AK's spelling and grammar thread

[Alicia "Atomic" Kitsune]

OK people. This is in no way, shape or form intended to be a dry and dull lesson on grammar; it’s really a review of some errors which pop up in a lot of people’s work from time to time. I thought that since this board is here that if I made a post addressing these issues we might all save ourselves a little time when writing, and that’s always good in my book.

I’ll add notes to this as and when I have time to write them up coherently.

“There, Their and They’re” – same sound, different meanings

This has to be the mistake I end up correcting most often. Believe me, I’ve seen people educated beyond degree level misusing these variants so it’s in no way a poor reflection on anyone who does the same. Anyway……

“There” is Geographical. It implies the location of some person or object, often in tandem with a gesture such as a point.

Example:

Rose: Where did I leave my things, #2?

Druid #2: I believe your bullwhip is over here on the wall, and your handcuffs are way over there under the throne.

“Their” implies Ownership. It is most often used to refer to objects belonging to or being used by a group of people.

Example:

G Unit are obviously pleased with themselves; they parade their belts around smugly, while the crowd members show their displeasure.

Note: “the crowd members” is plural, but “the crowd” is singular and non – gender; e.g. “The crowd is on its feet for the amazing match”. Also note there is no apostrophe in its, because an apostrophe would signal that the phrase “it is” would be used if the sentence were written long hand. “The crowd is on it is feet” makes no sense.

And following on neatly from this…..

“They’re” is short for They are. It is used only to shorten a sentence for conciseness, and the apostrophe replaces the letter a.

Example:

Ginger: They’re going to cripple him! Someone call security, NOW!

EXACTLY the same principle applies with “you’re”. If you want to work out whether to use “your” or “you’re”, try writing the sentence with “you are”. If it makes sense, use “you’re”; if not, use “your”.

[Alicia "Atomic" Kitsune]

The letter “I”

“I” is always capitalized when used on its own.

The apostrophe and the letter s: Singular and Plural

If you are referring to a single person, or an entity, the apostrophe comes before the letter s.

Examples:

Alicia’s coat
Ridley’s weedwhacker
The crowd’s attention
G Unit’s belts

If however you’re referring to a group which is NOT an entity, the apostrophe comes after the s.

Examples:

The fans’ applause
The druids’ torches
The interviewers’ wager

An exception occurs if the last letter of a singular person or entity is s. Here you may either add another s, or leave it out.

Example:
Kross’ staff or Kross’s staff

If you’re referring to a plural group, however, don’t add an extra s under any circumstances.

Full stops, sentence and paragraph length

Full stops are your friends, and there’s no charge for using them. Shorter sentences are also easier to read; with a long sentence by the time you get to the end you may have forgotten exactly what was at the beginning.

Example (of how not to do it):

The Senator uses a spinning heel kick, then he picks up his opponent and hits a powerbomb, laughing, then he turns him around and whips him to the ropes and holds up a foot so that his foe runs into it and he falls down, then the Senator signals for the Partisan kick……

This example also shows the effect of using too many “thens” or “ands” in place of other punctuation. It quickly becomes repetitive and dull. Semi colons can be used instead, but ideally no more than one per sentence. In most cases if you find yourself using two semi colons, the sentence would be better broken down into two individual sentences.


That’s the key ones off of the top of my head; I’ll add other topics if the need arises. Equally, if there’s something that’s been bugging you about spelling or grammar, post here and I’ll do my best to give a concise answer.

[Fallen Souls]

aha...you really do make us all so much better ;D

[hunter]

You also left out the difference between "affect" and "effect". If you don't mind, I'll take it.

"Affect" starts with an "a". What else starts with an "a"? "Action". So, this way you can remember that "affect" is used as an action word (verb).

EX: "Hunter affected Cage's life when he savagely beat him."

"Effect" is just the opposite, as it can be used as a noun or adjective (adj: "effective").

EX: "The effect of Hunter's attack on Cage was an effective one."

There's also the proper time to use "a" and "an".

"A" is used when the word following it doesn't start with a vowel.

EX: "A ghost, a weedwhacker, a powerbomb, a title, a book, etc."

"An" is used when the word following it starts with a vowel.

EX: "An evil glare, an eye, an apple, an object, etc."

Um...yeah. I couldn't resist...

[Latino]

* Walks into the class and sits down in the back row of the desks. Throws a piece of paper at Hunter for being a teacher's pet and sees he was caught. *

No Ms. Kitsune I didn't do anything!

Lol sorry I just had a flashback to english class.

[The Senator]

Also slightly off topic-the Senator rarely, if ever uses contractions when speaking!