[Saralitazie]

[Isabeau]

[Ningloreth]

For me the wonderful thing about fan fiction is that it gives anyone the chance to have a go at writing a story and then post it for other people to read.

And I'm often amazed by a story that has been written by someone who is obviously either very young or very inexperienced, and whose text is full of typos, but who has come up with a powerful, dramatic plotline or with an unexpected phrase that exactly nails what they are trying to say. Their stories sometimes have an energy that more polished work lacks...

I blame Word for many of the problems people have with grammar, spelling and punctuation. Having someone automatically correct your spelling mistakes (usually when you are looking the other way) does you no favours. And though some of its grammatical suggestions are sound, many are crass. For example, if you type 'their' it will underline it in green and suggest 'there' - not because 'there' is correct (it doesn't know because it doesn't understand the context) - but because the two words are commonly confused. You must all have seen what happens if you let it loose on text that mentions 'elves' and 'ents' and 'Valar' and uses unfamiliar names like 'Legolas' and 'Aragorn'...

And why it is so obssessed with eradicating passive constructions? If Legolas walks up to a door that is not transparent, not knowing who is on the other side, and knocks on it, then, from Legolas' POV, 'the door is opened (by person as yet unknown)'. (I use Legolas' rather than Legolas's because that is apparently the correct form for an ancient or mythical name ending in 's' ).

Many people I know blindly accept anything that Word suggests. I always turn Word's grammar checking off. At least then, as they say, any mistakes are my own.

[Viv]

I wouldn't go so far as to blame Word (ultimate responsibility is the writer's, because we can all turn off the irritating auto-check feature), but I do think it makes a lot of people lazy.

And I'm all for lazy, crummy grammar. If everyone wrote English correctly and clearly, I would have no job.

[ellisk]

I just happened across this reference on this subject today. It is a list of words like accept vs except, advise vs advice etc. Words we mess up in English all the time. Have a look at this:

http://www.helical-library.net/desk/spelling.asp

And the archive has some nice fiction too.

[Rous]

[Thuriniel]

[Rous]

[SilverMoonLady]

Sorry to hear that, Rous, some people are jerks! I have to admit that I cannot abide the laziness that poorly written messages indicate. I mean, no one requires you to speak like a textbook in such an informal situation, but at least punctuate properly... I'm beginning to fear for a society and educational system that turns out people who cannot be bothered to write in complete sentences; our non-english speaking friends are putting us to shame! Imagine not managing to say something as simple as "I think you're a pretty cool person" in the tongue you've spoken for 16 years....
Feh...

[SpaceWeavil]

I've noticed that with the reviews on FF.Net. Some of them made me wonder if the author didn't speak English as a first language. (Some made me think the author didn't speak it as a second, third or fourth to be honest ) My favourite one there though was when some helpful person told me I had spelled 'armour' wrongly because I put a 'u' in it.

Sorry to hear you had a bad one, Rous. I do sympathise as I've had similar treatment, from people who were supposedly friends as well.

[Rous]

I blame it all on the education system. Football and other sports are more important than an actual education. And parents that do not oversee their children's education. My mother read to me, and expected me to learn to speak. She never used baby talk or talked down to me. I grew up with people thinking I was several years older than was, just because I could conjugate a verb and structure a sentance. My SO cannot see the importance of good grammar. He claims to not even know the terms. Ask him what a verb is, and he will ask, why is it important to know it? He does not read, and the movies I watch are so far above him, I get tired of explaining them. And this is true for most of the people I interact with on a daily basis. It is maddening. Can we not just teach our children the basics? Leave football for the corner lot. Most of these kids will never see the inside of a stadium, short of the nosebleed section. Why the emphasis on something that will only make them think of 'what might have been', or spend their lives enduring surgeries to repair damaged body parts.

(Oh-oh. That soapbox slipped out again, did it not? My bad. I apologize.) Oh, and does the period go in the paranthesis, or out.
Rous

[Viv]

[Ningloreth]

[Ningloreth]

And it will probably take me another year to learn how to post quotes...

[Rous]