Correcting others’ grammar/spelling mistakes

I agree ab there must be several reasons but none reflect well on us if we do it

Suppose we can all have off days, and we can all have a limit to how much we can take.

Retired teacher here.

Some of us resort to using the Pedants’ Corner to vent our red pen frustrations, which is surely preferable to correcting a poster, yet some have been criticised for posting there.

Surely this is the height of bad manners and something I was always told to avoid at all costs.Whilst surely most off putting for the novice writer whom has a valid contribution to make, but is extremely wary of being ridiculed or "pulled up" over what amounts to simply a trivial error.

Live and let live,let us all contribute to the best of our ability,if we should make a small gaffe in doing so................ surely it is not a punishable offence?

I have never understood it and have never done it, to my knowledge.

I am dyspraxic, which means, apart from poor fine motor control, which makes a lot of my typing very hit and miss among other things, I am not good at proof reading, no matter how hard I try, so miss mistakes and only notice them after I have posted my comments. My problem makes me very aware that other posters may be dyslexic or have other disabilities that make for problems when expressing themselves in written form.

Anyway why should anyone be effectively banned from posting on a thread just because they did not have the benefit of a good education or possibly some disability they may not wish to mention?

You see, I reread the above twice before posting and still missed the lack of a comma between '...miss , among other....'

I expect there are others

I don’t like this thread, and I say this as someone who took flack for ages over my spelling . I questioned the reason it was started the day following it happened on another thread .

I’m quite pedantic about spelling and grammar, as is my OH and 2 of our children. One may jokingly correct another's grammar or spelling when using family chat group on WhatsApp.

However, I was surprised to see corrections being made here, as we wouldn’t dream of correcting someone outside the family.

It would be nice if people didn’t do it though, but this thread probably won’t stop them.

I would never pull someone up on the content of their post either spelling or punctuation.
It could cause the OP to not engage in the forum any more and that could make for someone loosing their contact with others,a contact that may be the only pleasure they get if they are on their own.
As long as I can understand the theme of the posts I'm OK .I was also told off by Frank years ago for getting some thing wrong I can't remember what it was just now but it did upset me to be singled out.

I think the reason it was started, Ab is that the hounding of one poster on the thread you refer to was utterly disgraceful.

I disagree, Annie. I think this is a subject to discuss, because it has become more prevalent recently, and, as another, poster said, it can be a form of bullying and I think we should be aware of that and act accordingly.

I am indifferent to those who choose to pick me up on spelling or typos, but other's aren't and I would not like people to be afraid of posting because they are worried by their spelling or grammar.

A virtual grammar mug- useful for pedants! Gave a set of these to pedantic son for Christmas one year.

Not true Maizie, we are not allowed to comment on another thread which in cases like this is unfair. A bully can push the kindest person to the limits .

MOnica, yes it should be discussed , it should have been discussed many times but wasn’t . I am concerned as to the reason it was brought up today and those involved in a disagreement yesterday are not allowed to explain.

AB I know nothing about yesterday's disagreement and I am sure there are other posters in the same position.

I am taking this thread at face value and if we do that yesterdays's events, whatever they were, are irrelevant to now discussing a habit that, personally, I find obnoxious.

Yes MOnica, most who have posted have no knowledge of what happened yesterday and those who do are not allowed to say.

I’ve never noticed anything wrong with your posts MOnica. In fact they’re usually rather good and well expressed. Perhaps that’s because you do proof read.

Absolutely, I was pulled up for writing a cost wrong, I think I put a p where it wasn't really needed. It put me off contributing for a while, not because I am a shrinking violet, but because I didn't want to be on a forum where responses can be that petty.

Those who want to grumble about grammar or spelling should go to Pedants Corner and vent their wrath there!

I would not correct anyone’s grammar or spelling, but I have to say that I usually don’t bother to read the stream of consciousness type of posts.
This isn’t for any snobbish reason, but simply because I can’t take a breath unless I see a comma or a full stop, and some of the posts are so long I would probably have lost consciousness myself before getting to the end.
Monica I agree with nfk - I always enjoy reading your posts!

I wouldn't dream of pointing out mistakes on GN, but I am often tempted to remove wrongly used apostrophes from shop blackboards if nobody is looking! Am I alone in this?

No shysal you’re not!
I wouldn’t dare though

I’m an ex-lecturer. I’ve never taught children, except my own. I certainly corrected them (still do, if necessary), but wouldn’t correct anyone outside the family. I find it quite difficult not to, though.

However, I do think that people should make an effort to spell names correctly. My maiden name was very difficult to spell. I put up with years of wrong spellings, so I suppose I’m over-sensitive about it. When I was nine it was wrong on a ballet exam certificate, and that upset me very much. I felt the certificate was invalid. Bad manners have been mentioned a few times on this thread, and I think it’s bad manners not to check the spelling of names.

These things don't bother me at all.
The only thing I'm sometimes fussy about is the mistaken or inappropriate use of a word.
A close family member is dyslexic and I'm forever trying to help them to express themselves more clearly. Untangle a sentence.
So spelling etc is of little importance,

I am mildy dyslexic, do not like the disablity word though, and there is a simple and effective way to check posts, proof read it, use spell check and also use the preview message.
Having said that I still make the odd mistake here and there.
Life is so much easier now that we all write on a tablet/computer.