I’ve no intention to belittle or blemish anyone. I felt bitter when I read some reviews on MS.
Reason?
Bad English.
This is not a tip to write the reviews. I don’t think such a tip is required, as all of you know how to write good reviews in your own style. Moreover, I’m not the right person to give such a tip because I don’t know how to write a good review. However, this is a note based on my frustration and indignation as a reader.
For the majority on MS, the primary language is not English. As a secondary language, we don’t have much reverence for it especially because it is considered the ghost of British Raj. Still, we use it everywhere, as our official national language has not turned out very effective as expected.
I often felt that it would have been better had we chosen English as our official national language instead of Hindi. It’s a matter of debate on another arena and not on MS.
However, nowadays we use English extensively over the net, in the offices, and we sent our children to schools where English is used as the medium of instruction.
Except a few who are very modest about their qualifications, the majority on MS have qualifications to boast about. Still, I found them writing bad English.
I taught English for eight years, and if my students had brought out these mistakes in their papers I would have given them only pass marks despite the content. Spelling is horrible with some people on MS. I wonder how an educated person can go wrong with spelling. Now, don’t come up with the excuse that it’s typing mistake. Typing mistakes are normally jumbled up alphabets and are easily recognizable. Some use words that are not yet coined in English. I’m not talking about the colloquial expressions in one’s mother tongue. If I’ve sounded like Prof. Higgins in Pygmalion, I’m sorry; I don’t have any such intention.
Some think that they are doing this for fun and it doesn’t require their sincere attention and effort. They just jot something down and post it. After all, how many people would read your review? Perhaps, 50-5000 people. Well, this number is nothing compared to the readers you get when your letter to the editor is published in a daily. But here on MS, we know each other (to some extent) and behave like the collective conscience of the society. We interact to make the relationship better. Thus, we have some responsibility to communicate in the best way.
Grammatical mistakes can be forgiven as far as it won’t result in clumsy sentences and irrational meaning. Still, you can pay more attention here to make your language shine.
To write a review one usually takes 10-30 minutes depending on the subject, length of the review, and one’s typing speed. Why don’t you spend a few more minutes to read it before you post it on MS? It’s not a Herculean task. You can correct the spelling mistakes and the grammatical mistakes to make your review presentable. How sweet it is to read something written in good language. Don’t come up with the excuse that you’re very busy and you don’t have time to read what you’ve already written. After all you have spent some time to write it. Please go through it for a few minutes and tidy it. It’s your brainchild. Present it to the world neat and beautiful. If you’re using MS (not Mouthshut) Word to type your reviews, please keep the spelling check activated. Very easy. If you’re using the MS window itself, please read what you’ve written before clicking the submit button. You will be rewarded in Heaven by Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, and G. B. Shaw. It is a language beautified by them.