English and Grammar

5twins

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[note="Moderator Note:"]This post and the following three posts were moved to this thread from another thread in order to keep that thread on topic. The post that these comments were in reference to was later edited making these posts no longer relevant to that thread.[/note]
Ummm .... call me stupid if you like ..... but I have a hard time understanding a jumbled post like that ..... Start sentences with Caps, end with a period .... simple stuff, really ....

I'll bet you never thought paying attention in English class would matter - well it does to some.

edit - and a space after every comma

This is a common problem on most of the lists I frequent - there are an abundance of knowledgeable people there, they just can't write it down properly .....

The Queen's English boys ...... the Queen's English .... personally, I'd be ashamed to submit a post like that .....
 
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Yeah 5twins I hear you. But for me, as long as I can I understand what people are trying to say without too much difficulty, it doesn’t bother me too much.

One trick I do is type everything in Microsoft Word then copy and paste it into the forum editor. Word will point out spelling errors in red and grammar suggestions in green. If I type my response in the forum editor, before I post it, I’ll copy and paste it to Word to correct the spelling and grammar errors, then copy and paste it back to the editor. Another good practice is to proof read the post at least once before you submit it and again after it’s been posted. If I don’t, I find that I forget a word here and there a lot of times because I think faster than I type.

Another thing to remember is that there are people on the forum from different parts of the world. English might be their second language. A lot of times though, it’s just people writing too fast, or people who don’t really know proper grammar, even simple things like spacing and capitalization.

Here are some simple English grammar rules:
  • Capitalize the first letter of the first word in every sentence.
  • Place a period or question mark at the end of each sentence.
  • Place a space after the ending punctuation of a sentence and also after any comma.
  • Don’t put spaces before periods or commas.
  • Capitalize “I” when referring to yourself.
Follow these few simple rules and your posts will be much easier to follow. :thumbsup:
 
Amen, Travis. Well, the blue one is a '72 - that's as far as I got, lol. Then the headache set in. No offense meant to anyone here ..... this is, after all, the world wide web. Say what you want, how you want. I don't reply much to illegible posts. I know this is a new list and not yet divided into categories but if (I hope) it gets that far, I'll only respond to the ones I can understand. And, as I said, this being the world wide web, you better not believe a word I say until you double check it.

But, honestly, I wouldn't post stuff on a 650 list (or any motorcycle list for that matter) unless I was pretty sure of it. My "slightly modded" bike pictured above contains a long list of little mods and improvements. Many were the standard upgrades suggested for any 650 but some were new things I discovered on my own. I must admit, this quite surprised me as I figured most all the 650 "secrets" must be out there after 30 some years - Not.
 
We can't all be perfect all the time 5twins, I thought this was a post about the xs's we ride, not how to write perfect english.
This is a xs650 forum with people from all over the world with all depths of knowledge sharing with each other, if it was just for the elite of knowledgable people who write in the Queens English it wouldn't be much of a forum.
 
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- well - ive been sitting on this thread for a while now trying to decide how i want to express my dissappointment that this issue has gone this far...its own thread no less...

- i quite like to organise my thoughts and mind mapping in a way thats understandable to me - i do this for me, noone else, then sometimes i post it...if others get a benefit out of it, fine...if not, then thats fine too, i dont demand people read what i write, its their free choice

- personally i would take great exception to being told that i must write in a particular style just because someone i dont know and will never meet wants to pack a sad

- i for one will simply continue to write as i have been writing and if anyone doesnt like it simply dont fucking read it

- as for the queen, i come from a commomwealth country and am totally pissed at my governments irresponsibility in not declaring itself a republic...why the fuck should i be required to hold social respect for some hereditary title...you want respect-earn it...

- and queens english? - the only queens i know lead very colourful lives and, i am sure, will cater to all your desires, no matter what language you want to hear

- and, - boys? - the only poeple that call me boy are my dad, my good mates and those that think they are better than me - and youre definitely not in the first 2, nor are you in a position to determine just who i am, so i fail to see how you can justify your arrogance in presuming that not only are you socially superior to me but that you can be familiar with me or a group you dont know
 
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i agree with inxs:bike:i will still write the way i have for years if you dont want to read it then dont:shrug:::move on:banghead:not here to start or cause any problems just talk bikes with some good people ,just my:twocents::poke:
 
The world is quickly changing, if you have kids you'll understand that the language as we once new it has changed. You can thank cell phones, tweeting my space etc !!. This however should not be a reflection on someones ability to communicate....:)

Who says the the "Queens English" is the correct version anyway ?? I would love to get a text from the "Royals" the "boys" in paticular just to see how well the Queens English was used !!! ...:thumbsup:

Lighten up, this is not some english grammar class ... it's a forum to express your ideas and thoughts no matter how. you present youself, one person is no better than the next.
 
inxs, the reason this got its own thread is because the first few comments were no longer relevant to the other thread once the post that these comments were referring to was changed. It was not meant to give this topic any more significance. Also if people don't want to read about people arguing about grammar, they can just skip this thread and not have to try to filter it out of a legitimate thread about XS650s.

I think not being able to see the original post makes 5twin's comments sound harsher than they originally came off. The post he is referring to was a paragraph long but pretty much all one sentence, with commas breaking up thoughts. There were no spaces before or after the commas and it was a little bit hard to read.
No offense meant to anyone here ..... this is, after all, the world wide web. Say what you want, how you want.

:shrug:

I threw out a few simple grammar rules to help people out if they honestly didn't know, not to try to make them the forum grammar rules. Like XS650RR said, things have changed in this world. A lot of times I don't capitalize "I"or might have a run-on sentence or put 5 periods and the end of a sentence, but I don't think these things make my posts difficult to read... And if they did, it wouldn't bother me if someone told me. I think what 5twins was getting at is, you might have a lot of knowledge to share with the members here, but if your post are difficult to read, people will just skip over it. If you're fine with some people not reading what you have to say just because of way it was typed, then don't worry about it. :twocents:

By the way, I don't think anything posted so far in this thread was hard to read. :)

:cheers:
 
I can only assume that like me most people of my age have written next to nothing since they left school, apart from Happy birthday, merry christmas, a few material lists and invoices that are best off being illegible, they have written nothing for a very long time, and I'm not talking a couple of years.
So putting thoughts into words is very often quite difficult to do let alone making sure you have spealt every thing correctly, punctuated correctly, and making it legible.
When I was at school there were no computers and the such, I find it difficult enough just trying to work out how to do most tasks on the thing, so if things are not quite right I would expect people to be polite and bare with me, not tell me they would be ashamed to put a post like that!!!
 
This is always a stickler with me, but perhaps only because I have an interest in correct spelling and grammar.

My problem is people who don't even TRY to make their stuff legible. I have no issue when I can clearly read what people are writing, but no paragraph breaks or punctuation is just being lazy to me.

Spelling, obviously we're not going to get everything right, but I just feel sad for our school system when I see a sentence like this, "Man your breaks are sqwealing really bad."

On the other hand, there are a ton of people on most of the boards that I frequent that English is not their first language, and I applaud them for their abilities. I wish I could effectively communicate in another language.
 
On the other hand, there are a ton of people on most of the boards that I frequent that English is not their first language, and I applaud them for their abilities. I wish I could effectively communicate in another language.

I'll have to agree with that! If I had to post to another forum in any language other than English, it would all have to be done with google translator. What a shit show that would be.
 
Well, it looks like I stepped on a few toes here. I'm not going to apologize for stating the truth. Obviously it got a few of you thinking. I was years away from properly writing stuff too when I got my 1st computer but I got back "in the groove" mainly so people didn't think I was some 12 year old posting, lol. As quoted above from one of my original posts .... "this is the world wide web - say what you want how you want". If I wanted people to really understand and get something out of what I was posting, I would try to present it as legibly as possible, that's all I'm saying.

postsomethinglikethiswithnopunctuationcapitalsatthebeginningsofsentencesorparagraghsandlookwhathappens - Nice,huh?
 
postsomethinglikethiswithnopunctuationcapitalsatth ebeginningsofsentencesorparagraghsandlookwhathappe ns - Nice,huh?

Let me see .... post something like this with no punctuation capitals at the beginnings of sentences or paragraghs and look what happens ... Really dont get the last two words ...LOL ... tongue firmly in cheek here !!! ..:D:D:D:thumbsup:

Hey if english is your first language maybe we need to be politically correct with our grammar, but if it's not ..... ahhh who am I kidding ... WHO CARES, really ...:thumbsup:

There are issues in this world we all should be concerned about, not how some guy / gal writes on his or her post .... I'm done with this post, enough said ...:bike:
 
- and to bring this thread back to reality

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...my cousins toy, 3.8L V6 Holden motor...before supercharging this was doing 9.8 @ 142mph
 
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