Grammar question

[MacMadame]

I can understand that not being English speakers can confuse many. My problem is with native English speakers not being able to differentiate between similar sounding words.

But in your post, you not only spelled something wrong, but you used its instead of it's. While scolding other people for it.

Personally, I only get annoyed when it's habitual. Such as a commenter on the internet using their instead of they're 3x in a row. If it's just one time, I assume it was a typo.

 

[Vash01]

But in your post, you not only spelled something wrong, but you used its instead of it's. While scolding other people for it.

Personally, I only get annoyed when it's habitual. Such as a commenter on the internet using their instead of they're 3x in a row. If it's just one time, I assume it was a typo.

I don't see those things in my post. Which word did I spell wrong?

 

[skatingfan5]

I don't see those things in my post. Which word did I spell wrong?

"sone" instead of "some"

You probably have already noted the sixth word in your post should have been it's.

 

[Vash01]

"sone" instead of "some"

You probably have already noted the sixth word in your post should have been it's.

Thank you. I made the corrections. Most of the time, the iPad automatically puts the ' after it so I got lazy. It didn't do it this time. The n instead of m was clearly a typo. I am talking about those who do not know the difference between similar words because they keep doing the same things. Usually typos are identifiable.

 

[Prancer]

Or they have autocorrect on their iPads and they get lazy.

 

[MacMadame]

Well as long as this thread is active, I have been meaning to ask if people have tried/are using Gramarly? I am using it and it definitely finds some stuff I'd probably miss. But it suggests absolutely stupid "corrections" and misses some blatant stuff. What are other people's experiences?

 

[Simone411]

@MacMadame, I'm always using my laptop when I post here. I use the IE 11 browser. It uses auto-correct whenever I type something here. Sometimes the auto-correct works too well like automatically capitalizing a word when I don't need the word capitalized. I then have to delete and re-type the word. I've never used Gramarly, and my auto-correct underlined that word in red because it sees the word spelled incorrectly.

 

[Susan1]

I could post on this thread every day! But since it showed back up - on the February library magazine (highlighting romance books, etc.) cover, one of the little headlines (I don't know what to call it - notes of what's inside?) says "Love & Liasons". There could be 1,000 words somewhere and that's the first thing I see. Why should people who put out "literary" magazines be able to spell, huh? "But I sounded it out."?

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

So let me know, advisor or adviser.

 

[Skittl1321]

So let me know, advisor or adviser.

All the sites I referenced say they are interchangeable.

There are apparently some laws in the USA that are written with a certain spelling; so professional organizations make sure to use that spelling so that they are covered by the law. The difference of a vowel can apparently be a large one when it comes to legal matters.

 

[Prancer]

So let me know, advisor or adviser.

Grammarist

 

[Jenny]

Questions for punctuation specialists -

I review/edit a lot of text written by people from all over the world, and I've always noticed that people from the UK or educated in the UK have what to me is an odd sense of punctuation, notably the use of semi-colons where most Americans/Canadians would use a comma, and a lesser tendency to include incomplete sentences (ie phrases that start with a capital and end with a period). Got used to that soon enough, but ...

In the past year or more I've noticed a habit among younger writers (under 30) to insert a comma before a verb, for example: The teacher, began the class with a review of last week's lessons. Or, On my way to school a dog, ate my homework.

What's up with that?

 

[Habs]

In the past year or more I've noticed a habit among younger writers (under 30) to insert a comma before a verb, for example: The teacher, began the class with a review of last week's lessons. Or, On my way to school a dog, ate my homework.

What's up with that?

I don't know what's up, but I know that I read your post twice and those examples are REALLY bothering me.

 

[Prancer]

In the past year or more I've noticed a habit among younger writers (under 30) to insert a comma before a verb, for example: The teacher, began the class with a review of last week's lessons. Or, On my way to school a dog, ate my homework.

What's up with that?

I have no idea, but I also see this all the time and find it . Many punctuation rules are, shall we say, fluid, but the rule that you cannot separate your subject and verb with a single comma is about as solid as it gets.

 

[MacMadame]

I think they are probably people who have verbal ticks that cause them to pause there. A lot of people put commas wherever they pause.

 

[Jenny]

But why is this happening in such a widespread way now?

 

[MacMadame]

Fads in speech patterns? (IOW, beats me.)

 

[Japanfan]

So let me know, advisor or adviser.

I usually use advisor, and so do the clients I edit for. Maybe it is a Canadian/British versus American spelling?

In the past year or more I've noticed a habit among younger writers (under 30) to insert a comma before a verb, for example: The teacher, began the class with a review of last week's lessons. Or, On my way to school a dog, ate my homework.

What's up with that?

I haven't seen that. If I did, I'd consider it a mistake.

 

[Vagabond]

In the past year or more I've noticed a habit among younger writers (under 30) to insert a comma before a verb, for example: The teacher, began the class with a review of last week's lessons. Or, On my way to school a dog, ate my homework.

What's up with that?

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Commatose

 

[Prancer]

But why is this happening in such a widespread way now?

a) Commas confuse people
b) You do see commas between subjects and verbs. Some of the students whose sentences I have marked have brought in sentences to prove to me that I am wrong and invariably, they show me a sentence with a parenthetical or appositive. See, there are two commas, I will say, and they will always look confused and surprised by this, as they have never noticed the second one.

So maybe it has to do with the fact that we all (but especially the young) skim more than read these days?

Dunno.

 

[Japanfan]

So maybe it has to do with the fact that we all (but especially the young) skim more than read these days?

And with the skimming comes shorter paragraphs, particularly in online materials. And with shorter paragraphs, more abbreviated ideas and arguments.

I do believe that children are still being taught to read properly, and required to read actual books in school. But I really wonder if this will stay the same once the current generation milk-fed on cell phone communication grows up and some among them become the teachers.

 

[Jenny]

a) Commas confuse people
b) You do see commas between subjects and verbs. Some of the students who sentences I have marked have brought in sentences to prove to me that I am wrong and invariably, they show me a sentence with a parenthetical or appositive. See, there are two commas, I will say, and they will always look confused and surprised by this, as they have never noticed the second one.

Funny you say as I was reading US online this morning and came across this in a story about showmances on Big Brother:

The two, later returned for season 13 and competed on season 16 of The Amazing Race, are now married with a son.

However, if I was editing this I would have added "who" after the first comma and before later.

So maybe it has to do with the fact that we all (but especially the young) skim more than read these days?

It's for that reason that I would have thought we'd see *less commas,* not more. Another trend is to use & instead of and - I even see some of the older FSU posters doing it, and that might have started in places like Twitter when the character count was still low, and then picked up steam everywhere. I never use it unless it's a thing, like say fish & chips. And, having learned to type decades ago when & wasn't in wide use, I still have to pause my typing to find it on the keyboard or switch to symbols on my phone, so for me, it's not a shortcut at all.

But I get the attention span issue, because I also see a lot of this type of thing - starting to formulate an idea but then not following through:

From pottery, jewelry and clothing there will be a lot to choose from at the sale.

 

[skatingguy]

I've never been good a grammar, and I've never fully understood the rules or how to apply them. I have taken English classes through university-level and still couldn't answer simple grammar questions. The parts of speech might as well be Latin as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Susan1]

It's for that reason that I would have thought we'd see *less commas,* not more.

Sorry, since this is a grammar thread and all (and if someone just wrote that in any old thread, I wouldn't comment), but............."fewer" commas. Less is singular (less fat), fewer is plural (fewer calories). Big pet peeve. I say "fewer" to whoever on t.v. says "less". TNT used to advertise less commercials and I wanted to scream.

Two other biggies:
"Try and" instead of "try to". I wish I could correct every book that has that in there.
"Bring" instead of "take". I've mentioned that here before. I want to slap anybody who says "Are you going to bring that to the principal" or whatever. You can only "bring" something where I am going to be. Otherwise, you take it (somewhere else).

Now I have a headache!

Talk of commas reminds me of shorthand dictation. Commas, periods and paragraphs were dictated. Commas were circled because they look like the shorthand "s". Periods were a backslash written on the line where you put punctuation instead of a dot because that is an "a" by itself. Paragraphs were > and question marks were x's. Anyway, shorthand really makes grammar and punctuation stick. Can mess up your spelling though. The shorthand letters of my name would be S-oo-s-n.

Just rambling..........

 

[Jenny]

Sorry, since this is a grammar thread and all (and if someone just wrote that in any old thread, I wouldn't comment), but............."fewer" commas. Less is singular (less fat), fewer is plural (fewer calories). Big pet peeve. I say "fewer" to whoever on t.v. says "less". TNT used to advertise less commercials and I wanted to scream.

I take your point, but I don't care

However, I do cringe and correct use of "over" when it should be "more than"

 

[Susan1]

I take your point, but I don't care

However, I do cringe and correct use of "over" when it should be "more than"

Hm. That's one I never thought about. Now it's going to bug me. Thanks.

 

[ilovepaydays]

I feel dumb for wondering this, and I don't see it asked earlier - but when a quotation ends at the end of a sentence, where does the sentence punctuation (period, exclamation point) belong?

I used to definitely think that the punctuation went inside the quotation, but I keep seeing it the other way (and it gets published) and now I'm confused.

Is it:
One of my favorite songs by Madonna is "Like a Prayer." OR
One of my favorite songs by Madonna is "Like a Prayer".

 

[gkelly]

In the US generally periods and commas go inside the quotes and other punctuation marks go outside.

I believe British usage tends to put them all outside.

 

[Prancer]

I feel dumb for wondering this, and I don't see it asked earlier - but when a quotation ends at the end of a sentence, where does the sentence punctuation (period, exclamation point) belong?

In the US generally periods and commas go inside the quotes and other punctuation marks go outside.

Unless the quotation marks indicate an actual quotation and not a title as in ilovepaydays' example.

Grammar Girl: How to Use Quotation Marks

 

[PrincessLeppard]

Sorry, since this is a grammar thread and all (and if someone just wrote that in any old thread, I wouldn't comment), but............."fewer" commas. Less is singular (less fat), fewer is plural (fewer calories). Big pet peeve. I say "fewer" to whoever on t.v. says "less". TNT used to advertise less commercials and I wanted to scream.

I also scream at my TV. I was taught the rule somewhat differently, however. If it can be counted, it's fewer. (Fewer cats, for example) And if it's abstract, use less. (Less humidity.)