Bad grammar at uni?

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Do people have issues with grammar from high ranked Universities?

IS this common?

I can't offer anecdotal evidence in support, or otherwise, of this because I wouldn't claim to go to a high ranked university (it's alright), nor do I do any group work on my course.

However, if it is generally accepted that there is a correlation between academic achievement and one's ability to write well, and it is also generally accepted that higher ranked universities have a larger proportion of students who do well academically, then it follows that the general standard of written english will be correlated with the university's rank (or more accurately, it's admission requirements).

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 61

Sir_Vile_Minds

Original post by admbeatmaker

I certainly feel for you OP.

I'm currently studying law at the University of East London. (Dropping it at the end of the year to pursue the Birkbeck, UoL legal methods certificate and then apply to do the law degree somewhere else)

The students here can barely breath for themselves. I'd consider the students I tend to gather with as some of the more concentrated, or intellectual students here at UEL (though not many). These students are constantly asking me for help with their assessments in law and when I take a quick read of their work, all I see is a wall of text broken down by the odd full stop thrown in when you've emptied your lungs twice-over. Grammar such as commas, full stops and apostrophes are extremely simple to grasp. I honestly thought the lecturer was joking when in legals skills we studied sentences and had to rearrange them into a more correct structure, now I understand why it's covered in their syllabus.

My pet hates are people who:

- Can't use commas.
- Can't use paragraphs.
- Can't or don't use apostrophes correctly.
- Writing the incorrect varient of their, there, they're and also your and you're, not forgetting to and too. (These I hate the most)

I've met some really clever students here and also some of the most stupid people (including one of my flatmates) also. It's a mixed crowd.

Original post by Noémie

do you have the thing where you have to switch the radiator on every 12 minutes?
next time i'm in east london i'll come stalk you :cool:

I have to tap mine every half hour to 45 mins. I usually know when to do so cos the toucher/radiator clicks when it turns off.

Reply 62

username119464

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 63

Kolya

Original post by diamonddust

I have a friend at a very good uni who used to type and write 'your' instead of 'you're'. Made me go crazy! She isn't dyslexic so there doesn't seem to be a reason for it.

Sure there is. The two words are homophonic. Language is evolved as a spoken form of communication long before it was orthographically coded. Therefore it is hardly surprising that there is confusion!

Reply 64

username119464

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 65

username119464

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 66

morecambebay

Oh ffs. Get over it. I doubt that they have found it very easy to work with you either.

Reply 67

username119464

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 68

chrislpp

Original post by stretch988

i hate group work, basically carrying others through a degree...

Yep, 2/10 actually have the competence and independence. It's sad it is like this at uni level. If you ever get the chance work in small groups with people you know well, whether they are good at speaking/writing/maths and that you can work with them. Leave the people who are lazy to work amongst themselves, it's their benefit at the end of the day.

I'm in a group at the moment and only I seem to realise the tutor has steered everything, all the major deisions put forward by them, for the group to say ''yea sure we could do that''

Everyone was ignorant of what the project was for, what we were meant to be doing for it, people just wanted to know where we were going to go for it, which is not part of the criteria, we can do it all on campus. So people put 90% of their mind into finding destinations, rather than the task at hand. It's a shambles, which I am going to have to clean up. It's actually completely unrelated to the actually course and people just want to dick about, they basically have to be kicked in the ass by the tutor for 2 weeks just to do simple tasks, and the worst thing? I will have to invest money in this, everyone does, because they wanted to go abroad. Tehy couldn't organize a taxi to the city centre for god's sake!

I am keeping things for myself, getting the grades, f*** everyone else.

That's the way it's gotta be.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 69

aeterno

Tbh, OP, your grammar isn't all that either so you're in no place to judge. Yes, this is a forum not an essay but that's no excuse for some of the mistakes you've made in your posts. So stop complaining about the grammar of others until you perfect your own.

Reply 70

Jack.O

Perhaps see if you could be put in a different group, if it really is as bad as you say? You sound conscientious, I imagine your tutors would sympathise.