Does it really take a huge amount of effort to use correct grammar? It is not just laziness and indifference, which it is. It is also dangerous.
I remember a time when it was relatively rare to come across someone like that. Now it is so commonplace :-(
These are not the kind of things that can be enforced. One of those things that people should just do on their own. Really, it should be part of the writing habit, I would think. But clearly, it is not for too many people these days.
As more and more of the common folk find their way onto the internet comment boards, forums, and Facebook, the more we discover the depths of their illiteracy.
An excellent grasp of grammar has never, ever, been apparent in the majority. I wish that weren't the case, but heck, I cannot even argue that I'm a perfect angel in this regard. I try, at least, and I have always respected language and paid attention to instruction, as well as made an effort to understand and correct any deficiencies pointed out with red pen throughout the years.
Many peers just never got it or, worse, cared. I always cringed when I was told we had to team up with peers to edit and correct papers in class, as even in college I would witness basic errors and yet almost feel ashamed to point them out.
Heck, I recently bought an actual dictionary (
American Heritage Dictionary), two thesauruses (both Roget's, one full-sized classic Roget's, one smaller paperback in a-z dictionary format with concept index), and
Garner's Modern American Usage. The latter has been an eye-opener, and, oddly enough, I've actually enjoyed perusing it from time to time.
I know my grammar needs fine tuned, and my vocabulary expanded, thus the recent purchases. Considering I have the lifelong goal of pursuing writing, I felt it was finally time to bring attention to my deficits. The amount of tips I have already picked up from
Garner's, for instance, shines a bright light on how few of the real technicalities I was taught growing up. And when attempting to learn Russian in school, it seemed I learned more about English and composition than I had ever before.
I never learned the grammatical cases (objective, prepositional, possessive, etc), proper use of participles from tenses, split infinitives, and the list goes on. I should say I did learn those, but never clearly, and if a subject of instruction it was brutally quick without the use of many real-world examples (which is where
Garner's has been very helpful). More than anything, I picked up what I know through mimicry and sounding it out; I guess I had a better ear than some peers, as I could usually figure out when something seemed wrong, and then I'd go to work to change it, sometimes having to entirely rewrite a sentence or paragraph.
I make mistakes, especially in casual online discussion because I mostly write in a stream of consciousness style and really just do not care to edit for grammar and meaning when, ultimately, few care what I have to say.
If I were writing for publication, school, or official memos of any fashion, yes, I'll edit for grammar and ensure the message is clear.
edit:
I am sad to learned this was parody.
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