Tuesday 26 March 2013

Blame auto-correct!

Dyed Eggs
Easter Sunday is coming up in a few days. My American English teacher was looking for dyed eggs (like in the photo), but ended up typing "died" eggs in her Facebook status update. We all had a good laugh!

Another very young American English teacher typed "your" instead of "you're" in his Facebook status update. When corrected, he fiercely defended himself by saying his English is perfectly fine!

2 non-native English speaking friends typed "exited" instead of "excited" in their status updates. From the context, it was obvious that they meant the latter, not the former. But, one missing letter "c" can change the entire meaning of the sentence.

How could English teachers and learners of English make such simple mistakes? The 2 English teachers gave the same excuse: "Blame auto-correct!"

I have to admit: auto-correct and predictive text are wonderful creations to help get our messages out faster. But sometimes, if typing too fast to notice, we end up sending a message that makes no sense to the reader. Artificial Intelligence can only go so far. We still need the much-smarter human brain to proofread and ensure correct spelling, grammar and context. Why trade your far superior brain for a machine that checks what you've written? Don't shortchange yourself. Learn a language today. Learn it well. You will earn much more respect and praise than a machine ever can.

Fun Language Tools wishes you a blessed Easter!

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