5 ms·

Everyone is going to flame me for this but what the hell - Dude, please.. spell and grammar check before you post stuff on your blog. There is no way you are go

by jbond 17y ago

Everyone is going to flame me for this but what the hell - Dude, please.. spell and grammar check before you post stuff on your blog. There is no way you are going to be taken seriously if your content reads like a C-average high school essay.

JarekS 17y ago
I need some help with this - English is my second language. Can you point me to the biggest mistakes? Please?
- petervandijck 17y ago
  ok, major mistakes: (and my corrections probably have some mistakes in them as well, this isn't easy stuff) 1. "Its" versus "It's". Its is possesive. It's means "it is". 2. "game-changing device with graphical user interface." should be "a game-changing device with a graphical user interface." Notice the "a". 3. "but it’s competitors" - you mean this: "by its competitors". Notice the BUT and the ITS. 4. "they offered cheaper version of Mac also with graphical user interface" should be: "they offered a cheaper version of the Mac which had the same graphical user interface". That's just the first paragraph :) But writing is hard, especially if it's not your native language, so don't give up.
  - JarekS 17y ago
    Thank you very much!! I'm reading the whole story once again - will try to improve it. Thanks again! BTW - I'm a startup guy. I never give up :)
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- teej 17y ago
  The only real glaring mistake I noticed was the usage of "it's". "it's" is used in almost all cases for "it is" "It's a beautiful day outside" If you want to show possession, you use "its" "Apple showed off its Iphone 4.0 update today" Don't worry, native english speakers get this wrong all the time too.
- nradov 17y ago
  Have you tried using an automated grammar checker? The latest versions of MS Word are pretty good. I've also heard good reports about WhiteSmoke http://www.whitesmoke.com/ http://www.whitesmoke.com/ but haven't tried it myself.
  - JarekS 17y ago
    I'm using latest MS Office for Mac. I'll test Whitesmoke - thanks for the tip!
  - raffi 17y ago
    Or http://firefox.afterthedeadline.com http://firefox.afterthedeadline.com, it works in Firefox and it's open source.
    - pavs 17y ago
      I would love to see a proper chrome port for this. The bookmarklet doesn't work too good on chrome.
- jamesbritt 17y ago
  Some comments and annotations: http://crocodoc.com/yKxu2w http://crocodoc.com/yKxu2w
- jbond 17y ago
  Can do: "Apple was almost completely destroyed but it’s" .. "Apple was almost completely destroyed by its" - proofreading would catch "but/by". "It's" is a contraction for "it is". No apostrophe is needed. "between today market situation and the past" .. "between today's market situation and the past" - "Today" is used as a possessive so it owns the "market situation". Ownership (in many cases) necessitates an apostrophe+"s". This is John's car. Tomorrow is Kate's birthday. It's a nuance that an ESL student can easily miss. In fact, rereading your entire post I see many things that are rules that can easily be overlooked by ESL students. Also, dashes ("-") should not be used for pauses unless they are being used for dramatic effect (someone will correct me on this and that's OK.) In every place where you used it (I count 4) it should either be replaced with a comma or eliminated. "Apple announced it’s newest baby – game-changing device" .. "Apple announced its newest baby, a game-changing device" "During the “PC war” there was a common platform for all the PC Clones – it was Microsoft DOS/Windows." .. "During the “PC war” Microsoft DOS/Windows was the common platform for all the PC clones." "And here we are today – Apple is not afraid of competitors" .. "So here we are today. Apple is not afraid of competitors" "we know it can be done – JQTouch anyone?" - OK "write native apps for Android – instead they should reward" .. "write native apps for Android. Instead they should reward" Just keep writing and practicing your skills.
  - JarekS 17y ago
    Thank you very much for that!
    - anthonyb 17y ago
      English is a very hard language to learn, so don't feel bad. There aren't many simple, clear rules, and it's all weird edge cases and homonyms and you have to figure out which is which from context. Everyone has to figure it out through trial and error - including native English speakers.
    - kadavy 17y ago
      This is why I love Hacker News.
  - 17y ago
- credo 17y ago
  If you're concerned abut these flames, you could probably just add a note that English is your second language and that you're not particularly strong in English writing. Many people might already know that after reading your blog. However, the note may eliminate some flames from other people who don't think of this possibility Of course, this doesn't preclude your learning better English grammar
- apsurd 17y ago
  I took at look at your main app page. To be honest as a one-language-only filthy American I do think twice whenever I feel the wording does not "sound right". It makes me question the quality of the product or service (however unwarranted) and makes it a lot harder for me to trust you with my money. With that said, here's a quick rewrite of some of your copy. You can use it verbatim if you like it, but otherwise I will not be offended if you think its terrible either =) ------ The Internet gives You the unique opportunity to change the way You interact with Your customers. Let's imagine you want to sell shoes on the Internet. You go to a site like eBay.com and signup. With a couple of clicks you get instant access to a huge marketplace of buyers and sellers, powerful merchant tools like payment processing, inventory management and automatic printable shipping labels; you get a complete service solution instantly. But what if you sell services? Selling & delivering shoes is not like selling & delivering services. Service-based businesses typically must deal with: -- Long, drawn-out sales cycles. -- Project delivery and continual customer communication. -- Virtual team management and subcontracting. -- Billing & invoicing - often in phases based on billable man-hours. Above all, we must be human. A service based business succeeds on the quality of human-level support and follow through. ----- Notes: I took out a lot of unecessary filler words. You don't need to put things like "we feel", or "I believe", be confident and talk as if it's fact! Also be very conscious of using "I" and "we". Replace those with "YOU" when applicable. The application, the service, the benefits, its all about YOUR CUSTOMER. YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU. Get used to writing about your customer. Hope this helps.
  - JarekS 17y ago
    you are solid gold :) Thank you very much! I'll reach you on your private email.
OrangeGuutan 17y ago
I was actually thinking the same...

by jbond 17y ago

JarekS 17y ago

I need some help with this - English is my second language. Can you point me to the biggest mistakes? Please?

petervandijck 17y ago
ok, major mistakes: (and my corrections probably have some mistakes in them as well, this isn't easy stuff) 1. "Its" versus "It's". Its is possesive. It's means "it is". 2. "game-changing device with graphical user interface." should be "a game-changing device with a graphical user interface." Notice the "a". 3. "but it’s competitors" - you mean this: "by its competitors". Notice the BUT and the ITS. 4. "they offered cheaper version of Mac also with graphical user interface" should be: "they offered a cheaper version of the Mac which had the same graphical user interface". That's just the first paragraph :) But writing is hard, especially if it's not your native language, so don't give up.
- JarekS 17y ago
  Thank you very much!! I'm reading the whole story once again - will try to improve it. Thanks again! BTW - I'm a startup guy. I never give up :)
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
teej 17y ago
The only real glaring mistake I noticed was the usage of "it's". "it's" is used in almost all cases for "it is" "It's a beautiful day outside" If you want to show possession, you use "its" "Apple showed off its Iphone 4.0 update today" Don't worry, native english speakers get this wrong all the time too.
nradov 17y ago
Have you tried using an automated grammar checker? The latest versions of MS Word are pretty good. I've also heard good reports about WhiteSmoke http://www.whitesmoke.com/ http://www.whitesmoke.com/ but haven't tried it myself.
- JarekS 17y ago
  I'm using latest MS Office for Mac. I'll test Whitesmoke - thanks for the tip!
- raffi 17y ago
  Or http://firefox.afterthedeadline.com http://firefox.afterthedeadline.com, it works in Firefox and it's open source.
  - pavs 17y ago
    I would love to see a proper chrome port for this. The bookmarklet doesn't work too good on chrome.
jamesbritt 17y ago
Some comments and annotations: http://crocodoc.com/yKxu2w http://crocodoc.com/yKxu2w
jbond 17y ago
Can do: "Apple was almost completely destroyed but it’s" .. "Apple was almost completely destroyed by its" - proofreading would catch "but/by". "It's" is a contraction for "it is". No apostrophe is needed. "between today market situation and the past" .. "between today's market situation and the past" - "Today" is used as a possessive so it owns the "market situation". Ownership (in many cases) necessitates an apostrophe+"s". This is John's car. Tomorrow is Kate's birthday. It's a nuance that an ESL student can easily miss. In fact, rereading your entire post I see many things that are rules that can easily be overlooked by ESL students. Also, dashes ("-") should not be used for pauses unless they are being used for dramatic effect (someone will correct me on this and that's OK.) In every place where you used it (I count 4) it should either be replaced with a comma or eliminated. "Apple announced it’s newest baby – game-changing device" .. "Apple announced its newest baby, a game-changing device" "During the “PC war” there was a common platform for all the PC Clones – it was Microsoft DOS/Windows." .. "During the “PC war” Microsoft DOS/Windows was the common platform for all the PC clones." "And here we are today – Apple is not afraid of competitors" .. "So here we are today. Apple is not afraid of competitors" "we know it can be done – JQTouch anyone?" - OK "write native apps for Android – instead they should reward" .. "write native apps for Android. Instead they should reward" Just keep writing and practicing your skills.
- JarekS 17y ago
  Thank you very much for that!
  - anthonyb 17y ago
    English is a very hard language to learn, so don't feel bad. There aren't many simple, clear rules, and it's all weird edge cases and homonyms and you have to figure out which is which from context. Everyone has to figure it out through trial and error - including native English speakers.
  - kadavy 17y ago
    This is why I love Hacker News.
- 17y ago
credo 17y ago
If you're concerned abut these flames, you could probably just add a note that English is your second language and that you're not particularly strong in English writing. Many people might already know that after reading your blog. However, the note may eliminate some flames from other people who don't think of this possibility Of course, this doesn't preclude your learning better English grammar
apsurd 17y ago
I took at look at your main app page. To be honest as a one-language-only filthy American I do think twice whenever I feel the wording does not "sound right". It makes me question the quality of the product or service (however unwarranted) and makes it a lot harder for me to trust you with my money. With that said, here's a quick rewrite of some of your copy. You can use it verbatim if you like it, but otherwise I will not be offended if you think its terrible either =) ------ The Internet gives You the unique opportunity to change the way You interact with Your customers. Let's imagine you want to sell shoes on the Internet. You go to a site like eBay.com and signup. With a couple of clicks you get instant access to a huge marketplace of buyers and sellers, powerful merchant tools like payment processing, inventory management and automatic printable shipping labels; you get a complete service solution instantly. But what if you sell services? Selling & delivering shoes is not like selling & delivering services. Service-based businesses typically must deal with: -- Long, drawn-out sales cycles. -- Project delivery and continual customer communication. -- Virtual team management and subcontracting. -- Billing & invoicing - often in phases based on billable man-hours. Above all, we must be human. A service based business succeeds on the quality of human-level support and follow through. ----- Notes: I took out a lot of unecessary filler words. You don't need to put things like "we feel", or "I believe", be confident and talk as if it's fact! Also be very conscious of using "I" and "we". Replace those with "YOU" when applicable. The application, the service, the benefits, its all about YOUR CUSTOMER. YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU. Get used to writing about your customer. Hope this helps.
- JarekS 17y ago
  you are solid gold :) Thank you very much! I'll reach you on your private email.

OrangeGuutan 17y ago

I was actually thinking the same...