A request to the guardians of the English language.

Well I'm wondering now if that is still in effect now that the member himself asked us for corrections. I think that rule was made so that there wouldn't be wars that started as insults, but if the member wouldn't be offended I wonder if we're allowed now? Learning English is one of the main reasons why most of us are here.

Hi swirlz, You get it right. I am here to improve my writing skills and I cannot say I am that proficient in the language. I also desire to be corrected and I am not offended if sometimes a notice appears that the words I use are inappropriate.

@swirlz and rog0322 There is in theory an exception for your cases, but the guidelines don't spell that exception out. It only says don't comment on that subject. You are both probably aware that there is a lack of people on here pointing out spelling or grammar errors. I believe that is because of that rule. I do wish MyLot would add an exception clause to that guideline to make it clear. This is a great place for the learning of language but that rule is a bit sticky.

I find the approach of asking questions to be gentler, and can avoid certain sensitivities.

Well, it kind of reminds me of a boss that I had that would tell me things that I did that bothered her after it reached a point that she was furious with me. I hated it that she would say that I had been doing this or that for months and had discussed it with others and I always wondered why she didn't just tell me right off when I did something wrong so I could correct it rather than to let me think I was doing ok only to find out later I'd been wrong. It just made me feel stupid but had she pointed it out, I'd have gladly corrected it and more important...learned from it. Communicating with the person is far more effective than whining about it to others that aren't involved.

Please go ahead with what you have in mind. We are here to share among other things ideas and opinions. After all what are friends for. Try sticking to one type of English. Malaysian English is based on British English. Mixing it with American (US) English can confuse a learner. The differences between the two are greater than what the majority of Malaysians believe. Spelling, pronunciation, sentence construction...I believe US English is less strict on certain aspects.

Thank you for the comment. I do not feel offended. Feel free to comment on any error in my future posts. I started this discussion because I remember reading at least two discussions related to proper grammar. I am not against this type of discussion but I think the targeted audience could have missed them.