• halloween_spookster@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Putting question marks or exclamation points after “quotation marks”! I’ve never understood the point of putting the punctuation inside the quotation unless it’s part of the quotation itself.

    • starlinguk@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Quote is full sentence: inside. Quote is part of sentence or word: outside.

      Eg:

      “Oh no!” he gasped.

      And

      Apparently she’s “done with me”!

      Love, an editor.

    • Tar_Alcaran@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      This is how you’re supposed to do it in Dutch.

      The teacher said “silence!”.

      Vs

      The teacher said “silence”!

      Mean something completely different. Although a few large literature publishers do punctuation before bracket because of translation ease, and novels almost never contain partial quotes anyway AND they include the optional comma at all times, which causes

      “Silence!,” said the teacher.

      Shudder

    • wolfpack86@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Especially also when you’re using them to be facetious.

      He’s “talented”.

      He’s “talented.”

    • reddig33@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      For me it depends on if you are quoting someone (punctuation inside quote) or just using a phrase like “woke” (punctuation outside).

  • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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    6 days ago

    Ending a sentence with a preposition has been standard in English for longer than the language has existed, it’s nothing to be ashamed of.

    • slackassassin@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      Nothing about which to be ashamed. 🤓

      There’s a funny bit in “the last man on earth” where Kristen Schaal’s character always corrects people when they end their sentences with a preposition. It shows how much more ridiculous her correction sounds.

      … Not a great show, but that bit was pretty funny.

  • tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip
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    6 days ago

    To anyone who has a problem with singular they:

    Roses are red, violets aren’t blue
    Singular they is older than singular you

  • DJKJuicy@sh.itjust.works
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    6 days ago

    I’m really fond of using “I’mma” and “gonna”.

    I obviously wouldn’t use these words in a professional document, but everywhere else I’mma use “gonna” and “I’mma” whenever I feel like it.

  • MomoGajo@sh.itjust.works
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    7 days ago

    If I am clearly referring to myself (as in a text), I shouldn’t have to inlude myself in the sentence. Ex: “just grabbing food” vs “I’m just grabbing food”.

    • tiredofsametab@fedia.io
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      6 days ago

      A lot of languages are pro-drop and do this when the context is clear (and sometimes when it isn’t). I remember learning Japanese and people saying “we would never do that in English!”. My counterexample was always that, if someone came to my house and asked where the beer is, I’d say “fridge.” because that’s all the information the hearer needs.

    • hperrin@lemmy.ca
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      6 days ago

      In Spanish, the conjugation of the verb lets you drop the subject, which is eloquent.

      “¿Qué haces?”

      “Estoy llegando llevando comida.”

  • hperrin@lemmy.ca
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    6 days ago

    I don’t care if people say “chomping at the bit”, because it basically means the same thing as “champing at the bit”, and nobody uses the word champing anymore anyway.

  • frank@sopuli.xyz
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    6 days ago

    I feel like a lot of the grammar sticklers out there only speak one language, and their lack of sympathy towards people speaking English as a second or third language is low.

    If you can convey your point– good enough for me!

    • MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works
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      5 days ago

      I’ve always argued for the side of “if your point comes across and is understood as intended, your grammar or lack thereof, does not matter in the slightest”

  • CrazyLikeGollum@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    I think outside of highly formalized writing (usually found exclusively in academia) grammar only matters to the extent that it doesn’t interfere with the voice of the author.

    It matters because it makes things easier to read. A wall of text with no punctuation or capitalization is difficult to parse, both for the reader and for the writer if they need to go back and make changes.

    On the other hand, punctuation can be used incorrectly to convey things that might be part of how the author speaks. Examples being: using ellipsis to indicate trailing off at the end of a sentence, perhaps because you’re still trying to find words to finish the thought, or using parentheses to indicate a slight tangent or clarifying statement, or failing to use a period at the end of a text message to indicate a softer tone and an openness to a response.

    Capitalization and misspellings can be used similarly. Such as intentionally misspelling a word to indicate that it should be pronounced differently than usual, or capitalizing all or part of a word to add emphasis.

    TLDR: Proper grammar matters for clearly conveying information, but intentionally breaking grammatical rules is a good way to add your voice, personality, and tone into your writing. And that is more important than being technically correct.

  • M137@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Nothing, and the whole “grammar nazis” thing is rotten. There is never a reason to have any other reaction to being corrected about objective things than learning from the mistake. If someone shows you the spelling or grammar mistakes you made, read it and memorise the corrections. You’re not losing anything by getting better at communication, you only gain. It doesn’t take you five minutes longer to spell the words correctly and you don’t make yourself look like an idiot, child with learning disabilities or someone who seriously doesn’t care about the most basic and expected shit we do for others. Language is an astounding tool and people who spot on it by not caring about spelling and grammar should be forced to take classes and taught to see how important it is.

    • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      But, at the same time, this isn’t a master’s thesis.

      Sometimes autocorrect picks the wrong there, and I don’t notice. And when someone swoops in and says “it’s they’re” with nothing else to contribute to the actual conversation that’s happening, they can fuck write off.

    • SorteKanin@feddit.dk
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      6 days ago

      being corrected about objective things

      Language is anything but objective and is constantly evolving based on how people use it.

    • 001Guy001@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      The issue is when it is done publicly, it is almost always done in bad faith to try and shame/put someone down and dismiss everything they said due to a mistake. If you want to teach someone you should send them a private message. Don’t put them on blast in front of everyone. It shows a lack of empathy and depicts you as someone who wants to appear superior/better than them. Of course, there are ways to do it publicly but courteously, for example something like “just fyi, it’s they’re not their :) but anyway, I do agree with what you’re saying [or] it was interesting to read your take on this”

    • Fleur_@aussie.zone
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      6 days ago

      Listen bruv, if you can understand what I’m saying enough to be able to correct it with 100% confidence than anything that was omitted was superfluous anyway.

    • Maiq@lemy.lol
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      7 days ago

      Some of us do have “disabilities” though. My thumbs are big and hit wrong buttons on the phone. Dyslexia fucking sucks. I literally can write a whole word with its letters out of sequence, just did that a few hours ago. ADHD makes proofreading fucking tedious as hell. Often i try my best but sometimes i just cant be bothered.

      Over all I agree with you though. It never hurts to have someone tell you that you fucked up. It does give you a chance to learn from your mistakes.

  • spicy pancake@lemmy.zip
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    7 days ago

    Conversational/informal English, there are no rules and anything goes, speak/type however the fuck ya want. if you wouldn’t wear a tuxedo to the gas station you don’t need 100% proper punctuation and sentence structure for internet shitposting

    written formal English, yeah I personally will judge you if you use the wrong “there/their/they’re,” but maybe future generations will collectively decide on one universal spelling cuz it’s just fuckin easier, and that’s fine! languages evolve no matter how much grumpy old women like me enjoy bitching/memeing about it lol