...y/netscape.htm - Spell checking for Netscape
http://www.onedigitallife.com/2006/1...ker-in-safari/ - Instructions to turn on the default spell checking in Safari

If I didn't list a link for your browser(um.. what are you using? o.O), simply go to www.google.com or your favorite non-pr0n search engine, and put in spell checking. It's generally the first link you see. Let me know, and I'll update this list with your current program and the link to the spell checker.

Now, generally speaking these won't check grammar. I.e. if you type 'They went over to there house.' it wouldn't tell you anything was wrong. All the words are spelled correctly. In that case, be sure that I will be around to mock you, like the grammar Nazi that I can be

I had other sections, but they don't really pertain here (AIM/MSN/Yahoo/ICQ, and a few games I play, and college specific things, though Facebook/Myspace could work here now!)