by Drea Moore

Created on: August 14, 2009   Last Updated: August 16, 2009

Internet use represents a cultural shift in communication patterns. The mere fact that this website exists with an abundant number of articles and topics is indicative of this new association with writing. Writing is no longer an exclusively formal endeavor. As certain speech usage is applicable to different situations, so too has writing become scenario dependent. The web is not compromising the ability of children to understand and utilize the rules of grammar.

Internet writing is rapidly developing it's own dialect. This dialect may bleed to and from the use of text messaging, but provided a child reads books and is taught grammar and spelling in school the Internet dialect need not impact formal writing. The purpose of this dialect is to mimic speech patterns, and to express oneself in a quick, yet direct way. There is no secret that we do not speak as we write. Nor should we. There are instances where grammatically inaccurate sentences convey meaning in a way that the proper phrasing never can. So if a person is attempting to communicate online in a means that provides a true one-on-one connection it makes sense to mimic speech.

The seriousness of an online site, such as a blog, can then be determined based on presentation. If a person blogs using the electronic dialect (for want of a better term), the blog is intended far more casually than is a similar blog using complete, grammatical sentence structure. The aim of the author is different, and so the authority given the writer of each scenario corresponds to their use if the language. It does not follow that because a person uses ppl or ttyl or lol or botches the spelling of particular words that they are incapable of formal writing.

Naturally that distinction does become one of formal and informal. Again, when a person is teaching a class, or giving a speech, or attempting to build any sort of authority a person is going to use formal speech. If that same person is hanging out with their friends at a bar or cafe, a whole different set of vocabulary and sentence structure will be used. The degree to which writing and and reading are being used to communicate in modern society has no prior parallel, unless perhaps the Gutenberg Press.

Before the printing press, there were no strict written grammatical rules. The need to homogenize language came after the advent of the mass market book. Not that individuals stopped there, Latin rules were then incorporated into English by the Renaissance writers,

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