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Robbie
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Joined: 22 Jun 2003
Posts: 1100
Location: Sydney, Australia.
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 Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2004 5:26 am Post subject: |
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I'm a hypocryte speaking (judging by my typos) but I also did punctuation inside the quotes.
And when you type "He had six days' stubble growth", remember two things:
a) the apostrophe
b) a razor.
It's also been mentioned before, but I can't understand the Where/Were mistake either.
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Rob
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BittenBuggy
Joined: 27 Dec 2003
Posts: 2108
Location: Busy Being the Queen Of Everything.. And Trying to Catch the Yoda-Copter
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| Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2004 6:28 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | I've found it's helpful to go over my stories backwards. That way I don't see only what I expect to see and errors stand out more. |
oooo, Good idea! Thanks!
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-"My ultimate fantasy is to entice a man to my bedroom, put a gun to his head and say, 'Make babies or die'."
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Viv
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Joined: 24 Apr 2003
Posts: 71
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2004 8:04 pm Post subject: |
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I just read two Just-in stories that contain the same error.
"Baited" is something you just did to a fishhook.
"Bated" means "abated or suspended".
So breath is never baited. It's bated.
Now, I know this is a nit, and I'm picking it. It's really too small of a thing to note in a review, but little things like this do add up to make me less impressed with a story.
Last edited by Viv on Thu Jun 24, 2004 9:35 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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sindohte
Joined: 13 May 2003
Posts: 1621
Location: Rubbing up against an Elf
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2004 8:27 pm Post subject: |
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Sigh, the perils of placing your faith solely in spell check. Makes me recall English class back in elementary school when I learned the all important lesson of "Which witch is which?"
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abandon thought, and let the dream descend... |
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Saralitazie
Joined: 17 Apr 2004
Posts: 297
Location: Stamping Property of Litzy the Lush all over Glorfindel.
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2004 9:07 pm Post subject: |
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Ah gosh..this is such a can of worms it's not funny. I would have to say that the one thing that pisses me off the most is sloppy grammar--going back and forth between past, present, and future. I started reading this one fic once where the writer managed to to all three in one simple sentence! *le sigh*
Other than that, it's punctuation...or lack thereof. Like forgetting the comma and/or period at the end of a sentence, so it sounds like a run-on; or looking like this: "Well golly gee, Legless, I love your ass" (sorry, I really [b\]couldn't[/b] resist!) Or having a sentence that actually is a run-on. That should be broken up with ; or . Y'know, even if you're old and haven't touched highschool stuff for ages and haven't thought about grammar rules since before you started proliferating, find a book and brush up! ACT/SAT prep books are great - you'll get a nice brush up on your math skills at the same time too 
And sentence structure. You get these people that have these mile long sentences where the middle's all one comma clause, with the modifying part of the sentence - I mean the part that modifies the beginning - clear at the end of some long winded description of some pile of crap. Ok, HELLO PEOPLE, use your modifiers FIRST, and then the long winded description! I don't want to have to read a sentence twelve times just to get the point. Not taking a test here; relaxing! Can you spell relaxing?
Dearie me, I hope so.
Laws-a-massy, that was bloody long. Well, for me anyway. </rant>
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"Society does not want free men. They torment freedom, democracy, anything you want. But they do not want free men. Society wants conditioned men; men who march in step." - Henri Charriere
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Viv
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Joined: 24 Apr 2003
Posts: 71
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2004 9:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Saralitazie wrote: | | Ah gosh..this is such a can of worms it's not funny. I would have to say that the one thing that pisses me off the most is sloppy grammar--going back and forth between past, present, and future. I started reading this one fic once where the writer managed to to all three in one simple sentence! *le sigh* |
But there is hope for all tense-ignorant persons in the world. Carol Shields won a Pulitzer. The chick has no idea how to use tense or semicolons. She's kind of a walking billboard for "You Too Can Win a Pulitzer!"
I guess it's hard to convince the fanfic-writing masses when the literati can't even get it straight. But I feel your pain.
| Quote: | | And sentence structure. You get these people that have these mile long sentences where the middle's all one comma clause, with the modifying part of the sentence - I mean the part that modifies the beginning - clear at the end of some long winded description of some pile of crap. Ok, HELLO PEOPLE, use your modifiers FIRST, and then the long winded description! I don't want to have to read a sentence twelve times just to get the point. |
Now, that sounds a lot like German. 
Vent free, young jedi! |
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Saralitazie
Joined: 17 Apr 2004
Posts: 297
Location: Stamping Property of Litzy the Lush all over Glorfindel.
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2004 9:51 pm Post subject: |
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Ok, yes, I know I'm grammar obsessed. I've been doing a lot of studying for the ACT lately and I've started to evalutate grammar and sentence structure a ton more in even my off-time leisure reading. H'm.
Am I speaking Greek? 
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"Society does not want free men. They torment freedom, democracy, anything you want. But they do not want free men. Society wants conditioned men; men who march in step." - Henri Charriere
-Litzy the Lush |
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Viv
Challenge Admin
Joined: 24 Apr 2003
Posts: 71
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2004 10:21 pm Post subject: |
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| Saralitazie wrote: | Ok, yes, I know I'm grammar obsessed. I've been doing a lot of studying for the ACT lately and I've started to evalutate grammar and sentence structure a ton more in even my off-time leisure reading. H'm.
Am I speaking Greek? |
Just don't start diagramming pop songs. That's when you know it's bad. |
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Saralitazie
Joined: 17 Apr 2004
Posts: 297
Location: Stamping Property of Litzy the Lush all over Glorfindel.
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2004 11:37 pm Post subject: |
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Haha Viv - like right. I'm not THAT insane...not yet anyway
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"Society does not want free men. They torment freedom, democracy, anything you want. But they do not want free men. Society wants conditioned men; men who march in step." - Henri Charriere
-Litzy the Lush |
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Vilwarin
Joined: 01 Jun 2004
Posts: 227
Location: Annúminas
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| Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2004 5:22 am Post subject: |
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Uh, grammer. I recently discovered that there are a lot more grammer rules than I expected. (That was not very encouraging *lol*)
About the their they're there, I do not have a hard time using it. I learned that 'there' has someting to do with a place, 'their' with posession and 'they're' with a status of being.
As a not native, I pay (perhaps) more attention than some natives to such things. What do you think?
Personally, my problem are the tenses.
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BittenBuggy
Joined: 27 Dec 2003
Posts: 2108
Location: Busy Being the Queen Of Everything.. And Trying to Catch the Yoda-Copter
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| Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2004 7:39 am Post subject: |
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I took English Language 1-0-Billion in college, and I still can't stay in the correct tense to save my life.
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-The Queen of Everything - so dubed by Aerin
-"My ultimate fantasy is to entice a man to my bedroom, put a gun to his head and say, 'Make babies or die'."
-"The Pope! how many divisions has he got?" - Stalin |
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SilverMoonLady
Joined: 14 Jul 2003
Posts: 1201
Location: Breaking in a Brandybuck... *wicked grin*
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| Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2004 8:14 am Post subject: |
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Anyone in the same general area when I'm typing or editing my stuff gets treated to a lot of mad cackling when I read myself back and find all the words I've twisted or left out in my haste. And I've found that I make even more spelling mistakes now than I did 10 years ago in high school. Very weird.
I do see and appreciate how careful non-english speakers/writers are with their grammar, and I can only wish the natives would spend a bit more time on it, at least when posting supposedly read-ready works:)
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Suffering an again off again connection with life...
The joy of motherhood: what a woman experiences when all the kids are in bed.
*local PHF union rep* *tart of the week*
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Isabeau
Joined: 03 Sep 2003
Posts: 38
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| Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2004 10:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | But there is hope for all tense-ignorant persons in the world. Carol Shields won a Pulitzer. The chick has no idea how to use tense or semicolons. She's kind of a walking billboard for "You Too Can Win a Pulitzer!"
I guess it's hard to convince the fanfic-writing masses when the literati can't even get it straight. But I feel your pain. |
My absolute worst peeve (and I found it in an online article from the New York Times the other day, for heaven's sake!) is the misuse of the word "reign", which is rampant in this fandom.
To "reign" is to rule. If you want to steer a horse, you "rein" him. But apparently in Midde-earth, lots of folks steer their horses by divine right..... |
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BittenBuggy
Joined: 27 Dec 2003
Posts: 2108
Location: Busy Being the Queen Of Everything.. And Trying to Catch the Yoda-Copter
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| Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 6:31 am Post subject: |
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| Isabeau wrote: | | But apparently in Midde-earth, lots of folks steer their horses by divine right..... |
_________________
-The Queen of Everything - so dubed by Aerin
-"My ultimate fantasy is to entice a man to my bedroom, put a gun to his head and say, 'Make babies or die'."
-"The Pope! how many divisions has he got?" - Stalin |
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daw
Joined: 16 Jul 2003
Posts: 46
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| Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 9:22 am Post subject: |
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I have to say that I'm driven mad by the misuse of lie and lay. I just came from an aerobics class where I had to restrain myself from telling the teacher that we were going to lie - LIE - on the floor not lay on it.
Lie means to recline. It's intransitive. Lay, on the other hand, is a transitive verb. It means to put something down and it takes an object. I lay my book down but I, myself, lie down on the floor and weep. |
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