I asked this question on Twitter and actually got several replies in the time it took me to get from home to uni! Call me lame, but I thought this was exciting. π
Would you prefer to be told about weird grammatical mistakes on your blog? E.g. using the wrong preposition or missing out a word.
Responses
hm, i’m gonna go with yes on that one. but i’m kind of an english nut. this does not apply to twitter! π @feistyred
yes, I would. That way I know what I’m doing wrong for next time. π @marblehead
no, but it would be nice if you could correct them for me @AussieSire
Yes. But only because I’m an insane perfectionist who proofreads everything I write ten times. π @nektros
Maybe I’m being a grammar nazi
An example of the kind of mistake I mean is when you’re thinking about taking a sentence in one direction, then change it, but don’t change all of the words.
Oh my goodness! Last night this guy was totally laughed at me because I did a silly run to get out of the rain.
See how I could have said, this guy was totally laughing at me
then I changed to, this guy laughed at me
, but I didn’t remove the previous phrase. I could have gone the other way too; I could have written, this guy laughed at me
, but thought it was boring so I went to a more colloquial voice, this guy was totally laughing at me
, but when I added in “was totally” I didn’t change the word “laughed”.
When there’s these kind of errors (that should be picked up with one read though), it makes me think that the blogger doesn’t care enough about their readers to make sure that their thoughts are voiced clearly. Even though the sentence is readable and you know what they’re saying, it doesn’t leave a good impression.
I would be happy for people to slip in a “by the way, you mispelt bananas” or “that sentence didn’t make a lot of sense”, because I do try to proof read, but some things are bound to slip by. I didn’t always proof read, and you can tell by the number of spelling mistakes and rambling in my old posts.
Do you want to be corrected on mistakes like that? Are you thinking I should just get a life and stop worrying about using English properly?
I’ve decided on an online spelling and grammar philosophy: too many mistakes gives the impression that someone doesn’t care, but a few occasional slip-ups are fine. Who has time to proofread their work enough times to catch everything?
Besides me, anyway… :blush:
When thereβs these kind of errors (that should be picked up with one read though), it makes me think that the blogger doesnβt care enough about their readers to make sure that their thoughts are voiced clearly.
When there are these kinds of errors?
Yvonne, I agree. Mistakes are bound to happen.
A.Y. Siu, I see this stuff on blogs written by people with English as their second language, which is entirely forgivable, until they start spouting how important grammar is for the growth of your blog.
In particular, I’ve been reading one blog (by a native English speaker), which has had this sort of error in almost every post over the last few days. I find it strange because I know that the author cares quite a lot and I thought they wrote well. The errors mean that I have to read the sentence several times before I know what it means and the fact that it’s been in every post irks me.
I try to proofread my posts; I’m just not good at it. When it comes to spelling, I am always happy for the correction. (Though one time I mis-spelled a word in one of my stories deliberately, for the high purposes of humour, and one person kept telling me I made a mistake even after I had explained the joke. grrr…)
As for grammar corrections… I am a little more protective of those. There are times when my grammar could to with a clean up. The line between helpful and not is; does this correction help convey meaning that was previously obscured? The line is there because often I make deliberate grammatical mistakes (such as word order) because it is funnier when told that way, and doesn’t take away from meaning.
Good points David. I usually only get irked when mistakes make something hard to read.
I don’t know if I purposely mis-use my grammar, but I do things that are sometimes frowned upon. For example, I’m a fan of the occasional split-infinitive. π
p.s. It wasn’t me that kept reminding you of a mistake was it? Doesn’t sound like something I’d do, I only usually say things once.
I have “comment moderation” activated on my blog. So you know where I stand on this. π
But seriously, it’s more for spam. Having said that, I prefer an email if it bothers someone enough. I think it’s a matter of courtesy. Stay true to the purpose of the comment space. In my books that’s for discussing the topic of the post.
Hey nick, for the case that I mentioned to AY, I think I might send an email. Generally if the comments are either on the topic of the post or about the post itself I don’t mind either way, but that’s definitely a fair opinion. I’ll keep it in mind when commenting on your blog. π Yours is way more images than text, which is cool, less words to worry about. π
No, twas not you Kris! Fear not!
I know that my grammar isn’t the best from time to time, although I heard many people saying that I’m pretty good in English especially as it is a foreign language for me.
Well, I’d appreciate a note about any mistakes I have in my posts. If you are nice to me while explaining the mistake, I have no problem if you write it in a comment. If you try to be mean, you better use an email for this as I’ll delete the comment for sure.
My answer is “yes and no”. Wrong spelling and some grammar mistakes like “I seen the dog yesterday,” – yes. Those mistakes are embarrassing. Some things are incorrect on purpose, perhaps, as a point of vernacular. Those, not so much (note: no verb in this sentence π ).
Just yesterday, I misspelled the title to my blog post and caught it myself after a number of people stopped by. Embarrassed! However, if you do correct me, send me an email so’s (vernacular) not to call too much attention to it. lol
My answer is yes. My friends have constantly asked me to proofread their papers throughout the school year. I’d appreciate if someone pointed out my mistakes so I wouldn’t make the same ones again.
I know how easy it can be to miss glaring errors, particular when, like me, you’ll edit a blog post 10 times or more before actually pressing ‘publish’, only to edit it another once or twice.
If I’ve made a mistake, I’m very appreciative when someone says so. The written word lasts so much longer than that which is spoken, and just because your regular readers have already seen the mistake, who knows how many new readers will visit?
I’ve made it my mission to correct anyone who says EST (Eastern Standard Time) when they mean EDT. It’s SUMMER for goodness’ sake!
That’s strange, I’m sure I replied to Jeff and HK with something more than “thanks for your comments”, but thanks anyway :sheepish:
David, true and kind of scary! I have been rereading a small blog (journal for a uni course) I wrote four years ago. My grammar and ability to express ideas is frightful. I’m sure I just rambled and didn’t reread before publishing. I guess it’s a testament to how blogging can improve your writing. I’m torn as to whether I should go back over the posts on this blog and fix them up or not.
Greg, I’ve never actually heard of EDT. That’s a great distinction though! As if timezones aren’t confusing enough! In Australia, NSW goes on Daylight Saving Time, but Queensland doesn’t… fun and games!
That’s one of the reasons I leave comments open on all my blog posts. When someone comments on an old one, I quickly scan the article to see if I can make any slight improvements. More often than not I can. π
Hi Kristarella,
I think no one can be a good writer with our Grammatical mistakes.
Often mistakes will happen and we should skip it by saying them to correct it… π