Comments on: Spell everything correctly.

By: Getta Life

Getta Life — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:40:13 +0000

Wow… I read over the comments and just had to say that there are too many people with too much time on their hands and too much bitterness in their heart. This is a great article that is helpful for those seeking money for school… your mocking of one another would be time better spent helping others not cutting them down. Get off the computer and into a real life.

By: Lee Gee

Lee Gee — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 23:36:27 +0000

Thanks for this, Josh. Well said.

By: Laura Marie

Laura Marie — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:13:46 +0000

Hello People of the Forum,
My name is Laura Marie, and I’m currently attending an on-line college at the lovely age of 38 years young. I’m posting on here because; I’m looking to address anyone with the ability to assist me with a dilemma I’m facing.
I am about to submit an essay to The Ayn Rand Institute on “Atlas Shrugged”. What I need to find out is, if someone (such as Josh), can proof-read my essay to ensure there is no incorrect spelling or grammatical mistakes within it. I worked quite hard on it and truly wish to win the $10,000.00 top prize! Thanks you in advance for your help and or advice.
Sincerely,
Laura Marie
PS: Maybe someone can answer this in the meantime. This is something I’m struggling with right now. It’s a sentence in my cover letter and I want to check for proper usage of “then” & “than”. I have mulled it over for 2 hours, and believe because I’ve been staring at it too long, really need an extra set of eyes to tell me which is the correct way regarding this sentence below:
“Ironically, as of late, “Atlas Shrugged” has been mentioned often in the news and people are talking about the book more frequently now, I believe, than ever before.”

By: Her Own Loveable Self

Her Own Loveable Self — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:54:52 +0000

I don’t like how Samantha’s comment got completely ignored. That really says a lot about the nature of this commentary.

The point should be to encourage people to do better in life by seeking help from others when they need it. How is that supposed to happen if you snap at people?

(I guess this comment is a lost cause too, because you’re all just going to find something in it to pick at instead of reading this message for its context.)

By: Perry Bruner

Perry Bruner — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:10:43 +0000

I enjoyed your article/advice.
I CANNOT BELIEVE that people spell words incorrectly on a SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION!
With all the spell check editors available on EVERY PC in the world, you would think any idiot would not be so lazy as to not find a dictionary for a SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION, much less push a button on the computer!

By: Deborah Castro

Deborah Castro — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:02:38 +0000

hi. i just wanted to take a minute and offer another perspective. if you take a linguistics class, which most people don’t. or learn another language. you’d learn that language is fluid and constantly changing. Its changing right now as we speak. so its not something to get so riled up about i think. but on the other hand i substitute teach and I agree that children are extremely distracted and lazy and definitely should learn to spell better among other things. go ahead and fire away at my spelling and grammar. i grew up in the internet age so i’m not so ashamed. but i did spell check.

deb

By: Natalie

Natalie — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:31:33 +0000

I believe that text messaging is destroying our youth’s spelling.

By: janet

janet — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:12:51 +0000

Thanks for the encouragemnet.indeed your open up my mind and thouth s about what can be done in as a part of life strugle.

from janet

By: Molly

Molly — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 02:07:49 +0000

Thanks for another helpful article Josh! I am an upcoming high school senior, and right now scholarship applications are my main focus. I took World Civilizations online last year, and the poor grammar of the other students was a huge pet peeve of mine. If I were the professor, I probably would have corrected them in the same fashion as you did, Josh.

In another note, I’m kind of appalled at the comment fight occurring! I thought name-calling was a high school phenomenon…

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 03:00:07 +0000

Well said Josh, and I’m reading most of these comments about this article and others ragging on their past experiences with other people. Then others rag on those people for their incorrect grammar in their own article. I was laughing most of my way down this page reading the posts and comments.

(p.s. I’m not trying super hard right now to be grammatically correct so yeah fire away at what you got at me.)

By: Marjie

Marjie — Thu, 14 May 2009 00:15:57 +0000

This set of comments is both hilarious and sad. The English teacher’s misspelling of “its” (how ironic!) must be one of the most common mistakes around, judging from how often I find it in the newspaper, magazines, and books. (A common Ohio-ism is to say “left” when one means “let” or “allowed”. People will say, “I left him go to the movie”, instead of “I let him go to the movie”, and don’t understand that their usage is inaccurate.)

I also, unfortunately, noted a fairly common thread of negative attitudes. It is one thing to correct one’s grammatical or spelling errors, but quite another to insult them deliberately or use crude and demeaning language to describe them. The result is usually the opposite of what was intended.

I honestly don’t know why this particular link was sent to my e-mail, but I’m finding it very enlightening and helpful, especially as my daughter is entering the job market–well, trying, anyway–and beginning her first official college semester in the fall. (She’s taken several PSEO classes as a high schooler.) I am amazed at people’s lack of basic spelling and grammar knowledge. (At the same time, I admit I still have to stop and think about “who” or “whom”.) I appreciate the helpfulness of this site and will definitely have the above mentioned daughter look through some of this material.

One comment regarding Michael’s April 28 lament regarding education. Hmm…and then some people think that we are doing our children a disservice by home educating them.

By: Reader

Reader — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:32:32 +0000

Wow. What humor.

By: Josh Barsch

Josh Barsch — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:05:26 +0000

Hey Jeff — I’ll help you out with farther and further. “Farther” refers to physical distance only; if it doesn’t refer to physical distance, use “further.”

Ex: Rapid City is five miles from here, and Sturgis is 25 miles farther.

Ex: I don’t see any need to explore this topic any further.
Josh

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:13:06 +0000

I just read the rest of the comments and realized that someone else had already pointed out the English teacher’s “it’s” mistake. Thus, I apologize for my redundancy. However, I too believe that this repetition further solidifies the reality that the aforementioned English teacher ought to check herself before she tears down her students.

(I am now proofing my entry for fear of making a mistake and looking like a fool. Perhaps someone can assist me. Is the correct usage “further” or “farther?” I believe I utilized it correctly, but I truly have never understood that distinction.)

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:55:35 +0000

This response is for the high school English teacher who says that all students are lazy and don’t care.

I just thought it would be necessary to point out the fact that “it’s” is a conjunction for “it is” and is not possessive. In addition, after the sentence “Students don’t care” the most appropriate punctuation would be a semi-colon.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:41:52 +0000

I forgot to mention: to Anonymous on March 19th- I’m quite positive “teachable” IS a word; if one person is considered able to learn, they are a teachable person, a “teachable” for short; more than one “teachable” would be two or more “teachables”, plural of “teachable”. In the context that Laura Hinrichsen used the word “teachables” on March 14th, a “teachable” is a word to describe things she’s learned that can be taught to others, in her case probably her students; more than one subject she’s learned and can teach to others would be “teachables”. “Non-teachable(s)” would be things that she has learned that are part of becoming a teacher but aren’t taught to her students, such as sociological aspects like how to deal with students who would rather complain about, or emphasize, the the trivial short-comings of others, e.g., people like you.
And to Anonymous on April 11th- If you’re going to call out the faults of others, have the balls to identify yourself. And your punctuation after “hypocrisy” is WRONG. It should be either a semi-colon or a period, period.
And to Red on April 13th: “this amuse me”? What are you, an actor portraying a native American from an old western flick? “This funny to Red. This amuse me. Me idiot.” And how ’bout “…before going out and spread the virus to children.”? Good display of bad grammar. “Going” and “spread” are verbs that need to be in the same tense, as follows:”..try to master first her ‘teachable’ lesson/subject before going out and spreadING the virus to the children…” See how easy that was? Also, I’m positive that the “i” you used needs to be capitalized. Utilizing your Tonto grammar, the “i” is capitalized as follows: “…this amuse me but I hope…”. See the difference? I think I learned the “I” rule, which is: “Use a capital ‘i’ when referring to one’s self”- when I was in kindergarten or first grade. Maybe I was in a special school with special rules or something. Now go out and play nice with the other children, Red. Maybe we can discuss the difference between present tense and present perfect tense next time. That sound good?

AND:
Mr.Wilson, please don’t include me in your group, “no one”, as I find Mr. Barsch’s comments quite amusing, while I find your comments to be boorish and sophomoric in nature. It’s comments like yours that are funny to read, because they show your immaturity, ironically, while you are trying to show how grown up you think you are. Feel free to instead include me in THIS group: “People who think Mr. Barsch is humorous and like what he’s doing here, which is providing help and advice in order to help others become better additions to the society in which we’ve chosen to live, unlike you and the dolts like you, who feel calling someone ‘Jackass’ is appropriate while it actually puts your own ineptitude and lack of insight on display and proclaims to the world,’I'm a moron and I like it!’”.
Keep up the excellent work, Mr. Barsch!!

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 21:24:11 +0000

I had to say something about spelling. I’m in a class on-line called “Intro to Mass Communications”. Each week a pair of discussion questions are posted by the instructor. We are required to reply to both questions, then post replies to two other students’ responses. For the entire length of this class I have been simply amazed at how bad some people are at spelling. They spell the same words wrong over and over, obviously without ever taking two seconds to run spell-check. And many of them write as though they’re sending a text message to friends, no capital letters and with terrible grammar. I’m 43 and have worked in construction most of my life, never needing to to be proficient in spelling or grammar, but I have always taken pride in my spelling ability and use of proper grammar. I am astounded by the poor spelling and grammar of the kids in my on-line class as well as my classes on campus. These people were allowed to get through junior and senior high school with these terrible skills? This is what passes for education? I think this is very sobering commentary on the state of our educational institutions. Anyway, I like the articles and the responses posted here. I hope that I can put some of it to good use and secure some help with funding for the rest of my college education. Oh, and P.S.- does anyone know of any scholarships or grants for non-traditional students like me? I sometime feel like I’m in some type of minority because I’m a single, white, straight male in his forties. There seems to be a scholarship or grant or other program for just about everyone except people of my demographic. Thanks, Michael

By: Me

Me — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:12:48 +0000

Haha. This makes me laugh.

By: Just a Fan

Just a Fan — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 04:30:07 +0000

You have just made my day.

Thank you.

By: kalynn

kalynn — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 03:50:23 +0000

Hi Josh,
I just wanted to say that I really appreciate your articles. They are very funny and written in such a “down to earth” fashion.I especially love to read the comments in which people complain about spelling mistakes and then in their haste, make the same obnoxious spelling errors. Thanks