BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / BBC Sherlock Fan Forum makes it onto YouTube

**Posted by ancientsgate** March 10, 2014 7:22 pm

tonnaree wrote:
I have to say though, even just compared to the comments sections of most news sites we are all outstanding linguists here!

I think so too!
I feel bad for those who've had a hard time here because of their lack of fluency in English, but I don't think that can be helped. Hopefully there are other Sherlock fan sites in other languages around the world?

**Posted by Mattlocked** March 10, 2014 8:12 pm

There are, but not nearly as great as it's in here!

Calm down, girls. At least they used a fake post, so I guess they could've chosen any other forum instead; it doesn't matter.

Last edited by Mattlocked (March 10, 2014 8:13 pm)

**Posted by tonnaree** March 10, 2014 9:16 pm

Don't they say there's no such thing as bad publicity?

**Posted by Davina** March 11, 2014 10:03 am

I do a lot of my advertising on Facebook groups (horsey ones). The overwhelming majority of those who post on these groups have English as their mother tongue. Believe you me, the English written on this forum is leaps and bounds better than the appalling examples I read on a daily basis. The spelling and grammar is often utterly, depressingly dreadful. 'Text speak' writing also seems to be all too prevalent.

**Posted by tonnaree** March 11, 2014 12:00 pm

I rarely use text speak even when I'm texting.

**Posted by Sherlock Holmes** March 11, 2014 5:00 pm

It annoys me in Elementary when Holmes uses text speak. I just can't imagine him doing that.

**Posted by Harriet** March 11, 2014 8:46 pm

But it's soo up to date, isn't it?

**Posted by ancientsgate** March 11, 2014 10:51 pm

Sherlock Holmes wrote:
It annoys me in Elementary when Holmes uses text speak. I just can't imagine him doing that.

That Sherlock is meant to be a new twist on any of our old, familiar Sherlocks, including the BBC one, so I'm not surprised that the writers and showrunners have had him adopt a modern method of texting. There are probably ACD purists who can't imagine a SH texting, period, no matter how he spells. I have been enjoying this season of Elementary, but only because I've been pretty successful at pushing away all my pre-conceived notions of who Sherlock is, what he would and wouldn't do and say, or how he would or wouldn't do it or say it, etc.

**Posted by Sherli Bakerst** March 14, 2014 12:38 am

I just saw this thread. As a teacher of English to speakers of other languages for over twenty years, I want to first say that all of the posts on this forum are comprehensible. Being comprehensible is probably the most important criterion when using another language. While there are some posts that contain errors in spelling, grammar or mechanics, they are still easily understood and that's what counts.

As for language resources, if you're not already familiar with it, dictionary.com at http://dictionary.reference.com/ is great; it also includes a very good thesaurus and a translator, which I've never used. For grammar, writing, and style issues, the Purdue Online Writing Lab is excellent: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/ .