[kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint

[Andrea Bohnstedt]

Well, that's the beauty of the internet: SMS English may destruct language,
but there are also plenty of sources online, so you don't even need to leave
the house.

If you want to improve your writing: the Economist has a great style guide.
Too much to take in in one sitting, but a fantastic resource. Unfortunately,
it seems to be temporarily unavailable due to some reorganisation of the
website, but it's worth checking back:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2011/07/housekeeping-announcement

There are others that are available free of charge. Check out the
Guardian/Observer style guide:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide/a

Or the one for the Times:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/tools_and_services/specials/style_guide/

For the very basic basics: There are plenty of online dictionaries to look
up words (and spellcheck is useful, too). Google your grammar or spelling
question and you'll usually find the solution quite quickly. Google 'to
amble' and you'll find it doesn't work the way you used it:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/amble.

If you like vampires and grammar, check out this - The Deluxe Transitive
Vampire (A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed)
is not an online source, but a book I bought just because:
http://www.amazon.com/Deluxe-Transitive-Vampire-Ultimate-Handbook/dp/0679418601

The Economist also has a language blog - bit more geek material, but still
sometimes fun and interesting to read. For example this entry:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2010/07/copy-editing

Here's a fun (yes, really) piece on copyediting. This spoke to me, including
the comments:
http://www.theawl.com/2010/07/what-its-really-like-to-be-a-copy-editor

Good writing takes time and practice. But one of the lovely things about it
is that just reading for fun helps you acquire a better vocabulary and a
better sense for the rhythm of sentences. So grab a good book and a coffee!

Andrea


On 10 October 2011 17:55, Harry Delano <harry at comtelsys.co.ke> wrote:

> **
>  Do we have an English language center of excellence anywhere around that
> anybody knows...?
>
> Pse, amble along the contacts, directions, etc...
>
> I suppose we can all do with some 'refresher skills' of sorts in the
> English language subset.
>
> Harry
>  ------------------------------
> *From:* kictanet-bounces+harry=comtelsys.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke[mailto:
> kictanet-bounces+harry=comtelsys.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke] *On Behalf Of
> *Phares Kariuki
> *Sent:* Monday, October 10, 2011 4:29 PM
> *To:* harry at comtelsys.co.ke
>
> *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint
>
> :-). Thanks
>
> On Mon, Oct 10, 2011 at 4:19 PM, Macharia Gaitho <
> mgaitho at ke.nationmedia.com> wrote:
>
>>  ‘braking’, not ‘breaking’ distance.****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> *From:* kictanet-bounces+mgaitho=nation.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke[mailto:
>> kictanet-bounces+mgaitho=nation.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke] *On Behalf Of
>> *Phares Kariuki
>> *Sent:* Monday, October 10, 2011 4:09 PM
>>
>> *To:* Macharia Gaitho
>> *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
>> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint****
>>
>>   ****
>>
>> We are not taught the fundamentals. I have been trying to avoid pointing
>> out a basic grammatical error many are making on this list, but I'll do so
>> anyway. In English and most other Latin based languages proper nouns are
>> capitalized. Many on this list have their names in outgoing emails without
>> capitalizing.  Why am I pointing this out? We all went through one education
>> system. For you to gained admission into a public university, you needed to
>> have achieved at least a mean grade of B. If we are making the same mistakes
>> the journalists are making, how can we take the high road? If we
>> purposefully chose to ignore the rules of grammar as we were done with our
>> 'high school' education, then it means that there is a fundamental problem
>> with our education system (we never had to apply our knowledge of English,
>> so we are really studying for the sake of the grade and not the knowledge).
>> ****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> It's the same with Swahili, Physics (e.g. we all know that Kenyan drivers
>> are constantly speeding, even with vehicles that were not built for speed.
>> In high school, we are taught that *breaking distance* is proportional to
>> the *square* of the speed, which means that it increases out
>> of proportion to the increase in speed), but we disregard this. We all sang
>> the national anthem at least twice per week, for all twelve years of our
>> primary and tertiary education, yet we stutter if we are asked to recite
>> it. ****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> The crisis of our education system is that people don't value the skill as
>> much as they value recognition for the skill. It does not matter whether or
>> not you can actually code, what matters is that you have a certificate that
>> says  you can. It's apparent in the technology space today. People have to
>> earn their stripes, papers no longer really matter. The 'Mwakenya' is the
>> standard in University exam rooms. And the situation is only getting worse.
>> We need to find ways of integrating what people learn with day to day life.
>> If we don't, we will keep having this tragedy of people getting knowledge
>> for the sake of the certificate and not bothering to find out why they are
>> learning that. ****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> A further illustration, I once spoke to a university student who mentioned
>> that he was doing Oracle Certification 'because he heard that it has money'.
>> My problem with his thinking was that he had no clue what products Oracle
>> was dealing in, he was going to do any certification available, which means,
>> he might have ended up certifying in a field he did not like (Oracle has
>> Enterprise Hardware/Software/Cloud Services) and land on a job he does not
>> want, but one that pays well. ****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> On Mon, Oct 10, 2011 at 2:43 PM, luke mulunda <lmulunda at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> ****
>>
>> Marsh,****
>>
>> My brain must have been infested with cobwebs. ****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> Anyhow, that's what we are talking about: where are the guys (like you) to
>> follow through and clean up the mess before it gets to the press? And it's
>> not just the daily newspapers, Weeklies, and even monthy publications. I
>> have been reading a book authored and published locally and you can see the
>> concern. ****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> <em style="background-color:rgb(0, 0, 191);"><strong><font size="3"><span
>> style="text-decoration:underline;">WWW.SMARTBIZAFRICA.COM
>> Africa's No.1 Online Business Magazine
>> ...For Investors, Entrepreneurs, Managers, Marketers, CEOs, IT Experts, HR
>> & Finance Managers and Students.... Plus Stocks and Business News and Career
>> Guidance</span></font></strong></em><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="
>> http://www.smartbizafrica.com/"></a>****
>>
>> ****
>>   ------------------------------
>>
>> *From:* Macharia Gaitho <mgaitho at ke.nationmedia.com>
>> *To:* luke mulunda <lmulunda at yahoo.com>****
>>
>>
>> *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>****
>>
>> *Sent:* Monday, October 10, 2011 1:19 PM
>> *Subject:* RE: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint****
>>
>> Luke,****
>>
>> the Ugandan leader was ‘Amin’, not ‘Amini’.****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> I would suppose the unnamed ‘he’  was killed at dawn, not ‘down’. ****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> Kindest regards****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> *From:* kictanet-bounces+mgaitho=nation.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke[mailto:
>> kictanet-bounces+mgaitho=nation.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke] *On Behalf Of
>> *luke mulunda
>> *Sent:* Monday, October 10, 2011 10:37 AM
>> *To:* Macharia Gaitho****
>>
>>
>> *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions****
>>
>> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> Hi all,****
>>
>> I would personally blame it on cost-cutting. We have journalism and
>> English experts in newsrooms, but they have too much on their hands to spot
>> the most obvious and embarrassing mistakes in our publications. ****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> Mistakes can be costly. Remember during Amini's time in Uganda, the
>> dictator had criticised a female MP, and so the paper splashed the following
>> morning "Amini rapes MP" when he meant "RAPS". I hear, he was killed at down
>> as he brushed his teeth in his house.****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> LUKE M****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> <em style="background-color:rgb(0, 0, 191);"><strong><font size="3"><span
>> style="text-decoration:underline;">WWW.SMARTBIZAFRICA.COM
>> Africa's No.1 Online Business Magazine
>> ...For Investors, Entrepreneurs, Managers, Marketers, CEOs, IT Experts, HR
>> & Finance Managers and Students.... Plus Stocks and Business News and Career
>> Guidance</span></font></strong></em><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="
>> http://www.smartbizafrica.com/"></a>****
>>
>> ****
>>   ------------------------------
>>
>> *From:* Catherine Adeya <elizaslider at yahoo.com>
>> *To:* luke <lmulunda at yahoo.com>
>> *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
>> *Sent:* Monday, October 10, 2011 10:18 AM
>> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint****
>>
>> James,****
>>
>> The PS has a point and I am not disputing yours either but I would simply
>> respond to your email below that generalizations is what has got us where we
>> are. Specificity can help more.....****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> Nyaki****
>>
>> ****
>>   ------------------------------
>>
>> *From:* james ratemo <jratemo at gmail.com>
>> *To:* elizaslider at yahoo.com
>> *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
>> *Sent:* Tuesday, October 4, 2011 11:16 PM
>> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint****
>>
>> Bwana PS what are you insinuating? We open our newsrooms fro the so called
>> English majors? Some of them are in the newsrooms already...maybe they are
>> sleeping on the job...my opinion****
>>
>> On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 11:11 PM, <bitange at jambo.co.ke> wrote:****
>>
>> All of today's newspapers had several grammatical errors.  At this time
>> and age of ICT, is it not too embarrasing to have such errors?  We have
>>  thousands of English majors without jobs.  It is time for media to be
>> thorough in what they do by utilizing our many graduates without jobs.  As a
>> Kenyan I get embarrased to see such errors.
>>
>> Ndemo.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Sent from my BlackBerry®
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Grace Githaiga <ggithaiga at hotmail.com>
>> Sender: kictanet-bounces+bitange=jambo.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>> Date: Sun, 2 Oct 2011 13:32:57
>> To: <bitange at jambo.co.ke>
>> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
>> Subject: [kictanet] GSMA: Calls will remain high between African countries
>>
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>> Unsubscribe or change your options at
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>>
>> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
>> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
>> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
>> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>>
>> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
>> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
>> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
>> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.****
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> James Ratemo
>> Online Sub-editor/ICT reporter
>> Nation Media Group,
>> P.O Box 49010-00100,
>> Nairobi
>> Cell Phone: 0724960649 OR 0731960649
>> Email: jratemo at ke.nationmedia.com <Emaili-jratemo at standardmedia.co.ke> or
>> ratemoj at hotmail.com <jamrats2001 at yahoo.com>
>> Website:www.jratemo.wordpress.com <http://www.ictcradle.com/>.
>> Twitter accounts: http://twitter.com/kenyacurrent or
>> http://twitter.com/jamesratemo
>> Skype account:ratemoj
>> My facebook account: http://www.facebook.com/Rats.the.menace
>>
>> Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? No one.****
>>
>>
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>> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
>> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
>> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
>> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>>
>> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
>> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
>> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
>> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.****
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>> Unsubscribe or change your options at
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>>
>> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
>> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
>> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
>> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>>
>> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
>> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
>> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
>> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.****
>>
>> DISCLAIMER: The information contained in or accompanying this e-mail is
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>> Any views or opinions presented herein are solely those of the author and
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>> *.*****
>>
>> To get all breaking news alerts send the word BREAK to 6667 or visit
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>> ****
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>> Unsubscribe or change your options at
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>>
>> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
>> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
>> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
>> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>>
>> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
>> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
>> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
>> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.****
>>
>>
>>
>> ****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> --
>> With Regards,
>>
>> Phares Kariuki
>>
>> | T: +254 720 406 093 <%2B254%20720%20406%20093> | E: pkariuki at gmail.com| Twitter: kaboro | Skype: kariukiphares | B:
>> http://www.kaboro.com/ |****
>>
>> DISCLAIMER: The information contained in or accompanying this e-mail is
>> intended for the use of the stated recipient only.  It may contain
>> confidential, proprietary or legally privileged information.  No
>> confidentiality or privilege is waived or lost by any mistransmission.  If
>> you receive this message in error, please immediately delete it and all
>> copies of it from your system, destroy any hard copies of it and notify the
>> sender.  You must not, directly or indirectly, use, disclose, distribute,
>> print, or copy any part of this message if you are not the intended
>> recipient.
>>
>> Any views or opinions presented herein are solely those of the author and
>> do not necessarily represent those of the *Nation Media Group*<http://www.nation.co.ke>
>> *.*
>>
>> To get all breaking news alerts send the word BREAK to 6667 or visit
>> http://mobile.nation.co.ke  to read news on your mobile phone.
>>
>
>
>
> --
> With Regards,
>
> Phares Kariuki
>
> | T: +254 720 406 093 | E: pkariuki at gmail.com | Twitter: kaboro | Skype:
> kariukiphares | B: http://www.kaboro.com/ |
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for
> people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>



-- 
Andrea Bohnstedt <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/andreabohnstedt>
Publisher
+254 720 960 322

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