I've seen people spelling they're as their and you're as your more times than I've seen them writing the words the correct way..in a country whose language is English.\n\nI'm from India and almost any educated Indian I've ever come across speaks better English than most of the people whose native language is English.
199194
People are lazy and indifferent. Chatrooms certainly don't help.\n\nI'm from England, and I think it's ridiculous that I'm tested on English by a bunch of Americans (the SAT, the Regents, the GRE). I'm also sick of professors correcting me when I spell "defence" with a "c" or "speciality" with an "i."\n\nThose words are SUPPOSED to be spelled that way, you dumb college professors!\n\nI don't have a problem with Americans spelling "speciality" without an "i" or "colour" without a "u," but don't expect me to do the same.
268827
On spelling and grammar, I would have to say English people, for example when somebody uses 'is there more...' instead of 'are there more...' and 'too' instead of 'to' or refuses to use capital letters!!!!! Grrrrr! On other things, who knows? I think that I would go for English people! :)
239911
I hate it when people are too lazy to use the shift key to capitalize a sentence or proper noun.  It's ridicules that there are so many spelling errors, especially since there is a spell check supplied!  I can't believe how stupid people sound here because they either don't know grammar or they don't proof read their questions!  (The grammar is directed towards native English speakers.)\n\nI believe immigrants should be able to speak at least some English.  They should know numbers, prices, directions, etc...  I can forgive grammar and don't have a problem with accents. They just need to make an effort!  Languages are very hard to learn and English is one of the hardest!  (Please, please, don't hire the "barely speaking English" immigrants for customer service type jobs, like counter help at McDonald's!)\n\nBottom line ... I frown on Americans and native English speakers who misspell, bad grammar, and poor or no punctuation when asking or answering a question.  I smile upon legal immigrants and foreigners that make an effort to learn English.  I welcome legal immigrants to the US with open arms.
597836
Sometimes I wonder about people who post here who say the are going to attend a university, yet they misspell words and their grammar is simply awful.  Makes me wonder what kind of university they will be attending.  Some questions posted are almost incomprehensible, what with poor spelling, and bad sentence structure.  Sometimes, I know very literate people will misspell on purpose... but I don't do that myself. I like to see words written correctly.  I try to correct my own sentences, most of the time. I don't know, is it that people want to sound/look dumb so they "fit in"?  \n\nI do realize that this site has people from all around the world, and for many, English is probably not  their native language, so grammar and spelling may be difficult for them.  I'm not frustrated, but I do censor what I read at times, based on the type question, and the literacy of it too.   I figure, if someone cannot write pretty much correctly, they will probably be clueless as to what I write in my replies.  Maybe that is presumptuous on my part, but I do like to use words that a barely literate person probably won't be able to read or understand.  \n\nThen again, spelling doesn't always affect my replies, especially with kids.
635431
I'm amazed of the lack of education or the lack of quality of education many of these people have...Next question for yahoo should be...pick the sentence that is correct..."I speak english well" or "i speak a good english" I can only imagine what answer people will choose
33162
Ok, this isn't a very good place to make a judgment on how well people can spell. \nFor one, there is a wide age range here. I have seen children as young as 11 here, so obviously they are more apt to make a mistake.\nSecondly, people make typos all the time.  This is an informal setting so they are not as likely to spend a lot of time correcting mistakes, as say they would be when composing a buisness letter.\nThirdly, how do you know who speaks English as their first language, and who doesn't just by reading the question.  I don't think that you can possibly know that.\n\nIf they had this same type thing set up in Spanish speaking countries, or German, Or whatever language, I think you would find just as many people making errors in their own language too.  I think it is a little unfair to single out Americans when I doubt you are actually comparing this evenly with everyone else.\n\nThat all said, it does bother me when there are excessive amounts of misspellings.  A typo here or there, I can understand, but some I've seen are ridiculous.
285681
As pretty513 has just confirmed - many Americans are quite dumb. I have no idea whether this is the fault of the education system. The UK's education system isn't great at the moment, but I came through it being able to spell and use correct grammar. Going by the spelling and grammar of many of the Americans on here, I think their education has failed them somewhat.
81614
I have the same concerns and not just here in Yahoo Answers.  Certainly we all make mistakes in spelling from time to time. We sometimes transpose words and letters.  Some here obviously do not have a familiarity with English due to culture or age.  I do not believe that it is just a matter of this being an informal format.  Part of being in this Yahoo Answers is to communication with others.  \n\nThe numbers of questions which I have seen asked that are simply not clear is astounding.  It’s not a matter of just misspelling or using the shorthand methodology of writing, these are bad enough on their own, but the inability to structure a clear sentence is as startling as a bright sunset.  To me this represents either a lack of education or a disrespect for the people who attempt to read these questions.  More over, the answers often follow the same pattern of inability to communicate.  \n\nIf we were all together in a room we would have additional tools to facilitate clear communication, such as tonal inflection, facial expression, body language, the context of a specific subject under discussion and possibly even knowledge of those speaking.  All of this contributes to clear communication. \n\nHere in Yahoo Answers (as with nearly all internet exchanges) we are limited to the written language.  Maybe the use of the term “limited” is in error because the English language is a strong and vigorous tool to accomplish communication, if and when we use it.\n\nNothing is unusual with groups who develop a language variation centered around their association.  Those in the computer field do it as do those in the medical field or the police field or those in mathematics or those of specific geographical areas and many other fields, but when they talk with or write for the general public they use standard English. \n\nOf course it maybe simply a matter of education.  I believe few learn the art of parsing a sentence or the ability to comprehend the reading of classical literature, or any literature for that matter and that seems to extend into comprehending current writings.  For all of the technical advances in our times literacy seems to be decreasing and comprehension seems to be dropping along with it.  In the source link here one can find the Eighth Grade Graduation Test for Salinas, Kansas 1895.  I think even today’s teachers would find it challenging.  For fun, go there and try only the Grammar section.
159253
You are at a university, and my English is better than yours???? WOW. I know I type bad sometimes, but if students in universities type or communicate as bad as you, then our country is in deep troubvle. And I only have a high school diploma.
155155
No, if English is your second language, your grammar and spelling tends to be superior to those that speak it as their first language. I'm Russian, yet I used to have American kids ask me for help on their English.
226190
I agree! It's amazing how many people can't, or won't spell or write correctly, especially here in Yahoo! Answers. The excuse I always get is "Well, this is the Internet, you're SUPPOSED to misspell!". Please! It's no wonder our country is falling behind so many other countries in literacy and other areas of knowledge. We, as a society have become lazy in such basic things as spelling, grammar, math and science.
67035
Some get too damn lazy to spell correctly and/or to type in complete words. \nSome are just that dumb and don't want to learn.\nSome of these people's primary language is not english... like me, yet, I know how to spell and I know the differences between your, you're, they're, their, its, it's, etc. AND, it's a pet peeve to see how many people missuse (sp?) those.\n\nHey, at least I know I might have misspelled that and I care enough to question myself :oP
34390
I agree that sometimes people are just in a hurry to answer, so they don't catch their mistakes. I am guilty of that many times. However, I think that many are non-English speakers, or  are just learning to speak and write English. So they are not really that familiar with the spelling of the words that they just hear on TV, songs, etc. This is a venue for them to learn.
590110
There are two senses of "bad spelling".  Mixing up "your" and "you're" and spelling "schedule" as "skedool", for instance, are probably a result of foreigners with poor English skills and the fact that English grammar and spelling aren't taught in school any more (as far as I know).\n\nUsing "u" for "you" and "c" for "see" is more lazy than outright wrong and has most likely been spawned by the advent of internet chat rooms and cell-phone text-messaging.
260433
Even before the invasion by the English the maharajahs used to bring scholars from there to teach their children English .And when India was under the British.Those who really had enough wealth and academics went abroad to study professional education as there were no colleges offering them here.Post independence knowing English was great thing soon as the development favoured schools started teaching English
481989
Fascinating dialect you have there...\n\n(yes - I get a bit annoyed when people spell the way they speak, but hey...what can you expect when teachers aren't allowed to correct their spelling? Might hurt the little dears' egos...)
132874
Because most people are too busy using internet lingo. Also take into account the vast age range and the fact that not everyone is from English speaking countries. Often times people type like they talk, and some words may get omitted. Be tolerant and try to understanding.