A Little Blogging Grammar 29/09/2005 Sometimes I think that blogging is the great hope for the survival of literacy in the modern world. It requires that the blogger be able to write and that readers read; plus, it has the great advantage of being a cool and trendy thing to do. Hence the birth of new blogs by the thousand every day.There is the threat of voice blogs and video blogs, of course, and now we have the dreaded podcast to contend with too. But my hope is that they will never succeed in eradicating the written blog completely. And while blogs continue to communicate mainly through text, there is still a chance that writing and reading skills will not die.The problem is what form the writing will take. Already blogging has dictated a change in style to suit the restrictions and limitations of its medium. Blog-writing has to be brief, to the point, and use short, easily digested paragraphs, if it is to hold a reader's attention long enough for the message to be delivered. This I can cope with; I find my own style has adjusted to fit the medium without much conscious thought from me.What worries me, however, is the decay in much more basic writing skills than the length of sentences and paragraphs. Spelling becomes an esoteric art known only to a few, sentence construction departs into the realm of "well yeah, I think I know what you mean (although it's not what you said)."I know what people will say to counter this; that as long as the meaning gets across, a few grammatical errors don't matter. Increasingly I see the meaning not getting across, however. I come across the occasional blog that is virtually incomprehensible, so bad is the sentence structure and spelling. And, if we see this as a trend, it will not be long before most blogs are talking a language that makes no sense to anyone.It is so unnecessary, this descent into gobbledygook. With a few simple rules and principles, most grammatical errors can be overcome. And the first and most obvious rule is: edit before posting. Part of editing should be that we read the post aloud, to see whether we have actually said what we intended to. If we get lost halfway through a sentence, the likelihood is that we're trying to squeeze too many steps of logic into it. Cut it into smaller ones, making sure that each follows the other in a logical sequence.I am the worst offender when it comes to long sentences; indeed, if I notice that a sentence is getting a bit long, I'll throw in a few extra phrases just to rub it in. But the thing is, I can get away with it because I use these things - ,,, ::: ;;;. I don't expect most people know exactly how each is supposed to function, but I'll bet we all know that they're an opportunity to pause and take a breath. My advice is, if you're not sure how to use them, don't - just write shorter sentences.That last sentence contains two instances of the dreaded apostrophe, the ' that dances around happily in so many blogger words. But it's so easy to tell when to use it and where to put it. It always indicates a missing letter or letters. This is true even when we're (we are) talking of possession: in early English we indicated possession with the words "his" or "her", so we might talk of Simon, his house (Simon's house) or the car, her wheels (car's wheels). Yes, cars are always female. Note that the apostrophe goes where the letters disappeared.Once we understand this principle, there is no longer any need to wonder whether a word needs an apostrophe or not. Just ask the question: is it a shortened form? So "you're" is the shortened form of "you are" and "your" refers to something that belongs to you. There is a banner ad that I see far too frequently that maintains, "Sometimes your the bug, sometimes your the windscreen." A literal translation is, "Sometimes belonging to you the bug, sometimes belonging to you the windscreen." I am hoping that it's superfluous for me to point out that what is actually meant is, "Sometimes you're the bug, sometimes you're the windscreen." We can laugh at this but it represents one more step down the road to mutual incomprehension.Incidentally, if we stick an "s" on the end of "your", we get one of the two exceptions to the rule. "Yours" has no apostrophe and neither does "its" when indicating ownership. "It's" is short for "it is". Just one of those things to remember; there aren't many of them.Spelling should be less of a problem now that we have spell checkers (just copy and paste the text into a word processor - it'll {it will} tell you if there are any glaring errors in it). But, of course, spell checkers can't tell you whether the word should be "to", "too" or "two", for instance. With that example, the thing is to think "Too has too many "o"s in it, two has a doubleyoo (double = 2), and all the rest have only one "o".So spell checkers can let you down when a word sounds the same but means different things according to how it's spelled. But I don't think this is a serious problem; generally it's pretty obvious which meaning is intended.And that's about it; just those few, simple tips and tricks should be enough to improve the literacy standards of the blogosphere, if only bloggers would remember them. Of course, I don't flatter myself that anyone who actually needs this advice will read this post, let alone memorize any of it...
Clive
Joe Blogger Your retarded! Date Added: 29/09/2005
Gone Away My retarded what? Date Added: 29/09/2005
Mark Trying to improve the blogoshpere is like putting curtains in an outhouse. It will look better but still stink. Then again, this was good advice. You are preaching to the choir however, hopefully. Those who need it most don't have the necessary attention span to read a post of this length. Date Added: 29/09/2005
Gone Away Was it optimism or frustration that made me do it? To tell the truth, I think it's just a cry of pain, Mark... ;) Date Added: 29/09/2005
Chris Howard Excellent post, Clive. I have this idea for one that's been stewing for a while: why writers need copyeditors. I'm a longtime abuser of commas and sentence-weakening adverbs. My last short story came back with two pages of storyline inconsistencies and grammar trouble. I think you're saying that bloggers just need to spend a little more time in order to turn out a better product, or is it that writers and bloggers should be able to do all their own editing, putting copyeditors out of work? Or do you have a secret blog copyediting service that you're ready to launch? My problem is that I don't have much time to write a post. With more time, I would post twice as often, each one would be twice as long, and I'd spend more time proofing before posting. In my case, it's write first, edit if you have the time, a terrible thing to admit. Date Added: 29/09/2005
Gone Away I am blessed (or cursed) with the ability to write and copyedit, Chris. The pedant in me shrieks with horror if I post anything with a typo or even a clumsy sentence structure in it. So I edit pretty carefully before I post - doesn't take long usually as I'm doing the same as I write as well. The net result is I have to grit my teeth and bear the low standard of editing on blogs and usually I succeed in not saying anything. This post is really just a scream of pain that's been waiting to come out for about a year... ;) As for a blog copyedit service, where would I find the time? LOL Date Added: 29/09/2005
Broken Messenger Already blogging has dictated a change in style to suit the restrictions and limitations of its medium. Blog-writing has to be brief, to the point, and use short, easily digested paragraphs, if it is to hold a reader's attention long enough for the message to be delivered. Consider me one who bucks the trend (by default) or as a trend setter - I'm not sure which one I truly am at this point. I am the worst offender when it comes to long sentences; indeed, if I notice that a sentence is getting a bit long, I'll throw in a few extra phrases just to rub it in. *Clive says in a 35 word sentence!* Was this meant to be funny? Well, it was... Clive, I am a terrible speller and a repeat offender of awkward or outright bad grammar....your message is heard loud and clear. Great post. Brad Date Added: 29/09/2005
melly I was going to comment seriously until I read Joe Blogger's (Mad I presume) comment and started howling. My grammar is pretty bad, I know that, but I still have a terrible time with it. And yet there are some things even I grit my teeth at - your instead of you're, it's instead of its etc. Those things are like fingernail on a chlakboard to me. And it's even worse 'cause presumably I read "writers blogs." Maybe you should start a grammar school for bloggers. I'll sign in. Date Added: 29/09/2005
Gone Away Special dispensation for writers, Brad - we're allowed to waffle on as long as we like! I think we should say we're trend setters. But if you think 35 words is a long sentence for me, my record (from my book) is something like 140 words... :D Date Added: 29/09/2005
Broken Messenger Melly, Me too! Like chlakboard instead of chalkboard. ROTFLOL. Sorry, couldn't resist given the levity here. Nice comment. Its nice to see someone speaking up about those things...okay, I'll stop now. Brad Date Added: 29/09/2005
Gone Away That describes exactly how bad grammar makes me feel, Melly - fingernails on a chalkboard. But I wouldn't presume to start a grammar school or anything; just let me have a quiet scream occasionally. ;) And well done at spotting Mad hiding behind Joe Blogger! Date Added: 29/09/2005
Jeff You're so right in saying we need to reread our posts before submitting them. Oops, already submitted today before giving a careful once over; guess I'll have to start tomorrow. Date Added: 29/09/2005
Gone Away I learned it the hard way, Jeff - submitted lots of early posts with errors and regretted it immediately afterwards. ;) Date Added: 29/09/2005
Marti There are few things that get under my skin as much as consistent spelling and grammar errors. No one is perfect, but you are absolutely correct that many bloggers seem to type and hit "send", without ever looking over their own words. The thought they were hoping the world would delight in, (because people do blog hoping others will read) becomes diluted when it isn't proofread. That loss of clarity can be enough to cause some readers (like me) to give up and not return. Date Added: 29/09/2005
Gone Away Very true, Marti. If we can't be bothered to read through what we've written to see if we made any mistakes, we obviously don't care enough about what we're saying. Date Added: 29/09/2005
Mad My cover's been blown! If it wasn't for you pesky kids (Melly)! Date Added: 29/09/2005
John Thanks for the timely reminder and the tips Clive, its truly appreciated. GBYAY Date Added: 29/09/2005
Gone Away Thanks, John. Date Added: 30/09/2005
Scot Clive: I enjoyed reading this. It's good advice for both novice and expert writers who choose to blog. Even after I've gone over a piece a few times, I still find a letter missing in a word, or a word omitted, or a word misspelled. Immediately after posting, I'll look over my piece a couple more times just to be sure I didn't miss something. Scot Date Added: 30/09/2005
Gone Away I do the same, Scot - and I usually find one or two things that slipped through the net! Date Added: 30/09/2005
keyfur Yet another good post Gone. If you carry on like this i may stop skim reading them ;) My Grammar and spelling have deteriorated since i began to use a pc and stopped writing things down. I now make stupid mistakes like using your instead of you're. Nowadays my sentances just seem to ramble on and on, like a pack of middle aged english folk on salisbury plain(though minus the wooly hat, im far to straight forward to be wooly(though the sentances can be mamoth)), and, often, with as little reason. Then there is the introduction into our lives of other versions of 'English'. The Americans are obviously the most widely spread culprit but the Aussies misspell words as well, and all of this filters into my addled brain. Then there is Text speak or txt spk, m8 i cant wrk out what thats about. In 20 years time i wont even recognize my own language let alone be able to write in it (and i do mean 'in it' and not 'innit'). Date Added: 30/09/2005
Gone Away Keef, as usual, you make a very insightful comment very funny and entertaining. The influences that invade language make it a fluid and changeable thing. We have difficulty understanding the language of Shakespeare and Chaucer's English is almost incomprehensible to us. But those changes took place over hundreds of years; now English is being changed every day so that the scenario you propose is not so fantastic after all. 1 dy we wll prbly rite & spel like this & its all ur fawlt m8! Date Added: 30/09/2005
keyfur You are right about Chaucer, i studied his writing for my English literature GCSE, it completely turned me off to his work, which is a pity as his tales are excellent. I do think Text speak will invade the language successfully and its impact will be huge. I think the saddest thing is that we are dumbing down our own language. We are using five shorter words to convey the same meaning as one of three syllables or more, purely because of our shrinking vocabularies. I first believed this to be through lack of education (and it is partly to blame), but i now believe it is due to the success of the languages infiltration into the wider world that is actually restricting it. As an increasing number of countries adopt the language as an essential tool, we become aware that whatever we broadcast, via whatever medium, must be as understandable to a citizen of say indonesia, as it is to the proffesor of English at an Oxford University (who may be from Iraq). Anyway thats all a bit too much for this time of day Date Added: 30/09/2005
Gone Away .oO(Well, who'da thunk it - Keef's turning out to be an intellectual. I suppose that means no more riding bikes into cars and similar fun...) All true, Keef, and especially perceptive about the simplification of English as it becomes the lingua franca of the world. After I wrote the response to your first comment, I wondered if we'd succeed in reducing the written language to numerals (as in m8 and l8). If that happens, everything will have to be said using only 10 characters! Oh, brave new world... Date Added: 30/09/2005
Gone Away Also, Keef: today's stats show 40 hits from China! D'you think they came for a bit of grammar education? And d'you reckon I could make a bit of money giving English lessons to Chinese over the net...? Date Added: 30/09/2005
keeefer Oi, ive never been near a lectual let alone in one, how dare you spread such rumours! Maybe we will invent a binary version of english so all we need type is 0s and 1s 001011110 10100 10110101 101000101 010 100 1001010111010, 1011101, 01000! Date Added: 30/09/2005
Gone Away Steady on there, Keef! I know you're an Ozzie now but 10110101 is a bit strong for a family blog, ya know... Date Added: 30/09/2005
keeefer 40 hits from China.....dont get over excited, you are probably the only website to make it through the censorship going on out there (ahhhh chameereon he orrite but need to use more red in page rayout). Next time you order a takeaway make sure there are no hidden microphones or cameras in your deep fried chilli beef Date Added: 30/09/2005
keeefer oh sorry i meant 10110100.....silly me Date Added: 30/09/2005
Gone Away Hey, don't knock the Chinee - think of the numbers, Keef. If I can corner that market, my stats will make BoingBoing look silly! Mind you, that does explain how I broke my tooth on that spring roll the other night... Date Added: 30/09/2005
melly Broken Messenger, way to laugh at the accidental dyslexic. ;) (I actually wanted to write 'way too laugh' :) And Mad/Joe Blogger - you should have covered you're tracks better than that. Okay, enough, it hurts. Date Added: 30/09/2005
Gone Away No, no, never enough! :D Date Added: 30/09/2005
keeefer I take it BoingBoing is a blog and not the latest offering from Hustler. Can you imagine a chinese porn magazine? Women in grey boiler suits with photos of their tiny feet leaps to mind. Obviously there would also be an article on your classic 1920's bicycle....................ummm what were you saying about me being intellectual? Date Added: 30/09/2005
Gone Away Oh, it's too late to go back on it now, Keef - we've all seen that you can think! And yes, BoingBoing is one of the top blogs - one of what they call the A-list. Of course, the whole point of putting them up there is so that we can knock them off their perch. ;) Date Added: 30/09/2005
keeefer Theres an A list? trust you to be carping on about it. When boing boing is knocked off its perch, i hope you replace it and dont flounder.You would have a whale of a time in the top ten of world bloggers. You have a lot of us hooked already, lets hope the chinese really are rerading it and that its not just a red herring Date Added: 30/09/2005
Gone Away What's this Keef, fishing for compliments? I'll just be hitting the bass notes if I ever reach that plaice. Anyway, I'm off for a kipper - all this is giving me a haddock... Date Added: 30/09/2005
Kurt Clive, have you read 'Eats, Shoots, and Leaves' yet? I think you'd just click with that particular book, and judging from this, you'd sympathize with just about every point in it. Date Added: 30/09/2005
Gone Away I have read it, Kurt and you're right - I agree with every word of it. :) Date Added: 30/09/2005
rdl Dusting off my copy of Strunk and White - The Elements of Style and I will admit to never having finished that little book. Your last paragraph made me laugh though. (Did i just break a rule? see now you have paralyzed me in fear of making a terrible faux paux). I do like how you manage to make it comical; I think you secretly want to be stand up comic. I enjoy your writing. Date Added: 30/09/2005
Gone Away I think that was part of what I was trying to say, Rdl; that in knowing just a few rules, we can all feel more confident and write better. And, once we know the rules, we can start to break them when they need to be broken. ;) Never let it paralyze you though. The rules are there to make it easier for us to communicate, not to stop it all together! You broke no rules (and I saw no errors on your blog either) so you have nothing to worry about. As for being a stand up comic, that would kill me! I'm a man of the written word, not the spoken. Thanks for your kind comment. Date Added: 30/09/2005
Janus Oh man, talk about talking about something that can pierce the heart. Not only do I have some of the worst spelling and grammar (mind ye, its intentional a lot of the time to reflect my actual state of mind) but "Blog-writing has to be brief, to the point, and use short, easily digested paragraphs, if it is to hold a reader's attention long enough for the message to be delivered" I am in trouble. I suppose it would help if I have the powers of proofreading, I just have the ability to complain about trivial stuff. Good work on the riddle btw =P Date Added: 30/09/2005
Gone Away The article wasn't aimed at anyone in particular, Janus. Honest. Just cut everything into smaller paragraphs and Bob's your auntie. ;) As for the riddle, sometimes I get lucky! :D Date Added: 30/09/2005
John (SYNTAGMA) A couple of minors points : text on screen is not so distinguishable as most print versions. I've noticed that the colon almost disappears in many fonts, especially 3pt Times Roman and many point sizes of Arial. So I've taken to placing a space between the word and the colon (see above). Interestingly, in some old letterpress books, the same device has been used, no doubt for visibility too. So it's probably necessary to adjust some grammatical rules for the screen and for the lower attention span of viewers, particularly those on dial-up who are "time-poor". But "authority" comes with good grammar and spelling, as you suggest. Lots of typos make you wonder about the mind of the person writing. Date Added: 30/09/2005
Gone Away Good points all, John. It's the first time I've heard of the space before the colon but it's an excellent idea - really makes it stand out. Date Added: 30/09/2005
Nancy I often go back and re-edit my posts later, everyone makes mistakes they don't see on thier first edit. Date Added: 30/09/2005
Gone Away True, Nancy. For a long time I didn't have that facility (the blog is designed by my son and he added features as and when time permitted) so there were typos in my early posts that used to scream at me. Nowadays I can go in and fix them quickly before anyone sees. ;) Date Added: 30/09/2005
John (SYNTAGMA) That's the problem with RSS for us early-adopters. As soon as you click "publish", the feed goes out, and though you can jump in and correct any errors in the post before anyone else reads it, the feed is already in every subscriber's aggregator. Then, when you make the correction, the feed goes out again, as if it were a new post. That is annoying. A pause button for the feed would be an idea. Date Added: 30/09/2005
Gone Away Yes, I've noticed that, John. I do the RSS feed manually (which is why I summarise rather than allow part or all of the post to go in) and I check for errors very carefully before I let it go. So there are some disadvantages to automated RSS feeds after all. ;) Date Added: 30/09/2005
Madmin I have actually developed the code to automatically update the RSS feed but I haven't got around to implementing it. At some point your feeds will happen when you press publish Dad. Date Added: 30/09/2005
Gone Away Oh, cool, thanks Mad. Will it publish the whole article or just a portion or what? Date Added: 30/09/2005
Mad It will publish in the format we currently use, your RSS file is huge anyway; I don't want whole posts in there. Date Added: 30/09/2005
Gone Away So at what stage will I make the summary? Date Added: 30/09/2005
Mad The posting interface will acquire a new field for you to enter the summary. Date Added: 30/09/2005
Gone Away Kewl. :) Date Added: 30/09/2005
John (SYNTAGMA) The problem with part-post feeds is that all the search engines, except Technorati and BlogPulse, index what they find in the RSS feed. So, if it's a short feed, that's all you get. And your traffic will be based on only the short feed. That's why I publish a full feed. Swings and roundabouts. Date Added: 30/09/2005
Gone Away Like most things, John, it ends up a compromise... Date Added: 30/09/2005
rws Two more widespread errors: the confusion between whose and who's (the first being the possessive form of who, the second being the contraction for 'who is') and the disappearance of the direct-address comma (writing, for instance, 'Thanks for that Clive' instead of 'Thanks for that, Clive'). Steps, as you put it, down the road to mutual incomprehension. Date Added: 30/09/2005
Gone Away Thanks for that, Scissors (may I call you Scissors?). I knew I was bound to miss a few and you have supplied the necessary! :) Date Added: 30/09/2005
ME Strauss Thanks for the grammar review that turned into one of the best comedy routines. Wish I could come out and play with you. Date Added: 30/09/2005
Deborah Ah yes, grammar and spelling errors. I completely agree with you. It definitely appears that very few people read their own words before clicking that magical send button.
We all make mistakes, but whatever you're writing should not be riddled with typos and grammatical errors. When did 's become the only way to pluralize a word? I guess a simple 's' won't do anymore. Great post! Date Added: 30/09/2005
Glod Spellchecker don't really help, even more so when blogger fails to recognise 'blog'. http://www.newyorker.com/critics/books/?040628crbo_books1 Date Added: 30/09/2005
Gone Away You're always welcome to join in, Liz. :)` Date Added: 01/10/2005
Gone Away Ah, you thought of another common mistake, Deborah. Thank you! Date Added: 01/10/2005
Gone Away Nothing recognises "blog" yet, Glod. 'Tis a new word... Date Added: 01/10/2005
so lost Just popping in from Blog Explosion to say hi! Have a great day! Date Added: 01/10/2005
Bernie Hi Clive, I enjoyed you're (sic - just kidding - your) post. There are a lot of blogs (bloggers) out there that are desperately in need of help. However, I'm certain that it's a lost cause to try to convert them all. By the way, I don't believe that the written word will suffer much. It was once believed that radio and television would cause less appreciation for reading. Perhaps it did for some, but thankfully not for all. Thanks for taking the time to share this with us all. Feel free to drop by my site sometime. Best Regards, Bernie Date Added: 01/10/2005
Gone Away Oh, er, hi back at yer, Lost! ;) Date Added: 01/10/2005
Gone Away I'm 57 years old, Bernie, and in my time I've seen the literacy level decline with gathering pace. A year ago I left a job in which I was involved in trying to do something to halt that decline. The problem is massive and gets bigger all the time. In my day (the 60s), there was no such thing as an adult literacy class. Almost everyone could read. Now we have adult literacy classes coming out of the woodwork and they can't cope with the demand. And they're only dealing with the ones who will admit they have a problem. You wonder why I fear for the future? Nice blog, by the way. Fix the slow loading problem and I'll read more than just the latest article. ;) Date Added: 01/10/2005
Mark Daniels I've often considered doing a series of posts called, 'The Shame of the Blogging World,' patterned after a feature on the old daytime David Letterman show. It was called, 'The Shame of the City.' Camera crews went around New York and showed errors on signs. A person could have 'a field day' poking around for such mistakes on blogs. But I haven't gone ahead with this cheeky project for fear that inevitably, I'd get caught in grammatical and spelling errors myself. I guess I've adopted the rule, "Those without sin, throw the first dictionary." Date Added: 01/10/2005
Gone Away I think that's an excellent idea, Mark, and well worth the embarrassment of an occasional slip. Only today I came across a blog entitled My Waisted Life; I hadn't the heart to ask how a life manages to get narrower in the middle... Date Added: 01/10/2005
Phil Dillon Clive I really enjoyed this piece. I also found it interesting that Nancy and I had a long conversation yesterday afternoon about this. She wondered out loud whether this generation has become so visual that it has either lost or is in the latter stages of losing the written and spoken word. One of the things that stands out to me is that the younger bloggers have such short attention spans, so short that they can't even use complete phrases. So, we get things like LOL or OMG or BTW. A while back a younger blogger commented to me that my "stuff" was "sooooooooooo long." Part of me wants to give in and go with the flow, but I won't. The written word is far too valuable to give in to the nonsense. Date Added: 01/10/2005
Gone Away That Nancy of yours is a wise woman, Phil. I think she has pinpointed a large part of the problem: that the visual influences in our culture have become so powerful that they eclipse the written word. But let me encourage you in your determination to stick with the longer post. Serious consideration of any subject requires a longer post than is usual in the blogosphere and it is only in presenting such posts that we can ever carve out a portion of the blogosphere that can be taken seriously. There is a market for this and it is up to those of us capable of producing such stuff to provide it. Reading your blog requires a different approach than that which is most commonly adopted with blogs. I look on it as similar to one's approach to a favorite book: one makes time for it, gets comfortable in one's deepest armchair, a hot drink at one's elbow, savors the moment and then plunges in, confident that one will not be disappointed (sorry for all those ones - an old English habit). More power to your arm, sir! Date Added: 01/10/2005
raul Are there a book like "Strunk and White - The Elements of BlogStyle " ? Date Added: 03/12/2005
Gone Away As far as I know, Raul, it hasn't been done yet. But, now that you've had the idea, I'm sure it'll happen! :D Date Added: 03/12/2005
raul Thanks Allen, but I have English as a second language: impossible. But Strunk also should be the style master by blog's writers: short sentences, short text, short, short and short.
Gone Away You speak English a lot better than I do Spanish, Raul (I learned French at school). I agree that many of Strunk's suggestions carry over to blogging but feel that there is even more pressure for brevity than usual in blogging. Like all rules, however, they should be taken as there to break at times. ;) Date Added: 04/12/2005
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