English majors must study literary works, yes, but they also have to write on them in annoying pointless essays (at least, I think they do). You can't just turn in an ugly paper to your professor...

Just looked further and I see I was mistaken, Cambridge actually has a whole languages field, instead of more general linguistics where you can learn all the ins and outs of any language you like. But still, not the English major.

Being an English major doesn't teach you more about grammar or spelling than say Art History, or Communications, or even a good Biology program.



Yes, I had to do that as a computer science major as well. Its a basic requirement of Universities.

See my edit on the previous page.

If you wanted to study spelling and grammar in order to be able to use it correctly, I would not study Linguistics. Linguistics is a sub-field of Anthropology where you study language and in turn how it develops/humans use it/etc. I'd take a english or composition class in order to learn grammar.

And to learn spelling, I would go back to third grade.

I also want to add that linguists often study different languages which have different grammatical rules and compare them, so...yeah. What.

If that's so, then everyone should have proper grammar, no matter what major...

Being a person with poor grammar and spelling skills, I can tell you, that you can squeeze everything from a passage with great understanding, without yourself knowing how to form a proper paragraph. I did it for many years. But still, thats not the study of grammar or spelling.

Infact, in I remember one professor lamenting on how poor people's grammar and spelling skills were these days. Continuously telling people that they will need to learn how to write properly to get a good job... And "How did you even get into this school with such writing?" being a frequent comment from T.As while grading papers in all subjects.

I respectfully disagree, and I refer you to Empson's Seven Types of Ambiguity.

I'm not really in the mood for a long grinding argument. I might return later.

Edit: Brain fart. Empson's not Emerson's.

I won't disagree with you there. I can't claim to be any good at grammar because my 8th grade teacher gave up teaching us any grammar after some kids failed a test, but I read some people's papers for them and just think to myself, "Wow, this looks like a 10 year old wrote it."

Ok. The point however is that knowledge is not the same as ability.

I teach "English" at the high school level. Part of the instruction is proper grammar and mechanics. I used to teach "English 101" at the college level, it was, quite simply, how to write a basic paper. A large part of the instruction was proper use of grammar and mechanics.

English teachers/professors have (for years) been arguing that these BASICS (and yes, they are basics) should be the responsibility of ALL academic areas. Quite simply, not having a solid grasp of the grammar and mechanics of your native language is a reflection of your -literacy-. That being said, these poor, overworked people have been shot down many many times, as it is generally accepted that the instruction of grammar and mechanics is the responsibility English departments everywhere.

An English major with a poor grasp of the basics of writing should fail his or her English classes. Any idiot can come up with a "theory" about a work of literature. Expressing and articulating that theory -coherently and intelligently- is the proof necessary for anyone to take that person seriously.

well I can say that you suck at typing with the keyboard. I'm doing this also the same way you are doing. Heck, I often do this when I type on lusternia In game and on the forums. I just know how to type and you suck at life

Oh, yes. I agree they are basics. But, Daganev is right, knowledge is not the same as ability. I may -know- basic Grammar and what not but it doesn't mean I -always- put it to use, even though I should, especially when I'm in a hurry to finish, however that only applies to the internet for some reason. It corrupts people like that. Doing my term papers and what not my grammar and spelling is excellent, it's my sentence structure I have trouble with because they stopped teaching that after grade 5 in my school. Your English 101 course is called "University Writing" in my school and is not neccessary to take but it probably should be. All my highschool teacher did for classes was have us read books and answer questions, well books, plays, poems and other literary works of art. So I became very poor at sentence structure glad my campus has a service to help you correct essays and focuses on sentence and paragraph structure as well as spelling and grammar.

The problem is, if you do know how to use proper English, why resort to using internet-styled writing? Even on MSN and SMSes, I try to use proper English as much as I can.

I know what you mean by hurrying. I tend to think faster than I type or write, so I miss or repeat or mistype many words. However, what I do is to stop after each sentence to look through for mistakes, and then look through the entire thing after I'm done. Furthermore, you are using the forums. There is no need to rush. You even get to preview your posts to look for mistakes. You can even copy and paste your post into a Word document and run it through the very basic spellchecker. That alone will eliminate most of your errors.

Basically, languages were made to convey thoughts, ideas, messages. What is the point of a message if it cannot be understood? You were trying to propose an idea, but if that idea does not get through simply because you were in a hurry, is it not a waste?