Grammar, Punctuation, Spelling, etc.

[Rían]

Hasty Ent - yes, the "could care less" is a funny one, isn't it? But the really funny thing for me is that I find myself saying it sometimes, even though I know the difference! I guess I hear it so much that way, it's easy to say.

And yes, "rushing" and "online" seem to always go together, don't they? *sigh*

For some reason, thinking of "affectation" helps me keep affect and effect straight. Affectation is someone trying to act important, etc. to try to impress someone - it's an action, just like to affect is an action. And I always think of a rather corny German-type scientist saying "what iz zee effect of zis" - lots of "E" sounds, so Effect, not Affect - it's a noun. Kinda crazy, but maybe it will help you .

And I always put 2 spaces after a period (and I can see it as I type it in), but for some reason, I often only get 1, or sometimes even none in the actual post. I have no idea why.

[Coney]

Originally posted by azalea
About grammar: I posted in another forum a sentence that included the phrase "he would have to have seen..." or something like that. My question: is it "would have to have" or "would had to have" or am I better off just saying "he would have had to"? Or what? Should I go back and edit, or leave it alone ?

Do you look at the keyboard or the screen when typing? If you're typing something from a piece of paper, do you look at the paper? I always have to look at the keyboard, because when I took typing in school I always cheated and looked at the keyboard .

Hmm, "he should have seen"..... or maybe "he needed to have seen".

You don't touch-type? .........it would drive me insane having to look from keyboard to screen/paper like a nodding-dog .

It only took me a couple of days to learn to type, although I did start my very first keyboarding with typing lessons. I imagine it would be quite hard to learn typing if you already have all the bad habbits of a two-finger typist.

Yes, yes! More Smilies pls

[Grey_Wolf]

I've noticed sometimes that commas are rarely used in English books.

The man, who had a green jacket and a red shirt with blue spots and orange stripes and black trousers on and had a dog on a leash and was walking in the park during a summer evening with his wife and children.

[azalea]

Rian -- I don't know why that happens, but it reminded me that my husband and I always argue about how many spaces to put between sentences. I always put two, because I was taught that that is the proper typing technique. He never took typing. He is a newspaper reporter, and he says they only put one space between sentences. I say that is because of space. It's funny.

Coney -- actually, I look only at the keyboard. It's weird, I know. I only look up when I'm finished typing. I am trying to break that habit. I actually do put all of my fingers on the correct keys (asdfjkl, and generally follow the proper technique, but for some reason I just like to look at the keyboard rather than the screen. It still annoys me, though.

[Treebeard's apprentice]

Originally posted by Rian:
*sigh* no, I don't enjoy being captious - in fact, I was afraid that you would take it that way, and I really hesitated over the post. I think it's more of a fun thing, between people that enjoy English, like how crick and I talked about the apostrophe thing. "hey, friend, look at your goof!" I'm very sorry if I have offended you, I really did not mean to offend you in any way.

No, you didn't offend me. Perhaps my phraseology was solecistic (I love the Thesaurus). I actually intended to say something more like what you just said. I don't look down on people, but it does irritate me when friends use words incorrectly. Of course, it probably bugs them even more when I correct them.


As for sentences, I was also taught to use two spaces, but I think the Entmoot program doesn't 'recognize' more than one at a time. Can anyone confirm this?

I don't think smilies have any official rules, so go ahead and use them however you like.

[Artanis]

Originally posted by Treebeard's apprentice
As for sentences, I was also taught to use two spaces, but I think the Entmoot program doesn't 'recognize' more than one at a time. Can anyone confirm this?

I always use two spaces to separate sentences. It's supposed to be more space between sentences than between words in a single sentence. Or at least that's what I learned at school a looong time ago. I've never noticed that Entmoot changes two (or more?) spaces to one. I must see now if it does in this post.

Edit: Looks like only one space to me!

[Artanis]

Can anyone please explain to me the use of 'a' and 'an'? At school we learned to use 'an' in front of words that start with a vowel when pronounced (not written). Thus I would write 'an hour', and 'a user'. Is that correct?

Edited after Treebeard's apprentice's correction

[Treebeard's apprentice]

Now I'm curious. Is there anyone who knows WHY Entmoot leaves only one space between sentences?

[Treebeard's apprentice]

Can anyone please explain to me the use of 'a' and 'an'? At school we learned to use 'an' in front of words that start with a vocal when pronounced (not written). Thus I would write 'an hour', and 'a user'. Is that correct?

Artanis, your use of 'a' and 'an' is correct, but 'an' is before a vowel, not a vocal. They are two very different words, so be sure you keep them seperate.

[Lizra]

This is funny, Suddenly everything seems hard! I always just go by the way things sound. If I tried to remember rules forget it. You can tell what good usage sounds like, (usually). If a phrase has a good flow, and is communicating well, who cares if it follows the rules. (I didn't last long in the gifted English class!) As far as spacing between the posts, that was frustrating when I first noticed EM wouldn't do my random double spaces. I often space sentences on visual effect, some letters or words look too "crammed up" for my taste, so I'll give an extra space if I think that will clarify things. I don't worry about EM posts anymore though, cause the spacing is out of my control! I understand most things people say except the silly "internet jargon" or bad run-on sentences that don't really have a point. If you reread what you write, most errors will seem readily apparent.

(except spelling errors, I look up stuff constantly, often the same words over and over. Why I never remember how to spell them is unclear!)

[Treebeard's apprentice]

(except spelling errors, I look up stuff constantly, often the same words over and over. Why I never remember how to spell them is unclear!)

I have the same problem. Usually when I'm on EM I have Dictionary.com open in a seperate window. I constantly flip back & forth to check spelling, definitions, or use the thesaurus.

[Artanis]

Originally posted by Lizra
If you reread what you write, most errors will seem readily apparent.

Well, perhaps they do to those whose native language is English, but not to me. I always re-read my posts, but I'm sure there are still faults in them. Like that silly vocal/vowel error.

Btw, I put my smileys after the period in this post, because there are no sentences directly behind them. Else I would have put them before the period.

Edit: Threebeard's apprentice, thanks for your answer, and I also appreciate your correction!

[Lizra]

I've never noticed mistakes in your posts Artanis! I would have never known English was not your first language! I think speaking more than one language is great. I tried to get my mom to teach me Armenian, she never would though. She and my grandmother would speak it and I would never know what they were talking about!

[Starr Polish]

Perhaps that's why they never taught it to you?

[durin's bane]

Well, in my first days on 'Mooting, I was guilty of bad spelling, grammar, and puntuation. Then one day, I woke-up and decided, "You know what? I'm going to be a good language student like I am in school and type correctly." I can't say it's a peeve of mine, but sentences full of improper grammar, run-on sentences, ridiculous typing errors...so many you can't even make out what the person's saying bugs me.

[Lizra]

Originally posted by Starr Polish
Perhaps that's why they never taught it to you?

Oh yes! The were definitely talking about me! My Nonny always called me "The Lisa" (heeheehee! ) It was blibbity blabbity, blibbity..."The Lisa", blabbity, blibbity, "The Lisa" Blah blah blah.

[Rían]

My spelling days are rapidly coming to an end (e.g. - "shall we let the kids have some i-c-e-c-r-e-a-m?"), as my youngest is now 6 and can spell a little

[sun-star]

I can usually spell quite accurately, and I only make apostraphe mistakes as mistakes, if you know what I mean (when I'm not thinking, or as typos). Unfortunately, I was never really taught grammar properly at school, so I only know what my parents, who are both EFL teachers, insist on. I know how to use all the parts of speech, etc., but never their names My main problem on the Internet is I overuse those three dots... what are they called? When are you supposed to use them (except when you miss something out from a quote, I've studied English Lit. long enough to know that!) I think this post has too many sets of brackets, too. Hmm...

By the way, I always admire the posters whose first language isn't English. I can't believe you don't make more mistakes! I could never write so intelligibly in any of the languages I speak!

[Artanis]

Originally posted by Lizra
I've never noticed mistakes in your posts Artanis! I would have never known English was not your first language!

Thanks Lizra, I was hoping someone would say just that!

Treebeard's apprentice, here's my theory about the missing spaces: Web-pages are coded in HTML (HyperText Markup Language), in which I believe all subsequent whitespace in a text source, like spaces, tabs etc., are translated into only one space in the visible page. If more space is needed it must be explicitly coded into the source. But I'm by no means an expert on this subject, so some of you might want to correct me.

[Sween]

honest to god does it really matter?