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Only ... what?
Changed line(s) 61,63 (click to see context) from:
*** Contracted verbs -- "Your hat's lilac. Mine's magenta. See the difference?" In this case, "mine's" is a contraction between "mine" and "is". While this is grammatically correct, this scenario is pretty much only restricted to dialogue.
*** The pronoun is part of a relative clause -- "Since she liked it so much, Mary bought the cat that John gave her's siblings", or even "No child of ours's house will ever have mice." Note that while this is technically correct grammatically, it's rather clunky and should only be used when there's absolutely no alternative.
*** The pronoun is part of a relative clause -- "Since she liked it so much, Mary bought the cat that John gave her's siblings", or even "No child of ours's house will ever have mice." Note that while this is technically correct grammatically, it's rather clunky and should only be used when there's absolutely no alternative.
to:
*** Contracted verbs -- "Your hat's lilac. Mine's magenta. See the difference?" In this case, "mine's" is a contraction between "mine" and "is". While this is grammatically correct, this scenario is pretty much only restricted to only dialogue.
*** The pronoun is part of a relative clause -- "Since she liked it so much, Mary bought the cat that John gave her's siblings", or even "No child of ours's house will ever have mice." Note that while this is technically correct grammatically, it's rather clunky and shouldonly be used only when there's absolutely no alternative.
*** The pronoun is part of a relative clause -- "Since she liked it so much, Mary bought the cat that John gave her's siblings", or even "No child of ours's house will ever have mice." Note that while this is technically correct grammatically, it's rather clunky and should
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We (adjectives, e.g. "both") don't need no [stinking] preposition (there).
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Changed line(s) 73,74 (click to see context) from:
** There do exist circumstances where pronouns can legitimately end up next to apostrophes:[[note]] Both of these scenarios are rather rare, however, and shouldn't be used for general prose (like on this wiki).[[/note]]
to:
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Also, I'm using Quillbot now... Not as good as Grammarly (which lags my phone) but it still give me some clue here...
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Also, I'm using Quillbot now... Not as good as Grammarly (which lags my phone) but it still give me some clue here
Changed line(s) 3,6 (click to see context) from:
Your contribution is more important to us than some minor spelling blunder, but don't rely on people cleaning after you too much. The [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=b9tcd2k65789p1pglrd92nvr Get Help With English]] thread can help if you're not confident in your writing, and editors who regularly leave a mess are sent there by the mods. If you ''really'' don't feel like a grammar lesson right now, just click the back button and [[CanonDiscontinuity pretend this never happened]], at your own risk. If you're looking to save our resident {{Grammar Nazi}}s some grief, however, you may want to read the following.
* '''Capitalization:''' The first letter of every new sentence should be a capital letter. A new sentence starts after a period (.), a question mark (?), or an exclamation mark (!). You should also capitalize people's names (Alice, Bob), movie/book/series titles (''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''), places which are likely to show up in the Atlas (the Middle East, Paris) and the word I ([[Administrivia/FirstPersonWriting although you really shouldn't be using that in the first place]]).
* '''Capitalization:''' The first letter of every new sentence should be a capital letter. A new sentence starts after a period (.), a question mark (?), or an exclamation mark (!). You should also capitalize people's names (Alice, Bob), movie/book/series titles (''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''), places which are likely to show up in the Atlas (the Middle East, Paris) and the word I ([[Administrivia/FirstPersonWriting although you really shouldn't be using that in the first place]]).
to:
Your contribution is more important to us than some minor spelling blunder, but don't rely on people cleaning up after you too much. The [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=b9tcd2k65789p1pglrd92nvr Get Help With English]] thread can help if you're not confident in your writing, and editors who regularly leave a mess are sent there by the mods. If you ''really'' don't feel like a grammar lesson right now, just click the back button and [[CanonDiscontinuity pretend this never happened]], at your own risk. If you're looking to save our resident {{Grammar Nazi}}s some grief, however, you may want to read the following.
following:
* '''Capitalization:''' The first letter of every new sentence should be a capital letter. A new sentence starts after a period (.), a question mark (?), or an exclamation mark (!). You should also capitalize people's names (Alice, Bob), movie/book/series titles (''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''), placeswhich that are likely to show up in the Atlas (the Middle East, Paris) Paris), and the word I ([[Administrivia/FirstPersonWriting although you really shouldn't be using that in the first place]]).
* '''Capitalization:''' The first letter of every new sentence should be a capital letter. A new sentence starts after a period (.), a question mark (?), or an exclamation mark (!). You should also capitalize people's names (Alice, Bob), movie/book/series titles (''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''), places
Changed line(s) 9 (click to see context) from:
** After each punctuation mark there should be a space.
to:
** After each punctuation mark mark, there should be a space.
Changed line(s) 11,15 (click to see context) from:
*** Note that this is not a hard and fast rule, as commas aren't necessarily an indication of pacing. For example: "The cat who hates Jack is looking at me." and "The cat, who hates Jack, is looking at me." can be said exactly the same (possibly with some slight inflection differences), but they mean different things. The first sentence is specifying a cat, whereas in the second, "who hates Jack" is just added detail and not mechanically part of the idea conveyed by the sentence. This is an example of essential clause vs non-essential clause. There are other examples (particularly descriptive ones) where a comma and a pause don't necessarily go hand-in-hand.
*** Further, your speech patterns/rhythm might not be much different between "I go to the mall and like to shop." and "I go to the mall, and I like to shop." But notice that the second requires a comma as the portion of the sentence following the conjunction is an independent clause (it has its own subject, whereas the first sentence does not).
** Exclamation marks and ellipses (...) carry a lot of emotional punch, so use them sparingly. Spamming the exclamation mark is reserved for scenes of utmost urgency; spamming the ellipsis is reserved for fleeting streams of consciousness. Neither of these is likely to belong here. In a moment of extreme excitement, one exclamation mark is permissible. More than one is almost always unnecessary, unattractive, and un-good.
* '''"Was" vs "Were":''' "Was" is used as a singular past tense, while "were" is used for plural past tense. "Were" is also used in imaginary and hypothetical sentences (such as sentences that start with "if", or "I wish"), regardless of whether or not they're singular or plural. An exception is made when it is assumed that it might possibly be true and the speaker indicates a statement.
*** Further, your speech patterns/rhythm might not be much different between "I go to the mall and like to shop." and "I go to the mall, and I like to shop." But notice that the second requires a comma as the portion of the sentence following the conjunction is an independent clause (it has its own subject, whereas the first sentence does not).
** Exclamation marks and ellipses (...) carry a lot of emotional punch, so use them sparingly. Spamming the exclamation mark is reserved for scenes of utmost urgency; spamming the ellipsis is reserved for fleeting streams of consciousness. Neither of these is likely to belong here. In a moment of extreme excitement, one exclamation mark is permissible. More than one is almost always unnecessary, unattractive, and un-good.
* '''"Was" vs "Were":''' "Was" is used as a singular past tense, while "were" is used for plural past tense. "Were" is also used in imaginary and hypothetical sentences (such as sentences that start with "if", or "I wish"), regardless of whether or not they're singular or plural. An exception is made when it is assumed that it might possibly be true and the speaker indicates a statement.
to:
*** Note that this is not a hard and fast rule, as commas aren't necessarily an indication of pacing. For example: "The cat who hates Jack is looking at me." and "The cat, who hates Jack, is looking at me." can be said exactly the same (possibly with some slight inflection differences), but they mean different things. The first sentence is specifying a cat, whereas in the second, "who hates Jack" is just an added detail and not mechanically part of the idea conveyed by the sentence. This is an example of essential clause vs vs. non-essential clause. There are other examples (particularly descriptive ones) where a comma and a pause don't necessarily go hand-in-hand.
*** Further, your speech patterns/rhythm might not be much different between "I go to the mall and like to shop." and "I go to the mall, and I like to shop." But notice that the second sentence requires a comma as the portion of the sentence following the conjunction is an independent clause (it has its own subject, whereas the first sentence does not).
** Exclamation marks and ellipses (...) carry a lot of emotional punch, so use them sparingly. Spamming the exclamation mark is reserved for scenes of utmost urgency; spamming the ellipsis is reserved for fleeting streams of consciousness. Neither of these is likely to belong here. In a moment of extreme excitement, one exclamation mark is permissible. More than one is almost always unnecessary, unattractive, andun-good.
unwise.
* '''"Was"vs vs. "Were":''' "Was" is used as a singular past tense, while "were" is used for plural past tense. "Were" is also used in imaginary and hypothetical sentences (such as sentences that start with "if", "if" or "I wish"), regardless of whether or not they're singular or plural. An exception is made when it is assumed that it might possibly be true and the speaker indicates a statement.
*** Further, your speech patterns/rhythm might not be much different between "I go to the mall and like to shop." and "I go to the mall, and I like to shop." But notice that the second sentence requires a comma as the portion of the sentence following the conjunction is an independent clause (it has its own subject, whereas the first sentence does not).
** Exclamation marks and ellipses (...) carry a lot of emotional punch, so use them sparingly. Spamming the exclamation mark is reserved for scenes of utmost urgency; spamming the ellipsis is reserved for fleeting streams of consciousness. Neither of these is likely to belong here. In a moment of extreme excitement, one exclamation mark is permissible. More than one is almost always unnecessary, unattractive, and
* '''"Was"
Changed line(s) 21,26 (click to see context) from:
* '''"Who" vs "Whom":''' "Who" acts subjectively like "I", "he", or "she". "Whom" acts like an object , like "me" or "him".
** Examples: "Who is coming with me?"; "The person is who?"; "To whom should I give the money?" "Whom should I pick?" You would not say "Whom should I say is calling?" as you wouldn't say "I say him is calling." "Whom should I say is calling?" is functionally equivalent to "Whom is calling?", which is clearly wrong.
* '''"Whoever" vs "Whomever":''' The choice depends on the function within a clause, not the sentence as a whole. Consider the following subject clauses (with the subject clauses in parentheses for clarity): "(Whoever stole the ball) should return it." and "(Whomever I choose) will get the last dance with me." In the first, "Whoever" is the subject of the subject clause, whereas in the second, "Whomever" is a direct object within a subject clause. "I will give the book to whomever pays me money." would be wrong. While "to whom" is appropriate, the decision is not based on that, but rather on who/whom is paying money ("who" (not "whom") pays money, so it should be "whoever."
* '''What Goes After "Than"?''' It depends on what you're saying. If you are comparing the doer of an action, then most likely you want the subject (I, he, she, etc). If it's a direct object, then you likely want the object (me, him, her, etc).
** Examples: "Who is coming with me?"; "The person is who?"; "To whom should I give the money?" "Whom should I pick?" You would not say "Whom should I say is calling?" as you wouldn't say "I say him is calling." "Whom should I say is calling?" is functionally equivalent to "Whom is calling?", which is clearly wrong.
* '''"Whoever" vs "Whomever":''' The choice depends on the function within a clause, not the sentence as a whole. Consider the following subject clauses (with the subject clauses in parentheses for clarity): "(Whoever stole the ball) should return it." and "(Whomever I choose) will get the last dance with me." In the first, "Whoever" is the subject of the subject clause, whereas in the second, "Whomever" is a direct object within a subject clause. "I will give the book to whomever pays me money." would be wrong. While "to whom" is appropriate, the decision is not based on that, but rather on who/whom is paying money ("who" (not "whom") pays money, so it should be "whoever."
* '''What Goes After "Than"?''' It depends on what you're saying. If you are comparing the doer of an action, then most likely you want the subject (I, he, she, etc). If it's a direct object, then you likely want the object (me, him, her, etc).
to:
* '''"Who" vs vs. "Whom":''' "Who" acts subjectively like "I", "he", "I," "he," or "she". "she." "Whom" acts like an object , object, like "me" or "him".
"him."
** Examples: "Who is coming with me?"; "The person is who?"; "To whom should I give the money?" "Whom should I pick?" You would notsay say, "Whom should I say is calling?" as you wouldn't say say, "I say him is calling." "Whom should I say is calling?" is functionally equivalent to "Whom is calling?", calling?" which is clearly wrong.
* '''"Whoever"vs vs. "Whomever":''' The choice depends on the function within a clause, not the sentence as a whole. Consider the following subject clauses (with the subject clauses in parentheses for clarity): "(Whoever stole the ball) should return it." and "(Whomever I choose) will get the last dance with me." In the first, "Whoever" is the subject of the subject clause, whereas in the second, "Whomever" is a direct object within a subject clause. "I will give the book to whomever pays me money." would be wrong. While "to whom" is appropriate, the decision is not based on that, but rather on who/whom is paying money ("who" (not "whom") pays money, so it should be "whoever."
* '''What Goes After "Than"?''' It depends on what you're saying. If you are comparing the doer of an action, then most likely you want the subject (I, he, she,etc). etc.). If it's a direct object, then you likely want the object (me, him, her, etc).etc.).
** Examples: "Who is coming with me?"; "The person is who?"; "To whom should I give the money?" "Whom should I pick?" You would not
* '''"Whoever"
* '''What Goes After "Than"?''' It depends on what you're saying. If you are comparing the doer of an action, then most likely you want the subject (I, he, she,
Changed line(s) 30,32 (click to see context) from:
* '''What Goes after "And"?''' Jill and I, or Jill and me? It depends on the function of the noun. If it's a subject, predicate nominative, or appositive, use the subjective (I, he, etc). Otherwise, if it's an object or object of a preposition, use the objective (me, him, them, etc). The fact that the word comes after "and" means nothing. An easy way to figure out which one to use would be to remove the noun before and ("Jill and I" to just "I"), and see if the sentence still works properly.
** Example: "I'm glad that you came to see Jill and I." is wrong, as it would be like saying "I'm glad that you came to see I.".
** Example: "I'm glad that you came to see Jill and I." is wrong, as it would be like saying "I'm glad that you came to see I.".
to:
* '''What Goes after After "And"?''' Jill and I, or Jill and me? It depends on the function of the noun. If it's a subject, predicate nominative, or appositive, use the subjective (I, he, etc). etc.). Otherwise, if it's an object or object of a preposition, use the objective (me, him, them, etc).etc.). The fact that the word comes after "and" means nothing. An easy way to figure out which one to use would be to remove the noun before and ("Jill and I" to just "I"), "I") and see if the sentence still works properly.
** Example: "I'm glad that you came to see Jill and I." is wrong, as it would be like saying "I'm glad that you came to see I.".
"
** Example: "I'm glad that you came to see Jill and I." is wrong, as it would be like saying "I'm glad that you came to see I.
Changed line(s) 35,36 (click to see context) from:
** Example: "I either have to go or Jack will die." should be "Either, I have to go, or Jack will die." In the original, "Jack will die" would be one of the options of things "I" could do.
to:
** Example: "I either have to go or Jack will die." should be "Either, "Either I have to go, go or Jack will die." In the original, "Jack will die" would be one of the options of things "I" could do.
Changed line(s) 45 (click to see context) from:
** Example: "As a doctor, what is my prognosis?" or ever "As a doctor, what would you say is my prognosis?" are also both wrong, even though the latter may be considered acceptable as it contains "you" even though "what" is technically the subject.
to:
** Example: "As a doctor, what is my prognosis?" or ever ever, "As a doctor, what would you say is my prognosis?" are also both wrong, even though the latter may be considered acceptable as it contains "you" "you," even though "what" is technically the subject.
Changed line(s) 49,51 (click to see context) from:
** Some tropers confuse "would have" for "would of", probably because of the similarity in pronunciation to the contraction "would've". You can say: ''I would have said it better'', but not ''I would of said it better''.
** In the same vein "alot" [[http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html isn't a word]]. Just remember that "a lot" is the opposite of "a few", and the "a" isn't part of the word "lot". There is a word "allot", but it has nothing to do with "a lot".
** In the same vein "alot" [[http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html isn't a word]]. Just remember that "a lot" is the opposite of "a few", and the "a" isn't part of the word "lot". There is a word "allot", but it has nothing to do with "a lot".
to:
** Some tropers confuse "would have" for "would of", of," probably because of the similarity in pronunciation to the contraction "would've". "would've." You can say: ''I say, "I would have said it better'', better," but not ''I "I would of said it better''.
better."
** In the samevein vein, "alot" [[http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html isn't a word]]. Just remember that "a lot" is the opposite of "a few", few," and the "a" isn't part of the word "lot". "lot." There is a word "allot", "allot," but it has nothing to do with "a lot".
lot."
** In the same
Changed line(s) 55 (click to see context) from:
** One burrito, many burritos -- not burrito's. If the S were just added to make a plural, don't use an apostrophe.
to:
** One burrito, many burritos -- not burrito's. If the S were was just added to make a plural, don't use an apostrophe.
Changed line(s) 57,58 (click to see context) from:
** A lot of words are actually two words crammed into one, with letters lost on the way: do not → don't, they have → they've, we are → we're, it is → it's, and many others ([[GottaCatchThemAll Gotta Catch 'em All]]!). The apostrophe in this case means "some letters used to be here". If you can recognize a word as one of these, an apostrophe should go where the missing letters used to be.
*** When in doubt, remember that an apostrophe is used to show something has been ''left out''. So, if you ''keep it'', you don't have to think hard about it. For example, it's perfectly fine to write "we are" or "we were" instead of "we're", and it clears the ambiguity for you.
*** When in doubt, remember that an apostrophe is used to show something has been ''left out''. So, if you ''keep it'', you don't have to think hard about it. For example, it's perfectly fine to write "we are" or "we were" instead of "we're", and it clears the ambiguity for you.
to:
** A lot of words are actually two words crammed into one, with letters lost on the way: do not → don't, they have → they've, we are → we're, it is → it's, and many others ([[GottaCatchThemAll Gotta Catch 'em All]]!). The apostrophe in this case means "some letters used to be here". here." If you can recognize a word as one of these, an apostrophe should go where the missing letters used to be.
*** When in doubt, remember that an apostrophe is used to show something has been ''left out''. So, if you ''keep it'', you don't have to think hard about it. For example, it's perfectly fine to write "we are" or "we were" instead of"we're", "we're," and it clears the ambiguity for you.
*** When in doubt, remember that an apostrophe is used to show something has been ''left out''. So, if you ''keep it'', you don't have to think hard about it. For example, it's perfectly fine to write "we are" or "we were" instead of
Changed line(s) 74 (click to see context) from:
** There do exist circumstances where pronouns can legitimately end up next to apostrophes[[note]] Both of these scenarios are rather rare, however, and shouldn't be used for general prose (like on this wiki).[[/note]]:
to:
** There do exist circumstances where pronouns can legitimately end up next to apostrophes[[note]] apostrophes:[[note]] Both of these scenarios are rather rare, however, and shouldn't be used for general prose (like on this wiki).[[/note]]:[[/note]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 43 (click to see context) from:
* '''Avoiding Dangling Modifiers:''' Make sense a subject-less phrase used to describe what is going on matches the subject if necessary.
to:
* '''Avoiding Dangling Modifiers:''' Make sense sure a subject-less phrase used to describe what is going on matches the subject if necessary.
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None
Changed line(s) 60 (click to see context) from:
*** If the noun is singular, it's usually a matter of adding 's. Words that end with an s or z sound can follow this rule, but simply adding an apostrophe with no s is another way it can be done. To avoid debates and Administrivia/{{edit war}}s over how to handle words ending with an s or z sound, follow the same "first come, first serve" rule also used for Administrivia/AmericanAndCommonwealthSpellings.
to:
*** If the noun is singular, it's usually a matter of adding 's. Words that end with an s or z sound can follow this rule, but simply adding an apostrophe with no s is another way it can be done. To avoid debates and Administrivia/{{edit war}}s over how to handle words ending with an s or z sound, follow the same "first come, first serve" rule also used for Administrivia/AmericanAndCommonwealthSpellings.Administrivia/AmericanAndCommonwealthSpellings if you encounter one of these words on a page.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
It was mentioned here
that this isn't universally agreed upon, so I see no reason to pick a side on this when we don't do the same for other punctuation (or spelling) styles (the preference of regular quotation marks and apostrophes over their "smart" counterparts notwithstanding, since that's mainly due to how the wiki software handles them).
that this isn't universally agreed upon, so I see no reason to pick a side on this when we don't do the same for other punctuation (or spelling) styles (the preference of regular quotation marks and apostrophes over their "smart" counterparts notwithstanding, since that's mainly due to how the wiki software handles them).Changed line(s) 60 (click to see context) from:
*** If the noun is singular, add 's. Yes, even if the noun itself ends in s. A fox's tail, the quiz's answers, Jesus's disciples, even my boss's desk.
to:
*** If the noun is singular, add it's usually a matter of adding 's. Yes, even if Words that end with an s or z sound can follow this rule, but simply adding an apostrophe with no s is another way it can be done. To avoid debates and Administrivia/{{edit war}}s over how to handle words ending with an s or z sound, follow the noun itself ends in s. A fox's tail, the quiz's answers, Jesus's disciples, even my boss's desk.same "first come, first serve" rule also used for Administrivia/AmericanAndCommonwealthSpellings.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 3,6 (click to see context) from:
Your contribution is more important to us than some minor spelling blunder, but don't rely on people cleaning after you too much. The [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=b9tcd2k65789p1pglrd92nvr Get Help With English Here]] thread can help if you're not confident in your writing, and editors who make regularly leave a mess are sent there by the mods. If you ''really'' don't feel like a grammar lesson right now, just click the back button and [[CanonDiscontinuity pretend this never happened]], at your own risk. If you're looking to save our resident {{Grammar Nazi}}s some grief, however, you may want to read the following.
* '''Capitalization:''' The first letter of every new sentence should be a capital letter. A new sentence starts after a period (.), a question mark (?), or an exclamation mark (!). You should also capitalize people's names (Alice, Bob), movie/book/series titles (''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''), places which are likely to show up in the Atlas (the Middle East, Paris) and the word I ([[Administrivia/FirstPersonWriting Although you really shouldn't be using that to begin with]]).
* '''Capitalization:''' The first letter of every new sentence should be a capital letter. A new sentence starts after a period (.), a question mark (?), or an exclamation mark (!). You should also capitalize people's names (Alice, Bob), movie/book/series titles (''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''), places which are likely to show up in the Atlas (the Middle East, Paris) and the word I ([[Administrivia/FirstPersonWriting Although you really shouldn't be using that to begin with]]).
to:
Your contribution is more important to us than some minor spelling blunder, but don't rely on people cleaning after you too much. The [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=b9tcd2k65789p1pglrd92nvr Get Help With English Here]] English]] thread can help if you're not confident in your writing, and editors who make regularly leave a mess are sent there by the mods. If you ''really'' don't feel like a grammar lesson right now, just click the back button and [[CanonDiscontinuity pretend this never happened]], at your own risk. If you're looking to save our resident {{Grammar Nazi}}s some grief, however, you may want to read the following.
* '''Capitalization:''' The first letter of every new sentence should be a capital letter. A new sentence starts after a period (.), a question mark (?), or an exclamation mark (!). You should also capitalize people's names (Alice, Bob), movie/book/series titles (''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''), places which are likely to show up in the Atlas (the Middle East, Paris) and the word I ([[Administrivia/FirstPersonWritingAlthough although you really shouldn't be using that to begin with]]).
in the first place]]).
* '''Capitalization:''' The first letter of every new sentence should be a capital letter. A new sentence starts after a period (.), a question mark (?), or an exclamation mark (!). You should also capitalize people's names (Alice, Bob), movie/book/series titles (''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''), places which are likely to show up in the Atlas (the Middle East, Paris) and the word I ([[Administrivia/FirstPersonWriting
Changed line(s) 10,11 (click to see context) from:
** We cannot hope to instruct you on when it is appropriate to use a comma (,). The official rules for this were obviously determined by a bunch of drunk guys playing homebrew ''Series/WheelOfFortune''. Just imagine yourself saying the sentence out loud, pause considerably with each comma, add/remove commas accordingly whenever the pacing seems off and hope for the best.
*** This is not a hard and fast rule as commas aren't necessarily an indication of pacing. For example: "The cat who hates Jack is looking at me." and "The cat, who hates Jack, is looking at me." can be said exactly the same (possibly with some slight inflection differences, but they mean different things. The first sentence is specifying a cat, whereas in the second, "who hates Jack" is just added detail and not mechanically part of the idea conveyed by the sentence. This is an example of essential clause vs non-essential clause. There are other examples (particularly descriptive ones) where a comma and a pause don't necessarily go hand-in-hand.
*** This is not a hard and fast rule as commas aren't necessarily an indication of pacing. For example: "The cat who hates Jack is looking at me." and "The cat, who hates Jack, is looking at me." can be said exactly the same (possibly with some slight inflection differences, but they mean different things. The first sentence is specifying a cat, whereas in the second, "who hates Jack" is just added detail and not mechanically part of the idea conveyed by the sentence. This is an example of essential clause vs non-essential clause. There are other examples (particularly descriptive ones) where a comma and a pause don't necessarily go hand-in-hand.
to:
** We cannot hope to instruct you on when it is appropriate to use a comma (,). The official rules for this were obviously determined by a bunch of drunk guys playing homebrew ''Series/WheelOfFortune''. Just One way to figure out when a comma is or isn't needed is to imagine yourself saying the sentence out loud, pause considerably with each comma, and add/remove commas accordingly whenever the pacing seems off and hope for the best.
off.
***This Note that this is not a hard and fast rule rule, as commas aren't necessarily an indication of pacing. For example: "The cat who hates Jack is looking at me." and "The cat, who hates Jack, is looking at me." can be said exactly the same (possibly with some slight inflection differences, differences), but they mean different things. The first sentence is specifying a cat, whereas in the second, "who hates Jack" is just added detail and not mechanically part of the idea conveyed by the sentence. This is an example of essential clause vs non-essential clause. There are other examples (particularly descriptive ones) where a comma and a pause don't necessarily go hand-in-hand.
***
Changed line(s) 13,15 (click to see context) from:
** Exclamation marks and ellipses (...) carry a lot of emotional punch, so use them sparingly. Spamming the exclamation mark is reserved for scenes of utmost urgency; spamming the ellipsis is reserved for fleeting streams of consciousness. Neither of these is likely to belong here. In a moment of extreme excitement, one exclamation mark is permissible. More than one is unnecessary, unattractive, and ungood.
* '''"Was" vs "Were":''' "Was" is used as a singular past tense, while "were" is used for plural past tense. "Were" is also used in imaginary and hypothetical sentences (such as sentences that start with "if", or "I wish"), regardless of it being singular or plural. An exception is made when it is assumed that it might possibly be true and the speaker indicates a statement.
* '''"Was" vs "Were":''' "Was" is used as a singular past tense, while "were" is used for plural past tense. "Were" is also used in imaginary and hypothetical sentences (such as sentences that start with "if", or "I wish"), regardless of it being singular or plural. An exception is made when it is assumed that it might possibly be true and the speaker indicates a statement.
to:
** Exclamation marks and ellipses (...) carry a lot of emotional punch, so use them sparingly. Spamming the exclamation mark is reserved for scenes of utmost urgency; spamming the ellipsis is reserved for fleeting streams of consciousness. Neither of these is likely to belong here. In a moment of extreme excitement, one exclamation mark is permissible. More than one is almost always unnecessary, unattractive, and ungood.
un-good.
* '''"Was" vs "Were":''' "Was" is used as a singular past tense, while "were" is used for plural past tense. "Were" is also used in imaginary and hypothetical sentences (such as sentences that start with "if", or "I wish"), regardless ofit being whether or not they're singular or plural. An exception is made when it is assumed that it might possibly be true and the speaker indicates a statement.
* '''"Was" vs "Were":''' "Was" is used as a singular past tense, while "were" is used for plural past tense. "Were" is also used in imaginary and hypothetical sentences (such as sentences that start with "if", or "I wish"), regardless of
Changed line(s) 26 (click to see context) from:
* '''What Goes After "Than"?''' It depends on what you're saying. If you are comparing the doer of an action, then most likely you want the subject (I, he, etc). If it's a direct object, then you likely want the object (me, him, her, etc).
to:
* '''What Goes After "Than"?''' It depends on what you're saying. If you are comparing the doer of an action, then most likely you want the subject (I, he, she, etc). If it's a direct object, then you likely want the object (me, him, her, etc).
Changed line(s) 30,32 (click to see context) from:
* '''What Goes after "And"?''' Jill and I? Jill and me? It depends on the function of the noun. If it's a subject, predicate nominative, or appositive, used the subjective (I, he, etc). Otherwise (if it's a direct or indirect object or object of a preposition), use the objective (me, him, them, etc). The fact that the word comes after "and" means nothing.
** Example: "I'm glad that you came to see Jill and I." is wrong.
** Example: "I'm glad that you came to see Jill and I." is wrong.
to:
* '''What Goes after "And"?''' Jill and I? I, or Jill and me? It depends on the function of the noun. If it's a subject, predicate nominative, or appositive, used use the subjective (I, he, etc). Otherwise (if Otherwise, if it's a direct or indirect an object or object of a preposition), preposition, use the objective (me, him, them, etc). The fact that the word comes after "and" means nothing.
nothing. An easy way to figure out which one to use would be to remove the noun before and ("Jill and I" to just "I"), and see if the sentence still works properly.
** Example: "I'm glad that you came to see Jill and I." iswrong.
wrong, as it would be like saying "I'm glad that you came to see I.".
** Example: "I'm glad that you came to see Jill and I." is
Changed line(s) 50,51 (click to see context) from:
** In the same vein, don't say "alot". [[http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html It isn't a word.]] Just remember that "a lot" is the opposite of "a few", and the "a" isn't part of the word "lot". There is a word "allot", but it has nothing to do with "a lot".
to:
** In the same vein, don't say "alot". vein "alot" [[http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html It isn't a word.]] word]]. Just remember that "a lot" is the opposite of "a few", and the "a" isn't part of the word "lot". There is a word "allot", but it has nothing to do with "a lot".
Changed line(s) 68 (click to see context) from:
*** ''She'' → ''her'' burrito, the burrito is ''hers''.
to:
*** ''She'' → ''her'' burrito, the burrito is ''hers''. (''she's'' means ''she is'' or ''she has''.)
Changed line(s) 70 (click to see context) from:
*** ''They'' → ''their'' burrito, the burrito is ''theirs''. (''they're'' means ''they are''. ''Their's'' is not a word. ''There'' usually means a place.)
to:
*** ''They'' → ''their'' burrito, the burrito is ''theirs''. (''they're'' means ''they are''. ''Their's'' is not a word. ''There'' Additionally, ''there'' usually means refers to a place.)
Changed line(s) 72,77 (click to see context) from:
*** ''It'' → ''its'' burrito, the burrito is ''its''. (This one is a very common pitfall, because ''its'' and ''it's'' sound exactly the same. As long as you remember that ''it's'' is always short for ''it is'' or ''it has'', you'll be fine. ''Its[='=]'' is not a word.)
** There do exist circumstances where pronouns can legitimately end up next to apostrophes:
*** Contracted verbs -- "Your hat's lilac. Mine's magenta. See the difference?"
*** The pronoun is part of a relative clause -- "Since she liked it so much, Mary bought the cat that John gave her's siblings", or even "No child of ours's house will ever have mice." However, the first is pretty much restricted to dialogue, and the second, while technically grammatical, is clunky so is best used only when there's absolutely no alternative. For general prose, avoid both.
** There do exist circumstances where pronouns can legitimately end up next to apostrophes:
*** Contracted verbs -- "Your hat's lilac. Mine's magenta. See the difference?"
*** The pronoun is part of a relative clause -- "Since she liked it so much, Mary bought the cat that John gave her's siblings", or even "No child of ours's house will ever have mice." However, the first is pretty much restricted to dialogue, and the second, while technically grammatical, is clunky so is best used only when there's absolutely no alternative. For general prose, avoid both.
to:
*** ''It'' → ''its'' burrito, the burrito is ''its''. (This one is a very common pitfall, because ''its'' and ''it's'' sound exactly the same. As long as you remember Remember that ''it's'' is always short for ''it is'' or ''it has'', and you'll be fine. ''Its[='=]'' is not a word.)
** There do exist circumstances where pronouns can legitimately end up next toapostrophes:
apostrophes[[note]] Both of these scenarios are rather rare, however, and shouldn't be used for general prose (like on this wiki).[[/note]]:
*** Contracted verbs -- "Your hat's lilac. Mine's magenta. See thedifference?"
difference?" In this case, "mine's" is a contraction between "mine" and "is". While this is grammatically correct, this scenario is pretty much only restricted to dialogue.
*** The pronoun is part of a relative clause -- "Since she liked it so much, Mary bought the cat that John gave her's siblings", or even "No child of ours's house will ever have mice."However, the first is pretty much restricted to dialogue, and the second, Note that while this is technically grammatical, is correct grammatically, it's rather clunky so is best and should only be used only when there's absolutely no alternative. For general prose, avoid both.
alternative.
** There do exist circumstances where pronouns can legitimately end up next to
*** Contracted verbs -- "Your hat's lilac. Mine's magenta. See the
*** The pronoun is part of a relative clause -- "Since she liked it so much, Mary bought the cat that John gave her's siblings", or even "No child of ours's house will ever have mice."
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
some chages based on the points brought up here: https://tvtropes.org//pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1618086045064904400&page=9#comment-209
Changed line(s) 3,4 (click to see context) from:
Your contribution is more important to us than some minor spelling blunder. If you ''really'' don't feel like a grammar lesson right now, just click the back button and [[CanonDiscontinuity pretend this never happened]]. If you're looking to save our resident {{Grammar Nazi}}s some grief, however, you may want to read the following.
to:
Your contribution is more important to us than some minor spelling blunder. blunder, but don't rely on people cleaning after you too much. The [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=b9tcd2k65789p1pglrd92nvr Get Help With English Here]] thread can help if you're not confident in your writing, and editors who make regularly leave a mess are sent there by the mods. If you ''really'' don't feel like a grammar lesson right now, just click the back button and [[CanonDiscontinuity pretend this never happened]].happened]], at your own risk. If you're looking to save our resident {{Grammar Nazi}}s some grief, however, you may want to read the following.
Changed line(s) 10 (click to see context) from:
** We cannot hope to instruct you on when it is appropriate to use a comma (,). The official rules for this were obviously determined by a bunch of drunk guys playing homebrew Series/WheelOfFortune. Just imagine yourself saying the sentence out loud, pause considerably with each comma, add/remove commas accordingly whenever the pacing seems off and hope for the best.
to:
** We cannot hope to instruct you on when it is appropriate to use a comma (,). The official rules for this were obviously determined by a bunch of drunk guys playing homebrew Series/WheelOfFortune.''Series/WheelOfFortune''. Just imagine yourself saying the sentence out loud, pause considerably with each comma, add/remove commas accordingly whenever the pacing seems off and hope for the best.
Changed line(s) 26 (click to see context) from:
* '''What Goes After "Than"?''' Than I? Than me?, Than he? Than him? It depends on what you're saying. Are you comparing the doer of an action? Most likely you want the subject (I, he, etc). Is it a direct object? Than you likely want the object (me, him, her, etc).
to:
* '''What Goes After "Than"?''' Than I? Than me?, Than he? Than him? It depends on what you're saying. Are If you are comparing the doer of an action? Most action, then most likely you want the subject (I, he, etc). Is it If it's a direct object? Than object, then you likely want the object (me, him, her, etc).
Changed line(s) 48,54 (click to see context) from:
Warning-- incoming WallOfText. Don't despair! You can do it!
This little thing here → ' '''(the apostrophe)''' causes a lot of trouble. Probably most of the trouble. Some tips on its use:
* One burrito, many burritos-- not burrito's. If the S were just added to make a plural, don't use an apostrophe.
* A lot of words are actually two words crammed into one, with letters lost on the way: do not → don't, they have → they've, we are → we're, it is → it's, and many others ([[GottaCatchThemAll Gotta Catch 'em All]]!). The apostrophe in this case means "some letters used to be here". If you can recognize a word as one of these, an apostrophe should go where the missing letters used to be.
* Julia's eyes, Joe's burrito. When a Y belongs to X, you can say it is X's Y, with an apostrophe.
This little thing here → ' '''(the apostrophe)''' causes a lot of trouble. Probably most of the trouble. Some tips on its use:
* One burrito, many burritos-- not burrito's. If the S were just added to make a plural, don't use an apostrophe.
* A lot of words are actually two words crammed into one, with letters lost on the way: do not → don't, they have → they've, we are → we're, it is → it's, and many others ([[GottaCatchThemAll Gotta Catch 'em All]]!). The apostrophe in this case means "some letters used to be here". If you can recognize a word as one of these, an apostrophe should go where the missing letters used to be.
* Julia's eyes, Joe's burrito. When a Y belongs to X, you can say it is X's Y, with an apostrophe.
to:
** Some tropers confuse "would have" for "would of", probably because of the similarity in pronunciation to the contraction "would've". You can say: ''I would have said it better'', but not ''I would of said it better''.
** In the same vein, don't say "alot". [[http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html It isn't a word.]] Just remember that "a lot" is the opposite of "a few", and the "a" isn't part of the word "lot". There is a word "allot", but it has nothing to do with "a lot".
!! Warning -- incoming WallOfText. Don't despair! You can do it!
* This little thing here → ' '''(the apostrophe)''' causes a lot of trouble. Probably most of the trouble. Some tips on its
*
** One burrito, many
** A lot of words are actually two words crammed into one, with letters lost on the way: do not → don't, they have → they've, we are → we're, it is → it's, and many others ([[GottaCatchThemAll Gotta Catch 'em All]]!). The apostrophe in this case means "some letters used to be here". If you can recognize a word as one of these, an apostrophe should go where the missing letters used to be.
Changed line(s) 58,97 (click to see context) from:
*** If the noun is plural and '''does not''' end in s, add 's: the children's books, the geese's wings.
'''EXCEPTION''': pronouns (I, you, he, she, we, they, who, it). These guys are allergic to this use of ''[='s=]'', so they behave completely differently. Most of them even have two different words for "X's Y" and "The Y is X's", just to be confusing.
* ''I'' → ''my'' burrito, the burrito is ''mine''
* ''You'' → ''your'' burrito, the burrito is ''yours'' (''you're'' means ''you are''. ''Your's'' is not a word.)
* ''He'' → ''his'' burrito, the burrito is ''his'' (''he's'' means ''he is'' or ''he has'')
* ''She'' → ''her'' burrito, the burrito is ''hers''
* ''We'' → ''our'' burrito, the burrito is ''ours'' (''our's'' is not a word)
* ''They'' → ''their'' burrito, the burrito is ''theirs'' (''they're'' means ''they are''. ''Their's'' is not a word. ''There'' usually means a place.)
* ''Who'' → ''whose'' burrito is it? Again I ask - the burrito is ''whose''? (''Who's'' means ''who is'' or ''who has'')
* ''It'' → ''its'' burrito, the burrito is ''its''. (This one is a very common pitfall, because ''its'' and ''it's'' sound exactly the same. As long as you remember that ''it's'' is always short for ''it is'' or ''it has'', you'll be fine. ''Its[='=]'' is not a word.)
There do exist circumstances where pronouns can legitimately end up next to apostrophes:
* Contracted verbs -- "Your hat's lilac. Mine's magenta. See the difference?"
* The pronoun is part of a relative clause -- "Mary bought all that cat John gave her's siblings, she liked it so much," or even "No child of ours's house will ever have mice."
** The sentence involving "Mary" isn't really clear. It would be clearer if it were written "Since she liked it so much, Mary bought all (of) that cat (that) John gave her's siblings." In the sentence, "Mary" is the subject, "bought" is the predicate, and the rest of the sentence is a direct object, where "siblings" is the main direct object possesesed by "that cat", which itself is descibed by "John gave her".
However, the first is pretty much restricted to dialogue, and the second, while technically grammatical, is clunky so is best used only when there's absolutely no alternative. For general prose, avoid both.
When in doubt, leave the apostrophe out.
The easiest way to get it right is to remember an apostrophe is to show something has been LEFT OUT. For example, nothing has been left out of the word:
enchiladas
But "The boy, his book" (original correct medieval usage)
has been reduced to:
"The boy's book."
However when "it" owns something, the apostrophe is NOT used: For example, if a wheel came off your bike, you could correctly write:
It's horrible. My bike lost its wheel.
Some tropers confuse "would have" for "would of", probably because of the similarity in pronunciation to the contraction "would've". You can say: ''I would have said it better'', but not ''I would of said it better''. In the same vein, don't say "alot". [[http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html It isn't a word.]] Just remember that "a lot" is the opposite of "a few", and the "a" isn't part of the word "lot". There is a word "allot", but it has nothing to do with "a lot".
For more sesquipedalian details on this, see WantonCrueltyToTheCommonComma, TheBigListOfBooboosAndBlunders.
'''EXCEPTION''': pronouns (I, you, he, she, we, they, who, it). These guys are allergic to this use of ''[='s=]'', so they behave completely differently. Most of them even have two different words for "X's Y" and "The Y is X's", just to be confusing.
* ''I'' → ''my'' burrito, the burrito is ''mine''
* ''You'' → ''your'' burrito, the burrito is ''yours'' (''you're'' means ''you are''. ''Your's'' is not a word.)
* ''He'' → ''his'' burrito, the burrito is ''his'' (''he's'' means ''he is'' or ''he has'')
* ''She'' → ''her'' burrito, the burrito is ''hers''
* ''We'' → ''our'' burrito, the burrito is ''ours'' (''our's'' is not a word)
* ''They'' → ''their'' burrito, the burrito is ''theirs'' (''they're'' means ''they are''. ''Their's'' is not a word. ''There'' usually means a place.)
* ''Who'' → ''whose'' burrito is it? Again I ask - the burrito is ''whose''? (''Who's'' means ''who is'' or ''who has'')
* ''It'' → ''its'' burrito, the burrito is ''its''. (This one is a very common pitfall, because ''its'' and ''it's'' sound exactly the same. As long as you remember that ''it's'' is always short for ''it is'' or ''it has'', you'll be fine. ''Its[='=]'' is not a word.)
There do exist circumstances where pronouns can legitimately end up next to apostrophes:
* Contracted verbs -- "Your hat's lilac. Mine's magenta. See the difference?"
* The pronoun is part of a relative clause -- "Mary bought all that cat John gave her's siblings, she liked it so much," or even "No child of ours's house will ever have mice."
** The sentence involving "Mary" isn't really clear. It would be clearer if it were written "Since she liked it so much, Mary bought all (of) that cat (that) John gave her's siblings." In the sentence, "Mary" is the subject, "bought" is the predicate, and the rest of the sentence is a direct object, where "siblings" is the main direct object possesesed by "that cat", which itself is descibed by "John gave her".
However, the first is pretty much restricted to dialogue, and the second, while technically grammatical, is clunky so is best used only when there's absolutely no alternative. For general prose, avoid both.
When in doubt, leave the apostrophe out.
The easiest way to get it right is to remember an apostrophe is to show something has been LEFT OUT. For example, nothing has been left out of the word:
enchiladas
But "The boy, his book" (original correct medieval usage)
has been reduced to:
"The boy's book."
However when "it" owns something, the apostrophe is NOT used: For example, if a wheel came off your bike, you could correctly write:
It's horrible. My bike lost its wheel.
Some tropers confuse "would have" for "would of", probably because of the similarity in pronunciation to the contraction "would've". You can say: ''I would have said it better'', but not ''I would of said it better''. In the same vein, don't say "alot". [[http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html It isn't a word.]] Just remember that "a lot" is the opposite of "a few", and the "a" isn't part of the word "lot". There is a word "allot", but it has nothing to do with "a lot".
For more sesquipedalian details on this, see WantonCrueltyToTheCommonComma, TheBigListOfBooboosAndBlunders.
to:
*** If the noun is plural and '''does not''' ''does not'' end in s, add 's: the children's books, the geese's wings.
** '''EXCEPTION''': pronouns (I, you, he, she, we, they, who, it). Theseguys are allergic to this use of ''[='s=]'', so they behave completely differently. Most of them even have two different words for "X's Y" and "The Y is X's", just to be confusing.
* *** ''I'' → ''my'' burrito, the burrito is ''mine''
*''mine''. (NOT ''I's'')
*** ''You'' → ''your'' burrito, the burrito is''yours'' ''yours''. (''you're'' means would mean ''you are''. ''Your's'' is not a word.)
* *** ''He'' → ''his'' burrito, the burrito is ''his'' ''his''. (''he's'' means ''he is'' or ''he has'')
*has''.)
*** ''She'' → ''her'' burrito, the burrito is''hers''
*''hers''.
*** ''We'' → ''our'' burrito, the burrito is''ours'' ''ours''. (''our's'' is not a word)
*word.)
*** ''They'' → ''their'' burrito, the burrito is''theirs'' ''theirs''. (''they're'' means ''they are''. ''Their's'' is not a word. ''There'' usually means a place.)
* *** ''Who'' → ''whose'' burrito is it? Again I ask - the burrito is ''whose''? (''Who's'' means ''who is'' or ''who has'')
*has''.)
*** ''It'' → ''its'' burrito, the burrito is ''its''. (This one is a very common pitfall, because ''its'' and ''it's'' sound exactly the same. As long as you remember that ''it's'' is always short for ''it is'' or ''it has'', you'll be fine. ''Its[='=]'' is not a word.)
** There do exist circumstances where pronouns can legitimately end up next to apostrophes:
* *** Contracted verbs -- "Your hat's lilac. Mine's magenta. See the difference?"
* *** The pronoun is part of a relative clause -- "Mary "Since she liked it so much, Mary bought all the cat that cat John gave her's siblings, she liked it so much," siblings", or even "No child of ours's house will ever have mice."
** The sentence involving "Mary" isn't really clear. It would be clearer if it were written "Since she liked it so much, Mary bought all (of) that cat (that) John gave her's siblings." In the sentence, "Mary" is the subject, "bought" is the predicate, and the rest of the sentence is a direct object, where "siblings" is the main direct object possesesed by "that cat", which itself is descibed by "John gave her".
However, the first is pretty much restricted to dialogue, and the second, while technically grammatical, is clunky so is best used only when there's absolutely no alternative. For general prose, avoid both.
When in doubt, leave the apostrophe out.
The easiest way to get it right is to remember an apostrophe is to show something has been LEFT OUT. For example, nothing has been left out of the word:
enchiladas
But "The boy, his book" (original correct medieval usage)
has been reduced to:
"The boy's book."
However when "it" owns something, the apostrophe is NOT used: For example, if a wheel came off your bike, you could correctly write:
It's horrible. My bike lost its wheel.
Some tropers confuse "would have" for "would of", probably because of the similarity in pronunciation to the contraction "would've". You can say: ''I would have said it better'', but not ''I would of said it better''. In the same vein, don't say "alot". [[http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html It isn't a word.]] Just remember that "a lot" is the opposite of "a few", and the "a" isn't part of the word "lot". There is a word "allot", but it has nothing to do with "a lot".
For more sesquipedalian details on this, grammar, see WantonCrueltyToTheCommonComma, TheBigListOfBooboosAndBlunders.
** '''EXCEPTION''': pronouns (I, you, he, she, we, they, who, it). These
*
*** ''You'' → ''your'' burrito, the burrito is
*
*** ''She'' → ''her'' burrito, the burrito is
*
*** ''We'' → ''our'' burrito, the burrito is
*
*** ''They'' → ''their'' burrito, the burrito is
*
*** ''It'' → ''its'' burrito, the burrito is ''its''. (This one is a very common pitfall, because ''its'' and ''it's'' sound exactly the same. As long as you remember that ''it's'' is always short for ''it is'' or ''it has'', you'll be fine. ''Its[='=]'' is not a word.)
** There do exist circumstances where pronouns can legitimately end up next to apostrophes:
** The sentence involving "Mary" isn't really clear. It would be clearer if it were written "Since she liked it so much, Mary bought all (of) that cat (that) John gave her's siblings.
The easiest way to get it right is to remember an apostrophe is to show something has been LEFT OUT. For example, nothing has been left out of the word:
enchiladas
But "The boy, his book" (original correct medieval usage)
has been reduced to:
"The boy's book."
However when "it" owns something, the apostrophe is NOT used: For example, if a wheel came off your bike, you could correctly write:
It's horrible. My bike lost its wheel.
Some tropers confuse "would have" for "would of", probably because of the similarity in pronunciation to the contraction "would've". You can say: ''I would have said it better'', but not ''I would of said it better''. In the same vein, don't say "alot". [[http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html It isn't a word.]] Just remember that "a lot" is the opposite of "a few", and the "a" isn't part of the word "lot". There is a word "allot", but it has nothing to do with "a lot".
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
This is a collection of tips on how to avoid making the most common grammar/spelling mistakes when editing here. We want things to be spelled correctly, though we don't really care whether you use [[Administrivia/AmericanAndCommonwealthSpellings American or Commonwealth spelling]].
Your contribution is more important to us than some minor spelling blunder. If you ''really'' don't feel like a grammar lesson right now, just click the back button and [[CanonDiscontinuity pretend this never happened]]. If you're looking to save our resident {{Grammar Nazi}}s some grief, however, you may want to read the following.
* '''Capitalization:''' The first letter of every new sentence should be a capital letter. A new sentence starts after a period (.), a question mark (?), or an exclamation mark (!). You should also capitalize people's names (Alice, Bob), movie/book/series titles (''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''), places which are likely to show up in the Atlas (the Middle East, Paris) and the word I ([[Administrivia/FirstPersonWriting Although you really shouldn't be using that to begin with]]).
* '''Punctuation:'''
%%(? ! , . : ; ...)
** After each punctuation mark there should be a space.
** We cannot hope to instruct you on when it is appropriate to use a comma (,). The official rules for this were obviously determined by a bunch of drunk guys playing homebrew Series/WheelOfFortune. Just imagine yourself saying the sentence out loud, pause considerably with each comma, add/remove commas accordingly whenever the pacing seems off and hope for the best.
*** This is not a hard and fast rule as commas aren't necessarily an indication of pacing. For example: "The cat who hates Jack is looking at me." and "The cat, who hates Jack, is looking at me." can be said exactly the same (possibly with some slight inflection differences, but they mean different things. The first sentence is specifying a cat, whereas in the second, "who hates Jack" is just added detail and not mechanically part of the idea conveyed by the sentence. This is an example of essential clause vs non-essential clause. There are other examples (particularly descriptive ones) where a comma and a pause don't necessarily go hand-in-hand.
*** Further, your speech patterns/rhythm might not be much different between "I go to the mall and like to shop." and "I go to the mall, and I like to shop." But notice that the second requires a comma as the portion of the sentence following the conjunction is an independent clause (it has its own subject, whereas the first sentence does not).
** Exclamation marks and ellipses (...) carry a lot of emotional punch, so use them sparingly. Spamming the exclamation mark is reserved for scenes of utmost urgency; spamming the ellipsis is reserved for fleeting streams of consciousness. Neither of these is likely to belong here. In a moment of extreme excitement, one exclamation mark is permissible. More than one is unnecessary, unattractive, and ungood.
* '''"Was" vs "Were":''' "Was" is used as a singular past tense, while "were" is used for plural past tense. "Were" is also used in imaginary and hypothetical sentences (such as sentences that start with "if", or "I wish"), regardless of it being singular or plural. An exception is made when it is assumed that it might possibly be true and the speaker indicates a statement.
** Singular example: "The dog I adopted was brown."; not "The dog I adopted were brown."
** Plural example: "The dogs I adopted were brown."; not "The dogs I adopted was brown."
** Hypothetical example: "If the dog I adopted were brown, I'd name him Brownie"; not "If the dog I adopted was brown, I'd name him Brownie."
** Conditional statement example: "If the dog I adopted was brown, I'm naming him Brownie."; not "If the dog I adopted were brown, I'm naming him Brownie."
* '''"Who" vs "Whom":''' "Who" acts subjectively like "I", "he", or "she". "Whom" acts like an object , like "me" or "him".
** Examples: "Who is coming with me?"; "The person is who?"; "To whom should I give the money?" "Whom should I pick?" You would not say "Whom should I say is calling?" as you wouldn't say "I say him is calling." "Whom should I say is calling?" is functionally equivalent to "Whom is calling?", which is clearly wrong.
* '''"Whoever" vs "Whomever":''' The choice depends on the function within a clause, not the sentence as a whole. Consider the following subject clauses (with the subject clauses in parentheses for clarity): "(Whoever stole the ball) should return it." and "(Whomever I choose) will get the last dance with me." In the first, "Whoever" is the subject of the subject clause, whereas in the second, "Whomever" is a direct object within a subject clause. "I will give the book to whomever pays me money." would be wrong. While "to whom" is appropriate, the decision is not based on that, but rather on who/whom is paying money ("who" (not "whom") pays money, so it should be "whoever."
* '''What Goes After "Than"?''' Than I? Than me?, Than he? Than him? It depends on what you're saying. Are you comparing the doer of an action? Most likely you want the subject (I, he, etc). Is it a direct object? Than you likely want the object (me, him, her, etc).
** Example: "Jill likes cookies more than me." means "Jill likes cookies more than she likes me." But "Jill likes cookies more than I." means "Jill likes cookies more than I like cookies."
** Try to avoid ambiguity when possible. Example: "Jill likes cookies more than Jack." could mean two different things. Make it clear.
* '''What Goes after "And"?''' Jill and I? Jill and me? It depends on the function of the noun. If it's a subject, predicate nominative, or appositive, used the subjective (I, he, etc). Otherwise (if it's a direct or indirect object or object of a preposition), use the objective (me, him, them, etc). The fact that the word comes after "and" means nothing.
** Example: "I'm glad that you came to see Jill and I." is wrong.
* '''Parallel Structure:''' Make a logical flow, particularly when it comes to lists.
** Example: "My dog can jump through hoops, ropes, fire, and do flips." is wrong as "flips" is not one of the things through which he can jump. It should be "My dog can jump through hoops, ropes, and fire, and do flips." The list is ended with "fire" due to the first "and".
** Example: "I either have to go or Jack will die." should be "Either, I have to go, or Jack will die." In the original, "Jack will die" would be one of the options of things "I" could do.
* '''Proper Use of Gerunds:''' A verb form ending in "-ing" that is used as a noun (the shelling of the town, the suffering of the people) should be possessed when appropriate.
** Example: "We lost because of you kicking to the left." is wrong. It should be "We lost because of ''your'' kicking to the left."
** Example: "His buying of the property will help our community." It is essentially equivalent to "His purchase of the property...."
* '''Ending Sentences With Prepositions:''' [[PrepositionsAreNotToEndSentencesWith We have a trope about this misconception.]] Long story short, it's perfectly acceptable to end sentences or clauses with prepositions. Even the Oxford English Dictionary says it's okay.
* '''Avoiding Dangling Modifiers:''' Make sense a subject-less phrase used to describe what is going on matches the subject if necessary.
** Example: "Running down the stairs, the kitchen started to catch on fire." should be something like "While I was running down the stairs, the kitchen started to catch on fire." or "Running down the stairs, I saw that the kitchen started to catch on fire."
** Example: "As a doctor, what is my prognosis?" or ever "As a doctor, what would you say is my prognosis?" are also both wrong, even though the latter may be considered acceptable as it contains "you" even though "what" is technically the subject.
** A specific type of dangling modifier is a dangling participle. "Robbed of my wallet, the man decided to lend me some money." would mean the man, not I, was robbed.
Warning-- incoming WallOfText. Don't despair! You can do it!
This little thing here → ' '''(the apostrophe)''' causes a lot of trouble. Probably most of the trouble. Some tips on its use:
* One burrito, many burritos-- not burrito's. If the S were just added to make a plural, don't use an apostrophe.
* A lot of words are actually two words crammed into one, with letters lost on the way: do not → don't, they have → they've, we are → we're, it is → it's, and many others ([[GottaCatchThemAll Gotta Catch 'em All]]!). The apostrophe in this case means "some letters used to be here". If you can recognize a word as one of these, an apostrophe should go where the missing letters used to be.
* Julia's eyes, Joe's burrito. When a Y belongs to X, you can say it is X's Y, with an apostrophe.
** The rules for making nouns possessive are simpler than most people realize:
*** If the noun is singular, add 's. Yes, even if the noun itself ends in s. A fox's tail, the quiz's answers, Jesus's disciples, even my boss's desk.
*** If the noun is plural and ends in s (as most do), add an apostrophe: my sisters' birthdays, the unicorns' horns.
*** If the noun is plural and '''does not''' end in s, add 's: the children's books, the geese's wings.
'''EXCEPTION''': pronouns (I, you, he, she, we, they, who, it). These guys are allergic to this use of ''[='s=]'', so they behave completely differently. Most of them even have two different words for "X's Y" and "The Y is X's", just to be confusing.
* ''I'' → ''my'' burrito, the burrito is ''mine''
* ''You'' → ''your'' burrito, the burrito is ''yours'' (''you're'' means ''you are''. ''Your's'' is not a word.)
* ''He'' → ''his'' burrito, the burrito is ''his'' (''he's'' means ''he is'' or ''he has'')
* ''She'' → ''her'' burrito, the burrito is ''hers''
* ''We'' → ''our'' burrito, the burrito is ''ours'' (''our's'' is not a word)
* ''They'' → ''their'' burrito, the burrito is ''theirs'' (''they're'' means ''they are''. ''Their's'' is not a word. ''There'' usually means a place.)
* ''Who'' → ''whose'' burrito is it? Again I ask - the burrito is ''whose''? (''Who's'' means ''who is'' or ''who has'')
* ''It'' → ''its'' burrito, the burrito is ''its''. (This one is a very common pitfall, because ''its'' and ''it's'' sound exactly the same. As long as you remember that ''it's'' is always short for ''it is'' or ''it has'', you'll be fine. ''Its[='=]'' is not a word.)
There do exist circumstances where pronouns can legitimately end up next to apostrophes:
* Contracted verbs -- "Your hat's lilac. Mine's magenta. See the difference?"
* The pronoun is part of a relative clause -- "Mary bought all that cat John gave her's siblings, she liked it so much," or even "No child of ours's house will ever have mice."
** The sentence involving "Mary" isn't really clear. It would be clearer if it were written "Since she liked it so much, Mary bought all (of) that cat (that) John gave her's siblings." In the sentence, "Mary" is the subject, "bought" is the predicate, and the rest of the sentence is a direct object, where "siblings" is the main direct object possesesed by "that cat", which itself is descibed by "John gave her".
However, the first is pretty much restricted to dialogue, and the second, while technically grammatical, is clunky so is best used only when there's absolutely no alternative. For general prose, avoid both.
When in doubt, leave the apostrophe out.
The easiest way to get it right is to remember an apostrophe is to show something has been LEFT OUT. For example, nothing has been left out of the word:
enchiladas
But "The boy, his book" (original correct medieval usage)
has been reduced to:
"The boy's book."
However when "it" owns something, the apostrophe is NOT used: For example, if a wheel came off your bike, you could correctly write:
It's horrible. My bike lost its wheel.
Some tropers confuse "would have" for "would of", probably because of the similarity in pronunciation to the contraction "would've". You can say: ''I would have said it better'', but not ''I would of said it better''. In the same vein, don't say "alot". [[http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html It isn't a word.]] Just remember that "a lot" is the opposite of "a few", and the "a" isn't part of the word "lot". There is a word "allot", but it has nothing to do with "a lot".
For more sesquipedalian details on this, see WantonCrueltyToTheCommonComma, TheBigListOfBooboosAndBlunders.
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Your contribution is more important to us than some minor spelling blunder. If you ''really'' don't feel like a grammar lesson right now, just click the back button and [[CanonDiscontinuity pretend this never happened]]. If you're looking to save our resident {{Grammar Nazi}}s some grief, however, you may want to read the following.
* '''Capitalization:''' The first letter of every new sentence should be a capital letter. A new sentence starts after a period (.), a question mark (?), or an exclamation mark (!). You should also capitalize people's names (Alice, Bob), movie/book/series titles (''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''), places which are likely to show up in the Atlas (the Middle East, Paris) and the word I ([[Administrivia/FirstPersonWriting Although you really shouldn't be using that to begin with]]).
* '''Punctuation:'''
%%(? ! , . : ; ...)
** After each punctuation mark there should be a space.
** We cannot hope to instruct you on when it is appropriate to use a comma (,). The official rules for this were obviously determined by a bunch of drunk guys playing homebrew Series/WheelOfFortune. Just imagine yourself saying the sentence out loud, pause considerably with each comma, add/remove commas accordingly whenever the pacing seems off and hope for the best.
*** This is not a hard and fast rule as commas aren't necessarily an indication of pacing. For example: "The cat who hates Jack is looking at me." and "The cat, who hates Jack, is looking at me." can be said exactly the same (possibly with some slight inflection differences, but they mean different things. The first sentence is specifying a cat, whereas in the second, "who hates Jack" is just added detail and not mechanically part of the idea conveyed by the sentence. This is an example of essential clause vs non-essential clause. There are other examples (particularly descriptive ones) where a comma and a pause don't necessarily go hand-in-hand.
*** Further, your speech patterns/rhythm might not be much different between "I go to the mall and like to shop." and "I go to the mall, and I like to shop." But notice that the second requires a comma as the portion of the sentence following the conjunction is an independent clause (it has its own subject, whereas the first sentence does not).
** Exclamation marks and ellipses (...) carry a lot of emotional punch, so use them sparingly. Spamming the exclamation mark is reserved for scenes of utmost urgency; spamming the ellipsis is reserved for fleeting streams of consciousness. Neither of these is likely to belong here. In a moment of extreme excitement, one exclamation mark is permissible. More than one is unnecessary, unattractive, and ungood.
* '''"Was" vs "Were":''' "Was" is used as a singular past tense, while "were" is used for plural past tense. "Were" is also used in imaginary and hypothetical sentences (such as sentences that start with "if", or "I wish"), regardless of it being singular or plural. An exception is made when it is assumed that it might possibly be true and the speaker indicates a statement.
** Singular example: "The dog I adopted was brown."; not "The dog I adopted were brown."
** Plural example: "The dogs I adopted were brown."; not "The dogs I adopted was brown."
** Hypothetical example: "If the dog I adopted were brown, I'd name him Brownie"; not "If the dog I adopted was brown, I'd name him Brownie."
** Conditional statement example: "If the dog I adopted was brown, I'm naming him Brownie."; not "If the dog I adopted were brown, I'm naming him Brownie."
* '''"Who" vs "Whom":''' "Who" acts subjectively like "I", "he", or "she". "Whom" acts like an object , like "me" or "him".
** Examples: "Who is coming with me?"; "The person is who?"; "To whom should I give the money?" "Whom should I pick?" You would not say "Whom should I say is calling?" as you wouldn't say "I say him is calling." "Whom should I say is calling?" is functionally equivalent to "Whom is calling?", which is clearly wrong.
* '''"Whoever" vs "Whomever":''' The choice depends on the function within a clause, not the sentence as a whole. Consider the following subject clauses (with the subject clauses in parentheses for clarity): "(Whoever stole the ball) should return it." and "(Whomever I choose) will get the last dance with me." In the first, "Whoever" is the subject of the subject clause, whereas in the second, "Whomever" is a direct object within a subject clause. "I will give the book to whomever pays me money." would be wrong. While "to whom" is appropriate, the decision is not based on that, but rather on who/whom is paying money ("who" (not "whom") pays money, so it should be "whoever."
* '''What Goes After "Than"?''' Than I? Than me?, Than he? Than him? It depends on what you're saying. Are you comparing the doer of an action? Most likely you want the subject (I, he, etc). Is it a direct object? Than you likely want the object (me, him, her, etc).
** Example: "Jill likes cookies more than me." means "Jill likes cookies more than she likes me." But "Jill likes cookies more than I." means "Jill likes cookies more than I like cookies."
** Try to avoid ambiguity when possible. Example: "Jill likes cookies more than Jack." could mean two different things. Make it clear.
* '''What Goes after "And"?''' Jill and I? Jill and me? It depends on the function of the noun. If it's a subject, predicate nominative, or appositive, used the subjective (I, he, etc). Otherwise (if it's a direct or indirect object or object of a preposition), use the objective (me, him, them, etc). The fact that the word comes after "and" means nothing.
** Example: "I'm glad that you came to see Jill and I." is wrong.
* '''Parallel Structure:''' Make a logical flow, particularly when it comes to lists.
** Example: "My dog can jump through hoops, ropes, fire, and do flips." is wrong as "flips" is not one of the things through which he can jump. It should be "My dog can jump through hoops, ropes, and fire, and do flips." The list is ended with "fire" due to the first "and".
** Example: "I either have to go or Jack will die." should be "Either, I have to go, or Jack will die." In the original, "Jack will die" would be one of the options of things "I" could do.
* '''Proper Use of Gerunds:''' A verb form ending in "-ing" that is used as a noun (the shelling of the town, the suffering of the people) should be possessed when appropriate.
** Example: "We lost because of you kicking to the left." is wrong. It should be "We lost because of ''your'' kicking to the left."
** Example: "His buying of the property will help our community." It is essentially equivalent to "His purchase of the property...."
* '''Ending Sentences With Prepositions:''' [[PrepositionsAreNotToEndSentencesWith We have a trope about this misconception.]] Long story short, it's perfectly acceptable to end sentences or clauses with prepositions. Even the Oxford English Dictionary says it's okay.
* '''Avoiding Dangling Modifiers:''' Make sense a subject-less phrase used to describe what is going on matches the subject if necessary.
** Example: "Running down the stairs, the kitchen started to catch on fire." should be something like "While I was running down the stairs, the kitchen started to catch on fire." or "Running down the stairs, I saw that the kitchen started to catch on fire."
** Example: "As a doctor, what is my prognosis?" or ever "As a doctor, what would you say is my prognosis?" are also both wrong, even though the latter may be considered acceptable as it contains "you" even though "what" is technically the subject.
** A specific type of dangling modifier is a dangling participle. "Robbed of my wallet, the man decided to lend me some money." would mean the man, not I, was robbed.
Warning-- incoming WallOfText. Don't despair! You can do it!
This little thing here → ' '''(the apostrophe)''' causes a lot of trouble. Probably most of the trouble. Some tips on its use:
* One burrito, many burritos-- not burrito's. If the S were just added to make a plural, don't use an apostrophe.
* A lot of words are actually two words crammed into one, with letters lost on the way: do not → don't, they have → they've, we are → we're, it is → it's, and many others ([[GottaCatchThemAll Gotta Catch 'em All]]!). The apostrophe in this case means "some letters used to be here". If you can recognize a word as one of these, an apostrophe should go where the missing letters used to be.
* Julia's eyes, Joe's burrito. When a Y belongs to X, you can say it is X's Y, with an apostrophe.
** The rules for making nouns possessive are simpler than most people realize:
*** If the noun is singular, add 's. Yes, even if the noun itself ends in s. A fox's tail, the quiz's answers, Jesus's disciples, even my boss's desk.
*** If the noun is plural and ends in s (as most do), add an apostrophe: my sisters' birthdays, the unicorns' horns.
*** If the noun is plural and '''does not''' end in s, add 's: the children's books, the geese's wings.
'''EXCEPTION''': pronouns (I, you, he, she, we, they, who, it). These guys are allergic to this use of ''[='s=]'', so they behave completely differently. Most of them even have two different words for "X's Y" and "The Y is X's", just to be confusing.
* ''I'' → ''my'' burrito, the burrito is ''mine''
* ''You'' → ''your'' burrito, the burrito is ''yours'' (''you're'' means ''you are''. ''Your's'' is not a word.)
* ''He'' → ''his'' burrito, the burrito is ''his'' (''he's'' means ''he is'' or ''he has'')
* ''She'' → ''her'' burrito, the burrito is ''hers''
* ''We'' → ''our'' burrito, the burrito is ''ours'' (''our's'' is not a word)
* ''They'' → ''their'' burrito, the burrito is ''theirs'' (''they're'' means ''they are''. ''Their's'' is not a word. ''There'' usually means a place.)
* ''Who'' → ''whose'' burrito is it? Again I ask - the burrito is ''whose''? (''Who's'' means ''who is'' or ''who has'')
* ''It'' → ''its'' burrito, the burrito is ''its''. (This one is a very common pitfall, because ''its'' and ''it's'' sound exactly the same. As long as you remember that ''it's'' is always short for ''it is'' or ''it has'', you'll be fine. ''Its[='=]'' is not a word.)
There do exist circumstances where pronouns can legitimately end up next to apostrophes:
* Contracted verbs -- "Your hat's lilac. Mine's magenta. See the difference?"
* The pronoun is part of a relative clause -- "Mary bought all that cat John gave her's siblings, she liked it so much," or even "No child of ours's house will ever have mice."
** The sentence involving "Mary" isn't really clear. It would be clearer if it were written "Since she liked it so much, Mary bought all (of) that cat (that) John gave her's siblings." In the sentence, "Mary" is the subject, "bought" is the predicate, and the rest of the sentence is a direct object, where "siblings" is the main direct object possesesed by "that cat", which itself is descibed by "John gave her".
However, the first is pretty much restricted to dialogue, and the second, while technically grammatical, is clunky so is best used only when there's absolutely no alternative. For general prose, avoid both.
When in doubt, leave the apostrophe out.
The easiest way to get it right is to remember an apostrophe is to show something has been LEFT OUT. For example, nothing has been left out of the word:
enchiladas
But "The boy, his book" (original correct medieval usage)
has been reduced to:
"The boy's book."
However when "it" owns something, the apostrophe is NOT used: For example, if a wheel came off your bike, you could correctly write:
It's horrible. My bike lost its wheel.
Some tropers confuse "would have" for "would of", probably because of the similarity in pronunciation to the contraction "would've". You can say: ''I would have said it better'', but not ''I would of said it better''. In the same vein, don't say "alot". [[http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html It isn't a word.]] Just remember that "a lot" is the opposite of "a few", and the "a" isn't part of the word "lot". There is a word "allot", but it has nothing to do with "a lot".
For more sesquipedalian details on this, see WantonCrueltyToTheCommonComma, TheBigListOfBooboosAndBlunders.
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