1. naruzeldamaster

    naruzeldamaster Senior Member

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    Are there grammar thingies you always do? (despite knowing better)

    Discussion in 'Word Mechanics' started by naruzeldamaster, Apr 12, 2021.

    I mean silly things that your brain gets hung up on.
    Like mine is spelling sentence with an unnecessary c.
    And mixing up sense and *Since* for some reason.
    I always spell words the way they sound out loud when spoken, which...usually isn't the case haha.
    Do note that I'm talking about first drafts, unedited.
     
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  2. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    Lately I've been writing "seem" instead of "scene" on this forum. Like, every single time, which is problematic since "scene" enters into every other post.
     
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  3. alw86

    alw86 Active Member

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    Recently I've found myself shoving in apostrophes before every 's' at the end of a word. It's totally unconscious, I'll do it while typing and then look over the sentence a moment later and wonder what the heck I was thinking. I have no idea why I've started doing this, I know the grammatical rules and have spent the better part of 20 years typing daily without this problem, but suddenly in the past couple of months here it is. Mystery.
     
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  4. alittlehumbugcalledShe

    alittlehumbugcalledShe Active Member

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    I usually write, with more commas, then, I ever intended, to start out, with. Used to drive my English teacher crazy. Now guess who's in love with the semicolon?
     
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  5. Naomasa298

    Naomasa298 HP: 10/190 Status: Confused Contributor

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    I often mix continuous and past tense in the same sentence.

    Opening the door, I went inside.
     
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  6. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    I always manage to mix up form and from. It's my biggest problem (well, spelling-wise). It seems weird that I wouldn't sometimes get it right just accidentally. I don't think it's just random though, it seems like my brain insists on always using the wrong one—some kind of weird auto-reversal thing. And the worst part is that sometimes when I'm fixing it I end up still doing it wrong.
     
    Last edited: Apr 12, 2021
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  7. SapereAude

    SapereAude Contributor Contributor

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    I have also recently found myself doing this. I know better, and it has only begun to happen recently.

    I know exactly where it comes from: the Internet. Unfortunately (perhaps), there are no licenses required to fire up a computer and post on the Internet. The result is that people who can't write, spell, or punctuate (or even think coherently) post things that the rest of us read. And when you see enough posts in which any word snding in 'S' has an apostrophe preceding the 'S,' your brain begins to accept that this is the way it should be done.
     
  8. marshipan

    marshipan Contributor Contributor

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    Using the word "though" when it's completely unnecessary. Mixing up "it's" and "its". Sentence fragments.
     
  9. J.T. Woody

    J.T. Woody Book Witch Contributor

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    basically how im typing now..... no caps or apostrophes.
    i do caps at the beginning of sentences in my writing (just not always on here), but i've gotten in the habbit of forgoing the apostrophes in words like dont, wont, shouldnt, cant, etc.
    i know i need them and where they should go but typing is muscle memory to me. and my fingers just dont go to the apostrophe (just like how im still trying to get used to to my HP keyboard. after 8 years of typing on a mac, typing on an HP is soooo different, i keep hitting the wrong keys).
    When i hand write, though, i add the apostrophes.
     
  10. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    Oh, apostrophes mess me all up! I usually end up hitting the semicolon instead, like this—I don;t know. Or the Enter key, like this—I couldn
    t say.


    I've learned to check for those short lines, and lines beginning with a T.
     
    Last edited: Apr 13, 2021
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  11. naruzeldamaster

    naruzeldamaster Senior Member

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    I'm honestly pretty bad with commas, at least according to how Microsoft Word views it.
    Half the time I think it needs one? Nope
    Half the time I think it doesn't need one? Yup needs one.
    I should be getting better at this (I'm working on one rule at a time) but commas...uh yeah.
    I've also been trying to cut back my ellipsis (...) but I frequently have to go back and edit them out haha.
     
  12. SapereAude

    SapereAude Contributor Contributor

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    I have read in more than one source that the comma is the most mis-used punctuation mark in the English language. It doesn't help that British usage is moderately different from American usage.

    Google up "Oxford comma." One result: https://www.oxford-royale.com/articles/oxford-comma/
     
  13. marshipan

    marshipan Contributor Contributor

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    There are even different styles within US English that have different rules too. Chicago style, APA, and etc. I don't even know which style I'm using when I do certain things (like italicizing titles instead of quotations) since I had to use different styles for different classes and therefore just gave up at some point until I let grammarly teach me it's suggestions. Although it always wants to hyphenate words like a maniac.

    And apparently I use British words for some things but from what I hear it's a common things with Americans--likely because half or more of our required reading is British. I do not give up some of those words, like backwards. According to grammarly as an American I should write backward... Sounds so weird though. I'll usually go back and take out all the extra "u"s. Like catalog and catalogue. I prefer the British but try to stay American consistent as much as I'm willing.
     
  14. ItzAmber

    ItzAmber test

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    I keep on misspelling couldn't into counldn't or coudn't or you know-
     
  15. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    I was just about to post something very similar. I have a tednency to reverse a piar of lteters now and thne. It isn't like dyslexia, I think it's usually more like one hand gets there before the other one (I'm a 2-finger pecker when i type). Oh yeah, also i forget to capitalize i a lot.
     
  16. ItzAmber

    ItzAmber test

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    *I have a tendency to reverse a pair of letters now and then.* Here's the correct spelling-
     
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  17. ItzAmber

    ItzAmber test

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    I also switch the spelling of and into ang. Ang means "the" in another language.
     
  18. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    What language is that?
     
  19. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    Grammar, what do? :p

    I use tons of commas, like now.
    I call it my 'comma drama', due to
    using them so often.
    Also not knowing when a hyphen is
    needed and when the word is all together. o_O
     
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  20. Robert Musil

    Robert Musil Comparativist Contributor

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    Did anyone else instinctively read this in William Shatner's voice?
     
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  21. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    Haha. I am now... after I misread it as William Shakespeare, that is.

    upload_2021-4-13_11-51-4.png upload_2021-4-13_11-51-4.png
     
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  22. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    It's kinda funny that Shatner doesn't write with all the extra commas.
     
  23. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    He sure does speak with them, or maybe more like em-dashes, with the longer pauses.

    It's, like, so Shatspearian!
     
    Last edited: Apr 13, 2021
  24. Madman

    Madman Life is Sacred Contributor

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    I mix British English and American English, sometimes even in the same sentence.
     
  25. alittlehumbugcalledShe

    alittlehumbugcalledShe Active Member

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    I've noticed that I sometimes use the lingerings of French grammar when speaking/writing in English. It's not intentional, but sometimes I re-read something I've said and I spot it out of the blue, like 'Huh. Isn't that funny?'. I like to phrase things differently anyway, so it all works out.
     

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