Maciver's Guide to Grammar

[Maggie]

I like it. It's about time someone complained/did something about this. It drives me nuts (like a pirate with a steering wheel down his pants).

But on an even loftier note ... I freakin' hate English!!!!!!! What a stupid, stupid, stupid language. Someone should be shot for the lack of logic, thought, and consistency allowed to exist in this pathetic excuse for a language. I am embarrassed that it's the only language I speak well enough with which to communicate. And I'm scared of the inconveniences which will arise from my monolingual capacity once I carry out my plans to expatriate myself. Oh, bother.

At any rate, you've done a magnificent job. Even though it's a silly language and I hate that I speak it, I still strive to speak it/write it well and to always maintain the goal of clearly communicating in a way that does not make ME look stupid, even though my character might be, and despite the fact that the language itself definitely IS!

Long live Japanese.

 

[Litha]

Very well written and thank you for posting it.
It's a great help to all of us that are none-native English speakers, I for one will be using it as a refrance. (please don't kill me if I spelled that incorrectly)


I'm not writing this to defend my poor spelling and grammar, because I dislike it as much as anyone and I always strive to improve it. I do however, have one small point in dealing with players that don't use it propperly.
Find out if the player might be from a none English speaking country before jumping down their throat and accusing them of all sorts of things, or simply ignoring them.
The first happened to me several times, and I can tell you it's not a nice feeling when someone says they think you're a 10 year old and you should learn to write better before joining the ISRP.


Now can anyone tell me the differance between who and whom and when to use them. It's always confused the hell out of me.





((edited for stupid typos.))

Blessed be.

 

[Jeajea]

Or, as was recently pointed out to me, people who are dyslexic. They also do not deserve scorn. Well, not much, anyway.

Seriously, though - I agree with Litha. We're all ready to jump down people's throats. Just chill, keep it cool, give and take, be nice... we can all get along, eh? Imagine you're on drugs or something. That's the level of love and nice-ness we need.

Again, naturally, I jest. But I do mean it - always strive to spell well, but never condemn for poor spelling, unless you are certain that the poor spelling and grammar is due to a lack of effort on the individual's part, and it is seriously hampering your ability to understand what they are writing with ease. If they are foreign but trying, it wouldn't be fair to get mad, ditto dyslexia.

I think I can summerise for you: be sensible and mature.

Oh, and p.s.: don't do drugs, they're bad for you.

 

[Elf_Ariel]

Oh, and p.s.: don't do drugs, they're bad for you.

So now they tell me.

I'd like to know about 'who' and 'whom too', they've got me a little beat and I speak english as a first language. Oh...and the uses of 'practice' and 'practise' too. *blinks* I am bad at english.

 

[maciver]

Who/whom whoever/whomever

If pronoun is subject, use who or whoever...
"Sally, who once danced very well, tripped and broke her knee. We all laughed."
"The pudding, which was given to whoever wanted it, was made from soy milk and real cocoa. I like pudding." (Ok.. last part was for someone special. heh)

If it's the object, use whom or whomever:
"Meredith, whom many feared, was found strangled with her own intestines. News at eleven."

If preceded with a preposition or followed by a prepositional phrase, use whom or whomever:
"The fight captain, of whom we follow, taught us how to parry using a cloak."
"Jason, whom of which was a bastard child, stole from the sanctuary."

There are other rules that apply as well... but that's the basic gist. Who vs. whom always drove me nuts... and still does. It's another stupid aspect of the English language. hehe

Practice is to work at something, rehearse, learn...
"She practiced the violin 3 hours everyday and never got tired of it."

Practise is a professional sense:
"He built his own practise as soon as he graduated law school."

EDIT: Was missing a conjunction and that would have just been embarrassing.

 

[MistyThorin]

>>But on an even loftier note ... I freakin' hate English!!!!!!! What a stupid, stupid, stupid language. Someone should be shot for the lack of logic, thought, and consistency allowed to exist in this pathetic excuse for a language.<<

LOL, Maggie, I've often felt the same way... and I'm planning on eventually getting my degree in English!

Someone once said that English is the end result of Norman mercs trying to pick up Saxon tavern wenches while monks observed and wrote it all down in Latin. Sounds like a reasonable explanation to me...

 

[Saera Duraston]

Um, some further input....

Who/whom whoever/whomever
...
If preceded with a preposition or followed by a prepositional phrase, use whom or whomever:
"The fight captain, of whom we follow, taught us how to parry using a cloak."
"Jason, whom of which was a bastard child, stole from the sanctuary."
...
Practice is to work at something, rehearse, learn...
"She practiced the violin 3 hours everyday and never got tired of it."

Practise is a professional sense:
"He built his own practise as soon as he graduated law school."

Who/Whom:
Yes, Maciver's right that it's a matter of subject vs. object of the action. One easiest way is to separate out that part of the sentence and rephrase it as "he/him" to see which makes more sense.

1) Wrong version: "Jason, whom of which was a bastard child, stole from the sanctuary."
(ok, first off, I think you didn't quite mean it to come out this way... ^_^ )

"he was a bastard child"/"him was a bastard child" => "who was a bastard child"

2) Wrong version: "Maciver, who we often poked fun at, was actually a nice fellow."

"we poked fun at he"/"we poked fun at him" => "whom we often poked fun at"

Practice/Practise:

Here, sorry, Mac is just wrong.

For UK-based English, "practise" is the verb ("She practised the violin.") and "practice" the noun ("He built up a practice in law.").

For USA-based English, both are "practice" and there's no such word as "practise." ^_^

 

[Babylon Logos]

6) There are THREE… count em… THREE periods in an ellipsis. Not 4, not 10, not 20… THREE! (And yes… I am aware this item was written in very poor grammar.)

There is also a space between each period, as-well-as at the start and end of an Ellipsis. Like so.

"Well . . . I . . . I don't know . . . "

And please. Please! Take this into account. Nonetheless. It is one solid word. I get tired of 'none the less', and 'none-the-less' or any other combination you can think of . . . Save yourself the key depressions and spell it correctly.

Lastly. When you end a sentance. There are two spaces before the next letter. Just like in my post. And yes, I know word processors won't tell you that, but that is because you have to set an option for them to add in two spaces.

 

[Elf_Ariel]

Practice/Practise:

Here, sorry, Mac is just wrong.

For UK-based English, "practise" is the verb ("She practised the violin.") and "practice" the noun ("He built up a practice in law.").

For USA-based English, both are "practice" and there's no such word as "practise." ^_^

*Ponders* I think I am supposed to have learnt UK based . . . Perhaps I should just make up an Australian version?!

Notes: Had to make sure I got the ellipsis correct!

 

[Litha]

Who/Whom:
Yes, Maciver's right that it's a matter of subject vs. object of the action. One easiest way is to separate out that part of the sentence and rephrase it as "he/him" to see which makes more sense.

1) Wrong version: "Jason, whom of which was a bastard child, stole from the sanctuary."
(ok, first off, I think you didn't quite mean it to come out this way... ^_^ )

"he was a bastard child"/"him was a bastard child" => "who was a bastard child"

2) Wrong version: "Maciver, who we often poked fun at, was actually a nice fellow."

"we poked fun at he"/"we poked fun at him" => "whom we often poked fun at"

is totally shocked

I actually get it now . . .
I could never get my head around it but now I actually get it.

thanks