Correcting others’ grammar/spelling mistakes

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

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.

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 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’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 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 .

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 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?

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?

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.

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

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

Thank you Maryeliza, it was done to me a lot and i wondered why, doubt there is just one reason.

That’s a good question ab and I’m ashamed of the answer - someone spelled a politician’s name wrong and I was irritated by it. When ithappened to me recently I couldn’t help but feel the poster was really doing it because she didn’t like the views I was expressing but maybe that was just my sensitivities being in overdrive. Anyway I think we should just stop - it’s a hanging offence on MN

I'm guilty of a lot of typos but I don't go back to correct them all as I type fast and often only have a few minutes to contribute on my way to doing something else so I realise when you are typing and thinking quickly errors may be made. I take that as part of social media - fast not necessarily accurate. So Yes I agree its not good.

I wonder how many of the people who correct other people's grammar are retired teachers.

Stifling another's ability to express themselves by embarrassing them by highlighting their issues with either spelling, grammar or punctuation is a form of bullying. This does not show the perpetrators superiority rather it shows that the poster does not have the ability to conduct a reasoned debate. Everyone should be able to express an opinion no matter how it is composed.

It was done to me often. Good for you Maryeliza for admitting you have done it. May I ask why you did it?

I have to say that it jarrs on me to the extent that, if punctuation is missing in a longish thread, I will simply stop reading, but I would never dream of taking anyone to task for it. I hope my manners are better than that.

It happened recently when someone pulled up a poster for not using punctuation in their long post. I couldn't believe someone could be so rude and unkind - I even mentioned it to my husband. So YES I agree - let's not correct people if their post is less than perfect.

I agree sunseeker however I do find it tiresome when a very long message is posted without paragraphs, its difficult to get through. I appreciate the poster may be under stress when they write and just want to get the issue off their chest.

I agree. Those who are doing the correcting, should take their red pen elsewhere. It's downright rude!
It takes time for some posters to pluck up the courage to post, then they do and are pulled up for their spelling and grammar. ☹️
There is absolutely no need for it.

As long as the poster is getting their point across does it really matter if there is a spelling or grammatical error? If someone is in conversation in RL would they stop someone in mid-flow to correct their grammar? Pointing out someone's minor mistake is pretentious and rude.

It makes me uncomfortable, I wonder at the motivation and agree, not necessary here.

I have been pulled up many times for my spelling and grammar . It doesn’t bother me as much as it used to, but I do find it a bit sad that it could bother someone so
much they feel the need to correct it .