what is a pedant

Some of us have dyspraxia, which plays merry hell with sequencing. I constanty go through my posts to turn all the 'hvase' into 'haves' and the 'ndas'. Not to mention all the times when I just hit all the efomh, sorry, 'wrong' keys.

I find my proof reading varies with the time of day and how tired I am.

All I can do, is ask people to bear with my errors and accept that I do try to minimise them.

Grammar is a moveable feast, it changes all the time, Does anyone remember the times when the address written on an envelope would be spattered with punctuation marks? Now we do not use any. Split infinitives, I think, are still considered a rule, not to be broken with impumity, but the rules about prepositions at the ends of sentences and the words that should never start a sentence are no longer relevant.

Those programmes don’t invariably get it right, though.

As for split infinitives, the ban on these is very often disregarded nowadays anyway, even by extreme pedants, since it was a rule made up by 18th century grammarians who reasoned that English should follow ‘perfect language’ Latin, in which you can’t split an infinitive anyway.
It was always a daft rule.

I would think that most people, employers or not, would be far more concerned with basic, all too common mistakes such as it’s/its, who’s/whose, affect/effect, etc. - not to mention the current epidemic of ‘myself’ etc. used wrongly!

Germanshepherdsmum

In your opinion. I doubt many employers needing someone to communicate with clients in writing would agree with you.

Most communications are done on computers now anyway. They have wonderful programs which correct your SPAG without any bother.
It's all a question of fashion anyway. Few employers would now be concerned with a split infinitive or ending a sentence in a preposition. But it mattered once.

I.T.Y.R.

I'm guessing 'Spelling, Punctuation And Grammar'?

In your opinion. I doubt many employers needing someone to communicate with clients in writing would agree with you.

The English language managed for years without spelling or grammar rules. If an idea is communicated clearly they really don't matter

Good guess MissA. I had no idea!

Spelling and grammar, I would guess.
I'm always guessing what initials mean on here.
I just work out one lot, and more pop up!

Witzend

I’m a fully paid-up pedant (a lot of SPAG mistakes make me cringe) but I’ve only ever corrected anyone on a forum once, and that was after someone (male!) had corrected someone else and made a very basic mistake in his own post! Pots and kettles…..

Hello Witzend, would you tell me what 'SPAG' means, please?

I fear some posters would make the same errors even if they previewed every post they made. They have little or no idea of what is grammatically correct.

What's the very good reason, though?
So it doesn't annoy other people?

I may be being unfair, and I am not talking about people who are dyslexic or similar, but it frustrates me when some people post before previewing the content.. The preview facility is here for a very good reason.
Quite apart from that, not previewing can mean that the meaning of your comment is altered.

Ailidh

One Scots "schoolgirl" to another: if you don't already have it, do buy "Eats, shoots & leaves" by Lynne Truss

It is subtitled "The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation"

ISBN 1-86197-612-

You will enjoy it

I am proudly pedantic but would never criticize anyone's post.

Spelling and grammar matter a lot to me, and I hate to see our language dumbed down.

My early primary education was in Scotland, where grammar was taught rigorously: I am constitutionally unable to begin a written sentence with a conjunction, even in texts. I do sometimes wonder about my use of colons and semi-colons, and wonder sometimes if I should treat myself to a grammar book.

However, "toujours la politesse" in all things.

Thanks Maizie, of course, silly me!

Ah! I begin to understand the subtleties. Maizie

I had my wrists slapped (metaphorically) for refusing to answer a would be tenant who wrote in text speak.
ie: can i c flat
Because they may have been dyslexic and not lazy.
It turned out they were and did rent the flat.

one who is unimaginative or who unduly emphasizes minutiae in the presentation or use of knowledge
one who makes a show of knowledge

Merriam-Webster

I think I am being ‘pedanical’ (if that’s even a word!)

As this is pedants' corner I'm sure you'll forgive me, Calendargirl, when I say no, it's not a word. 'Pedantic' is the word you are looking for

(P,S Do I get into trouble for not punctuating my [no' statement properly? )

One has a terrible decision to make about correcting another person's word usage. On the one hand, all the arguments apply; don't embarrass another poster, they might be 'dyslexic', meaning is more important than correctness, 'bl**dy autocorrect, etc.

But, on the other hand, the object of written communication is to convey ideas with clarity and and it's not always easy to understand what someone is trying to communicate if they are misusing words and punctuation.

I think one has to make a judgement but tread very warily.

There once was a pedant so keen,
Whose grammar was perfectly clean.
He'd correct every "your"
And "you're," that's for sure,
But his prose was always too mean!

I’m a fully paid-up pedant (a lot of SPAG mistakes make me cringe) but I’ve only ever corrected anyone on a forum once, and that was after someone (male!) had corrected someone else and made a very basic mistake in his own post! Pots and kettles…..

I think I am being ‘pedanical’ (if that’s even a word!) when I hear someone talking about an ‘amount’ of people, instead of a ‘number’ of people.

This was on our local news last night, and I felt like e mailing them about it. But didn’t.

Brings back memories of my English teacher explaining the difference.

When I first joined Gransnet I was “jumped”on quite a few times but other gransnetters leapt to my defence 🤓

Pedants may like to have things described exactly, but do not, if they are well-brought-up ones, leap in to correct others. That would be rude.