SMS effect: Schoolchildren use B4, nite for class work

The standard of written English is getting sloppy among students in Singapore due to the overwhelming popularity of the short message service, better known by its acronym SMS. Eight out of 12 secondary schools told The Straits Times, island’s leading English daily, there was no cause for alarm yet, but said students were increasingly using SMS-style English in their class assignments.

For instance, some students now spell the word ‘‘before’’ as ‘‘B4’’, ‘‘night’’ as ‘‘nite’’ and ‘‘with’’ as ‘‘wif’’.

Some educators said students resorted to using SMS language due to laziness, but sometimes they are unaware that it was wrong. ‘‘It can be grammatically incorrect, but because it is used so much, it becomes acceptable,’’ said Suparman Adam, principal at Bukit Batok Secondary.