MIstakes. Do you point them out or not?

I think you've done the right thing, you proved to be a real friend. When you notice any mistakes in my discussions, please point them to me without fear of hurting my feelings. I would be more than thankful. English is not my first language either, but I am willing to learn and improve it as much as I can.

I live here in America.Born and raised in Tennessee.I am a writer and love the written word.Guess what I can't spell either.lol...I try to spell but certain words I can not get into my head the correct way to spell.Sometimes I will see mistakes in friends but I do not always correct them. I know you have her best intrest in heart and you did try to help her in private so I think the way you went about it was quiet and sweet.It just all depends on the person who you are trying to help.Some people just do nto want to see the mistakes they make.I am open and if I make a mistake I am thankful if a friend or someone points it out to me.

Hello! Actually, I only point the errors out when they are mine. I make a mistake and then I say: "Sorry, I made a mistake. What I meant was..." and correct myself. However, correcting someone else may sound rude. I was talking to a group of friends, and we had all just met. We didn't know each other very well, and I was talking and I said: "I was going to go upstairs up". Here in Brazil, it is a common used sentence, which is wrong. You should only say Upstairs. I know I should only have said that, but I didn't notice. She stopped all the conversation to say: "Oh, yeah, you are so smart that you're going to climb up." It gave me a bad impression on the person. And then, when she makes mistakes, I feel tempted to correct her. She acted like the "Mrs. Right", but she makes as many mistakes as everybody! However, I control myself and do not correct her, because I know how rude can it be. Depends on the person and on the way you correct. If you do just like you have done, alright. But humilliating others in front of everybody can be quite disrespectful. Respectfully, Munhozmib.

This is tough, because you never know how someone might take it. Will they be offended or grateful? I was thinking as I was reading this discussion that I would probably send a private message, and was pleased to see that you handled it that way. It saves the person embarrassment and shows that your intention is to help and not to be condescending. Though it bugs me to see all the incorrect grammar and spelling on the internet, I refrain from pointing it out most of the time. I don't see any point, since my doing so would more likely make people mad than motivate them to be more diligent. I do at times get annoyed to the point of wanting to scream, and even avoid some discussions because it hurts my brain to try to decipher them. I'm tolerant of a typo here and there, but when every other word is misspelled or misused, that bothers me.

I am too thinking of it as how it point it out. Not only in this case but for me also and everyone else.We have to start a mechanism like mentioning right word for the wrong we notice. Say let us mention old word put a dash and mention the right one without making any other comment.Example below: effect-affect

Ask your friend if she would like to have those things pointed out. Perhaps she would - just to improve her skills. Then if she does want help, be sure that you send that information in private messages so it doesn't seem as if you are correcting her English in front of everyone. English is not my husband's first language. He has asked me to point it out to him when he uses a word incorrectly or pronounces it wrong. However, I make it a point to never correct him in front of others.

I did once, and I don't think I'll do it again! I met a girl online and we had become pretty good friends. She was running a website and she often had misspelled words on it.... Well, she sent out her newsletter one month and the whole thing was just filled with misspelled words! They were ones that would have been easily caught if she had used spell check. So I sent her a really nice email just telling her how proud I was for all she had accomplished and how much I admired her, but that she may want to put her newsletter through a spell check before sending it out the next time. She was pissed.... I honestly tried to make the email as nice as possible and told her that if I didn't care about her, I never would have brought it up. But she replied back that I wasn't the spelling monitor. Okay.... We have been on shaky terms every since :(

I think initially it would not be good. the person may not take it positively. i have also seen many people writing wrong english. i think we should not bother that much about people here.so let it be.

Some people simply cannot help themself correcting other people mistakes... It is not usually appreciated on forums... particulary in a place like myLot... where we cannot edit our postings. For my part... I make quite a few mistakes as English is not my first language... but I don't care about it. If people want to judge me on my spelling... so be it. I think it is far more important to be able to respond to the question... or to be able to express yourself... than being able to write without any spelling error.

Yes i think it is ok to help someone, but not to criticise. I think you can whatever you like as long as you are considerate of other peoples feelings it's ok.

Whether or not I would be prompted to do so would be based on the what I gather of the persons temparament through former discussion. I would also genuinely want to correct the mistake seeing that english is not the persons first language. It can be a bit tricky but we are here to help and speak to each other and many non english speaking nationals join the site for the purpose of improving their english skills. I might have or might not have done so. It all depends. Let us hope that your friend will not be offended. (lol)

I'm very glad to hear you say so.I guess I'm one of your friends who makes spelling or grammar mistakes here.English is not my first language,sometimes I want to express myself,but I just don't know the appropriate word.I will be very glad if you can point out my mistakes.You know,I also want to improve my English here.I bet your other friends will be very glad too if you point out their mistakes. And thank you !

If your friend had express her no offend already is no reason to fear. If she doesn't i think that you can correct her if is an diplomatic way. I, personally, accept critics because i can learn from it but these have to be said in a sweet way. I make critics or i give my opinion only if somebody ask me or when the person involved is important for me because i know that i could make him/her a good.

I'd have to say that many people hate me for pointing out different things but mistakes is one of the things people really dont like about me cause ill go on forever on how you made that one mistake and they'll just look at you like "dude, whats your problem?". I have a nag in starting things, not becuase i want to but becuase it comes natural. Sometimes i think i have a curse or something but i geuss i just point out the mistakes becuase maybe i never made that many, well if you believe that then im a lier.. lol.. :D Everyone makes mistakes and somebody's always gotta comment on how you did then wrong or maybe why you made the mistake you did... to me its all She said, He said. i mean everyone makes mistakes so why critisize? i do :D (not my fault sometimes) :D