The Way English is Written ............

[Rosie1958]

Many corporate businesses are now changing their style of writing with a focus on making it easier to read and understand. The style of, for example, "stuffy newsreader", "town clerk" and gobbledegook used by the "college lecturer" is now being replaced by a tone of voice which is simply expressed by the way we speak.

It's hard to start sentences with "And", "Because", "But" etc, since we weren't taught that at school in the UK. But, the world of communication is changing and this style can already been seen in the way media stories are reported.

I wouldn't recommend that the above is used in any English test or examination here in the UK at the moment, but change is happening ................... I find it quite refreshing, but still can't bring myself to use "And" at the beginning of a written sentence

What do you think???????

[tiger31]

english was my worst subject at school lol ,I try my best with my written english and get really wound up when people point out my command of the english language .we are not all blessed with perfection .kids of today don,t care that much either because of text messages on their phones they tend to talk to each other in shortened versions of the english language .too much focus is being put on written english but things are changing on the way people communicate and the younger generation don,t really care about the way your supposed to write .I find that I am starting to change the way I speak out here so that people can understand me by going into robotic english lol

[stevewool]

Sorry i am not the worlds greatest too, yes its all down to myself, but like you Brian i get a little upset sometimes, we all cant be perfect at everything, my spelling is poor most times and where the hell do i put these comers too,
Eye ham just glad that most understand wat eye ham saying

[tiger31]

Sorry i am not the worlds greatest too, yes its all down to myself, but like you Brian i get a little upset sometimes, we all cant be perfect at everything, my spelling is poor most times and where the hell do i put these comers too,
Eye ham just glad that most understand wat eye ham saying

thats ok steve init

[Terpe]

Eye have a spelling chequer,
It came with my Pea Sea.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss Steaks I can knot sea.

Eye strike the quays and type a whirred
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am write oar wrong
It tells me straight a weigh.

Eye ran this poem threw it,
I'm shore your pleased two no
Its let her perfect inn it's weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

A chequer is a bless sing,
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me right all stiles of righting,
And aides me when eye rime.

Each frays come posed up on my screen
Eye trussed too bee a joule.
The chequer pours o'er every word
Two cheque sum spelling rule.

(The original version of this poem was
written by Jerrold H. Zar in 1992.)

[Terpe]

I've always had a habit of starting some sentences with 'And'.......I know it goes against what we were all taught......just it seems right somehow.

I undertook some training one time in writing business plans. We were shown which words are considered positive and which are considered negative.
The word 'but' is a big negative and to this day I still avoid using it if I can.
We were told that using 'however' is much more positive......

Funny the things that stick with you like that.............

[grahamw48]

I think it's very sad that our wonderful language is being downgraded all the time...especially when used in the commercial world. 'Dumbing down', as they say.

Standards of spelling and grammar in particular, being appalling.

I don't profess to be perfect in my writing, but I do seek to raise my standards, rather than to lower them.

[Trefor]

The English language has always evolved over time, with new words and expressions coming into common use over the centuries (example: William Shakespeare). It is not going to stop evolving, we need to embrace it and pray it does not descend into txt spk.

Pet hates:
- I'm going on a training
- PDF format
- using bring/take/lend/borrow/you're/your incorrectly when they are in fact easy to comprehend

[bigmac]

as you can tell by my accent--i'm a brummie. but i do like listening to other UK accents--particularly geordie--almost tuneful.

but the youngsters these days--particularly girls--why do they ---when talking--always end each sentence as if it were a question--?--there voice goes higher at the end. or is it essexish?

[raynaputi]

I'm guilty of using "BUT" to start a sentence sometimes. What I always try to avoid is starting a sentence with AND and BECAUSE. Like what Rosie said, it's what I was taught in school. What I don't do is to use text speak whenever I write something, even in forums and Facebook. Text speak was acceptable when text messages used to be just 160 characters per text sent, so that it won't be sent in two messages or more. "BUT", what I don't get is it's not the case now (well most phones anyway). I hate it whenever I receive messages, whether in emails, PMs or texts, that are always in text speak and I can't understand it right away.

Another problem I see is plenty of young ones don't know how to use the right punctuation nowadays. They don't know the difference with "were" and "we're" and such. I used to work as a proof reader as part of my job as a QA Analyst in IT. Trust me, I do get to notice such things easily, which sometimes annoy me in the end (the noticing part I mean). Hahahaha

[stevewool]

Eye have a spelling chequer,
It came with my Pea Sea.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss Steaks I can knot sea.

Eye strike the quays and type a whirred
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am write oar wrong
It tells me straight a weigh.

Eye ran this poem threw it,
I'm shore your pleased two no
Its let her perfect inn it's weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

A chequer is a bless sing,
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me right all stiles of righting,
And aides me when eye rime.

Each frays come posed up on my screen
Eye trussed too bee a joule.
The chequer pours o'er every word
Two cheque sum spelling rule.

(The original version of this poem was
written by Jerrold H. Zar in 1992.)

i read that perfect

[Arthur Little]

Well ... ... I guess many of you on here will already know I'm a "traditionalist", in the sense that I tend to be a bit of a "stickler" for good written communication - based on what was "dinned into" me at school - where one of my best subjects just happened to be *English. ... although, I have to admit to being rather better at expressing myself in writing than say, verbally, for instance.

So, like Graham ... it saddens me to see the rapid decline in *its importance in the commercial sector particulary. And, like Rayna, I too, despair at the growing trend towards a lack of proper punctuation in business letters. Trefor mentions his "pet hates" - with which, I wholly concur - especially those where no distinction is made between words in common everyday use, such as:

"your & you're or there/their/they're", for example.

Let's be fair, however ... I'm pretty hopeless when it comes to Maths (apart from Arithmetic) or anything of a technical nature - I cannot even drive for God's sake!

So what it really "boils down to" is this: Each person has his/her own individual set of skills; in other words ... ... "different strokes for different folks!!

[RickyR]

I have never considered myself as anything but average in English, however I am now studying a law degree which has made me realise how complex our language can be and I now have a collection of four dictionaries full of sticky notes trying to decipher words that I never knew existed.
The aim in law seems to be to complicate everything...