To offer some grammar tips to anyone who might want them?

[UnaCorda]

I sincerely hope this doesn't come across as either rude or patronising - it genuinely isn't meant to. It's also not intended as a pedants' thread.

I just thought it might be useful to list a few common mistakes, with an explanation, so that anyone who isn't very confident with their written English might be able to correct errors which, for example, could perhaps count against them in a job application or when used in a professional context.

I'll start with three:

1. "Your" shows that what you're referring to (probably a person or object) belongs to whoever "you" is in the sentence; for example, "Your brother showed me your book". If you mean "you are" you need to write "you're".

2. "Non" is not a word on its own - it is negating something, such as in "non-stick" or "non-committal". ("None-stick" would be incorrect, as would "non of them".) "None" means there aren't any. "How many cakes are left?" "Sorry - none." Or, "How many of the children finished the test?" "None of them."

3. "Alot" is not a word and the same goes for "abit", "infront", "incase" and "inbetween". Instead use "a lot", etc., just like "a little".

Hope I haven't made any mistakes myself...

Also,
I was sitting or I sat, not I was sat.
I was standing or I stood, not I was stood.
I have written or I wrote, not I have wrote.
These drive me mad.

@Shimy

OP I was taught in school (abroad) that you never put a comma before or after ‘and’ because and is connective used instead of comma. It will be like putting two commas. Happy to be corrected.

Interesting. I think there are different schools of thought (the "Oxford comma", for example) but I can see the logic of what you were taught.

Unless you're having to adhere to a style guide (working for an American company, documentation I wrote had to have the extra commas) the best rule with commas is simply to use them if they aid clarity.

OP I think it's a great thread and not patronising at all. I like to think I have a fair standard of English education.
However I would like you if you can, to explain something to me.
When my DC's were young they adopted a phrase for example "I'm going shop" "I'm going park" and I'd shout "to the" but whilst I could give the correct way of saying it I didn't have the knowledge to explain why they were wrong.
They stopped saying it eventually.
We was was another thing they'd picked up locally. I could deal with that one. It drove me insane at the time 🤣

@ErrolTheDragon

Unless you're having to adhere to a style guide (working for an American company, documentation I wrote had to have the extra commas) the best rule with commas is simply to use them if they aid clarity.

Yes, I like that.

I find it irritating when people add them unnecessarily between repeated words as I think that lessons clarity.

@WindowsSmindows

When should you use will and when should you use shall?

@WindowsSmindows, my dad taught me the difference between 'will' and ''shall' with this example:

"I will drown, and no one shall save me!" = person determined to die

"I *shall" drown, and no one will save me!" = person worried they won't survive.

Basically, it's a question of intent and inevitability.

And being 104 .

Sorry for buggering up the bold.

@SarahAndQuack and @UnaCorda

Japanese does, at times!

If you were saying you will “do” something, then you’d have the following options:

Normal - suru (do)

Casual - yaru (do)

Formal - sasete itadakimasu (please allow me to do)

Honorific - nasaimasu

Humble - itashimasu

“Suru “ and “yaru” are different verbs but with the same meaning. “Sasete” is a conjunction of “suru” so it’s a more polite form of the same verb rather than being a completely different verb.

There’s also honorific forms which you use when speaking about someone in a superior position, and humble forms which you should use about yourself when talking to someone in a higher position. The honorific form of “do” is “nasaimasu” and the humble form is “itashimasu”.

They all have the same meaning, but the verb would change depending on how formal you were being and whether you were referring to yourself or someone “above” you.

Was that the kind of thing you were thinking of?

@Monty27

OP I think it's a great thread and not patronising at all. I like to think I have a fair standard of English education. However I would like you if you can, to explain something to me. When my DC's were young they adopted a phrase for example "I'm going shop" "I'm going park" and I'd shout "to the" but whilst I could give the correct way of saying it I didn't have the knowledge to explain why they were wrong. They stopped saying it eventually. We was was another thing they'd picked up locally. I could deal with that one. It drove me insane at the time 🤣

Glad you like it.

Depending on how young they were, I would guess this was just the process of language development/acquisition. They picked out the most important words. If you think about how you would say, "I'm going to the shop," the words that would get the least emphasis would be "to" and "the" - they almost get lost in the rest of the sentence of you're speaking quickly.

But if you wanted to explain it grammatically, I suppose you'd say that the sentence needs the preposition ("to") and the definite article ("the") in order to be precise, otherwise you could be going to (or from, or around, etc.) any shop rather than one specific one.

@UnaCorda

You made a mistake in using a hyphen after 'patronising' in your OP, rather than an em-dash.

I sincerely hope this doesn't come across as either rude or patronising - it genuinely isn't meant to. [incorrect]

I sincerely hope this doesn't come across as either rude or patronising—it genuinely isn't meant to. [correct]

Full explanation at: site.uit.no/english/punctuation/hyphen/

Unsociable - Doesn’t go to parties

Antisocial - Goes to parties and shits in the plant pots

The votes are getting closer and closer to 50:50!

I find it irritating when people add them unnecessarily between repeated words as I think that lessons clarity.

Lessens!!

[quote biddybird]@UnaCorda

You made a mistake in using a hyphen after 'patronising' in your OP, rather than an em-dash.

I sincerely hope this doesn't come across as either rude or patronising - it genuinely isn't meant to. [incorrect]

I sincerely hope this doesn't come across as either rude or patronising—it genuinely isn't meant to. [correct]

Full explanation at: site.uit.no/english/punctuation/hyphen/[/quote]
Yes, I agree it should be a hyphen (an em-dash wouldn't make sense) but I don't know how to type a hyphen on mumsnet! How did you do it?

[quote biddybird]@UnaCorda

You made a mistake in using a hyphen after 'patronising' in your OP, rather than an em-dash.

I sincerely hope this doesn't come across as either rude or patronising - it genuinely isn't meant to. [incorrect]

I sincerely hope this doesn't come across as either rude or patronising—it genuinely isn't meant to. [correct]

Full explanation at: site.uit.no/english/punctuation/hyphen/[/quote]
Even frequenters of Pedants' Corner don't usually worry about typography — I've just found out how to do the different dashes on my iPad and have no intention of ever using them again.

[quote TaxTheRatFarms]**@SarahAndQuack* and @UnaCorda*

Japanese does, at times!

If you were saying you will “do” something, then you’d have the following options:

Normal - suru (do)

Casual - yaru (do)

Formal - sasete itadakimasu (please allow me to do)

Honorific - nasaimasu

Humble - itashimasu

“Suru “ and “yaru” are different verbs but with the same meaning. “Sasete” is a conjunction of “suru” so it’s a more polite form of the same verb rather than being a completely different verb.

There’s also honorific forms which you use when speaking about someone in a superior position, and humble forms which you should use about yourself when talking to someone in a higher position. The honorific form of “do” is “nasaimasu” and the humble form is “itashimasu”.

They all have the same meaning, but the verb would change depending on how formal you were being and whether you were referring to yourself or someone “above” you.

Was that the kind of thing you were thinking of?[/quote]
I was aware of this and I'd heard of honorific, but didn't know all the detail. It's an absolute minefield! If you thought negotiating "tu" and "vous" was tricky...!

Especially as, it turns out, they still get interpreted by MN markup and cause strikethrough (on the iPad, don't know what it does on the browser).

UnaCorda It should not be a hyphen; it should be an em-dash. Hyphens are used to join words or parts of words together. (e.g., mother-in-law, off-peak, roly-poly).

On my Mac the command for an em-dash is alt-shift-hyphen.
For an en-dash, use alt-hyphen.

@ErrolTheDragon No strikethrough, but I see an em-dash.
Normally you'd only leave the spaces around it if you're writing for a newspaper.

@Puffalicious

Ah but OP as Billy Connolly once said 'There's no wrong weather just the wrong clothes.' You must admit, it's brilliant here (apart from the weather!).

Yep.

If putting an exclamation mark, question mark, full stop etc. after something in quotation marks, does it go inside or outside the quotation marks?

I always use a serial comma, but I am American, and many American style guides prefer it.

@Playmysong

If putting an exclamation mark, question mark, full stop etc. after something in quotation marks, does it go inside or outside the quotation marks?

Depends whether it's part of the quotation. (Although I must admit to being a little uncertain about full stops...)

I do believe that since 2010 funding for adult education has been pulled. During the 80's and 90's I can remember ads encouraging adults into literacy and numeracy classes .Free they were too,shame.

@ssd

You forgot to add 'could of' instead of 'could have'

Because the schools have been closed I don't think op could have learnt that one yet. Your being silly.