Dear friends,
You know, if this were a chat room, I would understand. If it were a mailing list sharing philosophy, genealogy, gardening tips, I would understand. This, however, is an English forum. It is here for anyone who wants to learn and practise how to write good, standard English. That is why I don't understand why so many here don't bother any more to try to spell well, even when it is clear from some portion of their post that they know better. Others shorten words into the kind of email slang spelling used in chat groups. Still others use illiterate or crass language with pride. How is a new and unsophisticated student supposed to pick out what is worth learning from the bad habits scattered everywhere? Many, who plainly know better, take no care for grammar, for paragraphing, even for capitalization. Some of you are learning language that would embarrass you if you used it while trying to converse with English speaking people.
Don't all of you want to do your best, to share your knowledge with each other? There must be many here who are hoping to learn from your example how to better their writing. You could learn so much from each other, but not by doing it the sloppy, lazy way! I am the only native English speaker writing here I write from Canada where the majority language is English. One of the reasons I have stayed when many of our good writers have stopped writing (if you have noticed) is to continue to offer a standard for those who want and need it.
Do you think that I send the first thing that runs from my fingers onto the screen? No. I revise and correct, so that what I offer here may be of some value to somebody who wants to learn. Sometimes it takes me quite awhile. There are a number of people still here who do their best. However, it is my impression that the number is growing smaller. Maybe they are losing heart. It is causing me to lose heart.
Your friend Mary, writing from Canada
