Can I get an "Amen" on not using all lower case in posts?

[Tom]

Kids scored the work of peers before I ever got to it and they were brutal!

That might still have been less painful than the wooden ruler across the knuckles that we'd receive from our English teacher 

 

[Just Lou]

My first seven years of schooling were in a rural one room school house.  When you got the ruler across the knuckles, everyone in the school knew it.  Spelling tests were sheer torture, as they were oral tests in front of the entire room. 

 

[Ned]

I agree with most of the above comments but these days I'm having trouble resolving the debate raging in some quarters about whether to follow a sentence ending period with one or two spaces.  I've always used two but the current consensus seems to be that only one should be used.

 

[Tom]

I've only ever used one, but noticed when we arrived in CA that most folks use two.

 

[Larry N.]

With a typewriter it was two spaces (according to all the typing training info I have, including DW who used to do 35+ words per minute for years). In desktop publishing, doing catalogs, articles, etc., for typesetting it was one. Most info I've come across for use on the web indicates that one is preferable now (unless you are still typing on a typewriter).

That being said, I've seen both one and two on the web.

 

[Just Lou]

I've always used two, but I've noticed that some forum editors (maybe the less/more sophisticated ones) will reduce the entered text to one.

I'm going to continue to use two spaces just in case my old English or Typing teachers are still around with those rulers.

 

[Tom]

Google brings up a whole raft of options. A couple of Wiki explanations:

One Wiki

Another Wiki

 

[Ned]

I'm with Just Lou.  Old habits die hard.

 

[Molaker]

I was taught to use two spaces and still do.  I suspect the reduction to one space was predicated more by character saving in earlier electronic documents than by any so called rule and further promoted by the "texting" and IM crowd.  IMHO.

 

[Just Lou]

Those two Wiki articles that Tom provided links to, stated multiple times that experts say using two spaces is not desirable and need not be used.  Desirable by whom, the experts or the reader?

After trying to read the wiki text, with it's small type, long paragraphs and single spaces between sentences, I'm thinking strongly of starting to use three.

 

[Wendy]

Back in my typewriter days, I used 2 spaces. That's how I was taught in typing class  Now, on the computer, I use one. And on my phone, if you hit the space bar twice, you get a period and one space. Grammar evolves, things change. Just look at the rule regarding placing punctuation inside the quotation marks.

 

[Ned]

Just look at the rule regarding placing punctuation inside the quotation marks.

That's another one I don't understand.  To me it's illogical and I refuse to participate.

 

[Just Lou]

What Ned said.

 

[Wendy]

So do you guys follow proper American grammar with punctuation inside the quotes or follow Canadian usage with the punctuation outside ?

 

[Just Lou]

So do you guys follow proper American grammar with punctuation inside the quotes or follow Canadian usage with the punctuation outside ?

My usage is more of a hodge-podge.  I follow the rules of logic when they jump off the page at me, but make mistakes quite often.  It just doesn't seem logical to leave a sentence without punctuation at the end, other than the closing quote.

If the quote itself is a question, I would place the ? inside the quotes, but would probably add a period after.

If I thought these were my only errors, then I might work harder to avoid them.

 

[Ned]

If the punctuation is part of the quote, it goes inside, otherwise outside. That's logical.

 

[Just Lou]

If the punctuation is part of the quote, it goes inside, otherwise outside. That's logical.

Another way I violate the rules is to use 83 words, 12 punctuation marks and two emoticons to say the same thing that Ned did in 12 words and 4 marks. ??? :-\ :-[

 

[Bob Buchanan]

Interesting topic . . .

In photography, contrast is important -- otherwise everything runs together. Same is true with typed text. All upper or lower case, paragraph separation, and punctuation give contrast to the written word and makes it easier to read. Early on as a programmer I designed subroutines that automatically convert whatever my users type to mixed case. So if they type, ROBerT JoNEs, it auto converts to Robert Jones when <enter> or tab is pressed. Data entered is available to printed reports so proper case is important to others reading those reports. Placing names or text on a report just as users enter that data would have ended my programming career many years ago. There would, of course, be exceptions. Though some do not use it, this forum has good spell checking available.

There will always be others that know more as to where our level of writing skills rank among others in the same arena - so I accept that and just do the best I can. When I wrote my first work to be published, my best friend, Fred, was my first line editor. He was an English Literature graduate from UC Davis. It was bad enough his red markings were numerous and bold, but if I was present at the time, he also enjoyed chuckling as he edited.   However, when the publishers editor then reviewed my work bleeding with red markings the reality of my writing skills level in the arena of published authors became apparent.

So hopefully everyone will continue to post and accept any suggestions by moderators and peers as a desire to communicate with everyone else on the forum. Would also suggest tempering suggestions vs. "rants" about the typing, spelling, or grammatical skills of others. Would hate to have that person with the knowledge to solve a problem I may have be reluctant to post because they had become paranoid about their data entry skill levels here. 

 

[Bob Buchanan]

She was also deaf and blind since birth and communicated by placing one hand on a Braille reader while typing with the other.

Back in the late 70's I was teaching a computer related seminar at the Federal Building on Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco. As I entered the classroom, I noticed a young lady sitting at one of the front tables with both feet "on" the table. I began at once figuring just how to handle this. She was also bare footed. In SF, some fairly strange souls come wandering in classrooms at times.

However, as I sat my notes on the lectern, I also noticed she did not have arms. I watched as she took the marking pen with her toes and feet to fill out her name card -- and began taking notes with pencil and tablet.

Turns out she was a geologist with Geological Survey in Marin County and lost both arms in some kind of accident. Truly an amazing young lady. 

 

[denmarc]

If I may...

I have to agree with Mr. Buchanan.  I would much rather read the writings of someone with not so good grammer and a great idea or solution.  I refuse to judge anyone by how they type.  It's not so hard to figure out if the typing is sincere or not.  Or if the style of type is common to the author with a little reading on my part.  No matter.

I don't have a halo on my head either when it comes to grammer and punctuation.  I have found it's almost like listening to someone who cusses a bit too much.  What they are saying and the idea they are trying to portray are top notch.  But the cuss words in the portrayal seem to demean it.  I listen, or read, beyond that to get to the real meaning of what they are trying to get across.  That's what is more important to me.  Not if I believe they cuss too much.  Or used all lower case in a writing.  That's just me.

My opinion is this forum has a great group of folks here.  Grammer Police aren't needed.  And, it's not the purpose of the forum and it's members to judge others by their writings.

BTW...
My spell check isn't working.  Hmmmmm...