Bad English

1. 61

   LaMamaLoliposted 14 years ago

   What do you do when you come across hubs that are written in really bad english? Do you flag them? I'm talking about hubs where sentences just don't make sense, and some of the words used sound like they came from an encyclopedia. I have just been hub hopping...

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   1. 60

      Linuxariaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      hmhm i could be one of these authors...if so please drop me a note.
      I try to check for English grammar, but being italian sometimes i miss some basic grammatical rule
      
      Thanks

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   2. 67

      nicregiposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I wouldn't flag them but would send them a note about it. Not in a bad way but trying to make HP a better place and giving room for improvement for the rest

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      1. 61

         LaMamaLoliposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Mmm. Maybe I will, will have to do it when I am in a diplomatic frame of mind!!

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   3. 70

      lrohnerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      You mean like this one I just came across?
      
      "Would like to insist on the activities of these sites feature more leisure to best help these parts of the targeted activities, the following has a soft, easy to move activities to do more arm and back support would help improve power, have never been eloquent in bed or on the ground on implemented, and men want to adhere to the "strength", the best time to do several times every night pumping point, the number depending on the number of each different physique."
      
      

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      1. 65

         Lisa HWposted 14 years agoin reply to this

             I believe there's a space (when you flag) that would describe this one as "nonsensical" or "hard to read", isn't there?    Gee, do you think even an English/second-language human being came up with this?   

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         1. 0

            Website Examinerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Maybe they are just ahead of their time.

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      2. 0

         klarawieckposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         It could be those translating programs too. Geez, I better stop writing! Thanks to this forum I am now so self-conscious! I don't want to make a Mesteak.

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   4. 0

      Rhysjcposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I haven't really seen any myself. I suppose I would flag them as hubpages should only have high quality content.

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2. 0

   Uma07posted 14 years ago

   Is it possible to have "grammar check" just as we have spell check?

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   1. 60

      srwnsonposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Microsoft Word has grammer check, though limited.

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      1. 74

         DzyMsLizzyposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         MS Word's "grammar check" ... pfft.  To say it's "limited" is charitable.  I've found it to be just plain wrong at times!
         
         It constantly wants to 'correct' things that are not wrong, and it misses things that are!

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3. 85

   Pcunixposted 14 years ago

   It depends.  If most of the hub is fine and they plainly fat-fingered something or made a careless sentence or two, I know that I would appreciate being told.
   
   If the whole thing is awful, I just don't bother.

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4. 76

   Mighty Momposted 14 years ago

   For me it depends on how bad the writing is. If the hub doesn't make sense I probably would flag it.
   If the hub basically makes sense but the author has trouble with certain words (i.e.g, their/there/they're) or spellings "rediculous" instead of "ridiculous" I just leave it. I'm not the grammar police.
   I do, however, try to take advantage of opportunies to help hubbers (especially newbies) to make their hubs more inviting/exciting with more capsules rather than 1,200 words of text.....

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5. 60

   saleheensblogposted 14 years ago

   My English is not of a great standard.I do several mistakes and some of my sentences look so silly.Sometimes i take help from my English friends to compose a good sentence and then the sentence don't match with my writing standard.People can easily understand that i was not the creator of that part and unfortunately flag my hubs.But think the concept was mine so i was honest in my part.Is it a great issue if i use some sentence from other resource?I don't think so.I don't flag such hubs but i would flag if a hub is not at at all understandable.For example i don't mind if someone write "what you do,remember do with honest" as i could understand what was meant by the sentence even though the sentence is incorrect.
   OMG, may be i have irritated you with my poor English once again here.please don't mind.Actually i feel sympathy for the people like me who want to write but don't know better English.
   Thnx
   ~Shifa Saleheen Shuvo[saleheensblog]

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   1. 0

      Uma07posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Shifa,
      A language can be perfect only if you are either always speaking it or if its ur mother tongue.I don't think not knowing a language is anything to be ashamed of. You may be a very creative person and probably have lots of qualities that I lack.To be frank when I watch American or Australian movies I find the accent hard to understand unless there is no other noise in the room.So cheers!

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6. 0

   Website Examinerposted 14 years ago

   I never flag hubs because of poorly written contents. Would only consider it in case they are either not written in English, unlawfully copied, or in some other ways seriously violate the Terms of Service.

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7. 76

   Aficionadaposted 14 years ago

   If the poor language seems to be a result of an article spinner, then I believe we should flag it.  Flagging does not automatically unpublish the Hub, but it does alert the staff to a possible problem.  They can't detect every sub-standard Hub without assistance.
   
   In the instance LaMamaLoli mentioned (Hub-hopping), I believe that it is entirely appropriate to flag the article, because Hub-hopping is supposed to be a way for Hubbers to help out the staff by finding articles that are worth noting and by finding articles that need help or revision.
   
   When incomprehensible language comes from someone who writes English as a second or third language, then I think it would be best to send a private message or e-mail, instead of flagging them.
   
   Most of the really bad English I have found in HubPages is from article spinners. But, come to think of it, I can also remember a few from native English speakers who just can't seem to communicate clearly.

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   1. 74

      DzyMsLizzyposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I've come across several hubs, (including one purporting to give advice on well-written hubs!), that were poorly written with spelling and grammatical errors.
      
      My response was to write a hub on the topic, without mentioning names or hub titles, so as not to embarrass anyone with a public chastisement.
      
      I can only hope the hub was read by the persons who needed the information! 

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      1. 0

         Website Examinerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         http://hubpages.com/hub/Advice-on-Giving-Advice

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8. 68

   Mishaposted 14 years ago

   

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   1. 0

      Uma07posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Misha, this reminds me of a school-time joke.A student was asked to a frame a sentence starting with "I".
      
      Student : I is...
      
      Teacher:No.It's always I am...
      
      After much convincing by the teacher,
      
      Student : OK! "I" am the ninth letter of English Alphabet.

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      1. 74

         DzyMsLizzyposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         LOL!  Good one!

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   2. 82

      habeeposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Misha - I TOLD you not to use my faculty photo on here!!

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      1. 68

         Mishaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         OOOps, sorry - never again!

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9. 67

   Ivorwenposted 14 years ago

   If they look like they have been run through a translator, which is one way of 'spinning' content, then I flag them, especially if they have links in them.
   
   To see what something that has been run through a translator looks like, take something you wrote, then translate it 4-7 times before bringing it back to English.
   
   Here is an example I just did, translating 5x:
   
   Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jumped over the candle stick.
   
   became:
   
   Jack be nimble Jack jumped up, Jack be quick, hold the candle.

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10. 70

    lrohnerposted 14 years ago

    Here's what HP considers "Low Quality": Is very short, contains a large number of broken links or videos, or consists of unoriginal, nonsensical, difficult to read, or purely personal content.
    
    When I see them, I flag them.

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    1. 0

       Website Examinerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Fair enough. By the way, do you have any idea of what constitutes "purely personal content"?

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       1. 70

          lrohnerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          No, I really don't. Actually, I don't flag stuff that's personal--as long as it's English and readable!

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             Website Examinerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

             Thanks. I flagged one written in Polish the other day; couldn't help it.

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11. 82

    Mekenzieposted 14 years ago

    There are writers here on the hubs that are learning to write and express themselves.  Why would you flag someone for trying to do that?  I say, let them write and grow as they go.  None of us is forced to read everyone's hub .. we have SO many GREAT writers to learn from.  I have seen some hubbers come alongside people who don't have the English language down pat .. they are encouragers who look beyond the words to the heart.

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    1. 70

       lrohnerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Personally, I wasn't talking about someone who is learning the language and has a few grammatical or spelling issues. And that's not what HP is looking for either. But when it just doesn't make sense, or is obviously a "spun" article that is nonsensical, I do flag them and will continue to do so. See the excerpt I just pulled from a current hub a couple of posts up. That kind of stuff just needs to go.
       
       And I do think it hurts us. It pulls a URL out of the field so that no one else can use it, and I have to believe that if a reader comes on and reads garbage--and again I'm not talking a few grammatical errors--that they won't click on HubPages again in the future when it comes up in the search engines.

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       1. 76

          Aficionadaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          I agree with this.  I know that I form an instant opinion of ask.com, blogspot, squidoo, and any other writers' sites, based purely on the first article I read there.  If the first one is garbage I may, may, give the site a second chance, but rarely any chances after that. I can't help but believe that people who read Hubs do the same thing.

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          1. 85

             Pcunixposted 14 years agoin reply to this

             When i am searching for whatever, I don't even notice the site Google sent me to.

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                Lisa HWposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                I shouldn't say this, but I do notice; and if it isn't a site I trust will give solid information I don't click.  Generally, I'm looking for the solid reference sites (like solid medical reference, solid legal reference, .gov's, .org's, etc. anyway).  That's one reason I wonder if Hubbers (and other writing-site writers) are better off writing about  stuff that isn't found in "standard" reference resources and, instead, writing about stuff from an angle standard resources don't.

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                1. 85

                   Pcunixposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                   I am looking for different things, usually solutions to a problem or an alternate explanation for something I am having trouble understanding, so mostly I would not  expect to find that at reference sites.

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                   1. 65

                      Lisa HWposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                      Here's something else I probably shouldn't say (as an online writer among other online writers), but I pretty much don't do much searching for anything other than the occasional explanation of a medical condition some friend or relative just said someone else has, how old some celebrities are (I'm very age-aware these days  ), what some old, TV-show, character's name was in the show, or writing/business/publishing-related info.  When I want to buy something I go straight to Amazon's site or else to the store I already have in mind.  If I'm looking for reading I'll to to the Barnes and Noble site and buy books.  If I'm doing "real" work I need the "real-reference" resource.
                      
                      If I do search once in a great while for "what's out there" in terms of articles, my eyes immediately look for what kind of site it is before I'll even consider reading it. 
                      
                      I know there's a lot of solid information on places like writing sites, and I think there's lots of reasonable reading on them (for entertainment purposes).  I just can't trust something like writing sites for something like an article on a medical matter (and I've written them myself and carefully researched them).  It's just that, like everyone else, I've seen so much of what goes on with some people who post writing, I can't trust writing sites.
                      
                      (Now watch my HubScore drop down to 45 after this.     )

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       2. 82

          Mekenzieposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          i hear ya .. and I agree with you!

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12. 78

    Shadesbreathposted 14 years ago

    I don't flag them.  If it's written like crap, it's not going to do well in the end, and nobody is going to see it outside of the random hub-hopper. So there's really no harm in leaving the person alone and giving HP staff a break from having to follow up on it.

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13. 0

    Website Examinerposted 14 years ago

    I agree.

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14. 82

    habeeposted 14 years ago

    I used to couldn't even spell "English teacher" - now I is one! Doesn't it give you a warm, fuzzy feeling knowing that I helped mold thousands of young, impressionable minds?? Thanks to me, America now has lots more "moldy" minds! lol

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    1. 74

       DzyMsLizzyposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       OMG!!  Too funny!   Roflmao!  Your ending sentence instantly recalled to mind a Mother's Day card I gave my mom one year.
       
       It went on and on about,
       
       "...the person who taught me right from wrong, shaped my character & molded me into the person I am today... ... ...  Happy Mother's Day from your moldy child!"
       
       (paraphrased quotation--it was many, many years ago, back in the dark ages when I was a teenager...at this point, I do not remember all the wording.)

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15. 76

    Aficionadaposted 14 years ago

    Pcunix, it's true that I don't always notice the name of every site immediately.  But when I read garbage then I certainly take note.
    
    It works the other way too.  When my first experience with a site shows me well-researched, well-written, well-laid-out articles, I am likely to return.

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    1. 85

       Pcunixposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       I am probably odd. I never notice the author of a book, either.

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