Forum / Form - usage

OK, normally I don't point out peoples spelling or usage errors. However in the past 48 hours i have seen many posts online where different posters are using form when in fact they obviously meant to use forum.

Form can be a piece of paper where one can fill out information. Form can be a defined way or of something (dance or state of a solid object.)

A forum is a gathering of the minds usually for a political or public interest. (Thus why message boards are also called forums.) A place to share ideas. I.E. Roman Forum.

You sometimes wonder about the new teaching methods they're so keen to use, don't you! :rolleyes:

It seems a lot of people can't see the differnce from THEN and THAN either.

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Originally Posted by Randi

It seems a lot of people can't see the differnce from THEN and THAN either.

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That one drives me insane!

My peeve is its/it's. I came up with a mnemonic for the possesive form: "his, hers, its." His and hers do not have an apostrophe, so neither should its.

I keep putting "form" for "from," but that is a typing thing. I get so irritated with myself sometimes, I just leave it. Guess I better proof read more often. Sorry for anyone who had to figure it out.

I can't stand run on sentences, and lack of capitalization and punctuation!

How about basic spelling and good grammar?? It kills me when I read posts that just make the person sound "under" educated. Maybe it's the way people hear things spoken, or maybe it's a common misperception about how a word is said, but it really drives me up a wall!

Grammatically, I am not the best, but I make an effort to have it correct! :o

If you use Firefox 2 it has an included spell-checker so when you type adress like that it corrects it to address. :)

My biggest Pet Peeve is the use of the word "alot" or "allot" People, people, people!! it is TWO words: A - LOT, please don't make it into one!!

Thank you, and I will step down now........;)

Oh, don't get me started! .... "Noone" for no one (yes, it's two words too); and the there, they're, their debacle. Dose for does; its and it's; two, to and too and the lack of apostrophes drives me bonkers! Is it laziness, lack of education or a hangover from texting on cell phones? I don't know, but if I can't make out what you're trying to say (oh, there's another one - your and you're) I won't read or respond to your thread. :p

As for a spellchecker, for Internet Explorer there's iespell - http://www.iespell.com

The difference between "forum" and "form?" One letter.

My biggest pet peeve about spelling/grammar on this forum is how often people have to come out and be the spelling police. I think people honestly try to write sensibly. Typos happen, and sometimes even if you proofread your post they can slip by. I really don't understand why people equate spelling with intelligence.

How about a "Spelling Help" sticky? Then people who WANT to could post their questions there. (THERE'S another one! LOL)

I'd be happy to proofread a post for someone - PM me and I'll have a look!

Prolly for probably.

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Originally Posted by dukedogsmom

Prolly for probably.

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That's just slang, now, though, not so much a spelling error. Just my two cents on that one. :)

I think a lot of people who are used to text messaging use a lot of short forms, and don't really know the spelling of the entire word.

This board could be a great learning opportunity for such members, if they wanted to use it. Hence, the "sticky" post, though that might be a bit superfluous...

JMO

That's an excellent idea Catty1! ;)

I'm a little unsure about its and it's. And is it "the animals' toys"? I think I tend to forget the apostophe. :o

RedHedd posted about "lose" and "loose" earlier, the explanation she gave made a lot of sense, although, I still may get it wrong sometimes. ;)

Hampster instead of Hamster drives me insane! There is no P in hamster! :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Randi

I'm a little unsure about its and it's. And is it "the animals' toys"? I think I tend to forget the apostrophe. :o

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It's is a contraction for "it is;" the apostrophe stands in for the missing "i".

"The animals' toys" - the apostrophe is used to indicate possession. If there is more than one animal with the toys, it would be the plural animals' - only one animal, it would be the animal's toys.

And there is no "a" in the first part of Whisk_Luva. It's WHISK. All by itself.

I can see why that happens....especially in areas where Whiskas is a popular cat food and treat! :)

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Originally Posted by Catty1

And there is no "a" in the first part of Whisk_Luva. It's WHISK. All by itself.

I can see why that happens....especially in areas where Whiskas is a popular cat food and treat! :)

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Ah yes :D I get that a lot! Thanks for pointing that out because I would of forgotten!

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Originally Posted by Pembroke_Corgi

The difference between "forum" and "form?" One letter.

My biggest pet peeve about spelling/grammar on this forum is how often people have to come out and be the spelling police. I think people honestly try to write sensibly. Typos happen, and sometimes even if you proofread your post they can slip by. I really don't understand why people equate spelling with intelligence.

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I agree, Jill.

I used to be one of those "spelling police" persons. However, I realize there are things in life that are much more important. Granted, there are a few posts that still make me cringe to read, do to spelling errors.

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Originally Posted by Whisk_Luva

Ah yes :D I get that a lot! Thanks for pointing that out because I would of forgotten!

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Right there is another one of my spelling peeves.... the phrase is actually "I would have" not "of"... I would have preferred that they spelled my name correctly."

Not picking on Whisk_Luva, just pointing it out.

I have tended to be a member of the "Spelling Police" for most of my early years (college major was English the first time around ;) )...but now I make so many of my own goofs that I don't have much room to point out the goofs I see. If I stop and think - I know proper grammar (not grammer!) rules and usage rules, but don't always use them anymore. I wonder if I am losing brain cells or getting my punishment for being picky. Like Kay, I do cringe now and then though. :D

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Originally Posted by Whisk_Luva

I would of forgotten!

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You would HAVE forgotten! ;)

Thanks ReddHed!

I really don't mind being corrected, I learn from it.

I just created a Spelling Thread - voluntary only! :) Let's see how it goes!

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Originally Posted by jenn_librarian

Right there is another one of my spelling peeves.... the phrase is actually "I would have" not "of"... I would have preferred that they spelled my name correctly."

Not picking on Whisk_Luva, just pointing it out.

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Oops! Sorry! I am tired today! *Yawns*

I feel really stupid now! I made a mistake on a spelling\grammar thread! :rolleyes:

I tend to have alot of spelling and grammar mistakes. Since joining PT though my grammar and spelling have got better and it bothers me when I see people who spell things wrong or don't use proper grammar.
I do have a hard time telling to difference between does and dose though.

Whisk_Luva, there's no reason to feel stupid, it can happen to us all. ;)

"Does" is used in "he does drive fast" - "dose" is used as in "a dose of medicine".

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Originally Posted by Whisk_Luva

Oops! Sorry! I am tired today! *Yawns*

I feel really stupid now! I made a mistake on a spelling\grammar thread! :rolleyes:

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It's not stupid... more than likely you hear people say the contraction of would have (would've) or could have (could've) or should have (should've).

They sound like you're saying the word OF not the contraction.

My mother was an English Teacher and then became a Librarian.
I am a Librarian, and have been the teacher in charge of the District Spelling Bee for Scripps National Spelling Bee since 2000. If you want to be totally confused and confounded, you need to see and hear the words that the kids in the Scripps National Spelling Bee have to know and spell!

So, I'm good at spelling, but still lag behind in grammar a bit.

The only thing that bugs me, is that when people will type in slang to EVERYTHING. They want to shorten everything up, or change the letters to a number to make it look cool.

That is what bugs me the most, it is like they want to just shorten everything when it is probably easier to just write it normally.

For me i don't usually say forum, i mostly just say the Site or something along that lines.

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Originally Posted by Almita

They want to shorten everything up, or change the letters to a number to make it look cool.

That is what bugs me the most, it is like they want to just shorten everything when it is probably easier to just write it normally.

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Oh, I agree with you! Hopefully, one day they'll realize it's not smart at all, and that no one is impressed.

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Originally Posted by Almita

For me i don't usually say forum, i mostly just say the Site or something along that lines.

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A site and a forum are two different things though. ;)

He he... I had thought of buying Netscape because i totally HATED Firefox... then they came out with that nifty little spell check. Sometimes I was just too darn lazy to copy some of the words into OLE or MSWord. I love those nifty little red lines :D Even if it's next to useless half the time for a correct spelling it still lets me know that it's there. I can go look it up rather than guessing.

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Originally Posted by Reggie

If you use Firefox 2 it has an included spell-checker...

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Firefox had its dark days for anyone that didn't know programming, then it became equipped with add-ons for the ill talented. Still, there was woe in the land for there beeth horred speelerz, thus the almighty cr380rz gave us The Red Lines. There was much rejoicing.

So says the self proclaimed Queen of Run On Sentences.

I do agree with you wholeheartedly. I was actually hoping this thread wouldn't turn into what it has since there is already one general venting thread out there. As i said... USUALLY i won't nag people because i know... anyone can make a mistake. And we all have different styles. Just i really had seen the misuse of form an unbelievable amount of times in two days. :D I exploded. head went boom. (not angry... or anything like that... just frustrated? / :eek: :confused: ) I really did wonder the reasoning behind each misuse for each individual. I'm a curious person like that. (I wasn't about to join every single forum though and email every single article author, JUST to find out WHY they made the typo.)

I know many of my mistakes are because i plain simply don't know any better. (They stopped teaching us proper grammar around 6th grade. My 10th grade German teacher was furious when she found out the reason we weren't learning German grammar was because we didn't have a clue what the English terms were that she was asking us to translate. I had a 10th grade English teacher that got fired because he was teaching something that wasn't on the curriculum... and continued even though he was warned. ...He had been teaching us spelling. o.0' Some of the kids had complained about the extra work. :mad: I actually didn't learn that CongraTulations is spelled with a T until a few years ago. I have the internet to thank for that. I thought others had been misspelling it. I thought it was spelled with a d. Everyone here pronounces it with a d.)

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Originally Posted by Pembroke_Corgi

The difference between "forum" and "form?" One letter.

My biggest pet peeve about spelling/grammar on this forum is how often people have to come out and be the spelling police. I think people honestly try to write sensibly. Typos happen, and sometimes even if you proofread your post they can slip by. I really don't understand why people equate spelling with intelligence.

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Originally Posted by Randi

A site and a forum are two different things though. ;)

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:D He he... I have fun with this thanks to a math class in high school. Forget what chapter or what it was relevant to.

A: A forum can be a site, but not all sites are forums.

Q: Does S = F ?

:p

I try my best to have proper spelling and grammar. Although, I will admit I am guilty of using the slang word gonna a LOT! Sorry if it irritates anyone. :(
But if I am unsure of how to spell a word I will type it in word or my outlook. Doing this also teaches me how to spell. :D

(Boy I sure hope I didn't make any mistakes on this post. :p)

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Originally Posted by sirrahbed

I have tended to be a member of the "Spelling Police" for most of my early years (college major was English the first time around ;) )...but now I make so many of my own goofs that I don't have much room to point out the goofs I see. If I stop and think - I know proper grammar (not grammer!) rules and usage rules, but don't always use them anymore. I wonder if I am losing brain cells or getting my punishment for being picky. Like Kay, I do cringe now and then though. :D

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I'm a full fledged Spelling Police Officer. Won the junior high spelling bee in eighth grade. I was blown out of the water by the words spelled by the Scripps Spelling Bee students, though. There were some I had not even heard before.

When my nieces send e-mail and text messages, they do use 'prolly' as shorthand for 'probably'. Their old aunt (me) also learned a new one from them today: 'cos' is shorthand for 'because', at least around here :) I had a teacher in high school that insisted on proper pronunciation for words like what, when, why: "hwat", "hwen", "hwy" instead of "wat", "wen", "wy". That's a habit I never did get into.

New Thread: http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?t=130663

Will how you spell a word really matter in 100 years? ;)