Where is the third person these days?

[Resurrection]

It immensly annoys me when I hear or read the phrase "he/she". What are they teaching at schools these days? If the gender of the person is unknown or the gender can be either male or female, the correct term is "they".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They

[pottery beige]

hermaphrodite..??..

[Kryton]

Its the internet - hardly worth worrying about.
Hang around long enough and you'll soon find that not many can/bother to either form a sentence correctly or spell correctly - let alone get their, they're and there in the correct context.

[3vXT]

Originally Posted by davway

Its the internet - hardly worth worrying about.
Hang around long enough and you'll soon find that not many can/bother to either form a sentence correctly or spell correctly - let alone get their, they're and there in the correct context.

I think your exaggerating.

[kevman976]

Originally Posted by ken2903

I think your exaggerating.

I think you're having us on. Kevman.

[duaned]

[wrongwaynorris]

Originally Posted by ken2903

I think your exaggerating.

No he's not , just look throught this forum for some of the horrendous grammatical and spelling errors . All symptomtic of the dumbing down of the world sadly .

[MAV50L]

I 100% agree that the internet and such is making the world dumber by the day.
I used to be a very good speller but have lost a bit of the art now that I have a spell checker on most things I do. It just makes you lazy.
You only have to look at the questions asked on forums etc and the replies to realise that people now days have no idea and are getting dumber , either that or with the invention of the internet we are now all in contact with dumb people we may not of been in contact with before.
It makes you wonder if over time people are being dumbed down so there is no uprisings in the world etc , we will just go along with what the forums and google tell us..................
The computer age is a very powerful tool that can used to great use when used correctly , but can also just amke people switch their minds off.
In someways the old alfoil hat brigade's claims do seem to have a bit of merit on occasion.

[sk8xr8]

yeh wel whot i reckon is thet its not us kidz what is not smart its da ways dat we is getting teached and that is rong. its tha techers hoo shood be blaamed 4 tha way there teching isunt working and that.



Sorry, couldn't help myself, I totally agree, puntuation and grammer are up the creek these days, with our family business we are constantly getting young kids coming through that really can't spell to save themselves.

just quietly, without wanting to upset anyone, these forums are pretty bad too...

[Kryton]

Education starts at home, not in the classroom.

[Resurrection]

Originally Posted by davway

Education starts at home, not in the classroom.

And leading by example. People these days are too thin skinned to accept 'consructive criticism'.

Another issue which annoys me is sentences ending with prepositions.

[zdcol71]

Originally Posted by sk8xr8

yeh wel whot i reckon is thet its not us kidz what is not smart its da ways dat we is getting teached and that is rong. its tha techers hoo shood be blaamed 4 tha way there teching isunt working and that.



Sorry, couldn't help myself, I totally agree, puntuation and grammer are up the creek these days, with our family business we are constantly getting young kids coming through that really can't spell to save themselves.

just quietly, without wanting to upset anyone, these forums are pretty bad too...

Not usually a big fan of this , (highlighting peoples mistakes), but let's be careful when pointing out other peoples shortcomings in regards correct English.
By the way he/she is fine if the subject is either he/she, but to say it should be "they" implies plural, which neither he/she is/are.

[aussiblue]

By the way he/she is fine if the subject is either he/she, but to say it should be "they" implies plural, which neither he/she is/are.

Arguable or perhaps for the old fashioned purist only. A more modern view is that the singular tense or anaphoric "they" is OK. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they

Though singular they is widespread in everyday English and has a long history of usage, debate continues about its acceptability

....and who cares. Getting this fussy about English, on forums like this especially, is just going to restrict access to those with lesser English skills (often through no fault of their own). Let's keep the Internet access as democratic as possible and not discourage those whose Englisg or grammar may be less than perfect.

[aussiblue]

And per this example the speed of Internet is very unforgiving; by the time I noticed my typo "Englisg" instead of "English" and tried to edit it, it was too late to change the post.

[flappist]

Originally Posted by Resurrection

And leading by example. People these days are too thin skinned to accept 'consructive criticism'.

Another issue which annoys me is sentences ending with prepositions.

That is something up with which I would not put.......

[zdcol71]

Originally Posted by aussiblue

Arguable or perhaps for the old fashioned purist only. A more modern view is that the singular tense or anaphoric "they" is OK. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they

....and who cares. Getting this fussy about English, on forums like this especially, is just going to restrict access to those with lesser English skills (often through no fault of their own). Let's keep the Internet access as democratic as possible and not discourage those whose Englisg or grammar may be less than perfect.

Seems like someone cared enough to "wikipedia" the topic, ......however, the point I was making was excactly that, the topics are themselves of more interest than wether or not we spell the Englisg correctly.

[GasoLane]

I just knew I'd find a use for this pic one day

[Riksta]

[Peuty]

Originally Posted by ken2903

I think your exaggerating.

Originally Posted by wrongwaynorris

No he's not , just look throught this forum for some of the horrendous grammatical and spelling errors . All symptomtic of the dumbing down of the world sadly .

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by Resurrection

And leading by example. People these days are too thin skinned to accept 'constructive criticism'.

Another issue which annoys me is sentences ending with prepositions.

Or get their knickers in a knot about things that are pointless on a car forum. BTW you spelt constructive incorrectly (I fixed it in your quote).

[AussieAV]

Originally Posted by Resurrection

It immensly annoys me when I hear or read the phrase "he/she". What are they teaching at schools these days? If the gender of the person is unknown or the gender can be either male or female, the correct term is "they".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They

If this thread is anything to go by, they are definitely not teaching TYPING.

A lot of the spelling errors are probably actually typing errors (at least mine are, far too clever to misspell words, or is that mispell?? )

I thought he/she referred to someone who was sort of in transition between genders.

[T1 Terry]

You won't survive in the modern world unless you learn engrish, everything comes out of China and the instruction manual requires some very lateral thinking to decipher what is actually being said. as far as spell checker, everything I post I run through spell checker and check words I'm unsure of via Synonym, if it doesn't know the word or spelling I google it. When spell checker underlines an error I try to correct it first, this has greatly improved my spelling ability and the courage to use more descriptive words.
The internet is not dumbing down the world, lazy people are dumbing the world.
Does anyone remember a series called firefly? The international language was pigeon Cantonese, this should sound warning bells to all, I believe that was what Joss Whedon was trying to warn us of avoiding. As far as spelling, try looking up old English in the wiki, nothing like the spelling and grammar of today so where are you to base what’s right and wrong from?

T1 Terry

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by T1 Terry

As far as spelling, try looking up old English in the wiki, nothing like the spelling and grammar of today so where are you to base what’s right and wrong from?

T1 Terry

Here could be a start... http://oxforddictionaries.com/

[RG]

Originally Posted by zdcol71

Not usually a big fan of this , (highlighting peoples mistakes), but let's be careful when pointing out other peoples shortcomings in regards correct English.
By the way he/she is fine if the subject is either he/she, but to say it should be "they" implies plural, which neither he/she is/are.

Sorry, have to do it.

It should be "in regards to correct English".
If we want to be pedantic the space after "big fan of this" before the comma isn't require either.

[Fled74]

Originally Posted by T1 Terry

Does anyone remember a series called Firefly? The international language was pigeon Cantonese, this should sound warning bells to all, I believe that was what Joss Whedon was trying to warn us of avoiding.

Sorry to take the thread off topic, but I think Joss Whedon's reason for that was supposedly because the last two major superpowers in the future were America and China, so everyone (even the relatively uneducated) spoke some form of pidgin Chinese as well as English.

Back on topic, I hate when people mix up there/they're/their, your/you're, write/wright/right and its/it's.
English is not my mother tongue, but I'm astounded that many native English speakers make such mistakes as these.

[RG]

Originally Posted by Fled74

Sorry to take the thread off topic, but I think Joss Whedon's reason for that was supposedly because the last two major superpowers in the future were America and China, so everyone (even the relatively uneducated) spoke some form of pidgin Chinese as well as English.

Back on topic, I hate when people mix up there/they're/their, your/you're, write/wright/right and its/it's.
English is not my mother tongue, but I'm astounded that many native English speakers make such mistakes as these.

The there/they're/their issue is nowhere near as prevalent as the loose/lose one. How so many people can mix up loose and lose is beyond me.

[Fled74]

Originally Posted by RG

How so many people can mix up loose and lose is beyond me.

True.
It's not just the parents' fault; any school system that lets kids graduate without knowing how to read or write is also to blame.

I suppose I'm a bit too pedantic about this; many years ago I was a columnist and proof-reader for the uni newspaper so I'm conditioned to notice errors in almost anything I read.

[zdcol71]

Originally Posted by RG

Sorry, have to do it.

It should be "in regards to correct English".
If we want to be pedantic the space after "big fan of this" before the comma isn't require either.

Beg to differ in regards "in regards"; happy to be shown otherwise, but with regard to the space after "......", yes, you are correct. I think I banged the space bar one too many times in my haste in to caution people on being to pedantic with regard to other peoples mistakes. (No further discourse is required)

[Fled74]

Also, misuse of apostrophes (car's, guy's, cat's, dog's, etc). Anyone else hate this?

Bob the Angry Flower agrees with me: http://www.angryflower.com/aposter.html

[EgoFG]

I think 'they' disappeared along with 'actresses' and 'comediennes'.