Alright kids, listen up. We're all adults here, so I do not think it's too much to ask us all to obey the basic rules of English grammar. So in the spirit of helping those who may not remember those grammar lessons I'm sure everyone suffered through back in grade school or even high school, I've decided to provide you with a quicky list to refer to! If I catch people abusing the English language repeatedly, I may be forced to discipline them by beating them with my lexicon.
Please use proper capitalization. This means the first letter at the beginning of all sentences, proper nouns such as someone's name or the name of a town/city/etc. Also included is capitalizing "I" when refering to one's self.
Punctuation: USE IT. This means commas, semicolons, colons, exclamation marks, etc. If you're really confused, this website has a nice quicky guide: http://esl.about.com/od/englishgrammar/a/a_punctuation.htm
Tense consistency. If a thread begins in a particular tense, please do your best to keep in that tense. This includes, but is not limited to past tense, present tense and future tense. There are thirteen acceptible tenses within the English language, it shouldn't be that hard to pick one and stick with it.
Contractions. When contracting phrases such as "I will," please be sure you are punctuating it correctly as "I'll" and not as "ill" or "Ill." You'll just end up looking like an idiot and everyone will publicly mock you.
Words that sound alike - please try to use the correct word, as it makes me cringe. This includes, but is not limited to: There/They're/Their. (Nathy I love you, but this does drive me positively bonkers.) Proper usage of these would be: "The book is over there." "They're going to the movies together." and "This is their home." This website here: http://www.business-words.com/dictionary/ has an extensive directory of sound-a-like words as well as this website, which is very good: http://www.elearnenglishlanguage.com/difficulties/difficulties.html. Make use of either if you're really confused. (added per Vexen's request) Lie vs. Lay Lie (to recline): She lies quietly. Last night, she lay quietly. For years, she has lain quietly. Lay (to place): She lays it there. Yesterday, she laid it there. Many times she has laid it there. Lay (to place) must always be followed by an object. Lose vs. Loose Loose is an adjective, the opposite of tight or contained. Such as: "Those ropes are too loose." Lose is a verb that means to suffer the loss of, to miss. Such as: "I never meant to lose my heart."
Paragraphs. Yes I realize that everyone is trying to stick to the five sentences per paragraph, two paragraphs per reply minimum, but please please please, if you are changing ideas, start a new paragraph. In the end, you'll have a better reply, it will look better, be less confusing to follow and in the long run will maybe allow you to grow as a writer. It would be better to have three or more paragraphs that are coherently written than to have two garbled and smushed together paragraphs. Very few professional writers have exactly 3-5 sentences in every single paragraph. The main goal is to give a good, solid reply that others can work from. This is especially true of dialogue!
Spelling. Dear lord folks, try and check your spelling if you're unsure of how a word is spelt, especially if it's a rather common word. I'm sure everyone is capable of either checking their replies in Spell Check, although don't place all your faith in that, since it doesn't catch everything. There's also this amazing website, dictionary.com that is fantastically helpful and also has a thesarus so you can also look up other options to any word. It's a wonderful site and I whole-heartedly recommend it.
Spell out numbers. This means one, two, three and so on, rather than 1, 2, 3 when describing the number of any given numbers. Exceptions include monetary amounts and time (such as 1p, although it's also acceptable to use one o'clock). Rule of thumb for this is spell out one-ten, anything above that, you can use numerals for. (Thanks to Vexen for reminding me of this.)
This isn't a rule, so much as a recommendation. Vexen reminded me of a very good point (Thanks hon, this is a really good one): People should just keep in mind that unclear referents are the devil. Pronouns always refer to the last noun, in proper grammer. With so many male characters it may become difficult to keep it straight just who that "he" in the paragraph is. Descriptive words are your friends when you don't want to repeat a proper name over and over again.
When RP'ing more than one character, please try to start new paragraphs when switching back and forth between different characters. This makes it a lot easier for whomever you are playing with to read your responses. (Added per Cloud's suggestion - thanks hon!)
Dialogue suggestions: Space out your dialogue! It gets very difficult to read and/or follow what your character is saying when it's all in one great big chunk of text. Be descriptive! Some people are very animated when they speak - Zack, Sora, Yuffie are some examples of people who tend to move around and gesture a lot when they're speaking. By adding some descriptions, it makes the action much more interesting. (Thanks again to Cloud for these suggestions!)
A lot - This is always two words. Not alot, a lot. Proper use: A lot of people make simple mistakes. (Thanks Vincent!)
If anyone has questions, please feel free to PM or IM me! I do have a degree in English, so a lot of these very simple mistakes make me cringe and want to go all grammar-nazi on folks. Please try not to make me do that, I'd much rather have fun with everyone!
Also, this is going to be a constant "work in progress" so if anyone thinks of anything I haven't already noted, please comment and let me know. I sure as hell don't mind; even I have my off days and blank on stuff.
So to recap the handy weblinks (just copy/paste them into the address bar of a new window or tab):
As I have said many times folks, I myself am human as well. As you can see I am not one of those who will remain unbeaten by the Lexicon because of my inability to change my their, there, they're.
Paragraph minimum is something a board should not even need! If you role play I hope that means you all are creative and love to write, show that! You can separate into far more paragraphs then just two but I will keep enforcing that ten sentence minimum!
Firefox has a built in spellchecker, or at least it used to. Use it or microsoft word to check for spelling mistakes. I have to do this myself! Heck I did it for this post.
Remember were all human, but we can all try to catch ourselves before we post.
The above post by Zexion was agreed upon by me to be posted and shall be added to if she sees fit.
It shall also be quoted by me to anyone who I see is continue-ly messing up their grammar.
As a note: This also doesn't mean you can get away with ten one-sentence paragraphs or five two-sentence paragraphs. If I catch anyone doing this, especially repeat offenders, I will hunt you down, verbally flog you and then call you out in front of everyone for a public "roast" of said heinous posts.
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Together we shall walk the dusty paths until we reach our ends.
You know... it just amuses me to no end that there are thirteen different tenses in English.
Maybe I'm just a little too...focused... on Organization XIII, though.
Ehm... Half my post just got eaten... is that happening to anyone else?
So, what was originally trying to share... FireFox and IE both have spell-checkers, but on some Operating Systems they may not be automatic, in which case it's as simple are right-clicking to bring up the menu to turn it on. In some odd cases (such as my parents' laptop) it isn't even an option--however you can download the dictionary for free, in which case you will gain the spell checking option.
(Unless you're posting from a school or work computer and don't have downloading rights. But then you're just exceedingly naughty.) *whistles innocently as boss walks by*
-- Edited by Frozen Scholar at 23:11, 2009-03-03
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I carry a dungeon within me; within me is the chill of winter, the chill of despair; darkness enwraps my soul.
No no, I was snickering too when I came across that while looking for good references for people. XD I actually don't remember encountering that many back in high school English classes... but whatev. I laughed.
Can you think of any additions that I left out? Let me know and I'll add 'em to the guide. ;)
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Together we shall walk the dusty paths until we reach our ends.
When I get home I can grab Woe Is I, if you want. Or the one my mom just got for teaching her kids... it looks cute. Called Eats, Shoots, and Leaves. It comes in two pieces--the adult book on grammar, and the children's story-book version. It's on the bookshelf downstairs.
Want me to grab it?
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I carry a dungeon within me; within me is the chill of winter, the chill of despair; darkness enwraps my soul.
*pats Riku on the head* Haha don't worry Riku, you're generally one of the lesser offenders. I don't have to beat you up with a book quite yet! *winks*
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Together we shall walk the dusty paths until we reach our ends.
Oh, it's a very cute book. The one for kids is adorable--full of illustrations on why punctuation is very important. The adult edition comes with a "Punctuation Repair Kit." It come with 24 commas, four periods, two semi-colons, three exclamation points, two colons, three question marks, and nine 'The Panda Says NO!' stickers. My favourite chapter has to be about the hyphens, I think. The lady's just got a catchy turn-of-phrase.
And Zexion, sweetie? I think you beat the other Apprentices with a grammar book daily.
Especially Braig. :3
Um, one note about what you already have up... I think on Point 4 you meant contractions? Rather than conjugation. I believe conjugations refer more to the way a verb changes based on tense and subject. "I do", "He does", "She did", "They will do".
Point 8, also... the rule of thumb was that single digits get spelled out, while anything over 10 should be done in numerals.
Okay, for things to add? Well, you covered There/Their/They're... did we want to actually go into Your/You're, and Whose/Who's?
Oh, I know a good one... as this is an adult board, people really should take care of Lay vs. Lie. (That's one of my pet-peeves..) Okay-- Lie (to recline): She lies quietly. Last night, she lay quietly. For years, she has lain quietly. Lay (to place): She lays it there. Yesterday, she laid it there. Many times she has laid it there.
Lay (to place) must always be followed by an object.
Um... really, that's all I got without becoming a friggin' English Teacher and going on a rant or in general going into way too much detail... ¬_¬
Er... People should just keep in mind that unclear referents are the devil. Pronouns always refer to the last noun, in proper grammer. With so many male characters it may become difficult to keep it straight just who that "he" in the paragraph is. Descriptive words are your friends when you don't want to repeat a proper name over and over again.
.....ok, I think I'm done now.
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I carry a dungeon within me; within me is the chill of winter, the chill of despair; darkness enwraps my soul.
Yes indeed that's what I meant, and I went and fixed it. ;) This is why this will be a constantly evolving guide, and if anyone else can think of any additions, let me know!
Bahaha yeah, Ienzo totally beat up Braig with a dictionary. XD
Thanks love! Good points, all of them!
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Together we shall walk the dusty paths until we reach our ends.
While I know it doesn't apply much here, but also spacing out what your character is saying when they say it. Its harder to read great chunks of text and also its nice to know what your character is doing gesture-wise in between. Some people can be really animated while speaking.
Oh and completely unrealted to RPing in a way: starting new paragraphs between characters. Its not particularly important here but its good for general grammar as well.
This is very good though! Even the Book Beatings of Doom.
Okay, Cloud is off to do Latin homework now.
Oh! And Vexen is right about conjugations. I know because I am doing it in a different language *sigh*.
Great suggestions Cloud and I completely agree! I usually try to break up my dialogue to make it a little more digestible and it's always nice to have more descriptions!
Ugh, yes it's much easier if there are paragraph breaks between characters.
Added these to the list! Thanks for the suggestions!
Oy vey, Latin? I almost took Latin in college... but didn't have time in my schedule (I averaged 15+ credit hours/term for four years!). And I changed conjugations to contractions... I hate when I have "dur" moments. I totally blame the evil balloons at work yesterday trying to kill me. *nods* Good luck with it! I had enough fun with Spanish and then Greek...
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Together we shall walk the dusty paths until we reach our ends.
Zexion, you sexy beast! Have I ever told you how much I love you? No? I will now. This is great! My pet peeve is bad grammar. It pisses me off so much, though I never mention it because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. I mean, I used to be terrible with this stuff, too, but then I began reading and writing way more, and some tips have just stuck with me. The only time I really mess up anymore is if I type too quickly and don't edit afterwards. Typos are not my friends--but I usually do always edit my work. Hopefully this helps with any grammatical problems in the RP--not to point out anyone in particular (which I'm going to end up doing, sorry), but this will probably be a big help to Sora, if he follows it. ^_^; Anyway, thanks for being so awesome. *Glomps*
*Smirks and snuggles Ramza* Yeah, I'll let a lot of things like typos or the occasional mistake slide; everyone makes mistakes, yours truly included. But when it's a consistent problem, THEN it starts to drive me bonkers.
And yes, Sora's 'writing' was a bit influence on my decision to post this. I just couldn't take it anymore!
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Together we shall walk the dusty paths until we reach our ends.
Grammar section, now? I can't stand reading posts with bad grammar in it. It's tiring on the eyes and the mind. I make mistakes too... and my posts aren't any better, either. *Guilty grin* But reading, writing and role-playing especially helps my grammar quite a fair bit. Thanks for the guide, Zexion.
Haha yes indeed. My eyes could no longer tolerate the appalling lack of even very basic grammar and the general abuse of the English language. So... I decided it was time to go English teacher on the board! XD
The best way to learn and improve is simply to read and write as much as you possibly can. I only hope that this guide will prove helpful to everyone!
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Together we shall walk the dusty paths until we reach our ends.
Mmmm speaking of embarrassing mistakes in grammar/writing... I noticed only AFTER I put it in the mail and sent it off, that my cover letter on my new resume had a rather glaring error in it. Directly following the sentence where I state I'm an English Lit major and did a lot of proof-reading/editing in college. >_>
Way to score, right?
Darnit! Vexen's blond is affecting my brain! ^^;; Obviously I've been cosplaying him too much. Soon the wig won't come back off anymore.
-- Edited by Frozen Scholar at 03:26, 2009-03-06
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I carry a dungeon within me; within me is the chill of winter, the chill of despair; darkness enwraps my soul.
a lot is two separate words, many write alot, this is wrong.
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Their, there and they're are all mean different things. They're is shortened version of there are (I'm sure you knew this but it just goes with the other two XD) Their is when something belongs to someone There is usually in conjuction with a direction, where something is situated.
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My Insides are Turned to Ash, So Slow, And Blew Away As I Collapse, So Cold
You know you love me anyway.
