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Well George,

 

Not sure if you're the right person to be asking..  :twisted:

 

Some might ask why you didn't put a space between the last work of your sentences and the Question Marks.... 3 times I think... :roll:

 

Oh the irony :-D

 

A very good thread however. I have been horrified at the lack of basic grammar in many situations, most notably in letters from lawyers. It is hard to put any faith in their knowledge of law when they can barely write.

 

Indeed and, no excuses. The K and D on the keyboard aren't even close.   :oops: 

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Okay, medical schools and vetinary schools for eg generally look for a minimum 3 or 4 A levels at high grades, or Advanced Highers, amongst other things, not just Highers. You cannot get into Medical School for example on Highers alone for a good reason. They don’t go into enough depth which A level takes 2 yrs and you usually only take 3 or 4 of them because of the amount of work they involve.

So of course an A level course is harder and more work and more in depth of knowledge is required than just a 1 yr Higher course.

Which is why with A levels and Advanced Highers you only need 3 yrs at university as opposed to 4 yrs if you only have Highers.

Edited by wotsit
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 "I have been horrified at the lack of basic grammar in many situations, most notably in letters from lawyers. It is hard to put any faith in their knowledge of law when they can barely write."

 

I had it explained to me that members of the Law Society don't actually speak or write 'English':

their Society has its own language.

 

Probably why they charge so much for writing Lawyers letters?

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 "I have been horrified at the lack of basic grammar in many situations, most notably in letters from lawyers. It is hard to put any faith in their knowledge of law when they can barely write."

 

I had it explained to me that members of the Law Society don't actually speak or write 'English':

their Society has its own language.

 

Probably why they charge so much for writing Lawyers letters?

 

The historically perverse legal style of writing is actually quite fun to read, but that is not what bothers me. It is things like "please let us know you're preferred course of action" and "the hole or part there, of, the property".

 

Both genuine examples from the same document.

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"things like "please let us know you're preferred course of action" and "the hole or part there, of, the property".

 

Both genuine examples from the same document."

 

 

Sheesh, they need to hire properly trained legal secretaries - should set a spelling & grammar test of typing-up dictation as part of the job interview?

 

Would those errors mean it's not legally-binding then?

 

 
Had a few interesting medical letters - the typing-up of Consultant / Doctors' dictation.
American spell-checkers / auto-correct and predictive text doesn't help.
 
"The historically perverse legal style of writing is actually quite fun to read"  
True, but you're never quite sure if you are actually signing away your immortal soul at times?
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I'm still slightly bemused with the thread title "Literacy and Illiteracy". 

 

I always understood "literacy" to be the "ability to read and write", and "illiteracy" would be the opposite.

 

Clearly, anyone who posts a message here is "literate".

 

Writing style seems to be a very "broad brush" that covers a wide range of "technical" abilities.  After all, isn't "communication" the object rather than "Queens English" ?

 

Perhaps the title should have been - "Spelling, Grammar, and Punctuation".  :ponders:

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I always understood "literacy" to be the "ability to read and write", and "illiteracy" would be the opposite.

I would agree, Colin. Having said that, I would suggest that to be able to read and write what is being put forward, it should be spelt correctly and what is said should be put forward logically, consistantly and coherently. All too often it is not. Having said that I am no perfectionist. I make mistakes along with everybody else but the effort to present it correctly should be made, for no other reason than to allow everybody to read what has been written and understand it. It's just my view, though.

Edited by George.
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I always understood "literacy" to be the "ability to read and write", and "illiteracy" would be the opposite.

I would agree, Colin. Having said that, I would suggest that to be able to read and write what is being put forward, it should be spelt correctly and what is said should be put forward logically, consistantly and coherently. All too often it is not. Having said that I am no perfectionist. I make mistakes along with everybody else but the effort to present it correctly should be made, for no other reason than to allow everybody to read what has been written and understand it. It's just my view, though.

 

Well George,  I don't mind if other people's writing is a little "garbled", and spelling isn't an issue either.  Like yourself, I make lots of mistakes that could easily be corrected but, so long as I  get the point across, I don't loose any sleep over it.

I think that the expectation of "Advanced Higher" or "A Level" English is setting the bar at far to high a level for most, and so long as I can get an understanding, I don't care about the grammar or spelling, it's all about communication. I'm fine with most of the stuff I read.

 

There are, however, 2 things that will "boil my p*ss";

"txt spk", and people who do not properly read what is written. 

The second item is (almost) excusable, but leave your ugly shortcuts where they belong!

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There are, however, 2 things that will "boil my p*ss";

"txt spk", and people who do not properly read what is written. 

The second item is (almost) excusable, but leave your ugly shortcuts where they belong!

Two good points, Colin. Yes, we're all guilty of not reading properly and we probably always will be, intentionally or unintentionally. Txt spk however is no more than a short version of slang in my opinion. Unfortunately, as time goes by and more and more people catch on to it, communication will go downhill. That will do us no favours.

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