Spell Check?

[Forward Observer]

Is this possible with out cost? I am certainly no champ at spelling, punctuation, or grammar, but many of the posts on the game discussion forums are almost unreadable.

My grammar and punctuation are catch as catch can, but I do use the spell check in outlook express for most of my longer posts. (I am never quite sure whether I should have used a singular or a plural verb in the preceding sentence.)

I realize that due to the International mix of this forum, English is not everybody's first language, but I am really referring to the posts that come mostly from the US and the UK. Many seem to be worse than the ones from the non-English speaking countries.

Of course a spell check won't catch simple stuff like correcting the difference between the meaning of the possessive pronoun "their" and the adverb/noun/adjective word "there", but maybe at least they will get one of the two spellings right.


(Minor rant---if this insults someone, then they deserve it---they should have paid more attention in school)

I guess it is just a sign of the times, but I am still amazed that people with such poor communication skills can earn enough money to get a computer, and have enough nerve to post gobbledy-gook on the net.

At least a spell check would clean some of this crap up.

Sorry, if this seems snobbish, but it is the way I feel.

Cheers


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Artillery adds dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl.

[Dom]

Quote Originally posted by Forward Observer:

I guess it is just a sign of the times, but I am still amazed that people with such poor communication skills can earn enough money to get a computer, and have enough nerve to post gobbledy-gook on the net.


[/QUOTE]

Well, most of them have parents to buy them one http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

And I agree that ppl could do better with their spelling

[Mithrandir]

tip :
type your post first in word, do the spellcheck and copy and paste it http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif.

Almost gone...

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Just aded another post :D
Mithrandir Poster of usefull information and entertaining posts (http://www.montypython.net/cgi-bin/dl2/full.cgi?spamsong.wav)

-Patcher of the Board.
-Reuniter of patrons.
-Firefighter

English is not my native language but I speak it quite well altough I am absolutely hopeless compared to English language masters like Obake http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/wink.gif



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Clan Kenchikuka (http://www.totalwar.org/kenchikuka)
evil is within us... http://www.totalwar.org/site/emomalta.gif

[Forward Observer]

Quote Originally posted by Dom:
Well, most of them have parents to buy them one http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

And I agree that ppl could do better with their spelling[/QUOTE]


Good point, but even 12 to 17 year olds should have better basic communication skills than what is evidenced by the crap that I am forced to try to decipher. I blame it on a declining education system.

Just about everyone uses some form of Windows Explorer, and therefore Outlook express is available for E-mails. I compose many posts in outlook, do a spell check, and then copy and paste. Of course I could use some other word processing program, but this is the most convenient.

Internet abbreviations and shorthand are fine, but the written word can be more difficult to interpret than the spoken word. Just look at the flame wars that get started because subsequent posters misinterpret or misread the content of previous posts. I don't think that it is going to get any better either.

Oh, well--maybe it's just me, because I am just getting old and cranky. I think need a nap.




[This message has been edited by Forward Observer (edited 07-21-2002).]

I've always been pointed out by others for being too perfect with my English! I don't understand how I can be too perfect!?

But that's partly 'cos before STW I only used the net for browsing and never typed anything (not even mails.)

Slowly I'm getting used to using "short-hand internet typos" tho!

I could edit every post and correct English in each so peeps can understand them, but that's a bit intrusive hehe.

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The Soul

"What people do to other souls
They take their lives - destroy their goals
Their basic pride and dignity
Is stripped and torn and shown no pity....
When this could be Heaven for Everyone"
Queen - Heaven for Everyone

MaJesticSoul Sakai

[Sjakihata]

Outlook express? You are serious? Then you probably have PLENTY of vira http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/wink.gif (not viruses).

However, I hope when you say 12-year old kids should master the english tounge, you mean children from an English speaking nation?

Well, adn tehn thre tis tha lazy 1nes, tad wunt rite proper engliz lol http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

I must agree, reasonable grammar and spelling are to be expected, but every time I make a post I will not correct it in word or whatever. How should I boost my posts then? http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/tongue.gif

I think maybe a smiple spell check would be nice, indeed to catch typing errors.

Btw. english punctuation is VERY difficult for ppl. form a non-english speaking nation, very stange from danish !

[This message has been edited by Sjakihata Akechi (edited 07-21-2002).]

English is one of Malta's 2 official languages (along with Maltese), but most old people over 60+ here don't know much...

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Clan Kenchikuka (http://www.totalwar.org/kenchikuka)
evil is within us... http://www.totalwar.org/site/emomalta.gif

Yup not forgetting that grammatically English is the hardest language to learn.

Tera if 60+ years olds don't know English too god, no wonder your English is so poor http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/tongue.gif

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The Soul

"What people do to other souls
They take their lives - destroy their goals
Their basic pride and dignity
Is stripped and torn and shown no pity....
When this could be Heaven for Everyone"
Queen - Heaven for Everyone

MaJesticSoul Sakai

[This message has been edited by The Soul (edited 07-21-2002).]

So you're stating that my english is very poor or that I am 60 years old? http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/wink.gif

I know a good doctor...

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Clan Kenchikuka (http://www.totalwar.org/kenchikuka)
evil is within us... http://www.totalwar.org/site/emomalta.gif

[The Scourge]

Quote Originally posted by Sjakihata Akechi:
Outlook express? You are serious? Then you probably have PLENTY of vira http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/wink.gif (not viruses).

However, I hope when you say 12-year old kids should master the english tounge, you mean children from an English speaking nation?

Well, adn tehn thre tis tha lazy 1nes, tad wunt rite proper engliz lol http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

I must agree, reasonable grammar and spelling are to be expected, but every time I make a post I will not correct it in word or whatever. How should I boost my posts then? http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/tongue.gif

I think maybe a smiple spell check would be nice, indeed to catch typing errors.

Btw. english punctuation is VERY difficult for ppl. form a non-english speaking nation, very stange from danish !

[This message has been edited by Sjakihata Akechi (edited 07-21-2002).][/QUOTE]

Dansk er heller ikke nempt for an englander.

Sorry,just trying to be clever.

[Catiline]

Spell checkers are half the problem with regard to this issue, they make you lazy. I however am fundamentally lazy in the first place, or at least too forgetful to remember to go and correct my typos.

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Timeo hominem unius libri

[Forward Observer]

Quote Originally posted by Catiline:
Spell checkers are half the problem with regard to this issue, they make you lazy. I however am fundamentally lazy in the first place, or at least too forgetful to remember to go and correct my typos.

[/QUOTE]


I agree to some extent, but then I use a spell check to not only correct typos and spelling, but also to hopefully improve my spelling.

I actually look at each mistake and try to
learn from it, but then maybe I'm just weird.


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Artillery adds dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl.

[Shiro]

*Waits for DP to come along and say something like "yeah you're just weird."*

http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/tongue.gif

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“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”
—Samuel Johnson
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"Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense"
-Order of the Garter Motto

[Nelson]

If that's so FO then I'm just as weird. Spell checking has improved my spelling from abysmal to merely lousy.

[Fast Death]

Expand your mind?!?!(to where)?? Try shift F7.

[Dom]

Quote Originally posted by The Soul:
Yup not forgetting that grammatically English is the hardest language to learn.
[/QUOTE]

Hehe. don't mean to flame but speaking both Russian and English, I can assure you that Russian grammar is much more complicated and has many more, should I say, variables, in it. And the same can be said about the entire slavic group of languages (Ukrainian, Belorussian etc.)

English is rather easy to learn, partly because a lot of work has been done on its evolution and the structure has been modified in favour of simplification and practicality over the time. (Which is a good thing).

Regards, Ryurik

[Dom]

BTW from all the languages that I tried to study at school, before choosing English, the most difficult one, in terms of grammar, was German. I studied it for a year, but found the grammar much more difficult than that of English.

It is more restictive and demanding in a composition of the sentence, but at the same time carries a lot of emphasis, if I remember correctly, on tense, gender, sg/pl etc. And has a weird way of expressing it through preffixes, suffixes and a the necessity on putting them in the right place in the sentence.

Oh well, now you know why I didn't pick up German at school, English way much more straightforward.

Regards, Ryurik.

[This message has been edited by Dom (edited 07-23-2002).]

[Sjakihata]

Dom:

I have studied both German and English, and of course you think that english is easier, because you are from London http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/tongue.gif

But I can assure you, german grammar is very simple, it has rules for everything, not like english which has a lot of mystirous complications.

Btw. If you think german grammar is difficult, you should try to study latin, or ancient greek. They have A LOT of ways to decline a single word (verb. and Adj. that is also pron.)

[This message has been edited by Sjakihata Akechi (edited 07-23-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Sjakihata Akechi (edited 07-23-2002).]

[Dom]

I should have stated that I was making that choice in the school in Ukraine and that my first language is Russian.

After studying English for about.... 5 years since the age of 6 I needed to pick up another foreign language but German simply confused the hell outta me. Not even confused, but there were too many rules and forms for every verb to remember and trying to manage all those prefixes all the time... I simply didn't have the time, or the will to study it properly.

So I went for Latin instead. For a person whose first language is Russian, Latin is fairly simple, as it is somewhat similar in that Russian has "A LOT of ways to decline a single word (verb. and Adj. that is also pron.)". And even more. Must say that I have abandoned the Latin as well, for personal reasons, but believe that it is fairly easy to learn. Or so my parents, both doctors, who know Latin (not just terms), tell me.

I guess, a real lot depends on your first language, and the order, and the way in which you study the languages. I myself do not really have problems with English grammar, and I can "disect" any sentence, even the extracts from the Philosophy literature with relative ease. I don't know of any mysterious complications in English grammar, it all looks fairly straightforward.

Yes, there are many exeptions to English language, but you just pick up on those with time. With German (I was told by my teacher) you have to learn the grammar by heart, and then try to implement it. In English you can start with basic and then gradually move up to the heavy stuff.

Saying that, my view is very subjective and is based on personal experience. Maybe I am mistaken somwhere, but having had a look at the grammar structure and rules of both languages I would pick English as the easiest in any weather. http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

Regards, Ryurik