A ruse by any otha nme.
Their not there. Don’t not dont. Capital letters. Full stops. Endless English textbooks are full of them. They tell us how to write. They tell us what is correct. However this article wants to explore the idea that there is a right way to use the written word.
Now language has many functions, to entertain us, to make us smile, to make us cry. However these are all linked by one overall function of language. That it is used to communicate. Now communication relies on a level of understanding. Hence if I wrote this sentence it would not be understood and is this not language. Gkdalf dosncf inglereted dwasd. This sentence has no meaning. It fails the function test. However try this sentence. I can run, wouthit a porbelm. Now two words are conventionally misspelt in this sentence. However this sentence can be understood. Now in this case what is the difference between the conventional spelling and the supposed mistake? The both pass the function test. In fact if you can spot a mistake in a sentence, it must mean that it passes the function test. This is because you can understand what the writer really meant. Thus you understand. A word need not be spelt the same way by everyone if it can be understood. The only test for language is if it is able to be understood. It need not be understood by everyone. For example I cannot understand Dutch, that does not mean it cannot be understood by others. Language is a tool for communication, thus it is necessary social. If someone can correct you, they can understand you. Hence correcting someone’s language is unnecessary. It is simply a snobbish and conservative construct.
The same argument can be used for Internet language or ‘text chat’. ‘2 b, r nt 2 b dat iz d Q wthr ts noblr n d mnd 2 sufr d slngs & arowz of outrAjs fortn r 2 tAk armz agnst a C f trblz, & by oposn nd em?’ Now many young people will be able to understand this quotation from Shakespeare. I ask the reader if you can read the text and understand the words does the passage lose any meaning. Does the passage lose any beauty? Is it now not able to move you ? The answer if you can understand the texts speak used is that no change is noticeable at all. It is wrote in a differing way, however the meaning is the same. We must remember of course that it was the bard himself that used and manipulated words into the forms we use today. He was by no means conventional.
What I am trying to say is this. Convention is just a mould that has set. Pour water on it and it can be made in a different way. If there was a right or wrong way to write, then it would be able to have a league table for languages. The only rule for language is that you must be able to be understood. This sometimes means that context and digression should sometimes be used. However next time you try and correct someone on their grammar or spelling remember that you have understood, thus the language that you are trying to correct has completed
Their not there. Don’t not dont. Capital letters. Full stops. Endless English textbooks are full of them. They tell us how to write. They tell us what is correct. However this article wants to explore the idea that there is a right way to use the written word.
Now language has many functions, to entertain us, to make us smile, to make us cry. However these are all linked by one overall function of language. That it is used to communicate. Now communication relies on a level of understanding. Hence if I wrote this sentence it would not be understood and is this not language. Gkdalf dosncf inglereted dwasd. This sentence has no meaning. It fails the function test. However try this sentence. I can run, wouthit a porbelm. Now two words are conventionally misspelt in this sentence. However this sentence can be understood. Now in this case what is the difference between the conventional spelling and the supposed mistake? The both pass the function test. In fact if you can spot a mistake in a sentence, it must mean that it passes the function test. This is because you can understand what the writer really meant. Thus you understand. A word need not be spelt the same way by everyone if it can be understood. The only test for language is if it is able to be understood. It need not be understood by everyone. For example I cannot understand Dutch, that does not mean it cannot be understood by others. Language is a tool for communication, thus it is necessary social. If someone can correct you, they can understand you. Hence correcting someone’s language is unnecessary. It is simply a snobbish and conservative construct.
The same argument can be used for Internet language or ‘text chat’. ‘2 b, r nt 2 b dat iz d Q wthr ts noblr n d mnd 2 sufr d slngs & arowz of outrAjs fortn r 2 tAk armz agnst a C f trblz, & by oposn nd em?’ Now many young people will be able to understand this quotation from Shakespeare. I ask the reader if you can read the text and understand the words does the passage lose any meaning. Does the passage lose any beauty? Is it now not able to move you ? The answer if you can understand the texts speak used is that no change is noticeable at all. It is wrote in a differing way, however the meaning is the same. We must remember of course that it was the bard himself that used and manipulated words into the forms we use today. He was by no means conventional.
What I am trying to say is this. Convention is just a mould that has set. Pour water on it and it can be made in a different way. If there was a right or wrong way to write, then it would be able to have a league table for languages. The only rule for language is that you must be able to be understood. This sometimes means that context and digression should sometimes be used. However next time you try and correct someone on their grammar or spelling remember that you have understood, thus the language that you are trying to correct has completed
