Free grammar lessons!

[GuidoHunter]

Original joke!

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com

[msbrunnettemickey]

Too bad you don't get paid for this.

[Squeek]

Yay bump!

I updated it a bit and happened to be on the lookout for proof of something Qualy PMd me regarding "Case and point", which should be "Case in point".

My English errors site mentioned nothing of it, but a quick glance toward the bottom of the page yielded an unexpected recent update!

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/more.html

Yay!

Some of those were contrary to my own beliefs, which tells you how much of an impact it would be to, say, the average 13-year old who decides to post for the first time on these forums.

[Shadow Neko]

I'm already good enough at spelling and grammar.

[sushigrlOOk]

Hey!?! >,< i know my grammars! (i hope) O.O

[duhh_]

i cant tell if this thread is serious or not. if it is, than thats pretty sad.

[Grandiagod]

Originally Posted by duhh_

i cant tell if this thread is serious or not. if it is, than thats pretty sad.

IRONY

[Selinica]

Squeek, I love you already, and this is my first day on the forums! Every forum I have ever lurked or posted in needs a sticky like this topic.

Well done.

[meno_rocks123]

Awesome job. I like the fact that you adressed all the commonly misspelled words.

[Squeek]

Originally Posted by Selinica

Squeek, I love you already, and this is my first day on the forums! Every forum I have ever lurked or posted in needs a sticky like this topic.

Well done.

No problem =)

Originally Posted by meno_rocks123

Awesome job. I like the fact that you adressed all the commonly misspelled words.

Except for "addressed" apparently...

[Billydude]

Wow, you really went through all that trouble just to say how to grammer. That's... cool, but it also makes me think your a loser. No offense or anything.

[Squeek]

grammar* (which isn't a verb, by the way)
you're*

No offense taken.

[somerndmguy]

Originally Posted by meno_rocks123

Awesome job. I like the fact that you adressed all the commonly misspelled words.

I thought that was wrong... I'm still confused...

[tha Guardians]

I learned a few concepts today and I believe now I may be a better person for this.

Caret = ^

I also learned a few of the acronym parts, and the a.k.a. / i.e. / e.g. section, and a few other things that I was not quite sure on... =)

but I still have a few more questions and contributions.

I believe symbols should be touched up on

`~@*_|\

I don't know the apostrophe resembling symbol, the squiggly, what the 'at sign' is called, what are all the uses of the asterisk, what the underscore is used for, the straight line, or when to use the backslash and not the slash.

I also believe that we should go into more detail about the hyphen and spaced words, ect.

We need more detail on run-on (you can't get mad at me for the improper hyphen usage, I've been relearning the same things in English for 8 years now) sentences, how you shouldn't start a sentence with a conjunction, or how to write math problems without ALTing everywhere.

E.g. Some of us know 10*2=20/4=5+2=7 and now I can say, thanks to the caret lesson, 7^2=49, but how would I go about to write Square roots and deeper, more complex problems?

...and what is the meaning of the { or the } anyways? When should I use single quotes? How do I know when to use the triple dot (...)? When am I supposed to space the dots? Does it matter? What are some more uses of the [ and the ]? Am I sure I'm not supposed to single quote the ['s? Was that misuse of an apostrophe? Should it be '[s'? Was that correct single quotes, or should it have been no quotes or double quotes?

What is the use for the double hyphen (elongated hyphen --)? Is it incorrect to use 2 hyphens to replace the one? What are the methods to numbering a document? A legal document? Why do we use blockquotes?

I think this could go into much more detail if we work together, and I believe that we should all have a chance to be educated on here.

I would like to see this updated every week, and I would be more than happy to contribute. PM me anytime =)

(Is it incorrect to end a sentence with a smiley and neglect proper punctuation?)

[Squeek]

Erm, I'm glad you're happy with this thread, but I wrote it more than two years ago. Weekly updates aren't incredibly sought after at this point.

` is nothing.
~ is a tilde. It's a Spanish accent mark and a Japanese means to express holding out a letter (We'd say yeaaaaaaaahhhh, they'd say yea~h!)
@ is an "at symbol". I've never seen anyone call it anything else. It's only used for e-mail.
* is an asterisk. I use it for corrections, multiplications, etc. Some people use it to express action, like Tass's famous *shrugs*.
_ is an underscore. It doesn't do much except to act as a space between words when spaces are not allowed.
| is a vertical slash. No use.
\ / are backslash and forward slash respectively. No really important usage.

There are programs for more complex mathematical symbols. Normally if you want to use Pi, Log, or Square Root, you just write it. Example, sq(4).

{ and } are used in set notation. {0, 1, 2, ... 9} is an example of a set containing the first 10 numbers starting at 0.

... is an ellipsis. You can use it standalone "..." to express the fact that you are speechless in reply to something, or you can use it to trail off...

[ and ] are only used in case of double parentheses. [x-(y+2)]

I don't know. Meh.

A "double hyphen" is merely a dash. You use it to separate similar yet separate ideas in a sentence. Word and other word processors will autocorrect that into a dash.

And finally, I've had the smiley discussion before and concluded that it's OK to end sentences with smilies as they merely serve as a means by which to express how you would look saying that sentence orally.

[tha Guardians]

I would also like to hear about sentences starting with Because, and However.

I need to stress greatly the importance of the semicolon and the hyphen/double hyphen, but I hope it shall be in the next update, and I recently came across where someone posted

"...today's..." in the possesive form. Now, wouldn't this be saying 'today is' and not 'belonging to today', or 'of today' as the word 'it's' is suggesting 'it is' and not 'belonging to it'? Hope you're still with me...

Well, as lazy as I am, I would like to see an update in your list and I guess I'll get on that *complains and coughs*

I have the flu ='(

...and to your above statement, the (double quotes lol, are they allowed?)
""at symbol"" (@) can also be used to express two teams in a sports league playing at a certain field.

E.g. LHS@BHS or Sparkman@Grissom.

Ha.

...and in continuation of my severe ignorance, low self-esteem, and emmaculate retardation, I shall also point out that [ and ] may also be used to insert translation or full value of a meaning inside of a quote.

E.g. "Let any one who doubts this [abortion of slavery] comtemplate that now almost complete legal combination -- piece of machinery, so to speak -- compounded of the Nebraska doctrine, and the Dred Scott decision."

-Abraham Lincoln

[usaf2007]

Enjoy: http://www.englishchick.com/grammar/

[GuidoHunter]

Originally Posted by tha Guardians

I would also like to hear about sentences starting with Because, and However.

It's fine. That's an archaic rule that even I'm willing to abandon.

I need to stress greatly the importance of the semicolon and the hyphen/double hyphen, but I hope it shall be in the next update

The semicolon, in its most used form, simply joins two independent clauses. "I went to the park with Kevin. We had fun." sounds choppy, so they can be joined by a semicolon to make the sentence flow better: "I went to the park with Kevin; we had fun." Since it's still grammatical to separate the two with a period, the semicolon also typically joins two short sentences that are of the same thought. In the above example, the having fun was done at the park. "It's midnight. I like pie." probably shouldn't use a semicolon since the second thought is a non sequitur, despite how choppy it sounds.

A semicolon can also be used in the same way that a comma is when you join two independent clauses with a conjunction. The semicolon is very rarely employed in this way, as a comma almost always looks better and simpler.

The third way it can be used is to separate items in a list, where some of the items use a comma themselves. This avoids confusion for the reader.

The single dash (just call it the hyphen, and the double-dash the dash) functions only to join hyphenated words and to end a line in a word that continues on the next line, in a logical fashion, of course (that is, you would hyphenate "unfinished" "un-finished", not "unfi-nished"). Since we no longer use typewriters, this isn't really an issue anymore, unless you have poor planning skills when writing on paper.

The dash is used to indicate an abrupt stop in speech. "I was on my way to the sto-- What was that?!" I can't think of any other use off the top of my head.

and I recently came across where someone posted

"...today's..." in the possesive form. Now, wouldn't this be saying 'today is' and not 'belonging to today', or 'of today' as the word 'it's' is suggesting 'it is' and not 'belonging to it'? Hope you're still with me...

Since, as you say, it's in the possessive form, that would NOT be saying "today is". You choose a VERY poor example when you try to link this to "it's", since the possessive and contracted form of those words are a special exception to the apostrophe rule. "today's..." means "belonging to today" or "today is" depending on the context of the sentence (and, more importantly, the following word).

...and to your above statement, the (double quotes lol, are they allowed?)
""at symbol"" (@) can also be used to express two teams in a sports league playing at a certain field.

Double quotes are not allowed. If you must have nested quotes, alternate between double and single.

As for the at sign (and all the others), yes, they have other uses, but they aren't really worth mentioning.

P.S. the # sign is technically known as the octothorpe.

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com

[Vests]

I hate to break this to you, but you enjoy comma splicing. Though I understand why, since it is the most common gramatical error. However, why must you advocate that people need to use proper grammar in order to be intellegent? Some people are incredibly intellegent in real life, but they like slacking off while around the computer. Everyone makes issues in grammar and spelling it is, in itself inevitable.

I myself advocate that I'm decent at spelling and decent at grammar, however I know I get confused with ending of words, since they sound like they're spelt one way, but they would actually be spelled another way. So seriously, why do you do stuff like this? If people really wanted to learn they could simply go to school and learn it like they're supposed to. The net isn't a place for proper sentence structure, it is a place to most people to just chill and relax for the day.

[stretchypanda]

There's an enormous difference between "just chilling" and brutally sodomizing the English language.

As far as I know, we're not too concerned with the former.

I'm pretty sure it's been said countless times in this thread, including in the first post, that we are not REQUIRING users to use perfect grammar and spelling. This thread exists as a reference, and many users have found it very, very helpful. It's ridiculous that you should ask why we advocate for appropriate grammar on the forums. It's pretty simple -- we don't like having to decipher what someone swears is English. One should not simply throw away all the knowledge one has on what it takes to form coherent sentences just because one is on the internet and one's teacher is not reading.

People judge you when you use bad grammar.