SlickVic9000
Senior Member
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2011
- Member Type
- Other
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- United States
- Current Location
- United States
A lot of good points have been made so far, but allow me to add some thoughts of my own:
1) I believe many natives speakers view the Internet as a largely informal medium. No one is trying to write the Harvard Law Review. Folks will write the way they speak and if an error is made, it will just be assumed the reader knows what they mean. Native speakers generally aren't confused by incorrect homonyms, spellings, or grammar (to a point), so there's not much impetus to proofread comments, tweets, and posts. Outside of scholarly articles and journalistic endeavors, a high standard of English is neither demanded nor expected.
2) I'd also like to point out that all you (and I) have is anecdotal evidence. Just as you've observed native speakers with a devil may care approach to writing, I have met people who will correct their own grammar and spelling mistakes immediately after they post something. I've seen questions on the Internet answered with cogent and beautiful prose. I know for a fact that the Grammar Gestapo is well represented on the forums and comment sections (for some reason, no one likes them much). So, to say that native speakers on the whole don't know or care about their own language is no more true than saying every native English speaker is a card carrying member of the MLA or APA. Anecdotes have a grain of truth to them, but that's about as far as it goes.
1) I believe many natives speakers view the Internet as a largely informal medium. No one is trying to write the Harvard Law Review. Folks will write the way they speak and if an error is made, it will just be assumed the reader knows what they mean. Native speakers generally aren't confused by incorrect homonyms, spellings, or grammar (to a point), so there's not much impetus to proofread comments, tweets, and posts. Outside of scholarly articles and journalistic endeavors, a high standard of English is neither demanded nor expected.
2) I'd also like to point out that all you (and I) have is anecdotal evidence. Just as you've observed native speakers with a devil may care approach to writing, I have met people who will correct their own grammar and spelling mistakes immediately after they post something. I've seen questions on the Internet answered with cogent and beautiful prose. I know for a fact that the Grammar Gestapo is well represented on the forums and comment sections (for some reason, no one likes them much). So, to say that native speakers on the whole don't know or care about their own language is no more true than saying every native English speaker is a card carrying member of the MLA or APA. Anecdotes have a grain of truth to them, but that's about as far as it goes.