The English Language

I write Chess.com on my blog. Capitalized because it is a proper noun. Websites are equivalent to books and serials, hence italicized.

But I don't know how to use commas and I use the awkward he or she, so no one cares what I think. 

This thread started out one way and has morphed from OP.

It's called morphology. And it's the norm.

Now that was my initial appropach as well... until I got corrected.

Don't even get me started about "topics I have posted in". 

Ending sentences with prepositions... that's where it's at!

I have been trying to get back to the original question posed on this forum topic, and discuss the topic at hand but need to constantly change or totally eliminate what I want to say due to morphology. Thanks all ! Great points presented by all here.

Wow, Romy thank you! I did not know the poem. I read it and put a link on my facebook page. It is awesome. Now waiting on an Englishman to do the same in the Dutch language. :-)

No -- it's the type of poor grammar up with which we should not put.

The bottom line is that the singular they is clumsy but in very common use.  Ultimately common use is what causes language (and the rules thereof) to evolve, so even though the conventional view is that it's incorrect the meaning is conveyed and most don't notice anything wrong with it.  All that being said, I personally still prefer "he or she" here, or better yet, an alternate sentence structure altogether.

Exactly!

Shakespeare and Jane Austen used the singular they with eloquence. Lazy and unimaginative teachers note this history when they endorse the practice by clumsy writers.

"topics I have posted in" is a phrase, not a sentence, so it's fine.

The term common usage as understood by lexographers in the past did not embrace the literate and the illiterate alike. I observed the change, however, when they permitted a second r in sherbet. Mebbe I'm getting old, but I think the flavours of this cold treat have deteriorated as well.

I learned to appreciate the English language on this site. Before it had kind of a business character to me. So, I'm grateful whatsoever. (If that is a good sentence )

Same applies to me. Before I would say that I prefer to talk German (although my English is less worse). German has beautiful words like 'Weltschmerz', 'pünktlich' the sharpness of the word is exactly expressing its meaning, which is punctual and many words like that. Reading and writing on chess.com (I prefer to write it without a capital, because it is quite often part of an url that appears in lowercase and is therefor faster recognized by the reader) has improved my knowledge of English definitely. Thank you all!

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/community/grammar-improvement

Whippersnappers.

Hey! Yes, we are neighbours for something of course  

I don't speak German at all, only with hair on it, maybe. But I do speak Dutch and French. And my English is improving every day. Jij spreekt Nederlands, denk ik? 

Hey you guys coulda bin playing chess while all this was going on.

Please be relevant, helpful & nice!

It's not entirely clear whether chess was in England prior to the Norman conquest, came in with the French, or was introduced later.

*See this in The Elements of Style, which directly follows they (singular).