GC's Grammar Class 101

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by christiangirl

Yeah, that was implied.

I'm queen of staring at a word so long that I'm no longer sure it's even real

[BlueReign]

Originally Posted by RedefinedDiva

While I hope the poor baby's feelings weren't hurt after all her hard work, every moment is a teachable moment.

Grown, college educated folks still make that mistake....

No, she wasn't hurt. She's on her way to middle school and I don't want her to eventually be one of those grown folks still making that mistake.

[skeeliteful]

I am so glad I have company when it comes to grammer and usage.

When is it appropriate to use a semi-colon ";"?

[TonyB06]

Originally Posted by delph998

Fellow GCers:

I consider myself to be a great writer, but there are times when I get stuck with words and need help. Everyone has a problem area when it relates to grammar. So let's discuss it and learn from each other.

Here are my issues. When do you use:

Effect/affect

whose/whom/who

I also have problems with prepositions, but I can't think of an example right now.

Two sources that I use and suggest:

The Elements of Grammar by Margaret Shertzer

The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr., and E.B. White


...now, where is my DVD?!?

[Little32]

Originally Posted by skeeliteful

I am so glad I have company when it comes to grammer and usage.

When is it appropriate to use a semi-colon ";"?

Semi-colons can be used to connect two independent clauses; they should not be used with conjunctions (and, but, yet), but they can be used with transitional language (however, conversely, etc.)

EX: She wanted to join XYZ; however, her friend wanted to join BCD.

[ErinIsBadNews]

Originally Posted by skeeliteful

I am so glad I have company when it comes to grammer and usage.

When is it appropriate to use a semi-colon ";"?

Quick hijack.

In my freshman year English course, we had to edit a classmate’s paper. This girl leaned over and asked me why there was a period over a comma. At first I didn’t get what she was asking me, once it hit me I just about died. How do you get to college without knowing that it is not a period over a comma, it’s a semicolon!!! I tried to explain it to her but she just didn’t get it. *sigh*

[christiangirl]

^^^a girl in my class would always edit my work and on almost every piece, she wrote "I question your use of semicolons." Not to be snotty, but I got an A in Advanced Grammar and you got a kick in the head, so let's question someone else's semicolons, shall we.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by RedefinedDiva

I wish some folks would stop throwing an apostrophe in front of every 's' that falls at the end of a word.

Thank you. For example, GLO's is not the plural of GLO.

My pet grammatical peeve is the misuse of "myself" in place of "I" or "me," as in "Redefined Diva, Drolefille and myself will be conducting grammar reviews." And lately, my wife and I have observed a distressing increase the use of "I" in place of "me": "BlueReign appropriately corrected christiangirl and I."

[christiangirl]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

: "BlueReign appropriately corrected christiangirl and I."

I just thought, "Corrected us doing what?" But I get it now.

It's not exactly an error, but I can't stand leaving "I" in lower case on the net. I might if I'm typing in a hurry, but normally I can't do that. It just doesn't look right.

[nikki1920]

I am taking a class via my employer about business grammar right now. We are using The Gregg Reference Manual . I am actually enjoying it. And I write very well (not good).

re: the use of " 's" to pluralize words. (b/c that irks the HELL out of me)
Our book actually has examples when this is ok, usually for clarity's sake.

EX: (p. 182)
dotting the i's
four c.o.d's
sending out three bcc's

But NOT "the Zeta's, Sigma's and AKA's are all probating tomorrow".

Originally Posted by delph998

Fellow GCers:

I consider myself to be a great writer, but there are times when I get stuck with words and need help. Everyone has a problem area when it relates to grammar. So let's discuss it and learn from each other.

Here are my issues. When do you use:

Effect/affect
whose/whom/who...

Great thread!!! I also consider myself a good writer, but the above has always been a problem for me. Thanks CT4 for the references.

[delph998]

The difference between endots and semicolons. I use both frequently and hope I'm using them properly.

Tony B. stop putting me on blast all of the time! I luvs ya though.

[MeezDiscreet]

This reminds me of my father who re-discovered semicolons in his later adult life. My mother called me ready to cut him because she was typing some papers for him and the only punctuation he used was the semicolon! LOL! He also learned the word moot and used it anytime he could, appropriate or not. Ex: There's no seasoning on this. This chicken is moot! LMAO!!

[TonyB06]

Originally Posted by delph998

The difference between endots and semicolons. I use both frequently and hope I'm using them properly.

Tony B. stop putting me on blast all of the time! I luvs ya though.

See, now you gon make me send you a grammatically incorrect e-mail.

[jojapeach]

Originally Posted by christiangirl

"I" before "E" except after "C" and when sounding as "A" as in "neighbor" and "weigh."

HIJACK!

I swear I didn't understand that rule until watching a Charlie Brown movie where Charlie Brown was in a spelling bee, and he replayed a little ditty where he repeated, "'I' before 'E' except after 'C'."

/HIJACK

I like this thread! Thanks for the who/whom link.