Hurrah for English

[Sayonara]

Commonly Confused Words

 

 

Fewer - used for discrete units.

E.g. "There were fewer explosions while YT was away."

 

Less - used for continuous measures.

E.g. "There is less confusion when we say what we mean."

 

 

 

Of - belonging to (a thing or collection), or characteristic.

E.g. "This is the first of many", "Of course we all knew that."

 

Off - the opposite of "on".

E.g. "Get off my land or I'll shoot you with this gun."

 

 

 

There - a location, or an event descriptor.

E.g. "The quote button is over there", "There were many posts today."

 

Their - belonging to them.

E.g. "Their posts are improving steadily."

 

They're - contraction of 'they are'.

E.g. "They're all out for the full moon."

 

 

 

Your - belonging to you.

E.g. "Your avatar gives me epileptic fits."

 

You're - contraction of 'you are'.

E.g. "You're driving me nuts."

 

 

 

To - towards a location or time, or an event driver.

E.g. "Let's all go to the moon", "It is five to three", "Blike is installing a module to explode trolls' computers."

 

Too - as well as.

E.g. "I want to come too."

 

Two - the number 2.

E.g. "We have two hours left."

 

 

 

Its - belonging to it.

E.g. "We didn't see its hidden context until it was too late."

Unusual since apostrophes usually indicate the possessive - this form is an exception because of the following:

 

It's - contraction of 'it is'.

E.g. "It's time to get jiggy with it."

 

 

 

Defence - the action of defending something.

E.g. "Aardvark's defence of the United Nations was tongue-in-cheek."

 

Defense - the mechanism of defending something.

E.g. "Tesseract used a field of defensive mines to slow down the killbots."

 

 

 

Decent - good or wholesome.

E.g. "That's a decent screen-saver."

 

Descent - the act of descending.

E.g. "After 10,000 feet we slowed and began our descent."

 

 

 

Lose - the act of losing.

E.g. "Extrasense was doomed to lose the debate."

 

Loose - the condition of not being tight.

E.g. "Loose political morals allowed the party to gain votes."

 

 

 

Choose - to pick from two or more alternatives.

E.g. "You must choose your own clothes today, Eric."

 

Chose - the past tense of the verb "to choose", used for all declensions (i.e. I, you, he/she/it, we, you, they).

E.g. "They chose that path, and look where it ended."

 

 

 

Of and Have - the former is often used where the latter should be.

E.g. "They would have been here sooner" is correct, whereas "They would of been here sooner" is not.

 

 

 

Affect and Effect - Added 18th Dec.

Affect and effect are often confused as they have similar meanings and spellings.

 

An effect is a change that has been caused. Its secondary meaning is as a verb - to effect X is to 'bring about X'.

E.g. "The most noticeable effect was the general improvement in posts", "On the whole, the grammar nazi rant effected a change for the better."

 

An affect, on the other hand, is now only really a noun in psychology. In general English usage it is a verb, and is the action of causing change (compare this with the meaning of 'effect' - the relationship is much like that between 'defence' and 'defense'. One word is for the action, the other is for the mechanism itself.)

E.g. "Sayo hoped that his explanations would affect many posters."

 

 

 

Woman - a female human.

E.g. "Daisy is a woman."

 

Women - more than one female human.

E.g. "All of the women are tired of this mistake."

 

 

 

Misused Punctuation

 

 

' (apostrophe) - used to signify contraction or possession. If it is not contracted or possessive, you do not use an apostrophe.

 

Blike's site: The site belongs to Blike. Because his name does not end with an s, apostrophe is added, then an s.

 

Jesus' ducks: The ducks belong to Jesus. Because his name ends with an s and is an ancient proper name, the apostrophe is simply added.

This is sometimes expressed as "Jesus's", which actually implies the contraction of "Jesus is" due to English's wacky rules.

Marcus's duck gun: The duck gun belongs to Marcus. Marcus is not an ancient proper name (like Jesus, Moses, Achilles etc) so it is usual to add 's to indicate possession. The meaning here is determind by context, since "Marcus is duck gun" would make little sense.

 

The duck's friend: The friend of the duck. The apostrophe comes before the s, as there is only one duck.

 

The ducks' friend: The friend of the ducks. The apostrophe AFTER the s indicates there is more than one duck. The plurality of the friend/s is not relevant.

 

Contraction: When contracting words, the apostrophe takes the place of the characters that have been dropped. Thus "did'nt" and "Ill" are incorrect - they should be "didn't" (did not) and "I'll" (I will) respectively.

 

 

 

. (period, full stop) - used to indicate the end of a sentence.

 

Under usual circumstances this is self-explanatory. However, if a sentence ends with a closing parenthesis or closing quotation mark, the period should be within that punctuation. The same is true of exclamation points and question marks.

 

E.g.

 

When I was in the IRC channel, I heard Dave say maths was "the best thing ever."

 

(Of course, we all know better. Perhaps he just forgot chocolate?)

 

 

 

! (exclamation point) - indicates emphasis and replaces the period at the end of a sentence. Should only be used once per sentence under any circumstances.

 

E.g.

 

"One exclamation point should be enough to indicate urgency!"

 

"Glider has been rescuing lost puppies again (he eats them!)"

 

 

 

Words that do not Exist

 

 

Responce, Sence - these are spelled "response" and "sense" respectively.

 

 

Alot - written as "a lot", because they are separate words.

 

 

Rediculous - spelled "ridiculous" by all the cool kids.

[ydoaPs]

word that does not exist: irregardless

[Rasori]

Yay! I want to print this out and give it to everyone I know.

[J'Dona]

Great post! Though it's going to sound like I don't actually think so if I ask about one of the points. This is just a clarifying point for me:

Jesus' ducks: The ducks belong to Jesus. Because his name ends with an s' date=' the apostrophe is simply added.

This is sometimes expressed as "Jesus's", which actually implies the contraction of "Jesus is" due to English's wacky rules.[/quote']I know that it was written around 1918 or so so, but the first rule of usage in The Elements of Style states that the posessive apostrophe in a noun ending in s should always be followed by another s, so that it would be written Jesus's even though it's still a posessive and not a contraction. If it has changed since (or "it's", but I'm not sure if the contraction applies to "it has" as well as "it is") I'd just like to know so that I can correct my grammar. Likewise with the second rule in the link, regarding the serial comma, since its usage also varies.

 

EDIT: Whoops, just noticed that the link says Jesus' is an exception, as with ancient names ending in -es or -is. But it would still apply towords like Mars's or yourdadonapogos's, according to the link.

[Sayonara]

For the first rule, it doesn't say that - it points out Jesus as an exception. Ignoring the exceptions however, you rightly point out that I have omitted to fully clarify apostrophes since the two uses of 's are more confusing than I suggested.

 

That looks like a good site, and I will be reading it later

[JaKiri]

EDIT: Whoops' date=' just noticed that the link says Jesus' is an exception, as with ancient names ending in -es or -is. But it would still apply towords like Mars's or yourdadonapogos's, according to the link.[/quote']

 

I was about to post this. DAMN YOU LUNCH.

[coquina]

disrespect

 

I despise hearing this used as a transitive verb, but just checked Merriam Webster, and it's legit. I guess I can "dis" and be "dissed" after all.

 

"He disrespected me." Now - I ask you, doesn't that sound terrible?

[YT2095]

"He disrespected me." Now - I ask you, doesn't that sound terrible?

It does!

 

you tell me who he is, I`ll sort him out for you!

[Sayonara]

I despise hearing this used as a transitive verb, but just checked Merriam Webster, and it's legit. I guess I can "dis" and be "dissed" after all.

Ah but Webster is the devil, so you may find a proper dictionary that supports your position on it.

[Gilded]

I rarely make that kind of mistakes, even though English is a second/third language to me. And that's probably the reason for it. Sometimes people tell me I write better English than the locals do, but that's just bullocks. Or then some English fellows (probably those damn chavs) write really, really badly.

[Sayonara]

Actually, the standard of written English among the general population in the UK is quite frightening.

 

Many people try to write in the way that they speak, with horrific results.

[Lance]

like cool thats really cool b/c now i can rite rilly well u did a good job

[YT2095]

I do always write as I`de speak, it`s just that my spelling sucks most of the time, not through intent or lack of correct knowledge in the main, just through pure sloppiness of typing and I never proof read

 

happily I don`t make TOO many bad ones to the point where context or meaning is lost, rendering the post useless

[Gilded]

"like cool thats really cool b/c now i can rite rilly well u did a good job"

 

Yea, dats like teh rily supac00l m8, thx 4 dat and C U l8r d00d!

[YT2095]

it`s probably quite acceptable in the correct place, mobile phone txt msgs, and some I-net slang or IRC usage.

 

it has no place in the REAL world though, not if you`re to obtain/maintain any real credibilty

[Ophiolite]

happily I don`t make TOO many bad ones to the point where context or meaning is lost, rendering the post useless

Sorry YT I don't quite follow you. Could you make that a little clearer please.

 

 

Sayonara - thank you for opening with the less/fewer item. I have even heard this error from a BBC newsreader!

[YT2095]

hey good point! wanna know what really gets on my t!ts even with the Beeb.

 

the news readers when they say goodnight from such and such and from Me.

 

there`s no ME it should be `I`.

 

good night from Sayo and `I`, or sayo and `I` did this or that.

 

it`s not suposed to be "ME"

 

and they consistantly get it wrong, Ok I`m no spelling expert, but I CAN speak the language.

[blike]

::runs away laughing maniacally::

[Gilded]

"there`s no ME it should be `I`."

 

Say what now? That goes against every English lesson I've ever gone through.

[YT2095]

dare I risk making another account for my Wife? shes just read this laughing and says: "that`s what sad gits without a life spend all their time doing, No Life Sayonara"

 

all I wonder about now, is what she must think of ME too! LOL

[Gilded]

"dare I risk making another account for my Wife? shes just read this laughing and says: "that`s what sad gits without a life spend all their time doing, No Life Sayonara""

 

Hey, pregnancy is not a proper reason to make fun of the Grammar Über-Naz... uhh, I mean Sayonara³.

[YT2095]

I think I`ll make her Own account for her, though she says she doesn`t want one, she`s sure got plenty to say when she reads some of it!?

 

not sure if that`s a good or bad thing?

 

for Myself, and the SFN comunity?

[Gilded]

The more angry pregnant women giving their opinions about everything, the better.

[YT2095]

You/We Really don`t want that!, seriously you don`t!

 

EDIT: Not only that, she`de be banned within Nano Seconds anyway! if one of us didn`t do it I would! LOL

[Gilded]

Yeah, you're probably right. Discussing with pregnant women is like standing next to a large batch of nitrogen tri-iodide. One wrong move and you don't even know what hit you.