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grammar

  1. E

    "Why not" + "and"

    Hi all! Songwriting is a grammatical minefield! I would really appreciate your thoughts on this one: Can you say something like: "Why not finish all the housework, and leave the kitchen dirty?" Or: "Why not call Karen, and leave her worried?" And is there a more graceful way to word this...
  2. Travalgar

    Prepositions in a list

    Alright, this one has been bugging me for a long time. How do we handle different prepositions on a list? The individual modules can detach from each other and also join with each other. In the example above, to avoid writing each other twice, I would usually combine them into something like...
  3. A

    Using foreign words in the dialouge of your foreign/ethnic characters

    I want to do that in my writing but I’m not sure if it’s disrespectful/allowed or not. I don’t mean fabricating full sentences via the help of google translate, I just mean when like a French character says ‘moi’ or a German says ‘nein’ but otherwise speaks English. I think I’m fine with...
  4. lumino

    Style Guide Rules vs Artful Grammar

    When asking a question on Quora about the need to revolve sentences around strong verbs I was told that people designed such rules because aspiring writers don't want to take the time to learn grammar, and that if I want to create a masterpiece I might need to ignore such rules. I am reminded...
  5. lumino

    You know what I just realized?

    I was just looking at some things I wrote several years ago, and it has become evident to me that my linguistic skills may have been better back then. My words were clear, they were easy to understand, and they flowed. Not only that, but I wrote them by revising as I wrote, that is to say, I did...
  6. U

    To read aloud

    I am surprised the importance placed here on grammar and I applaud the use of good grammar in everyday writing and prose for clarity of expression, this often seems in decline. For instance, the habitual use of the Oxford comma when far from clarifying the text it obscures it. However, in...
  7. G

    A love story that I'd like to cite.

    She liked him. He liked her. Marriage seemed like a natural transition. * Marriage day became a doomsday for them, they didn't cite their marriage properly. * The marriage bureau sued them, for citation errors and honor code violation. * The syntax was off, the period was missing, The...
  8. C

    Should I use passive voice or not?

    In my Rubiks World novel I have some sentences in passive voice. The word grammar checker always tells me to rewrite it in active voice. However I don't really think that in any of these cases it is wrong to use the passive voice and that in some it is wrong to use the active voice. Here are...
  9. siliconpoetry

    How to improve grammar skills - fast!

    Hi all, I have gotten a few of my longer writings critiqued by friends. The overwhelming consensus is that it is poetical and not all that bad, however, all of them mention my grammar. I have a little trouble understanding this because from my understanding grammar is basically everything from...
  10. Phoenix Raven

    cooly or coolly?

    This may seem like a stupid question, but I really am not sure. I'm sure you have read dialog before where it may have said something like this. "I really don't know where your cat is, nor do I care," he replied coolly. now is it coolly, or cooly? because looking these up in a dictionary...
  11. Anachronomicorn

    Aspiring writer in need of tips

    Hi everybody! I'm a 29-year-old Michigander in desperate need of a creative outlet, so I decided to give writing a try. I am going to start off with short stories, and hope to work my way up to a full-length fantasy novel that's brimming with philosophical exploration, comedy, and good ol'...
  12. V

    Capitalization in titles

    Do you think all the important words in titles should be capitalized or is it optional? For example, the title of one of my novels is "Where have all the young girls gone?" but I felt it was too cumbersome to have capitals letters except for the first word, so I left it in sentence format. If it...
  13. Extinct_Stimulus

    Colon Capitalization

    While I'm pretty safe with the semicolon, something that's really starting to bother me (as I find myself needing to use it more often) is the colon. I can stick it where it needs to go and use it properly in a sentence, but when I need to figure out what I do with the letter that comes after...
  14. I

    Hi and quick question (or maybe, quick hi and question...)

    Hi everyone, I'm new here. I joined primarily because I need help with technical/grammar-type issues related to a short story I'm writing and I'm not sure where exactly to post my questions. I know how annoying it can be to have someone post in the wrong section, so before I even try, I'm...
  15. bazz cargo

    Etiquette and Politeness in the Madhouse

    It has been a little while since my beloved wife persuaded me to join a forum, because just scribbling bits in note books was rather a solitary past time, and as she ( who must be obeyed ) said, I will never know if I'm any good unless some one reads it and lets me know. I admit I was very...
    • bazz cargo
    • Thread
    • etiquette grammar politeness spelling writing
    • Replies: 9
    • Forum: The Tavern
  16. R

    Email punctuation explosion

    Other writers must have this annoying problem or have found a way to solve it. Let me explain. After I spend hours composing a proposal in Microsoft Word then fixing grammar, revising paragraphs, adjusting line spacing and doing the other things to make the proposal look professional, I proudly...
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