It's all Text Messaging's Fault
Well, it's obviously possible, but text messaging may mean the death of my belov'd apostrophe. That's the claim in the article Dear Apostrophe: C Ya over at the Chronicle of Higher Ed. The author, Rob Jenkins, believes that
as someone who teaches college writing to the text-messaging generation, I have observed that not only apostrophes but also capital letters have become, if not extinct, then at least increasingly conspicuous by their absence–sort of like some of my students when their essays are due.Yikes! Not only does he dis students for bad grammar, but he also doubts their veracity when it comes to absences and due dates (c'mon you know you are at least a little guilty).
I love apostrophe's. In fact I love them so much that I use way too many of them. While Jenkins worries about capital letters and apostrophes because of text messaging, I worry about too many spaces in my writing. I find that whenever you use any piece of punctuation in a text it automatically capitalizes the next letter whether you like it or not! So I'm always adding spaces.
There are two basic rules for apostrophes. Apostrophes show possession (something one owns): The dog's tail is wagging. Apostrophes are also used in contractions (contracting two words into one): it is = it's.
What do you think? Does text messaging make you a poor writer? Has your texting habits earned you a poor score? What text messaging habits bleed over into your academic writing?
P.S. Did you spot the extra apostrophe?
I agree that text messaging has affected students and their writing styles, it causes them to be lazy and carless when their writing is involved. For example, most cell phones have auto correct which corrects punctuation and spelling with just one tap. Students and even parents love and use this tool, but unfortunately it causes the users to not think when they are spelling and to just rely on this auto correct device. Fortunately with our societies, technology brings even our computers fix our spelling and punctuation; if we catch it. I feel like if we put our students to the test of writing an essay with a pen and paper they would have horrific grammer, spelling, and punctuation errors. I know if I had to write a hand written paper I would have errors just due to the fact that I have become more lazy with text messaging.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Extra apostrophe: Fourth Paragraph "I Love Apostrophe's"
I agree with the blog because many teenagers who include text messaging as part of a lifestyle or a hobby get in the bad habit of incorporating this style into their writing. I do not think text messaging makes me a poor writer though, it does catch me in the habit of shortening words or typing certain words differently such as "ppl" instead of people or "ur" instead of your. I believe my texting habits have not earned me a poor score since I review my writing after I have finished to make sure I did not misspell a word. Like I said, text messaging has gotten me into the habit of shortening words or spelling certain words differently.
ReplyDeleteIn some cases text messaging has affected my writing. When i text i don't spell words out all the way or i combine words together that don't need to be combined in the first place.For example when i want to say i was i'll put iwss instead because im lazy.Fortunatey texting like this hasn't taken a toll on my grades for english but i can't speak for others.But if i had to write an essay on a specific prompt i would have some mistakes because of this.
ReplyDeleteI agree that texting affects students essay scores, by making grammer errors and punctuation errors. But for me texting has not affected my essay score, I have not gotten any poor essay score due to texting. The only text messaging habit thats bleed over to my writing is forgetting to use capital letters at start of every sentence.
ReplyDeleteI most defiantly agree with what the author is trying to convey. Texting does affect the way students are writing especially those in either high school or college. I feel like the amount of texters has massively increased over the years and because more and more students are doing this its affecting them when it comes to school. I do agree that because of texting people do not take the time to add certain punctuation in there writing I know i don't, which is essential when it comes to school. Some phone are too advanced that it does it for you, so therefor people are not really learning and their vocabulary can be really detrimental. Personally I sometimes forget to capitalize certain words or use "u" instead of "you" and so forth.
ReplyDeleteText messaging has definitely taken over lately and if someone doesn't have texting it's a complete shocker. As for me it doesn't affect the way I write. When I text I still spell everything out and since I have an iPhone, thanks to autocorrect everything it spelt right and with correct punctuation. The only way texting affects me is its hard to refrain from typing lol, jk or :)
ReplyDeleteThe way you text can affect the way you write in school, but if you can control yourself in that aspect then it shouldn't be much of a hassle. The way people text look as if they are lazy to type because the texts are short answers or just one letter words. As for me, I text the same way I write. I use the punctuation marks where they are supposed to be and I don't shorten any words. The only times I would use any type of shortened words or acronyms for my texts is when I am laughing or if I'm just kidding. Other than that, no text messaging habits bled over onto my academics because I don't usually shorten any words or use any type of text messaging slang. And if I ever do, I know not to carry that over to my academics.
ReplyDeleteTest messaging has definitely affected the way people write in school. Texting is very informal, people shorten words. For example, they change the word "you" to simply you. Some of my teachers in the past have talked about being careful with that. Also, technology nowadays have an auto-correct option. This option changes the words to the correct form and also adds punctuation to where its needed. So when it come to school writing, some people forget to do these things that technology does for them.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, text messaging hasn't made me a horrible writer. In fact, it's a pet peeve when people use poor grammar in text messaging. Sure I am guilty of not using apostrophes all the time, but for the most part i try to use good grammar even when I text. My biggest pet peeve is when people use the wrong there/ they're/ their. It's like come on people, don't you know any better?! On the other hand,I think text messaging made me talk more informal. Like, totally is already casual for definitely, but i say "tots" instead of totally. And "jelly" instead of jealous. I don't use this kind of language in writing, but definitely around my friends.
ReplyDeleteI think it depends on the person. When I text message, I text so that everything is spelled correctly. I never text things like "C U L8r." Instead of abbreviating words I type them all out. Actually I think texting has helped me improve my spelling. Although frequent spelling tests like we had in middle school would probably help a lot more, texting hasn't affected my spelling in a negative way. Also having an Iphone has made my life easier as well. I have it programmed to be on auto correct, which fixes the word on its own and allows me to see the actual spelling of the word for future reference.
ReplyDeleteText messaging does not interfere with my writing. I know the difference between the two. But, this topic depends all on the person and how there brains thinks. In today's smartphones, they now have "Auto-Correct" so that it will automatically correct any grammatical mistakes that are present on the text message a person is about to send. Texting is used to quickly communicate with others without having the need to be very specific in grammar, (Keyword: quickly). Writing a paper for a certain class means that you have to watch out for all the grammatical mistakes that can be present as the student is writing and that it also makes sense because you're being graded on it. Texting does not carry over my writing.
ReplyDeletei think texting does affect your writing. Before I would use a lot of IM and say things shorter to text faster but I would noticed that I would constantly be misspelling words. I also realized that as a young adult I must now be a bit more professional and write the complete thing out. Some may argue it's a "Text message not an e-mail", but personally I don't really care I rather text everything out and improve my grammar then to keep using IM and sound unprofessional. A lot of smartphones now have auto correct which I think is another reason of why people shouldn't be using abbreviations. How much lazier can you be if your phone auto corrects and you don't use it?
ReplyDeleteThere are times when I use texting grammar when I am writing and essay. But then I remind myself that I am writing a college paper instead of texting some and I correct the mistake. For my junior year in high school, in my spanish class there were times I would get a low grade because I made the mistake of abbreviating the words as if I was texting someone in spanish. But as time went by I would remember not to write like if I was texting but use the correct grammar. Some of the texting habits that bleed into my writing are in spanish for the word "que" I only use "q" and that would happen a lot in my spanish writing class, another one would be when instead of "though" I write "tho" as I will use while I am texting. And I did not catch the extra apostrophe.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that text messaging has made me a poor writer. I get so used to the autocorrect on my phone that I forget sometimes to proofread my writing. Text messaging also affected my grammar. I commonly mistake the "your" and "you're" in my papers and also "to", "two", and "too". My texting habits have caused me to get a low score on some of my papers. For example, in my Senior year English class, my teacher was very strict on grammar and abbreviations. We would have weekly quizzes on grammar and correct ways to abbreviate different words. On my MacBeth essay at the end of Senior Year, my score was decent, but was significantly lowered due to my grammar corrections. Texting affected my writing because I have trouble writing professional e-mails because it's hard to differ from text message writing and e-mail writing. I try as least as possible to not get them mixed up, but sometimes I just don't spot them.
ReplyDeleteI take my writing very seriously . I don't think texting has affected my writing skills , maybe because it is something I really enjoy . There are really no errors that bleed into my college writing , but if there was it will probably be grammar !
ReplyDeleteTexting message has not influence me with my academic writing. I saw many students use some simple words to instead of original words. Such as "you" become "u", "love" become "luv" and so on. Actually, I am a poor text messager, I really do not know some meaning of simple words. Before I just start my academic writing, I always used "don't", "can't", "there's".....in my essay, my English teacher told me, there is no simple words or apostrophe in our academic essay. I have to use change all this habit, there should be "cannot", "do not", "there is"...and so on. Therefore, I always remember what is my teacher told me. Even though we are young people, we are accept new things, as a academic writer we should refuse things are not about academic.
ReplyDeleteI agree that tex messaging affect students' writing in negative ways. Because people usually shorten the word in text and that makes people become lazy. For example, students usually type "ur" instead of "your" or "ty" instead of "thank you". That is a bad habit in writing. However, I don't think I am affected by text messaging. I am not a native speaker, so I typed the whole words instead of shorten them or I would be confused by myself. It does not make me earn poor scores on writing. However, The gramma error and word choice bleed me into my college wrting. I will always work really hard in order to get ride of that.
ReplyDeleteI think text messaging used to affect my grammar in negative ways when I was younger. I was so used to writing my e like "3" that I wrote like that on my essays. Today though, I don't think that text messaging affects my grammar in any way. Since I have an IPhone and it auto corrects for me, I feel like I text very properly except for short versions of words like "you" "wyd" for what are you doing? I don't think that any of the grammar I use in my text messages has carried on to my writing. I am pretty aware when to use and not to use the short versions of words. Especially when I am emailing my professor, I make sure to be very formal.
ReplyDeleteFor me, text messaging never affected my college writing skills because I don't like to write in an informal way whenever I text to all my friends. In steady, it is one of the opportunities I have to improve my writing skills. When I say informal writing, I mean that I don't use unofficial abbreviations such "2morrow" to say "Tomorrow" and miss or misplaces any punctuations as much possible. No matter how much I am in hurry, I never abbreviate words or sentences to reach my friends so soon, but I really accept so many poorly written texts from many of my friends. One time, I remember that I sent incomplete text to my pastor. When I read it after I sent it, I figured out that there was a word missed at some point. Then sent him again another text by saying "I am sorry I mean...." So in general, I don't have any worries that texts affect my writing skills and scores forever.
ReplyDeleteI think that everything technology has to offer should be taken advantage of. Text messaging, in my opinion, doesn't make anyone a poor writer; However, I do believe it makes people lazy about writing things out correctly and fully. My texting habits have earned me a poor score because sometimes I choose to depend on the technology to correct my work for me so when I write I'm not used to proof reading and actually putting in a lot of effort. I use a lot of shorthand writing, not too many apostrophes, limited capitalization etc. overall, i dont like spending too much time in adding punctuations and stuff.
ReplyDelete-Karen Martinez
I definitely think that texting can turn people into bad writers when they don't use proper writing skills. People tend to use text slang when texting in order to cut down on how much they spend sending a text message. Text slang is when people cut down words such as "you" into "u", "see" into "c", "are" into "r", etc. And instead of writing a whole sentence such as "be right back" we will abbreviate it to "brb", and so on. When many of us text we don't like to check for correct grammar or punctuation because we get lazy, because we are not being graded, or simply because text slang is "cool". And I honestly believe this can turn many of us into poor writers because we get so accustomed to text slang that without even knowing it we start writing school papers or letters the same way that we write when we text. In many occasions when I am writing a paper, instead of writing a full word I will cut it down just like I do when I text, or I forget to use apostrophes, periods, commas, etc., without even notice it! My grammar and punctuation has really went down so at least in my case it is true; texting can make someone a poor writer. So people should really start writing properly when texting and use text slang less often.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that texting can push people to develop bad habits when it comes to writing. I have many friends that end up never capitalizing or punctuating anything due to the texting habits they have developed over time. However, I don't have that issue. In fact, albeit a few abbreviations and emoticons, I text grammatically correct. I capitalize and punctuate. Maybe if I did subscribe to the texting style of today it would bleed over, but until then I guess I won't know.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I did spot the extra apostrophe.
"I love apostrophe's."
Firstly, yes, I noticed the extra apostrophe. Secondly, is punctuation classified as periods and exclamation points or as periods, commas, and semicolon? If the second is true, I'm pretty sure the problem with capitalized letters comes from your writing software.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I agree with Mr. Jenkins; the new age world of texting and technological support in writing (autocorrect and the like) has dulled the ability of younger crowds to write a well-written essay. Even I can't spell words half the time and have to google them just so I can figure out if "semicolon" had two "l"s or one. This world is dying (in the sense that we rely too heavily on technology), and Jenkins has all the right in the world to be upset with his students because of it.
Luckily I was of the generation of flip phones and non-smart phones. Rarely any of my elementary friends had phones and those who did barely used them. In middle school I found phones useless and hated having the one I did. I still don't like having to rely of cell phones, but due to my living away from home, and parents being who they are, I had little choice in the matter.
Either way, I was luck enough to learn basic writing skills from my classes long before having to worry about texting, and even now that I text, I tend to use full sentences and correct grammar. In other words, as few acronyms as possible. I think the true problem is in the lack of appreciation for written language. Things like "ttyl" and "brb" have damaged the language in and of itself. I hate it, but it's something that has happened and something we must live with and avoid using as much as possible.