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The Forum > Article Comments > The fight for English > Comments

The fight for English : Comments

By Malcolm King, published 7/3/2008

The rules for the use of apostrophes and capitalisation, have been sucked from the classroom like a road map out of the window of a speeding car.

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I too regret the passing of good English spelling and grammar. However, I am so encouraged by the number of posts following the article. It makes me think there are more than a few people out there with a like mind.
Posted by snake, Friday, 7 March 2008 6:55:17 PM
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Oh dear.

English is a living language. Grow or die.
Posted by Passy, Friday, 7 March 2008 8:59:52 PM
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Language is forever evolving. We have many books in our house which are over a hundred years old. Looking at them today they are full of spelling mistakes. Mind you I dont know if they would have been spelling mistakes back when the book was printed.

All it proves is that language will be always on the move and it is hardly something to get worried about.
Posted by EasyTimes, Friday, 7 March 2008 10:44:48 PM
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100% spot on, whatever one's political persuasion and pet bigotry. In my own profession, students and young scientists for the last 25 years have amply demonstrated their inability to write succinct and correct English.I gave up reviewing scientific papers for an international scientific journal produced in NZ because of this very reason; I found that I would have to rewrite whole sections of the paper under review so that I could understand it. I have heard that in NZ, school students are allowed now to use text language in exams. English grammar used to be an examinable subject in its own right in English GCE exams, and one had to pass a Use of English exam to get into university. We need to return to the old style of education.
Posted by HenryVIII, Friday, 7 March 2008 10:56:27 PM
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I don't think the article was concerned with evolving changes to our language which, as some posters have pointed out, is inevitable. The capacity for change is cited by many linguists as one of the reasons "English" has endured while languages such as Latin and Classical Greek disappeared.

Words are continually "morphing" - look what's happened to the original meaning of words like cute, pretty, naughty, nice, housewife, know. And the language of texting does exactly what a language is supposed to do: communicates clearly and succinctly (and, I consider, rather cleverly in some instances). It will probably leave a lasting legacy on general language just as other communicative shortcuts left us with SNAFU, AWOL etc.

But the fact that large numbers of the population are losing (have lost?) their ability to communicate clearly is, I still consider, of concern. Allied to this is the consideration that, like it or not, people are judged on the way they speak and write. Surely the growing gap between the haves and the have-nots can only be exacerbated when large numbers of the population are judged inferior the moment they open their mouths or write a letter?
Posted by Romany, Saturday, 8 March 2008 3:23:41 AM
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It was and I said not but. - Comma that!!
Posted by enkew, Saturday, 8 March 2008 7:06:28 AM
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