[OpenIndiana-discuss] Language and attention to errors before posting

[Reginald Beardsley]

 Jean-Pierre,

Thank you. That is is an excellent example of my point. English is a syntax structured language. It lacks the suffix structure of Latin in which the words can be arranged in any order and the meaning is clear. It also has many contractions which are homonyms and can only be disambiguated by context such as "your" and "you're". "Loose" when "lose" is meant drives me wild. They are not even homonyms. When I mentioned "ends" vs "end" to my sister she pointed out that "end" is also a verb. Same spelling and pronunciation with 3 distinct meanings depending upon the surrounding words.

English has some remnants of the structure of Latin, case and tense, but very little. Tense has almost disappeared. I hear "I seen" from people who should know when to use the present, past, present participle and past participle tenses: "I see. I saw. I have seen. I had seen." All mean different things. The situation with case is far worse.

English has absorbed into regular usage words and phrases from almost every language on earth. It makes it rather complex for the non-native speaker when these are misused.

In my view, not taking the time to proofread your writing to ensure that it is correct is immensely disrespectful to the reader.

Because AI LLMs are being trained using improper input, it generates improper output. We learn language by listening. If most of what people hear is incorrect, what they learn is incorrect. Precise communication becomes impossible.

A close friend who subscribes to the Wall Street Journal says he's observing AI generated content. Grammatically and syntactically correct, but not normal usage.

We are experiencing the "Tower of Babel" in which the most essential human skill, language is being destroyed by careless indifference. Minor typographical errors completely alter meaning in English.

Reg     On Thursday, May 29, 2025 at 01:55:09 AM CDT, Jean-Pierre André via openindiana-discuss <openindiana-discuss at openindiana.org> wrote:  
 
 Reginald Beardsley via openindiana-discuss wrote on 5/28/25 5:14 AM:
>  
> The English language is the norm for this list. However, many of the best people are not native English speakers. I have great admiration for them. Most are very careful and skillful. Some are arguably the best.
> 
> As occurs to everyone, I make mistakes that repeated proofreading doesn't catch. I'm human. I make mistakes despite my best efforts. Everyone does. But many people type madly and hit "SEND" producing posts that are pure nonsense.
> 
> Non-native speakers clearly deserve considerable tolerance. I shudder to think how bad my Spanish is. But many native English speakers today have appallingly poor command of their native language. The typical American "journalist" is incapable of producing sensible prose. That is becoming increasingly common on this list. Happily it is still better than what I hear in daily life.
> 
> I simply should like to ask that before posting, people read what they have written to verify that their language matches their message. Spelling, syntax and semantics *all* matter. And saying something which makes logical sense matters is the most important of all. I read a short post like this 10-20 times before I hit "SEND".
> 
> I should simply like to ask that people pay more attention to communicating clearly.
> 
> Reg
> 

Just a quick comment on this : non-native English readers are
much disturbed by spelling errors routinely made by native
speakers, such as "your" instead of "you're", "there" instead
of "their", "loose" instead of "lose", etc.

Non-native readers do not understand such text, because they
base their understanding on grammar, not on sounds.

Jean-Pierre


_______________________________________________
openindiana-discuss mailing list
openindiana-discuss at openindiana.org
https://openindiana.org/mailman/listinfo/openindiana-discuss