Do you think forums improve grammer?
- Thread starter Venom
- Start date
I'm going to have to say no to this one. I have been on plenty of forums where some of the senior members still have awful grammar, and even spelling, to the point that you can't understand their posts a lot of the time. To me, I don't think being apart of a forum gives most people the incentive to improve grammar. Just my opinion.
Let me preface anything I'm about to state by mentioning that forum genre is a massive part of whether or not grammar (spelling and syntax) matter a lot. On a forum about fishing (for example) being able to know when to use the apostrophe is less important than if you were on a forum based around the art of writing (like roleplay forums or fiction/poetry forums).
On writing based forums there is often the expectation that if you join one and aren't a great writer that you will be working to improve your writing capabilities. (Especially for roleplays where you're going to be writing co-operatively with others so they do need to be able to understand what you're writing.)
And similarly on roleplay/writing forums, there is the expectation that if you join one that you do know the basics. There is no excuse for not knowing how to use a period or quotation marks. (Even roleplay forums that are open to beginners will still eventually tell you that your writing is not at a good enough level to participate if you can't even use the period and quotation marks properly. But they'll usually only tell you that after they've told you a few times how to use proper syntax.)
Though just being on a forum with people who can write better than you does not mean you will automatically improve. You can't actually improve unless you know what you're doing wrong (and why it's wrong) in the first place. Which is usually the trickiest part... getting people to realise that their writing could be improved. A lot of people don't like to be told that their writing needs work and so they get pretty sensitive about it (even more so if you do it publicly). Some don't care at all and won't do anything.
Others may view their writing as not really that important, people can (roughly) understand what they mean so they may not want to bother spending more time to type things out. (Which is sometimes a contention I have... Why bother spending an hour typing a post out, going over it 30 times for errors, changing every other sentence up? For normal posts that's overkill and completely unnecessary. For rules and/or other site-related important documents though? Yeah, spend that time because your site will look better as a result.)
Situations dealing with member's poor grammar are also made worse because you will also find people who feel it is their duty to correct others mistakes publicly. Generally they do so without being asked/invited which is just as problematic (if not more so) than people who do need to clean up their writing. Public corrections tend to be disrespectful, embarrassing and shameful. And those on the receiving end tend to be less likely to listen or want to improve because they've just been publicly humiliated. (Generally PMing them privately and just being like: "Hey, I'm having trouble understanding what you mean in <link to post>, could you please clarify it for me and others? Thanks." works a lot better to getting people to improve. They understand that people are having a hard time understanding and you don't embarrass them publicly.)
On writing based forums there is often the expectation that if you join one and aren't a great writer that you will be working to improve your writing capabilities. (Especially for roleplays where you're going to be writing co-operatively with others so they do need to be able to understand what you're writing.)
And similarly on roleplay/writing forums, there is the expectation that if you join one that you do know the basics. There is no excuse for not knowing how to use a period or quotation marks. (Even roleplay forums that are open to beginners will still eventually tell you that your writing is not at a good enough level to participate if you can't even use the period and quotation marks properly. But they'll usually only tell you that after they've told you a few times how to use proper syntax.)
Though just being on a forum with people who can write better than you does not mean you will automatically improve. You can't actually improve unless you know what you're doing wrong (and why it's wrong) in the first place. Which is usually the trickiest part... getting people to realise that their writing could be improved. A lot of people don't like to be told that their writing needs work and so they get pretty sensitive about it (even more so if you do it publicly). Some don't care at all and won't do anything.
Others may view their writing as not really that important, people can (roughly) understand what they mean so they may not want to bother spending more time to type things out. (Which is sometimes a contention I have... Why bother spending an hour typing a post out, going over it 30 times for errors, changing every other sentence up? For normal posts that's overkill and completely unnecessary. For rules and/or other site-related important documents though? Yeah, spend that time because your site will look better as a result.)
Situations dealing with member's poor grammar are also made worse because you will also find people who feel it is their duty to correct others mistakes publicly. Generally they do so without being asked/invited which is just as problematic (if not more so) than people who do need to clean up their writing. Public corrections tend to be disrespectful, embarrassing and shameful. And those on the receiving end tend to be less likely to listen or want to improve because they've just been publicly humiliated. (Generally PMing them privately and just being like: "Hey, I'm having trouble understanding what you mean in <link to post>, could you please clarify it for me and others? Thanks." works a lot better to getting people to improve. They understand that people are having a hard time understanding and you don't embarrass them publicly.)
I agree ^.
But before I joined here my grammer was terrible, I had the attitude like "It's just a forum, grammer isn't needed here", but I think that was becuase I didn't know how, I was that bad I didn't even know where to put a commer. Since joining fp its gave me the incentive to learn and made learning it fun. so now you know. 😛
Really used too many 'I's in that post. 😛
But before I joined here my grammer was terrible, I had the attitude like "It's just a forum, grammer isn't needed here", but I think that was becuase I didn't know how, I was that bad I didn't even know where to put a commer. Since joining fp its gave me the incentive to learn and made learning it fun. so now you know. 😛
Really used too many 'I's in that post. 😛
D
Deleted member 7467
It helps *some people* learn to communicate better with people. Grammar? It *can* help, but I doubt forums do much for your grammar.
Re: Do you think forums improve grammar?
Anyone thinking that any forum can improve their grammar, has high expectations, I have experienced English teachers who do not have good grammar.
For me grammar is less important than spelling.
In truth there is no reason for poor spelling, or for that matter poor grammar, Firefox has has a built in spellchecker, and for grammar, you can download ginger.
Anyone thinking that any forum can improve their grammar, has high expectations, I have experienced English teachers who do not have good grammar.
For me grammar is less important than spelling.
In truth there is no reason for poor spelling, or for that matter poor grammar, Firefox has has a built in spellchecker, and for grammar, you can download ginger.
SheepishWolf
Paragon
In my experience, yes. But I started foruming when I was around ten, and had no idea how to write or type at all. I know that foruming helped me with that a lot, but I'm sure it's not the same for everyone.
sapper said:
I 100% agree with this. If you are running Chrome, go ahead and download Grammarly Lite, it's really nice to have running alongside Chrome. Like what Sapper said, there really isn't a need for not spelling correctly.
ATiRAGEPRO
Reputable
Aint nobody on my forum got no grammar problems no way. Members up in my forum got some articulical grammitization n' $#!%. Real talk. 😉
Anyway, I wouldn't agree that I've seen any significant increase in grammatical clarity in regular forum messages, with the possible exception of flamewars, the likes of which result in at least one of the parties involved becoming a Grammar Nazi.
Anyway, I wouldn't agree that I've seen any significant increase in grammatical clarity in regular forum messages, with the possible exception of flamewars, the likes of which result in at least one of the parties involved becoming a Grammar Nazi.
Patrick S.
Seasoned Veteran
My grammar hugely improved, because of forums. So I would say yes it can help improve your grammar if you can get someone to antagonize you about it. 😀
Definitely. I'm living proof of it.
When I first joined a forum around 6-7 years ago, I had terrible grammar, used u and ur, everything lowercase, abbreviated everything, etc. Then I joined a forum that would actually ban you if you used u/ur too many times, so I was forced to change. It helped that I learned how to properly type (using home row) in my freshman year of high school, but that was after I joined my first forum.
@Eternal: Just because you haven't seen it or some don't improve their grammar on a forum, that doesn't mean it can't happen. To say flat out no is honestly wrong. I just proved anyone that votes no wrong, actually.
When I first joined a forum around 6-7 years ago, I had terrible grammar, used u and ur, everything lowercase, abbreviated everything, etc. Then I joined a forum that would actually ban you if you used u/ur too many times, so I was forced to change. It helped that I learned how to properly type (using home row) in my freshman year of high school, but that was after I joined my first forum.
@Eternal: Just because you haven't seen it or some don't improve their grammar on a forum, that doesn't mean it can't happen. To say flat out no is honestly wrong. I just proved anyone that votes no wrong, actually.
Nicholas said:
The Spelling according to the OED is grammar :
For the rules of the English language, see English grammar. For the topic in mathematics, logic, and theoretical computer science, see Formal grammar.
Not to be confused with Grammer or Krammer.
master412160
Seasoned Veteran
Big yes for me. You should have seen my posts made during my early days of foruming. Absolutely hilarious.
Affiliates
