Welcome back to my blog. I recently
read an article called “F in Grammar? Maybe It’s Your Phone’s Fault” by Alessandra
Potenza, and I’ve decided to post about my thoughts on it. The topic of the
article: How texting and tweeting are affecting how teens and younger adults
write.
The writing of many young people
has been declining in quality over the past few years. English teachers,
college admissions officers, and employers are finding a lot more mistakes in
grammar and writing then they used to. The problem is increasing in the age of
social media (with networks like Facebook and Twitter) and texting. A 2008
study of teenage grammar yielded some interesting results. It found that 64 percent of teenagers used an
informal writing style (like those used in texting) in their schoolwork. 50
percent used unnecessary or improper capitalization, 38 percent used LOL, and
25 percent even included emoticons. But even that was five years ago. The
English language is always evolving, but this time it may not be in a good way.
Spell check is another factor that
is changing the English language and affecting how teens write. With spell
check, you don’t have to spell things perfectly, as the program will tell you
what you spelled wrong, and then give you options to correct your writing with.
This could actually be a very useful tool if people took the time to proofread
what they wrote and go back and fix it, and it could also be used to learn from
your mistakes so you won’t make them again. But many people are too lazy to go
back and fix their errors, and others don’t really learn from their mistakes and
make the same ones on tests and quizzes without the spellcheck. Living in an
age of technology, we should use it to our advantage, not just to tweet or
communicate with friends.
Lastly, as I have already
mentioned, the English language is constantly evolving. Many say that the
language is going down the tubes, but Patricia O’Connor, a blogger at
Grammarphobia, has other ideas. “‘Ever since the days of Chaucer, people have
been complaining ‘Oh, English isn’t what it was. It’s been corrupted.’ …And the
truth is, English is a living language.’”
She argues that the evolving grammar is perfectly natural. I agree only
to some extent; the language is definitely evolving, but I hope we never get to
a day where “i realy like to 2 go 2 places with my friends” is correct grammar
and perfectly acceptable. But for now, the colleges and employers will not accept
applications like those. As O’Connor says, even with the language’s evolution, “‘People
are going to judge you by what you write.’”
Picture: http://www.personal.psu.edu/afr3/blogs/SIOW/texting2%5B1%5D.jpg
