@Zaccheus said:
@RollingZeppelin: Sorry. English isn't my first language, I make plenty of mistakes. I aim to be understood. I'll try to keep that in mind in the future. For some reason I used to have a lot of trouble with then and than before. I mixed them up constantly, but I think I have a pretty good handle on it now. Also writing which used to be a problem to long time ago, I always wanted to write witch.
You make a mistake once then you repeat it over time and after a while it's really hard to get rid of. Old habits die hard. I've probably mixed up lose and loose a lot. Someone else would probably be upset about you calling them out, but I'm thankful. If you don't know about your mistakes you can never correct them.
It's cool, I can barely speak another language, I find anyone who can communicate in another language very impressive. Like I said, I wasn't trying to be critical, that misspelling is just a pet peeve of mine, I'm glad you saw it that way!
There are a ton of native English speakers that mix up then and than, in fact, I think I noticed that Patrick had done so recently in one of his articles.
I agree with your last point, I think people should have their more glaring grammar mistakes pointed out to them on forums, as long as the person's not being a dick about it.
@Fredchuckdave: There's a big difference between pedantry and wanting words to be used in the proper context and spelling so one can communicate clearly. A professor who uses large arcane words to sound smart is equally bad at communicating as someone who uses words in the wrong context. They are usually covering up the fact that they have no idea what they are talking about by using so much indecipherable language that no one can understand them. Most academics know that, these people are not fooling anyone. I find that students who are not used to presenting are likely to do that more so than profs.
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