Grammar and Nitpicking
After reading entries on different communities, I have decided I have had enough of the blatant disregard for the most simple grammatical conventions. My grammar education has been negligible, and I'll be the first to admit that I don't know everything and that I do make mistakes. However, over the past 13 or so years while I've been in institutionalised education, I have managed to pick on the following points.
1. Capitalising.
You capitalise the first letter of a sentence, as is demonstrated:
The first letter of this sentence is the "t" in "the" and as you can see, it is capitalised.
You also capitalise "i" when it is the first person subject pronoun, as is demonstrated:
When I write about something I did in first person, I capitalise the "i" because it is gramatically correct.
However, just because you capitalise "i" when it is the first person subject pronoun does not mean that you capitalise the first letter of every word! The following sentence is incorrect:
Whenever I Type I Like To Capitalise The First Letter Of Every Word As If It Were The Title Of A Book Even Though It Looks Ridiculous And Is Wrong.
You do not capitalise random letters in a sentence. The following sentence is incorrect:
hI eveRyoNe. i JuSt WaNtED To SaY thAt I LoVE CapitALISinG raNdOM leTTErs In A ComPLeTeLy iNcOrReCt mAnNeR.
A few words of advice to people who type like this: you are not edgy, you are not cool and most of all you are not correct! You look incredibly idiotic to most of us and many of us are not going to bother reading whatever you have posted, because it hurts our brains to try and decipher whatever your message is.
2. Commas.
You put commas between words in a list, as demonstrated:
I need to buy grapes, apples, bananas, pears and oranges for my fruit salad.
You do not need a comma before the "and" in the above sentence.
Edit to add: Okay, apparently the above rule is quite contentious. It seems to differ from place to place.
You also put commas between adjectives if you are using more than one to describe something, as demonstrated:
He opened his big, wide, blue eyes and looked at me with an open, confused, adorable expression.
This isn't hard to remember because you are just making a list of adjectives.
Commas can be put around clauses to separate them. The commas provides a pause in the sentence. For example:
When I used to live in my old neighbourhood, which was situated just south of the city, I played with my neighbours everyday.
3. Paragraphs and Spacing.
Paragraphs in informal writing are generally chunks of text on the same subject, for example a certain activity. If you are writing a detailed blog about your day do not write everything as one long, extended piece of text. It's difficult to read.
However, it can be just as annoying if you make a new line after every sentence. Consider this:
Yesterday, I went to the park.
It was pretty.
There was a duck.
I don't like ducks - they're stupid.
Yeah, that's all I have to say.
Also, I hit enter after every sentence.
Even if it's not necessary.
It's not poetic or aesthetically pleasing, it's dumb. It should read like this:
Yesterday, I went to the park. It was pretty. There was a duck. I don't like ducks - they're stupid. Yeah, that's all I have to say.
Also, I hit enter after every sentence, even if it's not necessary.
4. Apostrophes.
I'm = I am
You're = You are
He's/She's = He is/She is
Can't = Cannot
Don't = Do not
I don't know what to say about these, except do not forget the apostrophes. It's not hard.
5. Mix-ups.
You're = You are. For example, You're horrible.
"Your" is about ownership, for example, Your dog.
********
To be continued at a later date. Please comment with whatever bugs you and I will add it to the list. :)
1. Capitalising.
You capitalise the first letter of a sentence, as is demonstrated:
The first letter of this sentence is the "t" in "the" and as you can see, it is capitalised.
You also capitalise "i" when it is the first person subject pronoun, as is demonstrated:
When I write about something I did in first person, I capitalise the "i" because it is gramatically correct.
However, just because you capitalise "i" when it is the first person subject pronoun does not mean that you capitalise the first letter of every word! The following sentence is incorrect:
Whenever I Type I Like To Capitalise The First Letter Of Every Word As If It Were The Title Of A Book Even Though It Looks Ridiculous And Is Wrong.
You do not capitalise random letters in a sentence. The following sentence is incorrect:
hI eveRyoNe. i JuSt WaNtED To SaY thAt I LoVE CapitALISinG raNdOM leTTErs In A ComPLeTeLy iNcOrReCt mAnNeR.
A few words of advice to people who type like this: you are not edgy, you are not cool and most of all you are not correct! You look incredibly idiotic to most of us and many of us are not going to bother reading whatever you have posted, because it hurts our brains to try and decipher whatever your message is.
2. Commas.
You put commas between words in a list, as demonstrated:
I need to buy grapes, apples, bananas, pears and oranges for my fruit salad.
You do not need a comma before the "and" in the above sentence.
Edit to add: Okay, apparently the above rule is quite contentious. It seems to differ from place to place.
You also put commas between adjectives if you are using more than one to describe something, as demonstrated:
He opened his big, wide, blue eyes and looked at me with an open, confused, adorable expression.
This isn't hard to remember because you are just making a list of adjectives.
Commas can be put around clauses to separate them. The commas provides a pause in the sentence. For example:
When I used to live in my old neighbourhood, which was situated just south of the city, I played with my neighbours everyday.
3. Paragraphs and Spacing.
Paragraphs in informal writing are generally chunks of text on the same subject, for example a certain activity. If you are writing a detailed blog about your day do not write everything as one long, extended piece of text. It's difficult to read.
However, it can be just as annoying if you make a new line after every sentence. Consider this:
Yesterday, I went to the park.
It was pretty.
There was a duck.
I don't like ducks - they're stupid.
Yeah, that's all I have to say.
Also, I hit enter after every sentence.
Even if it's not necessary.
It's not poetic or aesthetically pleasing, it's dumb. It should read like this:
Yesterday, I went to the park. It was pretty. There was a duck. I don't like ducks - they're stupid. Yeah, that's all I have to say.
Also, I hit enter after every sentence, even if it's not necessary.
4. Apostrophes.
I'm = I am
You're = You are
He's/She's = He is/She is
Can't = Cannot
Don't = Do not
I don't know what to say about these, except do not forget the apostrophes. It's not hard.
5. Mix-ups.
You're = You are. For example, You're horrible.
"Your" is about ownership, for example, Your dog.
********
To be continued at a later date. Please comment with whatever bugs you and I will add it to the list. :)