[identity profile] whymzycal.livejournal.com
In August of last year, Slate writer Katy Waldman tackled the tricky issue of adjective order and whether it’s important in spoken and written English. Her article describes GSSSACPM, which is the generally agreed-upon order of adjectives describing a particular noun: “general opinion then specific opinion then size then shape then age then color then provenance then material” (bold emphasis mine). But of course it’s not quite as simple as all that, as Waldman goes on to explain. I’ll admit that some of her explanation seemed needlessly convoluted to me, but her examples helped to clear up what she meant, which I appreciated. So overall, I liked this article. I even learned several new things, which is something I always enjoy doing. Read on to get the full scoop. )
ariestess: (grammar -- from cmzero)
[personal profile] ariestess
Hello again, fellow grammarians! Today we're going to tackle the question "Is adjective order important?" with the generous help of our friends over at Once Upon a Time.

Is adjective order important? )
[identity profile] whymzycal.livejournal.com
xkcd shows us why the language nerds shall rule the Earth: it's gotta be those mad linguistic skills!



Hovertext: Not to go all sentence fragment on you.


To become an Earth-ruling language nerd yourself, pop over to our "parts of speech" tags, peruse our "Grammar 101" tag, or have a peek at a couple of articles from About.com and NYTimes.com to read up on verbing nouns, adverbing adjectives, nouning verbs, and adjectiving nouns, etc.
[identity profile] achacunsagloire.livejournal.com
It’s Friday, and you know what that means, dear watchers: it’s time for another Foul-Mouth Friday!

In this edition of Foul-Mouth Friday, we’re moving from the bedroom to the bathroom to take a look at a word that is vulgar not only in its usage but in its very definition: shi—excuse me, the s-word.

To help us better understand this, erm, indecent word, we’re also going to look at some examples of its usage in Kevin Smith’s View Askew film series.

Now let’s click on the cut for more shi—I mean, information. )
[identity profile] lady-ganesh.livejournal.com
Why shouldn’t you describe male characters as "blonde"?

The short answer is "Latin."

Wait, what does that mean? )
[identity profile] melayneseahawk.livejournal.com
"Three Grammar Rules You Can (and Should) Break"
Michelle Pierce, Copyblogger

Description: A list of three grammar rules that never made all that much sense to begin with.

Why Is It Useful? A straightforward explanation of much-mocked rules about prepositions and splitting infinitives, including neat things like pop-culture examples. An ancestor to our own humble efforts?

Quote: Come on: “to go boldly where no man has gone before” just doesn’t have the same ring to it as “to boldly go.” If it sounds better to split the infinitive, then take an axe to it!


"5 Evergreen Editing Tips"
Maria Schneider, Editor Unleashed

Description: Five common mistakes that can easily be corrected in the editing phase.

Why Is It Useful? One would think that these mistakes (run-on sentences, modifier abuse) are simple mistakes to catch, but they're very common. Like the first article, this one lays them out in simple, easy-to-understand ways. This article is written by a professional editor.

Quote: Run-on sentences may seem deep and complex, but are often awkward and difficult to follow. Rewriting into two or three sentences will lead to better flow and readability.


"Follow These Rules for Stronger Writing"
Writer's Digest

Description: Thirteen tips for clean, efficient writing, both prose style and plotting.

Why Is It Useful? This article contains a variety of tips, as well as examples of incorrect and fixed sentences for the grammar and style ones.

Quote: The best prose has a rhythm to it. Honor that rhythm.
[identity profile] kay-brooke.livejournal.com
Anonymous asks: Is there a rule of thumb about hyphenating compound words?

With examples from Stargate SG-1, The X-Files, and Heroes.

Short answer? Not really. For a slightly longer answer, take a peek under the cut )
[identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
How do you correctly use “only” in a sentence?

Only is no ordinary word. Not only an adverb, it is also an adjective. Only too happy to be useful, it also serves as a conjunction, only you shouldn’t really use it this way unless you’re being slightly informal.

With examples from the Chrestomanci novels, Buffy and Discworld )
theemdash: (Editing)
[personal profile] theemdash
with examples from the Roadrunner, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Stargate: SG-1 and Harry Potter

[livejournal.com profile] roadrunner1896 asks: What is the difference between "fast" and "quick"?

"Fast" and "quick" can be adjectives, adverbs, or nouns. In struggling to come up with examples, I think the words are most interchangeable when used as adjectives generally describing speed, but are less interchangeable (or not at all interchangeable) when used in adjectival phrases. (When the words are used as nouns they have completely different meanings and as an adverb "quick" should be "quickly.")

Fast and Quick )

Profile

fandom_grammar: (Default)
Fandom Grammar

December 2017

S M T W T F S
     12
3456789
10 111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31      

Most Popular Tags

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Syndicate

RSS Atom
Page generated Friday, 23 May 2025 18:01
OSZAR »