Andy,

Well said. I absolutely agree what we want is unambiguous language, and whether it is deemed 'correct' by the grammar police is a secondary issue. I also have a wife who looks for the correct English (and once when at school to pick up our daughter, got her pen out and put corrections to the grammar on a notice on the board from one of the teachers!), so I feel for you.

The problem with more and more people writing, which you mention, is not the fact that they are doing so but rather the lack of checking. The one job that has declined as the amount of writing has gone up is that of proofreader, once considered essential but now replaced by a computer spellchecker, which unfortunately is not the same thing. A computer would certainly not have stopped the one that I did - a reference to doping material with arsenic where the word 'arsenic' had been split over two lines, and you can guess where the computer put the split!

I think the opportunities for people to self publish now is both a benefit and a drawback, a benefit in that anyone can now get their opinions out for the whole world to read (as we are doing in this forum) but also a drawback in that with so much material published, it is more and more difficult to find the worthwhile publications. As a result those that are not so well written are less likely to reach their target audience.

Regards,

Alasdair

Andy,

Well said. I absolutely agree what we want is unambiguous language, and whether it is deemed 'correct' by the grammar police is a secondary issue. I also have a wife who looks for the correct English (and once when at school to pick up our daughter, got her pen out and put corrections to the grammar on a notice on the board from one of the teachers!), so I feel for you.

The problem with more and more people writing, which you mention, is not the fact that they are doing so but rather the lack of checking. The one job that has declined as the amount of writing has gone up is that of proofreader, once considered essential but now replaced by a computer spellchecker, which unfortunately is not the same thing. A computer would certainly not have stopped the one that I did - a reference to doping material with arsenic where the word 'arsenic' had been split over two lines, and you can guess where the computer put the split!

I think the opportunities for people to self publish now is both a benefit and a drawback, a benefit in that anyone can now get their opinions out for the whole world to read (as we are doing in this forum) but also a drawback in that with so much material published, it is more and more difficult to find the worthwhile publications. As a result those that are not so well written are less likely to reach their target audience.

Regards,

Alasdair