Tutorial Free Grammar Lessons

[BDark]

First things first: I'm sorry if I sound arrogant; inform me, please, if I do.

Hello. You could call me Dark.
So since I joined the internet, I noticed that people have forgotten the delicate art of grammar; an art that many people forget the importance of and sometimes even neglect completely. Now, you may be asking, "why's grammar so important?"
Well, regarding roleplays and writing in general, grammar makes your posts so much more valuable and easier to understand, more fun to read, as well as makes your work so much better and professional-like, while the lack thereof makes you seem slightly less intelligent/messier, even though you most likely aren't. So in this thread, I'll discuss all these grammatical mistakes, starting with the most common and annoying to the more general and less common ones.

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They're, Their, There​

Otherwise known as the "Three Theres", the trio is quite commonly confused, as they're homonyms (same pronunciation but different spelling), even though their meanings are quite diverse.

• They're is short for they are; it's called a contraction.
  ex: They're going to the park now.
• Their is the plural possessive word.
  ex: The dogs marked their territory. -- That car is theirs.
• There is for location, and possibly the most diverse of the three.
  ex: The man is standing over there. (adverb)
  ex: Hello there! (pronoun)
  ex: You can meet me there. (noun)
  ex: There, happy now? (intervention)
  ex: I'm there for you. (adjective)

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Too, To, Two​

Next on the list is another trio (though mostly a duo composed of too and to): The three 2s. Once again, very diverse meanings, similar spelling/pronunciation.

• Too - "I was there, too." -- "He too saw the incident."
• To - "I'm going to school."
• Two (2) - "I saw two cats in the street."

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Your and You're​

Finally, the painful duo! I'll explain this one briefly then provide to examples: Your is, like their, for possession, while you're, like they're, is short for you are.

• Your - "I saw your friend yesterday."
• You're - "You're a wizard, Harry!"

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Apostrophes: Bane Of The Plurals​

Now, this one is a very common mistake. Apostrophes ('), when used before letter S, are used for three things, depending on what your word is. The first is possession ("Shrek's green skin makes me very aroused."), and the second is short for "theoretical-noun is" ("Mike's a very happy bastard"), and the third is short for "theoretical-noun has" ("Mike's done this shit before."). Of course, it could be used with "ve" instead of "theoretical-noun have". Mostly used with they, I, or plural nouns. (I've, they've, we've).
And remember: Never EVER use an apostrophe to pluralize a word.

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Plurals!​

I'll just get right into this: Anything that ends with a y gets the letter y replaced with ies, with a few exceptions, such as monkey (monkeys) and key (keys). For example, fly becomes flies, academy becomes academies...etc.
Also here's a list of shit you'd like to remember:

• This - These
• That - Those
• Stratum (and similar words) - Strata
• Bronchus (and similar words) - Bronchi
• 20 (or literally any number) - 20's
• Twenty (written) - Twenties
• Zero/One - Zeros/Ones
• Scissors - Scissors
• Corps - Corps
• Briefs - Briefs
• Tweezers - Tweezers

The four words in dark red are always treated as plural; things like scissors are counted in pairs, meaning that you say "a pair of scissors", "two pairs of scissors" rather than "a scissor", "a scissors" or "two scissors".

Also remember that some words aren't countable, meaning that they have no plural, such as hair (three hairs is grammatically incorrect; it should be three strands of hair), water (waters = a specific area of an ocean), sand (grains of sand could be counted, but not sand), glass, wood, etc.


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More will come soon. Feedback is highly appreciated.

 

[BDark]

Subject/Verb Agreement​

Arguably the most important section of grammar, Subject/Verb Agreement is the correct use of tenses and form of the verb. Considering a proper sentence is compromised of three main parts (subject, verb, object/adjective), one must always use the correct tense and form of the verb in regards to the noun/subject to which it refers as well as the tense of the sentence/paragraph/story/article as a whole, and context.

• In the past, verbs don't change in regards to the subject. (They did, we did, he did, I did, Jon did, Jacques did...etc)
• In the present, singular words (except for I) take an S. (He eats, she eats, it eats...etc)
• In the present, plural words (and I) lack the letter S. (We eat, they eat, you eat, I eat)
• Remember that you is always treated as plural, even if it refers to one person only.
• The future, like the past, doesn't change in regards to the subject; it's will + infinitive at all times. (We'll dance, he will dance, they will have 6, I will have 6....etc)
  

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I will provide more on this matter later, as well as the present participle, past participle, passive, and active sentences.​

 

[BDark]

I hate to ruin the elegance of this thread, but you forgot a key piece of information on the note of apostrophes. The only exception for possessive is "its". Under no circumstances would someone put an apostrophe before the "s" if it meant as a possessive. "its" is used for possession, and "it's" is used as a contraction of "it is".

Go ahead leave a like on this so I know that you have read it. Then, I will do you the honor of deleting it so this thread can stay nice and shiny.

Oops, I thought I put that in. Thanks for notifying me!