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What I had in mind when I wrote this post, was not a slip of one or two letters. Anyone can make a mistake. I was thinking about the whole worksheet which you cannot read nor correct, like this one:
"The expression formed
by the word there + verb to be flexed have the same meaning of
the verb to have on the meaning of exist in portuguese. Altought,..."
It is not a matter of a smaller mistake which you correct and then use
the worksheet. It is the whole worksheet that is perplexing and purposeless.
Yes, baiba you are right. This is exactly the kind of WS I can hardly believe it comes from a "language teacher". This is an example of WS I meant in my 3rd suggestion that is to report and delete. But, reporting WS because they contain unacceptable mistakes or unacceptable number of mistakes will, I am afraid, open a gap to some too much enthusiastic people to report anything anyhow. I mean reporting a WS with some typos as well as a perplexing WS as you say. And that will cause the moderators � job to be more diffcult because the issue as the one of L1 use is conflictual.
Still, I agree with you that there WS that don �t have there place here. We just have to establish some clear rules and guide lines so as not to be unfair with honest and hard working people, especially the new members and more the new teachers who are still learning.
I think if everyone just used the autographic corrector that comes with Microsoft Word, this kind of thing will be cut down dramatically. Ok, Word has some interesting interpretations on spelling and grammar, but it is a good guide for those who struggle with grammar.
I do believe a way of reporting really bad worksheets would be a good thing... something like a points system. If more than X number of people report a worksheet, then it gets taken down, so you don �t have something taken down for small errors by report-happy people... just the major ones where absolutely no thought is given to using correct English. After all, as it �s been pointed out, we are English teachers, not students.
Having said that, I check each ws before downloading (love that preview), then thoroughly check it before using it. Sometimes, if a good worksheet has bad English, I �ll redo the worksheet, but retain the idea.
Some worksheets are so devastatingly full of mistakes that I wonder whether in the interest of maintaining quality we should be able to report them on account of awful mistakes. I �m not speaking of spelling errors that WORD might detect or little mistakes here or there, but simply AWFUL UN-ENGLISH ENGLISH.
We get several such worksheets every day.
I don �t really dare write a comment that points out mistakes and warns other downloaders or write a personal message. I don �t believe a personal message is the best solution since lots of people might have downloaded the ws before its author gets the comments and reacts to them.
Let us be realistic! If people look at the preview beforehand noone wiil download such ungrammatical ws as the one baiba mentions!
And this should be one good use of the �comment � box: I would just write : I like your ws but I have noticed quite a few mistakes . I can correct it for you if you like... Just send me a message!
It is not any more complicated than that, or is it?
