Get Help With English Here

Speaking purely personally, I don't think you need to restate the whole premise, but you also don't need to have readers know the entire description to understand how the trope is used.

Also, Insult Backfire and Lost in the Maize can also have described what happens during these things.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

But then I really don't know what to do with those "wrong" tropes to correct them, because first I don't really understand what's wrong with them and second - how to fix it. Apart of those listed by me or desdendelle, I have no idea which tropes need rework.

And how about correct English?

Ok, answer these questions. Not necessarily as you would write them on the page. Just say what you would tell someone who asks you about the movie.

Why is Billy a Bratty Half-Pint? Does he act annoying? Is he mouthy towards his elders? Are there any scenes in the movie that exemplify this, like him messing with an older person? Does his role have any importance?

edited 1st Feb '13 7:00:58 AM by lu127

"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - Fighteer

I see your point... so "Badass and Child Duo: Nick and Billy" does not need to be expanded on because it is in the basic description of the movie. Anything that is not in that description does need to be expanded on in the tropes.

• Big Bad: why is he the big bad? I understand his name is indicative of the role, but you should say that he leads the syndicate or something. Spoiler it if it is important to the movie plot.
• Bratty Half-Pint: What makes him "bratty" and not just a normal kid out to rescue his dad?
• Cluster F-Bomb: "The Pike brothers' dialogues is usually are thosethis." Media is considered to be "present tense" unless there are other reasons for a different tense.
• Heroic Bystander: "Nick fights four street thugs, when they take a purse from passing woman."
• Lost in the Maize: what sort of maze? As the trope says, it does not have to be a corn maze or even a corn field. I can't get a clear image with just "and chased by mooks"
• Mook Horror Show: That is describing how Nick dealt with the situation, not how the trope is used. What sort of mooks came at him?
• Rule Of Cool: Generally we use "check" not "checked". Present tense and all that.
• Single Stroke Battle: "Nick kills most of Mooks this way." or "Nick kills most of the Mooks this way."
• Those Two Bad Guys: Who? Why are these two so special?

Yu hav nat sein bod speeling unntil know. (cacke four undersandig tis)the cake is a lie!

Okay, I've broken this into two sections: the first looking at the quality of the examples, the second correcting the grammar, etc., on any examples that are good to go.

---

• And the Adventure Continues: Fine.
• Artistic License – Chemistry: What is cupric sulfate? Why is it wrong?
• Badass and Child Duo: What are each person's characteristics? How did they meet? How do they interact?
• Big Bad: What does he do? How does this compare to others in the story?
• Blind Without 'Em: This needs a bit more of an explanation of how poor her eyesight is. Simply being unable to drive without glasses is not the trope; eyesight rules for driving are quite strict.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Explain his personality and how he interacts with others.
• Cluster F-Bomb: I feel like it could be better, but I can't think how, so I'll correct it below.
• Co-Dragons: Explain how each fits The Dragon role (what they do, how they interact with the Big Bad and with others), in addition to how they contrast with each other.
• Diagonal Cut: Could use a bit more context, such as explaining who did the cutting and how he managed to be cut while falling.
• Dirty Cop: How do we know they are crooked? What have they done that's illegal?
• Dyeing for Your Art: From what you've given, this doesn't sound like an example. The trope is about physical appearance (and doing dramatic things in real life to make said physical appearance match the character's), not about doing an in-depth character study.
• '80s Hair: Who wears them?
• Elevator Buttons Mash: What happens in the elevator? What do they push? What effect does it have?
• Handicapped Badass: How is he handicapped? How is he badass? How is he badass in spite of being handicapped?
• Heroic Bystander: Fine.
• Insult Backfire: When and why the insult happened would be good to know.
• Landmark of Lore: Sounds like it's not an example. This isn't about frequently mentioned locations, this is about locations which are at the heart of mystical happenings, which contain larger than average amounts of strange artifacts and mystical creatures, etc.
• Lost in the Maize: When did this happen? Why did the enter the cornfield in the first place? What did they do in there?
• Mook Horror Show: How does the movie treat Nick as if he were a horror villain? What indicators of this are there? How do the Mooks react to him?
• Never Trust a Title: Fine.
• No Name Given: Fine.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: More explanation of how Nick acts would be good. What does he do to make people think he's a harmless wimp?
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Fine.
• Police Are Useless: Fine.
• Rule of Cool: Fine.
• Single-Stroke Battle: Good enough.
• Shout-Out: Provide some specific examples, please.
• Stillborn Franchise: Fine.
• Super-Senses: Unless his sense of smell is unnaturally good, then this is not an example.
• Those Two Bad Guys: How are they foils? When do they provide exposition? How often do they appear? What are their conversations like?
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Read Example Indentation.
• Wretched Hive: What is it like? What details are there that show that it's wretched?

---

• And the Adventure Continues: Nick simply walks away in the end. During the credit roll, he practically mimics his walk from the opening.
• Cluster F-Bomb: The Pike brothers' dialogues usually are those are usually full of profanity.
• Heroic Bystander: Nick fights four street thugs after they took a purse from passing woman.
• Never Trust a Title: Fine as is.
• No Name Given: Fine as is.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Nick is able to pass two guards just by wearing the white jacket of a waiter. By the time the guards realise something is off, it's too late.
• Police Are Useless: A man is driving a van, causing lots of accidents. Two guys are chasing him, causing even more damage. in a stolen car, shooting at the van. The police? Nowhere to be seen.
• Rule of Cool: Blind swordmaster in a modern setting? Check. Mafia chasing him all over the States? Check. Driving blind while being chased? Check. Climatic sword duel with a hired ninja? Check.
• Single-Stroke Battle: Nick kills most of the Mooks this way.
• Stillborn Franchise: Fine as is.

edited 1st Feb '13 7:34:25 AM by Nocturna

Thank you all for so much help. Now I feel guilty for the whole thing.

Corrected tropes

• Artistic License – Chemistry: Sure, why not use harmless and eye-catching blue crystals of cupric sulfate as a prop for drugs! But this could be simply a case of Rule of Cool.
• Badass and Child Duo: Nick and Billy. This is the premise of the whole film, so does it really need an explanation?
• Big Bad: MacCready. Thanks to his drugs scheme, Frank is abducted, Mrs. Devereaux is killed and Nick not only have to escort Billy from Miami to Reno, but also protect him from numerous kidnapp attempts. Not to mention that the casino he owns cheats on players
• Blind Without 'Em: Annie. When she gets her glasses crashed, Nick is forced to drive, because she can't even see her outstretched hands.

—>Annie: My glasses! —>Nick: (stepping on them) Ops... I think I just find them.

• Bratty Half-Pint: Billy. His behaviour sometimes even borders Troubling Unchildlike Behavior, with flipping the bird, attempted steal on his caretaker and general rudeness toward elders. He gets better later on.
• Co-Dragons: Slag is the muscle, being close to Bond-like henchman or some kind of Elite Mook, while Cobb is the brain, running the casino and other joints of MacCready.
• Diagonal Cut: Slag is killed this way, then falling out of a window high in mountains.
• Dirty Cop: When Slag comes for Mrs. Devereaux and Billy, two crooked cops assist him, so the kidnapp can be staged as if Billy was eye-witness of some unspecified crime. When Mrs. Devereaux is shot by Slag, one of cops mentions that it wasn't part of their deal.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Rutger Hauer spent month with Lynn Manning, blind judo champion, to be more convincing as Nick. So this one is definitely out of list?
• '80s Hair: Mullets. Mullets everywhere! 1/3 of the cast is somewhat long list, so should I still count them all?
• Elevator Buttons Mash: Four not too bright Mooks are chasing Nick. When they enter the elevator, each of them press different button, giving Nick plenty of time to not only escape, but also trap them inside of the elevator.
• Handicapped Badass: Nick. While he's blind, he not only have no problems with taking care for himself, but also is a very potent swordsman, dealing with ease with any kind of enemy you can throw on him.
• Insult Backfire: During the chase scene, Nick is the one behind the wheel. One of the drivers shout on him, leading to this exchange:

—>Driver: What's your problem, are you blind? —>Nick: Yeah, what's your excuse?

• Lost in the Maize: When Billy learns that his mom was killed, he runs away from Nick into the corn field. The Mooks, who were following them, take this as opportunity to kidnapp the boy.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Nick. Usually he acts as if he was either a naive guy or not fully aware of the situation and dangers around. Most of the fun in the film comes from his acting like a harmless wimp.
• Shout-Out: The whole film is one big shout out toward old Zatoichi films, of whom producer Tim Matheson is big fan. Many details are practically ripped - Sword Cane, facade of being harmless or using sharpened hearing to win in casino (or to find out when the house is cheating).
• Super-Senses: While Nick's hearing is as sharp as expected from a blind person, he also developed a pretty good nose. Is smelling your enemy good enough?
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Literal example. Frank is showed testing his new drug on lab rats. What happend to them, when he torches the lab?
  • And what about MacCready? Last time we saw him, he was struggling with Frank over the shotgun and next scene is at bus station. We not only don't know how the struggle ended or if MacCready was sent to authorities.
    • Not to mention his customer in drug deal, who walked away seconds before Nick storms into the room the deal was held.
• Wretched Hive: Reno is portrayed as city of crooked casinos, drug lords, gun-totting citizens and full of floozies. Police is nowhere to be seen.

edited 1st Feb '13 9:16:13 AM by RysioPysio

Much better. Just a few gramatical corrections (some the same, just in different places):

• Big Bad: "Mac Cready. Thanks to Mac Cready's drugs scheme, ...Nick not only has to escort..." Better to put the name in the centence than before it
• "Nick: (stepping on them) Oops... I think I just found them. " ...unless "find" is the word he actually used.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Billy's. His behaviour...with flipping the bird, attempted steal on his caretaker" do you mean "attempting to steal from his caretaker"?
• Co Dragons: Slag is the muscle, being close to a Bond-like henchman or some kind of Elite Mook, while Cobb is the brain, running the casino and other joints for Mac Cready.
• Diagonal Cut: Slag is killed this way, then falls out of a window high in mountains.
• '80s Hair: Mullets. Mullets everywhere! At least a third of the cast has one!
• Handicapped Badass: Nick. While Nick is blind, he not only has no problems with taking care for himself, but also is also a very potent swordsman, dealing with ease with any kind of enemy you can thrown at him with ease.
• Insult Backfire: "One of the drivers shout at him,"
• Wretched Hive: "...citizens, and full of floozies. Police are nowhere to be seen." Need the coma before the and when making a list like that.

This is how this part should be formatted and I also removed some Word Cruft:

• What Happened to the Mouse
  • Literal example. Frank is showed testing his new drug on lab rats. What happend to them, when he torches the lab?
  • And what about Mac Cready? Last time we see Mac Cready, he is struggling with Frank over the shotgun and next scene is at a bus station. We not only don't know how the struggle ended or if Mac Cready was sent to the authorities.
  • Not to mention his The customer in the drug deal, who walked away seconds before Nick storms into the room where the deal was held.

edited 1st Feb '13 12:12:33 PM by Belian

Yu hav nat sein bod speeling unntil know. (cacke four undersandig tis)the cake is a lie!

Once again, thanks a lot and sorry for so much trouble

edited 2nd Feb '13 2:00:44 AM by RysioPysio

Eh, it's alright. It took two months for me to figure it all out.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

Hey, I just realized I messed up on the formatting myself. And goodness knows I can be helpless without a spell check. Don't worry about it.

Also, I get a certain amount of satifation from helping others

Yu hav nat sein bod speeling unntil know. (cacke four undersandig tis)the cake is a lie!

Dear fellow tropers, I'd like to ask a question about punctuation and formatting.

Recently, I re-watched Hornblower and I really got into editing its page and sub-pages. There is some inconsistency as to mark the titles of the episode. It's a Mini Series and the episodes are sometimes marked as "The Even Chance" or The Even Chance. I prefer the former as the latter is used for the umbrella title Hornblower. Hope that's ok? I admit I've corrected most of those in cursive to make the editing consistent.

Also, there are loads and loads of named ships. Some tropers obviously write their names in cursive, e.g the Indefatigable, while others prefer pure and simple Indefatigable. It confuses me somewhat as I thought that generally cursive is used for works' titles or emphasis on this wiki.

Also considering the literature/main page (Horatio Hornblower). One of the book is titled Hornblower and the Hotspur and I think sometimes Hotspur in cursive is used for both to refer the ship as well as to the book itself.

Anyway, I remember that some editions of Jane Austen's book indeed did put names of the ship in cursive, e.g Laconia in Persuasion, but other edition which I saw had just plain Laconia. (I checked online editions and it seems to be pretty much the same: both is possible.)

I also considered it at larger scale, say all the sci-fi shows with their cool space crafts. I think Firefly would be particularly confusing with their ship named Serenity which was also the name of the movie.

English has different punctuation rules than my mother tongue in general, and this ship thing kind of bothers me. Not to mention my minor OCD which makes me want to have at least one work's page consistent. Your insight would be appreciated.

edited 4th Feb '13 3:08:56 PM by XFllo

I'll tackle things one-by-one:

1. Terminology note: text like this is called italics, not cursive. (Cursive is something else.)
2. Episode titles: The changes you've been making are correct; episode titles go in quotes ("like this"), not italics.
3. Named ships: According to formal grammar, ship names are supposed to be italicized. (As you've noticed, though, people often don't follow that rule when writing informally.)

edited 4th Feb '13 7:32:00 PM by Nocturna

Thank you very, very much. Mea culpa for the terminology. Cursive is a false friend word for English/Czech.

Again please help me on this thanks.

To be fair, we do not know, if Jim Morarity tricked her or not.

Before any grammar, "to be fair" is usually a sign that the entry doesn't belong

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

Grammatically, the only issue is that the comma between "know" and "if" needs to be removed. Spelling-wise, it's Moriarty, not Morarity. But see .

edited 5th Feb '13 4:28:54 PM by Nocturna

Thanks you guys.

for NightmareFuel Face Off*

Just because you know the monsters are all just actors and make up and see them becoming the character doesn't mean the final results can't haunt your dreams.

• in the candy challenge of season three about half the contestants took a "make a monster out of candy" approach and most of them were very successful. Also the dead dolllike face of the candy Princess was very unsettling even when it wasn't meant to be scary.

First, the link needs to be in Wiki Words, not URL. Also, "which I intend to start if that's okay with you", yes, but you need an "if" in that sentence.

Just because you know the monsters are all just actors and made made up, not make up up and we think you wanted that we see them becoming the character doesn't mean the final results can't haunt your dreams.

• In First word after the bullet needs capitalization the candy challenge of season three about half the contestants took a "make a monster out of candy" approach and most of them were very successful.
• Also the dead dolllike face of the candy Princess was very unsettling even when it wasn't meant to be scary.

I split the bullet into two since it seems to be 2 examples. And the first example needs more context - what did they do to be scary?

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

Hello again. A few tropes for Original War:

• Baseless Mission: Many American missions are those. Your objective is either to survive, capture enemy base, infiltrate it or run away with fellow characters from main forces if you decide to desert for Alliance.
• Colour Coded Armies: Each faction got it's own, unique color. Americans are blue, Soviets are red, Arabs are yellow and Alliance use light green.
• Command & Conquer Economy: Buildings not only needs your direct orders, but also require characters inside to actually work. Laboratories need scientists, while garages and factories are operated by mechanics.
• Defog of War: Radars works this way. It's really good idea to build single radar vehicle, preferably AI controlled.
  • Snipers also work this way.
• Enemy Exchange Program: You can capture structures of other factions and use them to produce vehicles or using equipment normally available for enemy. This is actually a plot point in American-Arab relations.
• Forced Level-Grinding: There are two ways to beat each level and the game. In first, you take your time with every mission, gaining as much experience as possible with every single character under your command. In second, you just win missions and then restart the whole campaign around middle of it, because your characters are laughtable wimps. Training your scientists in combat skills is not an option. It's a must.
• Garrisonable Structures: Almost all buildings, but only barracks, sand-bags and manned gun possitions work as typical garrisons, allowing characters inside shoot at opponents.
• Geo Effects: Bushes, trees and buildings realistically blocks parts of your line of sight. Hills and upper ground allow you to see on longer distances. Trees blocks your vehicles and building spots, unless you bulldozer them.
• Hero Must Survive: Loosing either MacMillan or Burlak is instant game over.
• I Call It "Vera": Burlak's custom-build tank is called Masha. Bonus points for Americans thinking it's his girlfriend.
• Instant Militia: Played with. Each character can be equipped with rifle or faction-specific weapon, as long as you have access to any barrack or armoury. The actuall performance of such soldier is based on his or her combat skill. If there is no place to get better weapons, non-soldier characters will use handguns.
• Justified Tutorial: In both campaigns main character lands in different situation than was expected by higher ops, so explaining some basics of gameplay is connected with actuall storyline.
• Non-Indicative Difficulty: In-game description calls American campaign easier and good for new players.
• Protection Mission: In American campaign if Joan is on the field, one of secondary objectives is always to make sure she's alive. In case or Russian campaign, it's Burlak's tank...
• Ridiculously Fast Construction: Somewhat justified. The speed of construction depends on skill and number of engineers or mechanics involved, while most of their job is combining prefabricated elements.
• Shows Damage: Damaged building combine this with Damage Is Fire. Literall fire, because after sustaining enough damage, structure becomes unoperatable smouldering ruins. If you don't repair them, they will burn to the ground.
• Starting Units: In some missions you start with vehicles which you are not able to not only produce, but even fuel...
• Unexpected Gameplay Change: It's RTS, right? So all I have to do is builds som... oh shit, is that tactical shooter? A stealth mission?
• Worker Unit: Every single character can be equipped with engineering equipment (as long as there is operating stockpile), allowing him or her to build and repair structures and also carry crates. Americans may also use apemen as pack-mules and to help construct or repair, but human or AI-controlled construction vehicle is required to start building.
• You Require More Vespene Gas: Crates represent resources sent from the future and they are used for everything. With proper technology, you can find oil deposits and later Siberite/Alaskite, using them as fuel for your vehicles and power generators. Then there is also energy, produced by said generators or solar panels.

edited 9th Feb '13 9:51:06 AM by RysioPysio

Okay, I want to edit a person's post, but I'm not sure if I can do it without making a spelling and grammar error, okay so here it is.

His attempt at being chivalrous and tasteful is so impressive (he even tries to look past he buxom waitress practically dangles her breasts under his nose, for he can look at Robin.)

His attempt at being chivalrous and tasteful is so impressive he even tries to look past the buxom waitress, who practically dangles her breasts under his nose, for he can look at Robin.)

Corrections are bold, but I have no idea how the crossed-out part fits into the sentence.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

Corrections and additions are marked in bold, unnecessary punctuation and deletions are crossed out, and my comments are in italics.

• Baseless Mission: Many American missions are these. Your objective is either to survive, capture the enemy base, infiltrate it or run away with fellow characters from the main forces if you decide to defect to the Alliance.
• Colour Coded Armies: Each faction has its own, unique color. Americans are blue, Soviets are red, Arabs are yellow and the Alliance uses light green.
• Command & Conquer Economy: Buildings not only need your direct orders, but also require characters inside to actually work. Laboratories need scientists, while garages and factories are operated by mechanics.
• Defog of War: Radar and snipers work this way. It's a really good idea to build a single radar vehicle, preferably AI controlled.
  • Snipers also work this way. (This is not how examples should be indented or formatted.)
• Enemy Exchange Program: You can capture structures of other factions and use them to produce vehicles or using equipment normally available for the enemy. This is actually a plot point in American-Arab relations.
• Forced Level-Grinding: There are two ways to beat each level and the game. The first is to take your time with every mission, gaining as much experience as possible with every single character under your command. The second is to just win missions and then restart the whole campaign halfway through, because your characters are laughable wimps. Training your scientists in combat skills is not an option. It's a must.
• Garrisonable Structures: Almost all buildings, but only barracks, sand-bags and manned gun positions work as typical garrisons, allowing characters inside to shoot at opponents.
• Geo Effects: Bushes, trees and buildings realistically block parts of your line of sight. Hills and upper ground allow you to see for longer distances. Trees block your vehicles and building spots, unless you bulldoze them.
• Hero Must Survive: Losing either MacMillan or Burlak is an instant game over.
• I Call It "Vera": Burlak's custom-built tank is called Masha. Bonus points for the Americans thinking it's his girlfriend.
• Instant Militia: Played with. Each character can be equipped with a rifle or faction-specific weapon, as long as you have access to any barracks or armoury. The actual performance of such a soldier is based on his or her combat skill. If there is no place to get better weapons, non-soldier characters will use handguns.
• Justified Tutorial: In both campaigns, the main character lands in a different situation than was expected by higher ops, so explaining some basics of gameplay is connected with the actual storyline.
• Non-Indicative Difficulty: The in-game description calls the American campaign easy and good for new players.
• Protection Mission: In the American campaign, if Joan is on the field, one of the secondary objectives is always to make sure she's alive. In the Russian campaign, it's Burlak's tank...
• Ridiculously Fast Construction: Somewhat justified. The speed of construction depends on skill and number of engineers or mechanics involved, while most of their job is combining prefabricated elements.
• Shows Damage: Damaged buildings combine this with Damage Is Fire. Literal fire, because After sustaining enough damage, structures will become unusable smouldering ruins. If you don't repair them, they will burn to the ground.
• Starting Units: In some missions, you start with vehicles which you are not able to neither produce nor fuel...
• Unexpected Gameplay Change: It's an RTS, right? So all I have to do is build som... oh shit, is that a tactical shooter? A stealth mission?
• Worker Unit: Every single character can be equipped with engineering equipment (as long as there is an operating stockpile), allowing him or her to build and repair structures and also carry crates. Americans may also use apemen as pack-mules and to help construct or repair, but human or AI-controlled construction vehicle is required to start building.
• You Require More Vespene Gas: Crates represent resources sent from the future and they are used for everything. With proper technology, you can find oil deposits and later Siberite/Alaskite, using them as fuel for your vehicles and power generators. Then There is also energy, produced by said generators or solar panels.

edited 9th Feb '13 10:31:44 AM by videogmer314

Thanks a lot. But I'm not sure if the correction of Enemy Exchange Program was necessary. You don't produce equipment, you simply use it, so that "using" was actually part of the context. How the final version should look like then?

edited 9th Feb '13 11:03:20 AM by RysioPysio

Is the capturing of other factions' structures necessary to do before using the equipment? (The way the sentence should be revised depends on this.)