Spelling, punctuation and grammar!
By
Arctic Man,
Posted on: 2009-12-30 13:02 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
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It is, you just spelled it incorrectly. Allot means to "set aside a certain amount."|
Originally Posted by Zikar
"Alot" should be a word.
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Also, this reminds me of another grammar pet peave of mine. Adverbs. It seems no one (which reminds me that "noone" is not, nor should it ever be a word) really knows what they are or how to use them. Everyone just goes for the adjective these days, because, well, I don't know really. Ignorance?
Example:
Drive safe going home, the roads are icey.
Safe is an adjective, and can only describe a NOUN, whereas the word "safely" is an adverb and can, as the word implies, describe VERBS. It infuriates me to see billboards and other public media constantly killing the poor adverb, I mean, what did it ever do to you? Aside from describing your actions succinctly and gloriously?
And yet another one that bugs the heck out of me: between. "Between" should only be used when talking about two things. "The wig is between the cow and the rototiller." NOT to be used to say things like, "Between the three of us, there is a porpoise." "Among," is the word you are looking for people, AMONG!
And another thing: the comma goes INSIDE the quotation mark, as does a period! Exclamation points and question marks depend on the usage and are more complicated, but those other two are absolutes, dang it!
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Plesiosaur!
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Originally Posted by Fleeting Whisper
That's 'alicorn', thankyouverymuch!
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That is not true of British English. In British English, it depends on what is being quoted as to whether punctuation goes inside or outside the quotation marks. For anyone interested, I strongly recommend "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" by (I think) Elaine Trass.|
Originally Posted by Thirty_Seven
And another thing: the comma goes INSIDE the quotation mark, as does a period! Exclamation points and question marks depend on the usage and are more complicated, but those other two are absolutes, dang it!
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Onto my pet peeve that is the so-called "Oxford comma" which is that comma before the "and" in a list of three or more things.
Its use is a style choice, ultimately. There is no direct rule for it, but it can sometimes be added for clarity.
"Rain, snow, thunder and lightning" is a list of things describing the weather. There are either three: Rain; Snow; Thunder and lightning. Or it's four: Rain; Snow; Thunder; Lightning. It is slightly ambiguous, but in this context it doesn't really matter. "Mike and Sue, Bob and Helen, Simon, and Rachel" on the other hand, clearly describes FOUR groups of people - if the Oxford comma were omitted, then it would be easy to presume that Simon and Rachel were a couple, which, in the context of the quote is not true.
The wisdom of Shadowe: Ghostraptor: The Shadowe is wise ...; FFM: Shadowe is no longer wise.
; Techbot_Alpha: Also, what Shadowe said. It seems he is still somewhat wise 
; Bull Throttle: Shadowe was unwise in this instance...; Rock_Powerfist: in this instance Shadowe is wise.; Techbot_Alpha: Shadowe is very wise *nods*; Zortel: *Quotable line about Shadowe being wise goes here.*
The author of 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' was Lynne Truss
/pedantic mode off
Allodoxaphobia is the fear of opinions.
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth. MARCUS AURELIUS (121-180 AD)
A few of these are in the game too. One that especially annoys me is the radio mission that says that one enemy group or another is threatening to blow up a building (or whatever) unless one of "they're" leaders is freed from the Zig.
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That is what a unicorn's horn is called.|
Originally Posted by Fleeting Whisper
That's 'alicorn', thankyouverymuch!
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A winged unicorn is simply called a winged unicorn.
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Thanks, Thy. That's why I added the qualifier - IDHTBIFOM, and was in a rush to post before I started work, so couldn't check.
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Originally Posted by Thyristor
The author of 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' was Lynne Truss
/pedantic mode off |
The wisdom of Shadowe: Ghostraptor: The Shadowe is wise ...; FFM: Shadowe is no longer wise.
; Techbot_Alpha: Also, what Shadowe said. It seems he is still somewhat wise ; Bull Throttle: Shadowe was unwise in this instance...; Rock_Powerfist: in this instance Shadowe is wise.; Techbot_Alpha: Shadowe is very wise *nods*; Zortel: *Quotable line about Shadowe being wise goes here.* 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' is a good book. Bill Bryson's 'Mother Tongue' is much better. Personal opinion.
Allodoxaphobia is the fear of opinions.
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth. MARCUS AURELIUS (121-180 AD)
I'm from the UK so when I first went online many moons ago I became a lot more aware of American spellings of certain words (mostly playing a MUD called Avatar, which although it had a fair mix of nationalities was still predominantly American). As a result I actually started to think that maybe "loose" was a genuine American spelling of "lose", just due to seeing it apparently being used as the standard accepted spelling online; I saw it used in the place of "lose" as frequently as I'd seen "armor" instead of "armour", or "color" instead of "colour".
I think that link has made me want to spell it wierd, since I don't like those dolphin overlords.
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That first one actually makes me doubt each time too! >.>|
Originally Posted by Willowpaw
Heh. Good list. But they left out some others (then again, if they had put them in, it would have no longer been a Top 10.
Retarded, not Retarted Which, not wich Ridiculous, not Rediculous I know I had a bunch more, but of course, can't remember them at the moment. |
But at least i'm not talking about makeup each time i'm discussing everyone's favority sneaky class!
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Originally Posted by Thyristor
The author of 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' was Lynne Truss
/pedantic mode off |
Should be required reading in every school from the age of 10
Thelonious Monk
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Trying to use adjectives in their proper places tends to make my spell checker cry, and I don't know if it's because I'm an idiot and these words simply don't exist (I'm fairly certain they do), or because whoever stocked Firefox's "English / United Kingdom" dictionary dropped the ball. I'm constantly getting red underlines on words like "perplexingly," suggesting I may want to say "perplexity," and I know at least Yhatzee used the word at least once. Plus, that ought to be the right way to form an adverb out of "perplexing." I can't quite think of any of the others at the moment, though, but there are a few more. I may have ended up kicking it in the shins and just adding them to the dictionary.|
Originally Posted by Thirty_Seven
Also, this reminds me of another grammar pet peave of mine. Adverbs. It seems no one (which reminds me that "noone" is not, nor should it ever be a word) really knows what they are or how to use them. Everyone just goes for the adjective these days, because, well, I don't know really. Ignorance?
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And I'm always amused that a Firefox dictionary won't recognise "Firefox."
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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The second comma was added due to the infusion of raw logic (as in mathematics) into language.|
Originally Posted by GuyPerfect
Incidentally, you've correctly omitted the serial comma in the thread title. The word "and" acts as a delimiter and an additional comma would have been obnoxiously redundant.
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"Spelling, punctuation and grammar!" is analogous to "a, (b + c)" since it denotes "spelling" singularly, but groups "punctuation and grammar" together.
"Spelling, punctuation, and grammar!" is analogous to "a, b, c" since it denotes each word singularly, but suggests they are all related somehow.
So, it comes down to how you intend the sentence to read. If you want to say it's "spelling," and then "punctuation and grammar" as a grouped pair of concepts, the single comma is correct. If you want each element in the sentence to have equal weight, then the second comma is needed to show that they are all separate, yet related, elements.
I've said too much, haven't I? I'll... just be over here, erasing the chalkboard.
Well it sure is a good thing that language is dynamic, mutable, and ever-changing, now isn't it? It is wierd that I hate dolphins?
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Homonyms sound the same, so dialogue accents shouldn't be evident if you use them. I'd go for mutating certain phenomes, myself. |
Originally Posted by Fleeting Whisper
What about for depicting accents in dialogue?
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"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
My two biggest gripes have already been mentioned.
(1) "I could care less". (when they obviously mean couldn't)
(2) "loose" when they mean "lose".
Also terms that have been mutated over the generations:
"The want of money is the root of all evil" became "Money is the root of all evil".
"The proof of the pudding is in the eating" became "The proof is in the pudding".
I think i dislike these the most since removing key words completely changes their meanings, making them ridiculous (rediculous) :P
Disclaimer:
(Please disregard any punctuation errors in my attempt to shed light on misspellings and incorrect sayings. The following sentences may cause nausea, loss of hearing, grey (gray) blotchy spots and the possibility of insomnia.)
I could care less about bad grammar. However I'm actually quite passionate about it
Thelonious Monk
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Blame the programmers - unless you want to define something as part of a string, all operators, delimiters, wildcard characters, or variables need to be OUTSIDE the quotes. Else the compiler won't see them, and your program will break. |
Originally Posted by Thirty_Seven
And another thing: the comma goes INSIDE the quotation mark, as does a period! Exclamation points and question marks depend on the usage and are more complicated, but those other two are absolutes, dang it!
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Thus the practice has bled over into written prose, because "it still makes sense" and is force of habit from writing code.
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
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Or a "moo point"... its like a cow's opinion, it doesn't matter, its moo
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Originally Posted by Eric Nelson
OH YES! So much in agreement with you on that one!
Also: "mute point". It's MOOT point! And while you're at it, get offa my lawn! |
i think people need to stop sphincter-clinching over other peoples spelling and typing. when erudite psudo intellectuals begin looking down on people because they have better things to do than use spell check, it makes me feel like people are going out of their(the're/there) way to make themselves look better by trying to make me look worse
its your interernet, you can do what u want with it.please grant me the same courtesy(sp?).
were not all such cunning linguists.
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I think people should attempt to communicate effectively. The main way to do this is to try to use the established rules for spelling, punctuation and grammar in all forms of communication. I do this regardless of whether that medium is the Internet or not.|
Originally Posted by RiOTWRAiTH
i think people need to stop sphincter-clinching over other peoples spelling and typing. when erudite psudo intellectuals begin looking down on people because they have better things to do than use spell check, it makes me feel like people are going out of their(the're/there) way to make themselves look better by trying to make me look worse
its your interernet, you can do what u want with it.please grant me the same courtesy(sp?). were not all such cunning linguists. |
As for better things to do then using spell check, both Firefox and other web browsers have them built in. They automatically alert you to a misspelling immediately by underlining it. There is not much time taken out of your busy day then the two seconds it takes to right-click on the word and choose the right one on the list.
I guess it comes down to me extending to my readers the courtesy of not having to decipher what I am trying to say. I find this more important than the limited amount of time I save in ignoring those rules. I don't look down on others that do not use those rules but, I would be lying if I said I did not wish they would show me the courtesy I show them.
--Rad
/whereami:
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Originally Posted by RiOTWRAiTH
i think people need to stop sphincter-clinching over other peoples spelling and typing. when erudite psudo intellectuals begin looking down on people because they have better things to do than use spell check, it makes me feel like people are going out of their(the're/there) way to make themselves look better by trying to make me look worse
its your interernet, you can do what u want with it.please grant me the same courtesy(sp?). were not all such cunning linguists. |
ppl shud lern to spel proply
Thelonious Monk
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Last I checked, "erudite" was not derogatory.|
Originally Posted by RiOTWRAiTH
i think people need to stop sphincter-clinching over other peoples spelling and typing. when erudite psudo intellectuals begin looking down on people because they have better things to do than use spell check, it makes me feel like people are going out of their(the're/there) way to make themselves look better by trying to make me look worse
its your interernet, you can do what u want with it.please grant me the same courtesy(sp?). were not all such cunning linguists. |
Also, writing well does not make you intellectual. It makes you professional and polished. It is a skill, not a degree or an effete habit.
And lastly, sometimes that last "grammar check" before you hit the POST button on your browser is also the last chance you get to say "wait, do I really want to send THIS?"
As evidenced by the post I quoted, I really do think you should have asked yourself that question at least once, instead of doing some kind of unedited brain-to-fingers thoughtstream. It's called "editing" and every writer should engage in it. Else their words can and will come back to bite them.
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
I'll've butchered that marsupial by the time you get back.
She'd've drunk that penguin under the table, if you'd've let her!
Man, if only those were "real," if only.... *laments*