The Comma bomb

[Aspieistj]

Oh there was no mistake. They are my comma's. In fact, im working on my version of extra comma's, to be used for that reflective moment, that needs a longer pause.

OMG!!!! I am an Aspie and I NEED perfect grammar, spelling and punctuation. I am about to have a meltdown ----- How could anyone ever be so mean to me Ok, here you go: ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,!

 

[umbrellabeach]

In case anyone has been told that you use a comma about where you would take a breath if you were speaking a sentence out loud, that's not true (I've heard of some English teachers who teach that, amazingly enough).

Amen. I am seeing way too many posts online that go something like "The people who really care, will never leave." The comma in that sentence is unnecessary, but using it seems to have become an epidemic (or maybe I'm just now noticing it).

 

[Ereth]

I guess you are. Welcome to my world. Haha.

On another forum I've been proofreading the text of creative works. I also got into a grammar debate with somebody who doesn't understand why the grammatically correct way to say a sentence such as "It's him" is "It's he." Yes, it's considered formal and stuffy these days, but goddammit, I'm still right.

*facepalm*

He probably won't care about the points I made. Some other users have decided to poke fun at us, too, so I feel kind of crappy. It's not my fault I have an English computer in my brain! I was born this way! But I guess it's my fault for expecting complete strangers on the Internet to give a damn about proper grammar.

 

[Turnip]

I guess you are. Welcome to my world. Haha.

On another forum I've been proofreading the text of creative works. I also got into a grammar debate with somebody who doesn't understand why the grammatically correct way to say a sentence such as "It's him" is "It's he." Yes, it's considered formal and stuffy these days, but goddammit, I'm still right.

*facepalm*

He probably won't care about the points I made. Some other users have decided to poke fun at us, too, so I feel kind of crappy. It's not my fault I have an English computer in my brain! I was born this way! But I guess it's my fault for expecting complete strangers on the Internet to give a damn about proper grammar.

I thought this thread was about poking fun at ourselves actually. And I'm possibly a bit confused here, I would have thought "It's him." and "It's he." were both valid?

 

[Ereth]

"It's him" is becoming accepted as an informal way to say it because it's used in common speech these days, but the rule dictates that "It's he" is what's actually correct.

 

[Turnip]

Isn't English an evolving language, such that if everyone (or almost everyone) exclusively uses "It's him" to identify a subject in the third person and only uses "It's he" to refer to themselves in the first person, then the rule changes or at least an exception to the rule is accepted (to reference an earlier post regarding the possessive apostrophe, the poster did not mention the exception for "it's", it seems to me that English is filled with rules with exceptions)

 

[Ereth]

I'm not disputing that language evolves. I do recognize that the informal construction has its place. My debate on the other forum started because the other person made an unnecessary correction to someone's dialogue which ultimately called the grammatically correct construction incorrect---which, as I have been trying to tell that person, is untrue. He or she may not like that it's the rule, but it is.

 

[Aspieistj]

"It's him" is becoming accepted as an informal way to say it because it's used in common speech these days, but the rule dictates that "It's he" is what's actually correct.

Say it this way: It's him who would do it." Him would do it???? No, HE would do it. Obviously, it's HE! I am terribly frustrated when the great unwashed insist that proper grammar is stuffy. For me, fractured English is like singing off key. Common speech is for commoners.

 

[Ereth]

I did try to explain it that way in the debate, but I could convince my opponent of nothing. Now you know why I feel like bashing my head against the wall. I have no problem with informal grammatical constructions (some of my most favorite books use them, after all), but the other person shouldn't say the correct way is wrong.

 

[Turnip]

@Ereth I would have thought that such debate misses the point. Surely, it's not which is actually more correct, but rather which construction the character is more likely to have spoken.

 

[Ereth]

We already talked about that. My impression was that the character prefers formal speech, and the original dialogue which was falsely corrected did in fact use the now-formal construction.

It may be silly, but I continued the debate precisely because the other person sees the truly more correct option as incorrect ALL (or most of) the time.

 

[Turnip]

Oh, we've ALL been there (granted for me not so much with the grammar)

 

[kmom2014]

I use a lot of commas too but I think in more of their proper usage. Which people don't understand. I have read a Facebook status from someone making a snide remark about the overuse of commas and I'm 99% sure it was toward me but I use them PROPERLY! There are often breaks in sentences which require, yes, a comma!

 

[Ereth]

Yeah, that's basically what happened, Turnip.

But at the end of my response to the new thread, I said, "I suspect neither of us will be able to convince the other, so I'm probably going to step away now." (And by that I meant, "This ain't worth it!")

 

[nowwhat]

Slightly paraphrased, but....

 

[Aspieistj]

I, as an Aspie, am totally unable to understand why anyone would prefer to speak incorrectly. If you were playing baseball would you PREFER to hit a foul? If you caught a pass in football would you choose to run toward the wrong goal? I understand some people aren't good students and may not have learned to speak correctly. Some may speak English as their second language and not be aware they are making mistakes. However, once their mistakes are pointed out, why do they go on repeating them? My in laws were born in the US and were completely bilingual. They went to English speaking schools, graduated from high school, and spoke very poor English. I often wondered if when they spoke their "mother tongue" they were just as sloppy with grammar and pronunciation.

 

[King_Oni]

I, as an Aspie, am totally unable to understand why anyone would prefer to speak incorrectly. If you were playing baseball would you PREFER to hit a foul? If you caught a pass in football would you choose to run toward the wrong goal? I understand some people aren't good students and may not have learned to speak correctly. Some may speak English as their second language and not be aware they are making mistakes. However, once their mistakes are pointed out, why do they go on repeating them? My in laws were born in the US and were completely bilingual. They went to English speaking schools, graduated from high school, and spoke very poor English. I often wondered if when they spoke their "mother tongue" they were just as sloppy with grammar and pronunciation.

I think it has to do with people just not caring as much. Language use seems to be a mandatory thing unlike playing a game of baseball. Perhaps I might prefer sign language more, or any language that has less weird rules for grammar (not that English has a lot of them, unlike Dutch for instance) but convenience dictates that English seems to be an accepted language and people will not punish you for incorrect grammar and spelling. A cop will not arrest you for writing "you're" instead of "your". There's no consequence to it. And perhaps to use that comparison to those games you mention, there is set rules what constitutes a foul and there are repercussions if you apply them wrong. You're being sent of the pitch or get penalized. There is no language police and no grammar penalty box.

So in short; Some people probably just don't care for grammar and spelling at all.

However I think this forum is an exception since everyone has a good grasp of English in the sense that it's readable and understandable. Do we make mistakes here? Yes, we all do. But I have yet to run into a totally incomprehensible post from anyone who speaks it as his/her first language or second (or third, and so on).