Does Grammar Matter?

[Ashleyxoxo]

Obviously it matters in English class, but what about the internet? Or our daily speech?

I don’t get bothered by formatting, but inability to differentiate words like ‘theyre’ and ‘their’ make me think low of the person. I take note of it.

In daily speech I notice that everyone swears and talks like an animal, because they want to be “cool.” Personally, I’d rather be right.

Does grammar matter?

[Doctor Amadeus]

In a professional and proper setting absolutely, online in forums where people post emojis and meme's as kind of a way of highlighting expression, Nah!

[Boole]

Obviously it matters in English class, but what about the internet? Or our daily speech?

I don’t get bothered by formatting, but inability to differentiate words like ‘theyre’ and ‘their’ make me think low of the person. I take note of it.

In daily speech I notice that everyone swears and talks like an animal, because they want to be “cool.” Personally, I’d rather be right.

Does grammar matter?

Spelling, grammer, and punctuation always matter. When the only interaction I have with a person is the written word, then I'm going to use a person's ability to communicate properly as a metric to assess them.

Put it this way... you'll never irritate someone by using correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation. And it takes just a few seconds to make sure it is correct.

[Pony Soldier]

No it doesn't matter unless you don't want to sound like an uneducated idiot. I used to talk in internet speech until I grew out of it, realized I looked stupid typing out my words like that, and decided to type properly to the best of my ability so people actually understand what I'm saying and so I don't look like a complete moron who flunked middle school.

I'll admit I'm no where near perfect. I don't have the vocabulary like other people do so sometimes my sentences might not make sense or maybe I'm using a word incorrectly but whatever I'm trying.

[Puzzlesocks]

Obviously it matters in English class, but what about the internet? Or our daily speech?

I don’t get bothered by formatting, but inability to differentiate words like ‘theyre’ and ‘their’ make me think low of the person. I take note of it.

In daily speech I notice that everyone swears and talks like an animal, because they want to be “cool.” Personally, I’d rather be right.

Does grammar matter?

The written word, while a huge improvement from nothing, is even more inadequate at getting across ideas than even talking face to face. There is a reason that people write huge books to explain their own thoughts, and that reason is that a 140 character tweet can not get across important ideas in a meaningful way that people can actually understand. Grammar is the very foundation of building sentences and gives you far greater ability to explain thoughts and ideas in a way that we all agree is correct. I am sure you have seen things like the following:

A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to fire it at the other patrons.

"Why?" asks the confused, surviving waiter amidst the carnage, as the panda makes towards the exit.

The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder. "Well, I'm a panda," he says. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation. "Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

It's a wonderful joke, but also highlights the importance of using proper grammar, especially when you are using the internet to talk to people who might not use English as a first language. We use proper grammar as taught in school so that we all have as close to the same baseline of personal understanding of words and ideas as possible so as to not cause confusion.

It's not about you, it is about the importance of your idea and how much you care that others properly understand it. Any other questions?

[Independent voter]

We ate grandma.

We ate, grandma.

Grammar matters to grandma.

[Aurrora]

Yes and no.

Yes and know.

[Lex Icon]

that has got to be some kind of ban record.
grammar matter to those who care about it.

[God Save The King]

It matters to an extent.

If you fail to comprehend what someone is saying due to their grammar, it is a problem.

If someone is claiming to be a well educated, well researched expert on a topic and cannot write beyond a fifth grade level, that definitely hurts their credibility.

Casual, day-to-day conversation? It depends on the person. There are a bunch of common grammar errors that people make in spoken language that I hear and it makes me cringe a little. I don't really think differently about the person, I just note, in my head, that they likely did not do well in high school English. I try not to be influenced/bothered by it, but I do take them less seriously if we're discussing a serious issue, but that is just my own bias.

[Strawberry]

Depends who I talk to. For example, when I'm typing to the general public, like now, I try to be as grammatically correct as possible (this is not always possible since English is my third language).
But for example, if I meet some people who type English like crap, say.... many Thai people (no offense ), I just copy their way of communicating (written, not verbally). I think they understand me better.

[Ghostpanther]

In a professional and proper setting absolutely, online in forums where people post emojis and meme's as kind of a way of highlighting expression, Nah!

I agree with this.

The purpose of speech/writing/texting, etc. is to allow us to better communicate to each other. As long as I understand what a person is saying, I could not care less if they say, "over yonder them thar hills, there be a big river."

[Endus]

Grammar is the core of meaning. Otherwise, you can't understand anything anyone else is saying. It's literally what makes a language work.

I agree with this.

The purpose of speech/writing/texting, etc. is to allow us to better communicate to each other. As long as I understand what a person is saying, I could not care less if they say, "over yonder them thar hills, there be a big river."

The thing is, what you wrote is slang, and slang has its own grammar. It's not Standard English, but it's still grammatically correct, within its dialect.


Here's a good example; order of adjectives in English. You probably weren't taught this, but you still know it. They have to be in a specific order, by type; quantity-opinion-size-age-shape-color-origin-material-purpose.

You can talk about having 13 adorable little new triangular red linen napkins. But if you try and talk about having triangular red linen 13 new adorable little napkins, you'll sound like a crazy person. Grammar.

[Celista]

Casual, day-to-day conversation? It depends on the person. There are a bunch of common grammar errors that people make in spoken language that I hear and it makes me cringe a little. I don't really think differently about the person, I just note, in my head, that they likely did not do well in high school English. I try not to be influenced/bothered by it, but I do take them less seriously if we're discussing a serious issue, but that is just my own bias.

Yeah, there's are little tells in someone's post as to their educational level/academic performance. I personally think it should be OK to correct someone's grammar (nicely), how else will they learn?

[Captain N]

Yeah, there's are little tells in someone's post as to their educational level/academic performance. I personally think it should be OK to correct someone's grammar (nicely), how else will they learn?

You don't pay my sub....!

Or some other variation of that is what you're going to get if you try to correct them. People don't take too kindly having their flaws pointed out to them.

[Celista]

You don't pay my sub....!

Or some other variation of that is what you're going to get if you try to correct them. People don't take too kindly having their flaws pointed out to them.

It should be viewed as a learning practice rather than a personal flaw. That being said, other people aren't necessarily the best source of information when it comes to grammatical errors.

[Phon]

Yeah, there's are little tells in someone's post as to their educational level/academic performance. I personally think it should be OK to correct someone's grammar (nicely), how else will they learn?

Maybe they're fine with just being understood rather than being under scrutiny in what might very well be their second, third or fourth language?

[God Save The King]

Yeah, there's are little tells in someone's post as to their educational level/academic performance. I personally think it should be OK to correct someone's grammar (nicely), how else will they learn?

It depends if they are open to being corrected. My sister has atrocious grammar and becomes annoyed if I attempt to correct it because "she likes the way she sounds". She loves double negatives.

[Celista]

Maybe they're fine with just being understood rather than being under scrutiny in what might very well be their second, third or fourth language?

When I'm learning a second, third or fourth language is EXACTLY when I want to know if I'm fucking up, because a language mistake early on can become entrenched.

[Phon]

When I'm learning a second, third or fourth language is EXACTLY when I want to know if I'm fucking up, because a language mistake early on can become entrenched.

Language is a way to communicate, if others can understand what you are saying then mission accomplished. It doesn't require you to know every rule.

[Celista]

Language is a way to communicate, if others can understand what you are saying then mission accomplished. It doesn't require you to know every rule.

Not true at all, that might work for casual conversation but not integration into a country that uses a language other than your primary language. Especially if you have any type of professional job or plan on higher education while needing to learn a second language.