Test your grammar!

[BobbyT]

Posts shouldn't be long. Nobody reads them if they are. I tend to blather on and on, but the best posts are about 6 lines (or less) long. I have been working to be able to shorten mine.

Longer posts can convey more complex idea and provide examples. There are some posters who frequently write long posts: Lance, ASOT, Ark, Days, Queenie. Others sometimes write long posts. Those who write long posts are generally using the space well - even those with whom I generally disagree at least put enough information out there so one understands where they're coming from. There's no value in "short for the sake of short" if it leads to misunderstandings.

 

[Mr. Friscus]

I'm shocked... I guessed on the prepositions.

 

[Jen]

Longer posts can convey more complex idea and provide examples. There are some posters who frequently write long posts: Lance, ASOT, Ark, Days, Queenie. Others sometimes write long posts. Those who write long posts are generally using the space well - even those with whom I generally disagree at least put enough information out there so one understands where they're coming from. There's no value in "short for the sake of short" if it leads to misunderstandings.

When I said "6 lines" I was talking about responses. I know I didn't make that clear at all. A Top Post must be longer than that to be viable.

But the truth is that most people do not read through them. We have some really excellent writers here and I'm not suggesting they shorten their posts. Those you listed, plus Jack Dallas and Days.......... write excellent Top Posts that are always, by necessity, long.

Again, I apologize for not making it clear I was thinking about responses to those top posts, not the top posts themselves.

 

[Jen]

Here try this test I got a C2
http://www.examenglish.com/leveltest/grammar_level_test.htm

You have completed the English Level Test
Congratulations! Your level is C2 (advanced/mastery)

C2
This is approximately equivalent to CPE, an IELTS band score of 9 or 120 at TOEFL iBT
Time taken: 3 minutes, 30 seconds


Judging from some of the spellings/ wording............this must have been a British thing.
I don't think it really assessed anything.

 

[NinaS]

Gee, we're all brilliant!

 

[Constitutional Sheepdog]

You have completed the English Level Test
Congratulations! Your level is C2 (advanced/mastery)

C2
This is approximately equivalent to CPE, an IELTS band score of 9 or 120 at TOEFL iBT
Time taken: 3 minutes, 30 seconds


Judging from some of the spellings/ wording............this must have been a British thing.
I don't think it really assessed anything.

Hey whatever it did it gave me a master lol

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

Proper grammar can be learned simply through frequent and diverse reading. I went to college and earned multiple degrees, but almost everything of value I learned (beyond specific things germane to my field of work) came from reading extensively outside of school. Fiction, non-fiction, books, magazines, articles, newspapers, etc., all contributed to a good base of general knowledge and the correct use of language.

Not That Simple

You can't learn that much through passive reading. Teachers too lazy to teach grammar spout that nonsense. Added to that lie about passivity is the lie that you can get it just from listening to educated speakers. College education is a fraud, which you could easily tell if you checked up on the Diploma Dumbos' fake knowledge of grammar, logic, and history.

 

[Jen]

Not That Simple

You can't learn that much through passive reading. Teachers too lazy to teach grammar spout that nonsense. Added to that lie about passivity is the lie that you can get it just from listening to educated speakers. College education is a fraud, which you could easily tell if you checked up on the Diploma Dumbos' fake knowledge of grammar, logic, and history.

"College education is a fraud." To a large extent it is a piece of paper that tells people you waded through a whole lot of crap to get that paper so you probably have skills in perseverance AND are willing to do what it takes to please your boss. Actual learning comes from doing the job. But a lazy person won't exert the energy and college graduates usually are slightly less lazy than everyone else.

I know a man who dropped out of high school, got his GED, served in the military, and eventually rose to a high management position in a corporation where he writes lengthy reports that are seen by top people in his corporation, and is sought after to give presentations to those same top people. He is well respected. His salary is well into the six figures. He has zero college. But he knows more than many if not most college educated people in his field.

At this point in time where research is always at our fingertips, college has never been more useless.

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

If a person doesn't know what's in that little test by the time they start college, they have to take remedial English.

Unstructured Grammar Leads to Unstructured Thought

That sentence is conformist decadent grammar. "They" is illogical and mind-numbing when it refers to a singular such as "a person," so the subject should be changed to "students (don't know)." Anyone who was competent in grammar should have rejected that use of "they" when that illiterate fad was first forced on us.

Also, the fact that people get admitted to college who don't know 6th Grade grammar shows what a fraud it is. Students must be paid or they're not worth anything. The children of those who create this unfunded mandate are paid an adult allowance, but that is not because they belong in college. So all admissions are Affirmative Action: the ruling class's pet minorities, Preppies, and no-talent brownnoses willing to sacrifice growing up in order to grow rich. It is the most damaging institution of our times and belief in its absurdity is a sign of cradle to grave brainwashing.

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

Yep, but you know as well as I do that there are some here that thrive on the big word and wordy post. And it is funny thing liberals are most prevalent to do it.

Longer posts can convey more complex idea and provide examples. There are some posters who frequently write long posts: Lance, ASOT, Ark, Days, Queenie. Others sometimes write long posts. Those who write long posts are generally using the space well - even those with whom I generally disagree at least put enough information out there so one understands where they're coming from. There's no value in "short for the sake of short" if it leads to misunderstandings.

Short Is Long?

That harmful inhibition comes from the glib phrase "Less is more." But most of the time, less is deficient. By the way, "Less is more" is an oxymoron, which doesn't at all mean what the media's illiterate language lords tell you it means. Further exposing their fake education, Media, data, and bacteria are all plural and all misused by the scribbling jurinalists. That proves that grammar should be taught past 6th grade, including in all college "English" courses, which are really Literature courses. That only fulfills a jobs program for useless critics who need a forum to pontificate on decadent postmodern novels.

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

"College education is a fraud." To a large extent it is a piece of paper that tells people you waded through a whole lot of crap to get that paper so you probably have skills in perseverance AND are willing to do what it takes to please your boss. Actual learning comes from doing the job. But a lazy person won't exert the energy and college graduates usually are slightly less lazy than everyone else.

I know a man who dropped out of high school, got his GED, served in the military, and eventually rose to a high management position in a corporation where he writes lengthy reports that are seen by top people in his corporation, and is sought after to give presentations to those same top people. He is well respected. His salary is well into the six figures. He has zero college. But he knows more than many if not most college educated people in his field.

At this point in time where research is always at our fingertips, college has never been more useless.

Fat Cats Love Mice

Refusing to work without pay has nothing to do with being lazy; college means nothing but work without pay. Sacrifice has no merit; it is merely brownnosing.

 

[Jen]

Fat Cats Love Mice

Refusing to work without pay has nothing to do with being lazy; college means nothing but work without pay. Sacrifice has no merit; it is merely brownnosing.

It has come to that: brown nosing.

 

[Jen]

Unstructured Grammar Leads to Unstructured Thought

That sentence is conformist decadent grammar. "They" is illogical and mind-numbing when it refers to a singular such as "a person," so the subject should be changed to "students (don't know)." Anyone who was competent in grammar should have rejected that use of "they" when that illiterate fad was first forced on us.

Also, the fact that people get admitted to college who don't know 6th Grade grammar shows what a fraud it is. Students must be paid or they're not worth anything. The children of those who create this unfunded mandate are paid an adult allowance, but that is not because they belong in college. So all admissions are Affirmative Action: the ruling class's pet minorities, Preppies, and no-talent brownnoses willing to sacrifice growing up in order to grow rich. It is the most damaging institution of our times and belief in its absurdity is a sign of cradle to grave brainwashing.

To be fair.................... students who can't pass a placement test to enter college have to take remedial courses (sometimes multiple courses) to get them up to speed and those course don't count toward their degree.

All students who are in Freshman English at universities could easily pass that 6th grade English test. My daughter taught Freshman English at Univ of OK for 3 years and knowledge of that 6th grade stuff was never an issue.

 

[Jen]

Not That Simple

You can't learn that much through passive reading. Teachers too lazy to teach grammar spout that nonsense. Added to that lie about passivity is the lie that you can get it just from listening to educated speakers. College education is a fraud, which you could easily tell if you checked up on the Diploma Dumbos' fake knowledge of grammar, logic, and history.

One of the ways to learn is immersion. It's not the only way necessary, but it is one of the ways. To become fully fluent in a language (for example) going to the country where that language is spoken is a great help. Reading and hearing correct grammar are more helpful than you realize.

 

[BobbyT]

One of the ways to learn is immersion. It's not the only way necessary, but it is one of the ways. To become fully fluent in a language (for example) going to the country where that language is spoken is a great help. Reading and hearing correct grammar are more helpful than you realize.

I agree with you that hearing and reading correct grammar is extremely important. Language acquisition is most efficient when one is young; if when young one hears poor grammar, that poor grammar becomes internalized and one loses the opportunity to have an "ear" for correct grammar. Both my parents, being college English majors and teachers, insisted on good grammar at all times - woe to the child who said "Jen and me want to go play," or "Can I go outside." Thus I had an advantage when taking grammar classes (and the SAT). It wasn't that the rules were particularly useful to me, since memorization is not my forte, but rather that good grammar sounds right to me so it was easy for me to identify on tests. Parents can do a lot towards their children's success in school just through making sure they speak properly.

 

[Jen]

I agree with you that hearing and reading correct grammar is extremely important. Language acquisition is most efficient when one is young; if when young one hears poor grammar, that poor grammar becomes internalized and one loses the opportunity to have an "ear" for correct grammar. Both my parents, being college English majors and teachers, insisted on good grammar at all times - woe to the child who said "Jen and me want to go play," or "Can I go outside." Thus I had an advantage when taking grammar classes (and the SAT). It wasn't that the rules were particularly useful to me, since memorization is not my forte, but rather that good grammar sounds right to me so it was easy for me to identify on tests. Parents can do a lot towards their children's success in school just through making sure they speak properly.

My parents were the same and I spoke to my little ones as if they were "people" ... not babies. Of course, it ended up that I raised grammar nazis. As teenagers they told me we couldn't go into a particular cafe anymore because they were offended by the sign on the window that said "we do not except checks " . It was tongue-in-cheek, but I think they were a bit appalled by being seen in a place like that.

Parents are role models for children who follow in the footsteps we think we've covered up. I also dropped off my use of profanity when my children were little (and never brought it back) because I am disgusted when little children use it.

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

It has come to that: brown nosing.

The Grind's Revenge


And the bitterness from submitting to the rulers' growth-stunting unpaid education makes the grads vindictive, dishonest, and corrupt.

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

To be fair.................... students who can't pass a placement test to enter college have to take remedial courses (sometimes multiple courses) to get them up to speed and those course don't count toward their degree.
.

If Students Aren't Paid, They Aren't Worth Anything

That is more proof that the educational slavers have to dredge the shallow end of the talent pool to get enough bootlickers to put themselves through unpaid education. In my generation, proof that it was unnatural was that they had to threaten those who refused to go to college with death in Vietnam.