Is there a subject called use of the English language?

Grammar is a better word for what your looking for. Your from Spain and have your own dialect and slang that is different from any other Spanish speaking countries. America is the same. We have southerners, northerners, and in between. A lot of the things we type here are coming from our own heritage and the way we speak. I use "reckon" or "I guess" to mean "I suppose". I don't type it here to often, but I still use it. All I'm saying is don't insult us unless your ready to be insulted yourself. I appreciate the discussion, Que Tenga Sendia. I know that mylot doesn't allow other languages and therefore I will translate for all those who do not understand I said "have a nice day". I'm not sure on the spelling and am not sure on the grammar, but correcting me is your own perogative. I won't disrespect you for it, as I don't disrespect you for this discussion, i'm speaking my mind.

It's okay to vent. Sometimes I read discussions and have a hard time understanding what is trying to be said. You see a lot (there's your word) of people using there, instead of their, your instead of you're, no, instead of know, and the list goes on. Granted everyone does not have the same level of education, but spell check will help them out. Have a good day.

i see you are bothered by how english is used by people in non english speaking nation. May be you will find faults in my response as well. My mother tongue is not english.but I think we should atleast try to express in better way.

I so agree with you! It is so hard to even try to make sense out of some of the so-called English posted in some of these discussions. All of the little pet peeves I used to have about incorrect English and grammar are insignificant in the light of how people are writing now. I can't imagine how any of them can get through high school for those who are still in school, or college, or how they managed to graduate if they are older than that and still writing such bad prose. One of the simple demolitions of an English word is the "new" version of the word "probably" and changing it into "prolly". Come on now! That is just wrong! I know that before I ever got a computer and the internet, I used to write long hand-written letters. I had two good friends in other states and we used to write to each other every week. Once I got the internet, that gradually faded out of the picture and I don't even have contact with either of them anymore. My handwriting has gotten worse since I don't use it as much. And it can be tempting to use the various chat abbreviations when writing emails and other kinds of writing. But I respect the language too much and I try to make sure that what I write is grammatically correct, at least as much as I can. I was offline for a few years and before I lost the internet writing wasn't like this. Now that I am back, it just seems to be getting worse and worse out there. I am even seeing very careless errors on professional websites. What is going on here?

I think 'alot' could just be a 'typo'. (I hadn't noticed it in any discussion on here.) Sometimes my keyboard doesn't register my finger hitting the space bar. It doesn't really bother me if people use incorrect grammar or spelling on a site like this as long as I can understand what they are saying. I feel that the content is more important. At school, we were told off by our English Language teacher for starting a sentence with either 'and' or 'but', so I really don't mind if you also want to tell me off.

well theres a section on interest called talking which this may go under but it can go under people too .. and yeah english is basically my first language but i sometimes dont write properly this is because of texting and being on msn trying to write as short and quickly as possible so its not that i dont know how to spell its just when im typing or texting i write things differently sometimes.. but since i know you are meant to write properly here i have been trying to do that so im sorry if i do ever write anything wierdly .. but anyways every one needs a telling off once in a while so im not bothered have a good day or night bye

I don't mind being told off for my mistakes, and sometimes, I have to admit, I abuse the English language by using slang. Yes, you've posted in a reasonable area, and no, I'm not going to check out your future discussions for mistakes. Once I've finished with this discussion, it will be forgotten and I shall move on to the next. I think there's a distinct possibility that when you see the word "alot" it has been mistyped, or the space bar missed. It's not always misuse. We all make mistakes my friend. Brightest Blessings.

I think people write the way they talk . Some states have more slang than other states. Plus I know when I am typing that my brain moves faster than my fingers . But I can usually read what they are talking about . As for being told off its a free country do as you like .

Hi, It is good to vent out anger at times, but you need to understand that these people are typing words and there is no intellisense involved which can correct these spellings. These things occur, the point is conveying message. Cheers

I'm not from US or UK. I would say I'm not really that perfect when it comes to English so I don't really mind finding some misuse words or any grammatical errors in any post. I myself is not perfect so who am I to judge others. Although using English properly matters, what is more important to me is the thought.

I agree. English had been my favourite subject in school. I admit I do get headaches with spelling and grammar errors in discussions sometimes. I usually jump to another discussion if that's the case.

English is actually one of the few languages that doesn't have some sort of regulating official body to determine what's considered 'proper' usage. Unlike, say, French, which has had the Académie française for about 300 years. And, arguably, has been limited and diminished by it, while gaining none of the benefits it intended. They still adopt words from other languages more than they ever coin original words, for instance. English has the largest vocabulary of any language by far, and it's the only one to require a thesaurus; someone who spoke Spanish or Italian exclusively would have no concept of such a thing, or even understand the need for it. It also changes on a regular basis; what you consider 'proper' English now wouldn't be the case 100 years ago, or in another country such as the UK. Conversely, the UK would be considered incorrect in many matters by the US, or Australia. In other words, it's possibly the most complex written language around, and there's not really such a thing as saying 'there's no such word as', really. There was no such word as 'email' a few years ago. Having said that, there are people online who appear to type by standing across the room and throwing random items of furniture at the keyboard. I tend to treat these as I would people with a speech impediment. If they've something that sounds interesting to say, I'll tend to tolerate it, or ask them to clarify something if there's a doubt. If they seem incoherent generally, they probably haven't got my attention to start with. I'm generally much more intolerant of people who are anally retentive about what can and can't be done in public forums, and while I'm not including you on that list (I've seen far worse examples), you need to be careful not to start down that road. No-one likes a Grammar Nazi ;)

I'm a little uneasy responding to your discussion because my Enlgish is not good either. I keep checking word by word while typing. I think every language has its beauty. English is a beautiful and expressive one if one can apply it skillfully. For native speakers, it's far more easier to do so. I've been learning English for almost ten years and I'm still not sure which word or expression to use in a particular situation. I came across a discussion in mylot mentioning the pointer to tell native speakers of English and non-native one is by slang or spoken words. You can see my sentences are long and tedious if you like. But i really try my best to express what i mean.

Oh I do so agree,but it's just as annoying when you hear people attempting to speak it! Don't get me started on spelling and the fact that kids are growing up thinking it's ok to spell everything else as they do in texts

Please note that the ‘and’ immediately after the parenthesis in your final lines should be capitalised. Physician heal thyself? All the best urban

Hi, Ritz! I see that some myLotters have gone off the deep end about your discussion. Don't worry about it. You'll get a lot of replies that way. I know what you were trying to say and I agree with you. Text is fine when you are actually communicating over a cell phone, but not for everyday use. I usually ignore posts by people who use text. Unless you are e.e. cummings, you need to use capitals. There have been several posts recently on this very subject. In that discussion, I was saying that the misuse of prepositions makes me cringe! I can't stand to hear things like "where did you come from" or "what did you do that for" or "where are you at", etc. I'm from the United States and English is my mother tongue (regardless of what those in the UK say). lol I appreciate the language and when I am writing, I try to write in the correct way. Sometimes I may just be expressing myself in a comedic way, but most of the time I follow the rules. I never use spell check, though, so you may see a mistake! Spell check is not my friend. I still remember using it on ten page history of my family. It changed everyone's name; it was nightmare! lol Looking forward to more of your discussions! :)

Que sera, sera i sometimes also make mistakes, but this isn't because of a lack of education or of not having spell-check.....it's from over confidence, figuring "I don't make mistakes" and hitting the post response button without even looking at what i just typed, and only then realizing one of my fingers zigged when it should of zagged. some people have different degrees of skills when it comes to spelling and especially when it comes to typing. so, as long as i can understand what they're trying to say, i don't usually have a problem with it, and 99% of the time i'm not going to beat anybody up over it. the thing i find disheartening, is when i think i'm having a discussion with somebody from a third world country that were denied an education, and then i look at their profile and realize they're a teenager or young adult from the USA......Hooray for education anyways, as i said in my in my first line....."what will be, will be" Happy Posting!

How do you know if English is someone's first language? Just because they live in a country that is an English speaking country that does not mean that that was their first country and their first language. Also some people make typos and accidentally slip and hit the wrong key and this does not mean that they do not know English, it just means that they made a mistake. We all make mistakes, even you believe it or not. Also some people have learning difficulties such as dyslexia and therefore their written English is not as good as their spoken English, does this mean that they are stupid idiots in your eyes? Personally English is my first and main language and I got a A* and A in English at GCSE level and I have studied it at AS Level. So I am perfectly entitled to criticise people for their bad use of the language, but guess what I do not, because I know that they may have many reasons for not being able to type standard English. And how do I feel about being told off? I do not feel as though I am being told off I feel as though I am doing the telling off as you were just being shallow minded. Obviously knowing that alot is actually a lot is not the be all and end all of being a good person.

I think a lot of the Americans here are very good at conversing in English but not really in spelling and grammar. I've noticed this before when I spent a summer studying with Americans. Anyway, it doesn't bother me so much that they spell some words incorrectly. What's more important is that they can get the point across and make sense of sentences. And to answer your question, YES, the subject ENGLISH does cover proper use of the language.

I don't feel as though I'm being told off. I was an excillent student in English, always getting A's and B's. Even though I know English well, the world of the internet and computers has made people lazy when it comes to spelling, and grammer. Why should we have to use it if the computer will do it for you! Unfortunately, hand written items are a thing of the past and computer lingo is here. You get sloppy and careless and yet, people still know what you are trying to say! It's kind of like how Ebonix (sp?) is an official language, well computer lingo is becoming so widely excepted. It won't get any better, it will just keep getting worse and with ebriviations (sp?) taking over (eg. LOL, OMG). I understand how you must feel and sometimes I feel it too, when my 5 year old know's what LOL mean yet she hasn't even really started school! The only thing to do is to throw in your white flag and give into the "new aged" language or become an English teacher and try to reach out to as many kids as possible to keep the "old" English from disapearing. Sorry about the mistakes in this!