maciver
First Post
Ok... before you all freak out, these are pet peeves, but this was done in bored fun. I decided to post as Maciver cuz he has such a stick up his [deleted expletive] about everything as I do about grammar. Therefore, here goes:
GUIDE TO GRAMMAR:
With the understanding that typos happen, please take the following into account when RPing. You are in a text-based society. Therefore, your speech, your mannerisms, everything about your character is dictated only through text. It is important to make it clear to your fellow players of your intent, as well as not look extraordinarily dumb in the process. Therefore, here is a guide for you to follow. And for the record, I will take any flames as an admission of guilt. If you don’t do the following, then don’t worry about it. This isn’t directed toward you. If you DO, in fact, do any of the following, use this guide to stop. And remember, these are basic grammar rules and do not intrude on characterization or dialects. Thank you.
13 Lucky Steps to Better RP
1) The following are punctuation marks. Please use them:
. , ; : ! ? ‘ “
2)Your vs. You’re:
Your, being possessive, would be used to describe someone’s possessions as in:
‘your dagger,’ ‘your clothing, ‘your bad grammar.’
You’re, being a contraction of ‘you are.’
'You’re wonderful'. 'You’re beautiful'. 'You’re no English major'.
3)Choose, chose, chosen:
To choose, present tense:
“I choose to point out your (note usage of ‘your’) poor grammar.
Chose, past tense:
“He chose to ignore this post and perpetually irritate those around him."
Chosen, past participle (thank you greyfox):
“I/You/They/We have chosen to work on things."
“He/She has chosen to ignore the things we’ve worked on.”
4)Loose vs. lose.
Loose is the opposite of tight:
“The tire fell off because the nuts were loose.”
Lose is the opposite of win:
“If you play the game, make sure you don’t lose.”
Lose also means to misplace:
“Did you lose your (note usage) dagger?”
5)Their, There, They’re. Ok kids… easy one here.
“Their” = possessive:
“Their swords.” “Their problems.”
“There” = place:
“He’s over there next to your (note word usage) cat.”
“There” = demonstrative adjective:
“There were hundreds of them.”
“They’re” = contraction:
“They’re over there by their wagon.”
Ok... that one may have been tough for ya… let’s try an easier one…
“They’re dancing in the moonlight.”
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.)
7)Direct address requires a comma.
A direct address is defined as when you are directly addressing an individual (go figure). For instance:
“Where are you going, John?” Note the important comma before “John.”
8)Apostrophes *sigh*. Most often used to define a possessive.
“The Martian’s grammar was much better than yours (note usage).”
Or possessive plural (note location of apostrophe):
”Those are the Johnsons’ kids.”
Can also be used as a contraction:
“The Martian’s late for dinner.” i.e. “Martian is”
PLURALS DO NOT GET APOSTROPHES!
“The shadows enveloped him.” (Note: No apostrophe between “shadow” and “s”.
9) Commas do not need to be placed after every word, but sometimes they are (they’re) required.
10)Steel vs. Steal:
Steel is a metal. Steel is formed by treating molten (melted) iron with intense heat and mixing it (alloying) with carbon.
Steal is to take without permission.
“Did someone steal your steel blade?”
11)Then vs. Than:
Then is either a reference to time, or a demonstrative doohicky:
“The time was then.”
“Then why do it?”
THAN, however, is most often used as a comparison:
”I’d rather pull each nose hair individually than have to continue to watch my brain bleed due to poor grammar.”
12)Have vs. Of: This one is sort of placement specific, so I will deal only with a single type of incident…
The phrase is “could have”, “should have”, “would have”, etc. Can also be used with one of those apostrophes we spoke of.
“Could’ve, should’ve, would’ve.”
The previous contractions would be appropriate when dealing with dialect where the character would say the phrase as though it sounds like “could of”, “should of”, “would of”.
13)It’s vs. Its: Ok. This one’s tricky, I’ll give ya that. Here’s a way to remember it… in this case, “it’s” is contraction only.
“It’s a lovely day.”
“Its”, however, is possessive.
“That was its only food.”
So remember, if it doesn’t actually make two words (it is), it isn’t call for an apostrophe. In addition…
“tis” is a shortened version of “it is” as well. We do not need to see “it is it is.” For example, I have seen “It’s tis…” This is very very very dead wrong. So wrong it makes my brain freeze… much like when you eat ice cream too fast. Unless your character has a stutter, don’t do it.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Thank you for taking the time to read over my rant. I do hope you will take it into account throughout your journeys. And please, if you have a complaint about poor grammar, perhaps something I missed, feel free to post it. If you have a complaint about this post, consider why. With all that said…
“There comes a time when its only purpose, its only stake in life could have shunned the world. And yet, he’d rather step into his own subconscious than hope to retrieve an ounce of gold from their pockets.
“It’s not too far to Brambleshire.” He thought. “I could steal a portion of gruel and make my way in half a day.”
But the road was tough then. His shoulders now pained with spikes of fire. The time to choose had come, and what he had chosen was solitude… a place away from the shadows of their magics.
His voice, muffled in the fog resonated within his ears as he spoke, “They’re not going to accept you, Jason. You’re well beyond their praises. You’d be best to take your belongings, your heart’s endeavors elsewhere.”
He loosened the straps around his boots and slid them on his feet.
“You lose.” He thought as he began to make his way down the trail. “You lose.”
GUIDE TO GRAMMAR:
With the understanding that typos happen, please take the following into account when RPing. You are in a text-based society. Therefore, your speech, your mannerisms, everything about your character is dictated only through text. It is important to make it clear to your fellow players of your intent, as well as not look extraordinarily dumb in the process. Therefore, here is a guide for you to follow. And for the record, I will take any flames as an admission of guilt. If you don’t do the following, then don’t worry about it. This isn’t directed toward you. If you DO, in fact, do any of the following, use this guide to stop. And remember, these are basic grammar rules and do not intrude on characterization or dialects. Thank you.
13 Lucky Steps to Better RP
1) The following are punctuation marks. Please use them:
. , ; : ! ? ‘ “
2)Your vs. You’re:
Your, being possessive, would be used to describe someone’s possessions as in:
‘your dagger,’ ‘your clothing, ‘your bad grammar.’
You’re, being a contraction of ‘you are.’
'You’re wonderful'. 'You’re beautiful'. 'You’re no English major'.
3)Choose, chose, chosen:
To choose, present tense:
“I choose to point out your (note usage of ‘your’) poor grammar.
Chose, past tense:
“He chose to ignore this post and perpetually irritate those around him."
Chosen, past participle (thank you greyfox):
“I/You/They/We have chosen to work on things."
“He/She has chosen to ignore the things we’ve worked on.”
4)Loose vs. lose.
Loose is the opposite of tight:
“The tire fell off because the nuts were loose.”
Lose is the opposite of win:
“If you play the game, make sure you don’t lose.”
Lose also means to misplace:
“Did you lose your (note usage) dagger?”
5)Their, There, They’re. Ok kids… easy one here.
“Their” = possessive:
“Their swords.” “Their problems.”
“There” = place:
“He’s over there next to your (note word usage) cat.”
“There” = demonstrative adjective:
“There were hundreds of them.”
“They’re” = contraction:
“They’re over there by their wagon.”
Ok... that one may have been tough for ya… let’s try an easier one…
“They’re dancing in the moonlight.”
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.)
7)Direct address requires a comma.
A direct address is defined as when you are directly addressing an individual (go figure). For instance:
“Where are you going, John?” Note the important comma before “John.”
8)Apostrophes *sigh*. Most often used to define a possessive.
“The Martian’s grammar was much better than yours (note usage).”
Or possessive plural (note location of apostrophe):
”Those are the Johnsons’ kids.”
Can also be used as a contraction:
“The Martian’s late for dinner.” i.e. “Martian is”
PLURALS DO NOT GET APOSTROPHES!
“The shadows enveloped him.” (Note: No apostrophe between “shadow” and “s”.
9) Commas do not need to be placed after every word, but sometimes they are (they’re) required.
10)Steel vs. Steal:
Steel is a metal. Steel is formed by treating molten (melted) iron with intense heat and mixing it (alloying) with carbon.
Steal is to take without permission.
“Did someone steal your steel blade?”
11)Then vs. Than:
Then is either a reference to time, or a demonstrative doohicky:
“The time was then.”
“Then why do it?”
THAN, however, is most often used as a comparison:
”I’d rather pull each nose hair individually than have to continue to watch my brain bleed due to poor grammar.”
12)Have vs. Of: This one is sort of placement specific, so I will deal only with a single type of incident…
The phrase is “could have”, “should have”, “would have”, etc. Can also be used with one of those apostrophes we spoke of.
“Could’ve, should’ve, would’ve.”
The previous contractions would be appropriate when dealing with dialect where the character would say the phrase as though it sounds like “could of”, “should of”, “would of”.
13)It’s vs. Its: Ok. This one’s tricky, I’ll give ya that. Here’s a way to remember it… in this case, “it’s” is contraction only.
“It’s a lovely day.”
“Its”, however, is possessive.
“That was its only food.”
So remember, if it doesn’t actually make two words (it is), it isn’t call for an apostrophe. In addition…
“tis” is a shortened version of “it is” as well. We do not need to see “it is it is.” For example, I have seen “It’s tis…” This is very very very dead wrong. So wrong it makes my brain freeze… much like when you eat ice cream too fast. Unless your character has a stutter, don’t do it.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Thank you for taking the time to read over my rant. I do hope you will take it into account throughout your journeys. And please, if you have a complaint about poor grammar, perhaps something I missed, feel free to post it. If you have a complaint about this post, consider why. With all that said…
“There comes a time when its only purpose, its only stake in life could have shunned the world. And yet, he’d rather step into his own subconscious than hope to retrieve an ounce of gold from their pockets.
“It’s not too far to Brambleshire.” He thought. “I could steal a portion of gruel and make my way in half a day.”
But the road was tough then. His shoulders now pained with spikes of fire. The time to choose had come, and what he had chosen was solitude… a place away from the shadows of their magics.
His voice, muffled in the fog resonated within his ears as he spoke, “They’re not going to accept you, Jason. You’re well beyond their praises. You’d be best to take your belongings, your heart’s endeavors elsewhere.”
He loosened the straps around his boots and slid them on his feet.
“You lose.” He thought as he began to make his way down the trail. “You lose.”
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