Common Grammatical Errors

[isabelle]

I have sort of a left-field question for you guys...

I'm writing a fic where Rath is one of the characters and I'm trying to duplicate his horrible accent and slang. In my fic, he never refers to women by their first names, but by various obnoxious nicknames. When you're referring to a woman as 'a chick' how exactly do you spell 'chick' in that context. Everytime I type 'chick' I feel like it looks wrong...like I'm referring to a chicken. Is it chick, chic, or what?

Thanks!

The slang spelling of it is: Chic

Actually Chic is the more modern use. If you read anything written in the 70s, you'll find it spelled "chick".

Looking it up on dictionary.com...

chick ( P ) Pronunciation Key (chk)
n.

A young chicken.
The young of any bird.
A child.
Slang. A girl or young woman.

chic ( P ) Pronunciation Key (shk)
adj. chic·er, chic·est
Conforming to the current fashion; stylish: chic clothes; a chic boutique.
Adopting or setting current fashions and styles; sophisticated: chic, well-dressed young executives. See Synonyms at fashionable.

n.
The quality or state of being stylish; fashionableness.
Sophistication in dress and manner; elegance.

I don't know why your pronunciation key has no vowels in it. 'chic' is pronounced 'SHEEK' while 'chick' has the soft 'i' -- so for rath's dialogue it would be 'chick' right?

Or, more likely -- ho. lol.

[isabelle]

Here's a grammar note from me.

'bear and bare'

'bare' is naked, without clothes or without fur.

'bear' is an animal when it's a noun. As a verb it refers to carrying a burden.

Therefore, one will say 'I can't bear it.'

When I see 'I can't bare' it I have to think -- then put some clothes on, eh?







I also have to say, I agree COMPLETELY about the Isabel/Isabelle thing.

MY name is Isabelle, but HERS is Isabel.

(Of course, I do sometimes misspell her name 'cause I automatically start writing mine, lol. But I usually catch it right away.)

[MamaDee52]

Here are a couple of mistakes that seem to pop up all the time:

Loose instead of lose:

My button is loose so I'll sew it on so that I won't lose it.

Noone instead of no one. There is a space between the two words. Otherwise it pronounces like noon which is definitely not what the writer means.....or at least I'm assuming it's not.

I'm absolutely anal when it comes to spelling and grammar. I make mistakes, too but I always try to use a dictionary and spell-check as back up. God, I am a nerd! “Look, Miss!” Little Dee waves her dictionary in the air proudly.

Of course, we Canadians have an extra issue to deal with. Should we use the Canadian spelling or the American? Frankly, I use the Canadian/British because that's the way I was raised dagnabbit!

If there are a lot of errors then I’ll just stop reading the fic which is a shame because some of them have good storylines. Unfortunately, I can’t bring myself to read them because I’m focusing on the errors and not the story.

And thanks to Breathless for pointing out the common spelling errors we make for those less used Ros-names. I guess I have the pronunciation in my head and that’s how it’s spelled for me. Clearly, my pronunciation is all fuzzled up!

So it's Serina, Granilith and Kivar. Hmmmm. Now I have to rethink their names every time I see them because they've been imprinted into my mind the other way. Crap! There's no rest for the wicked, I guess. sigh

~ Dee ~

[maxandliz4ever1357]

lol, I agreed with all of that Dee!

Another thing that really annoys me is when people write suppose to instead of supposed to. I don't know why, but that just drives me crazzzzzzy! Same thing with use to and used to.

[isabelle]

how about "should of" instead of "should have"

[2004]

I like the British spelling of words. I don't use it normally 'cause it would seem weird for me.

[behrlyliz]

HELP!

Do you place a comma before a correlative?

[isabelle]

By a correlative you mean the 'neither/nor' stuff? Then the answer is no.


i.e.,

Neither Max nor Liz welcomed Tess.

[behrlyliz]

By a correlative you mean the 'neither/nor' stuff? Then the answer is no.


i.e.,

Neither Max nor Liz welcomed Tess.

Yes. Thanks a lot .

[Eccentric One]

I was always taught that commas go where the speaker would naturally take a breath or pause.

I have to agree. Although my reasoning for it may be a bit non-grammatical. I was originally trained in theatre as an actor. Punctuation was the big, bold-faced clue as to how the author wanted the lines to be pronounced. Commas were a short breath. Periods a break in the thought. Ellipsis and hypens were "pregnant pauses." Semi-colons were treated the same as a sentence-ending period.

Punctuation marks in a script, to an actor, indicate the phrasing the author indended the lines to be delivered with. While that may or may not be grammatically correct, it does apply (to some degree) to fan fiction. Punctuation gives us the feeling of how the words should sound when spoken.

Kara