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...

@rosegoldwatcher - love that poem!

@Puffalicious

rose I love this poem!

I believe that the unknown sauce is Martha Stow.

@ErrolTheDragon

I quite like the Spanish punctuation of putting an upside-down question mark or exclamation mark at the beginning of a sentence as well as a regular one at the end.

They're a great idea, signalling at the start of a sentence how to read it. More than a few times when reading books to DD I had to go back and re-read a sentence with the correct tone.

I like the Spanish way too. I am fortunate enough to be a fast reader, it's useful when reading to children because I can 'read' the sentence before I say it so get the tone right. It's a nightmare when reading books for myself though as I go too fast and miss detail, I tend to look at the words more than read them.

I am very much enjoying this thread, thank you.

Agreed. Comma splices are annoying and obfuscate the sense.

Please could you explain comma splices in more detail (I have only got to page seven so far, apologies if there is more on this).

I am fortunate enough to be a fast reader, it's useful when reading to children because I can 'read' the sentence before I say it so get the tone right.

But it's still a bugger when the sentence ends overleaf.

It's a nightmare when reading books for myself though as I go too fast and miss detail, I tend to look at the words more than read them.

That's a nice distinction - obviously you're reading the words, I assume you mean you're not internally 'saying' them?

@ErrolTheDragon

I am fortunate enough to be a fast reader, it's useful when reading to children because I can 'read' the sentence before I say it so get the tone right.

But it's still a bugger when the sentence ends overleaf.

It's a nightmare when reading books for myself though as I go too fast and miss detail, I tend to look at the words more than read them.

That's a nice distinction - obviously you're reading the words, I assume you mean you're not internally 'saying' them?

Yes! Sentences ending overleaf should be illegal

I don't remember ever internally 'saying' the words, about the only time I have used internal words when reading was when sharing books at high school and I'd be with a very slow reader (always the same child). I'd read the page 4 or 5 times before they had finished and then get told off for looking out the window. The internal words were usually not those on the page....

I have dyslexia and appreciate this as I think people will think I'm thick and often don't go back to my post to check for responses incase there are grammar police. Very helpful.

Which is correct:

1. The snow is laying

2. The snow is lying

IE When the snow is landing on the ground & staying there, not melting immediately

@LadyAprilLucy

Which is correct:

1. The snow is laying

2. The snow is lying

IE When the snow is landing on the ground & staying there, not melting immediately

2 is correct. 1 is never correct (virtually never).

Lay as a present tense verb is nearly always transitive. That means you need to lay something. You can’t just “lay”. You can lay a blanket on a bed, or lay a table, for example. Exceptions are poultry - a hen can lay, or a nautical term - lay close to the wind.

It gets confusing, because lay happens to be the past tense of lie.

@LadyAprilLucy

Which is correct:

1. The snow is laying

2. The snow is lying

IE When the snow is landing on the ground & staying there, not melting immediately

The snow is lying.

'Lay' is something you do to something - you lay down a mat, or lay the table, or a hen lays an egg. Lie is what a thing does - I am lying down, the mat lies on the floor.

The Americans love it though.

We do. Sometimes it's necessary to avoid confusion about lists. My favorite example is: "I would like to thank my parents, Sinead O'Connor and the Pope."

The Oxford comma is needed in some situations, though. Like in the sentence,

‘I’d like to thank my parents, Mother Therese and the Pope,’ you really need that Oxford comma.

‘I’d like to thank my parents, Mother Therese, and the Pope,’ as it clarifies that they are three separate items on the list.

@Mothermorph

I find grammar really difficult. I didnt really learn any at school (1980s/90s) but my DDad would always pick me up on things. One of his bug bears was "splitting the infinitive" I dont really even know what that means but I noticed a massive billboard ad where they had written something in that way and I could have imagine my Ddad being appalled! But then thought that if all the people who had anything to do with the ad were my age or younger, possibly none of them would have learned grammar. My teen DD has to help DS with grammar homework because things like fronted adverbials and subordinate clauses are a foreign language to me.

I think "split infinitive" is when a verb is interrupted by another word in the middle

eg "to go boldly" is wrong, because "go" has been put in between "to" and "go"

It should be "to go boldy"

@notanothertakeaway - eg "to go boldly" is wrong, because "go" has been put in between "to" and "go" It should be "to go boldy"

An excellent example of why it's important to re-read before pressing 'post'

[quote OchonAgusOchonO]**@notanothertakeaway* - eg "to go boldly" is wrong, because "go" has been put in between "to" and "go" It should be "to go boldy"*

An excellent example of why it's important to re-read before pressing 'post' [/quote]
@OchonAgusOchonO

Ha ha, yes indeed!

I think "to go boldy" is wrong

I think "to boldly go" is correct

To go boldly is correct.
To boldly go is incorrect, because the infinitive “to go” has been split by “boldly”.

@notanothertakeaway - it's the other way around. To go boldly is correct, although it sounds wrong because of Star Trek.

The infinitive is "to something verby" (can't remember what you call it) so 'to go', 'to swim' etc. It should be 'to run quickly', rather than 'to quickly run' etc.

@OchonAgusOchonO @daisypond That's brilliant, thanks for explanations

@Mothermorph please ignore my answer to your query!

It's a bit of a silly rule, though. The only reason you 'shouldn't' split infinitives is that you can't in Latin. Since you can in English, and it's never confusing, it shouldn't be an issue.

Agreed. I split mine with gay abandon.

I agree on splitting infinitives. I also quite happily dangle my participles.

Yes, I agree it’s a silly rule and widely ignored. English is not a Latinate language.

I think "to go boldy" is wrong

Rubbish! It's an old idea that you can't split an infinitive, but it's one that many competent writers happily ignore. In any case, how would avoid splitting the infinitive in this example: I expect cases to more than double in the next month?

PS misspelling of boldly was in the post from @notanothertakeaway , but I presume you are claiming to go boldly is wrong. I see I'm not the only one to disagree.

My favourite rule is for stationery and stationary - remember E is for envelope.