The things everyone, everywhere should know.

[Patron with a Mission]

How about this:

"A" verses "An"

From the OWL at Purdue University:

Quote:

"A" and "an" signal that the noun modified is indefinite, referring to any member of a group. For example:

"Somebody call a policeman!" This refers to any policeman. We don't need a specific policeman; we need any policeman who is available.

When I was at the zoo, I saw an elephant!" Here, we're talking about a single, non-specific thing, in this case, an elephant. There are probably several elephants at the zoo, but there's only one we're talking about here.

A lot of students confuse those terms, though I have not really seen that on here.  

[MadnessFreak]

The MoUsY spell-checker

MadnessFreak

EDIT: What the--unstickied? Have I done something awful?

I think it might be because you edited your post. You're not a mod, so you're not allowed to post stickies, therefore the thread isn't a sticky any more after you edited it.

To other mods: If that's not the case (that is, you took the thread down from the stickies), please say so.

I see. Could you please edit my post for me then whenever something new is added? I don't want it to die. gonk  

[Super Perfundo]

I would like to interject some things in opposition to a couple of rules on here:

1) "All they do is dictate where to pause slightly while reading." This was regarding comma usage in the first post. This is not true. I can name many instances where commas are used for something other than a pause.

Lists:
"Bill went to the store, school, and a museum today."
Introductory clauses/phrases/words:
"Because I slept in, I was late for school."
"Having found the girl, he hugged her."
"Well, I've got to go now."
Randomly inserted clauses/phrases:
"The girl, only 8, was a child prodigy."
Geography/Dates/Titles:
"I live in Dallas, Texas."
"I was born November 14, 1989."
"Ross Gellar, MD, is an expert in dinosaurs."
Quotations:
"I can't do it," John replied.
"I can't do it," John said, "because I don't know how."
To prevent confusion:
"To Emily, Dickens was a great poet."

Granted, you do pause for some of these, but it's important to note that some of them are certainly not where you would pause and even if you do pause, it's still important to clarify the necessity for a pause.

--------

2) This isn't necessarily an objection, but I think it's important to point out in the first post that "its", used for possession, is not capitalized. People often capitalize it, but that's incorrect.

Ex: "The house was green, but its paint is peeling."

--------

3) I would also like to point out that, contrary to what we were taught in grammar school, it is now acceptable to use "and" and "but" to begin a sentence. Incomplete sentences are now commonly accepted as well. (It's modern, guys!)

--------

4) An example sentence for "cant": The cant woman openly exalted the President, expressing her enthusiasm for his war ideas and praising his intelligence, but everyone knew she was a liberal.

---------

5) I disagree with whomever said that punctuation is always placed inside quotation marks. I specifically remember singing a song about this in third grade and I know the book "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" disagrees. However, since it's not going in the original post, I guess it doesn't matter. I saw it while I was skimming through the topic, though, and my grammar radar started buzzing like mad so I felt I should mention it.

---------

6) Something that's always bothered me is the incorrect use of "who" when it should be "whom". "Who" is a subject and "whom" is an object.
Ex: Who is going to the dance?
Whom are you taking to the dance?

In addition to this rule, it's also important to note that "to" is never used to end a sentence. "To" is a preposition that is used before a noun to clarify it.
Ex: Whom are you speaking to?(or, God forbid, Who are you speaking to?)
Should be: To whom are you speaking?

That's all I have for now.  

[zingebar]

abarrach

fewer vs less :
fewer : for countable things, e.g. fewer marbles, fewer boys
less : for non-countable things, e.g. less water, less salt
You'll make fewer cookies if you have less cookie dough.

I think it's just a singular/plural thing.  

[MadnessFreak]

Super Perfundo

I would like to interject some things in opposition to a couple of rules on here:

1) "All they do is dictate where to pause slightly while reading." This was regarding comma usage in the first post. This is not true. I can name many instances where commas are used for something other than a pause.

Lists:
"Bill went to the store, school, and a museum today."
Introductory clauses/phrases/words:
"Because I slept in, I was late for school."
"Having found the girl, he hugged her."
"Well, I've got to go now."
Randomly inserted clauses/phrases:
"The girl, only 8, was a child prodigy."
Geography/Dates/Titles:
"I live in Dallas, Texas."
"I was born November 14, 1989."
"Ross Gellar, MD, is an expert in dinosaurs."
Quotations:
"I can't do it," John replied.
"I can't do it," John said, "because I don't know how."
To prevent confusion:
"To Emily, Dickens was a great poet."

Granted, you do pause for some of these, but it's important to note that some of them are certainly not where you would pause and even if you do pause, it's still important to clarify the necessity for a pause.

--------

2) This isn't necessarily an objection, but I think it's important to point out in the first post that "its", used for possession, is not capitalized. People often capitalize it, but that's incorrect.

Ex: "The house was green, but its paint is peeling."

--------

3) I would also like to point out that, contrary to what we were taught in grammar school, it is now acceptable to use "and" and "but" to begin a sentence. Incomplete sentences are now commonly accepted as well. (It's modern, guys!)

--------

4) An example sentence for "cant": The cant woman openly exalted the President, expressing her enthusiasm for his war ideas and praising his intelligence, but everyone knew she was a liberal.

---------

5) I disagree with whomever said that punctuation is always placed inside quotation marks. I specifically remember singing a song about this in third grade and I know the book "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" disagrees. However, since it's not going in the original post, I guess it doesn't matter. I saw it while I was skimming through the topic, though, and my grammar radar started buzzing like mad so I felt I should mention it.

---------

6) Something that's always bothered me is the incorrect use of "who" when it should be "whom". "Who" is a subject and "whom" is an object.
Ex: Who is going to the dance?
Whom are you taking to the dance?

In addition to this rule, it's also important to note that "to" is never used to end a sentence. "To" is a preposition that is used before a noun to clarify it.
Ex: Whom are you speaking to?(or, God forbid, Who are you speaking to?)
Should be: To whom are you speaking?

That's all I have for now.

Thanks for that. However, I can't edit my own sticky (GAIA sure does have a sweet forum system), so you'll have to let mousy know about the mistakes.  

[Doppelgaanger]

Erm, just something I didn't see anywhere:

You can stick two clauses or sentences together with either:

a) A comma and a coordinating conjunction (i.e. Bob likes to run, so Jan likes, too.
b) A semi colon (i.e. Bob likes to run; Jan likes to as well.) Semi colons are only used when sticking two sentences of relative topics togher. For example, you can't say, "Bob likes to run; Jan likes pie."
c) A semi colon, cunjunctive adveb, then a comma (i.e. Bob likes to run: therefore, Jan likes to as well.)  

[MadnessFreak]

slorg999

Erm, just something I didn't see anywhere:

You can stick two clauses or sentences together with either:

a) A comma and a coordinating conjunction (i.e. Bob likes to run, so Jan likes, too.
b) A semi colon (i.e. Bob likes to run; Jan likes to as well.) Semi colons are only used when sticking two sentences of relative topics togher. For example, you can't say, "Bob likes to run; Jan likes pie."
c) A semi colon, cunjunctive adveb, then a comma (i.e. Bob likes to run: therefore, Jan likes to as well.)

Thanks for your input, I'll find Mousy and see if she'll edit my post. (Gets unstickied otherwise, d'oh.)  

[Doppelgaanger]

MadnessFreak

Capital letters: Capital letters come after any of these punctuation marks: '!', '?', and '.'. If any of these are placed anywhere, if you start a new sentence next to them it must begin with a capital letter. Always.
--Also, proper nouns require capital letters. These, to put it extremely simply, are names. So it includes human names, pet names (NOT hamster,
rabbit, etc, but Snuffles, Goldie, the like), country/continent names, and natural formation names (not stream, cliff, river, etc, but Niagara Falls and the like), as well as many more.

I may be wrong about this, but after ellipsis dots (...) it is NOT grammatiacally correct to use a capital letter.

And another thing about ellipsis:

1: Ellipsis dots SHOULD NOT change the meaning of the sentence:

Original Sentence

"His play was a triumph of ghastly writing."

This makes it known that the play was horrible.

But if you use ellipsis dots to say:

New Sentence

"His play was a triumph of... writing."

This makes it seem as though the play were wonderful.

2: When omitting a few words, you use three dots.

I.E.:

Original Sentence

Shrek the Third is a movie, you should all go see it!

This can be changed to:

New Sentence

Shrek the Third is a movie, you should... see it!

3: When omitting word between sentences, you use four.

Original Sentence

He broke his hands. Then the question was asked, "How?"

New Sentence

He broke his hands.... the question was asked, "How?"

That's not a great example, but I an't think of any others...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And also, I would like to address whether certain words are pronouns or adjectives...


Random, I know.

I will embolden pronouns, and underline adjectives...

A Seventh Grade Worksheet

That is not clear.
Give me that!
Give me that Chihuahua!
That outfit looks {sic}maaahvelous!
Can you believe this?
....
I'll take all of those.
One girl will have to grow a mustache.
I ate one.

Notice how when we don't know what the object is ("That is not clear."), that the word "that" is used as a pronoun.

When using "this" or "that" or a numeral value to say which one, or how many of something, ("One girl...") these words are used as adjectives.

Note how I used {sic} before maaahvelous. That means that that's how it was spelled in the text.

I have more, but it's completely random stuff about how to cite page numbers and use quotes...  

[Gaijin-dono]

As far as I know:

"Whom" is used before a noun or after a preposition.
Ex: "To whom it may concern" and "With whom she dined with was..." (I think the formula's: @whom[noun]{verb}).
It can also be used in things (I think) like, instead of "Who did you go with," it's "whom did you go with."

The semicolon's are used when you don't use "and" or "but" to connect sentences.
For example (both examples are right, I think): "I didn't like that icecream; I liked the other one," rather than "I didn't like that icecream, but I liked the other one." It can also be used for other things like "I'd like to visit Paris, France; Tokyo, Japan; Cairo, Egypt; and many other places."

I don't know about you, but I find "whom" the hardest to put into habit so I'm not too sure about "whom."  

[InherentlyRisky]

I must say this is an awesome thread. You get major awesome points for posting it. ^.^
One thing that really bugs me is when people say the word, "Freshmens."
"Freshmen" is already the plural of "Freshman," therefore, there is no need for that bloody 's'. But that's just me.  

[Zealot of Insanity]

4. Noun Phrases:
A. Gerund: Verb with an –ing ending = noun
Ex. Running is my favorite sport.
Reading many books does not make you smarter.
B. Infinitive: to + verb root
Ex. To read many books does not make you smarter.

Noun Phrases are always conjugated in the 3rd singular.
5. Noun Clause
A. That:
Ex. That you have many books does not make you smarter.
“That” clauses are always conjugated in the 3rd singular.
B. What:
Ex. What I received for Christmas last year was a box of chocolates.
What I received for Christmas last year were a box of chocolates and a box of books.
“What” clauses are conjugated depending upon the object.


Sorry about the numbering as these are copied directly from my SAT notes. I'll have more posted up once I type them up on my word processor. ^^  

[Doppelgaanger]

Zealot of Insanity

4. Noun Phrases:
A. Gerund: Verb with an –ing ending = noun
Ex. Running is my favorite sport.
Reading many books does not make you smarter.
B. Infinitive: to + verb root
Ex. To read many books does not make you smarter.

Noun Phrases are always conjugated in the 3rd singular.
5. Noun Clause
A. That:
Ex. That you have many books does not make you smarter.
“That” clauses are always conjugated in the 3rd singular.
B. What:
Ex. What I received for Christmas last year was a box of chocolates.
What I received for Christmas last year were a box of chocolates and a box of books.
“What” clauses are conjugated depending upon the object.


Sorry about the numbering as these are copied directly from my SAT notes. I'll have more posted up once I type them up on my word processor. ^^

That totally killed my brain... --;;  

[MadnessFreak]

Zealot of Insanity

4. Noun Phrases:
A. Gerund: Verb with an –ing ending = noun
Ex. Running is my favorite sport.
Reading many books does not make you smarter.
B. Infinitive: to + verb root
Ex. To read many books does not make you smarter.

Noun Phrases are always conjugated in the 3rd singular.
5. Noun Clause
A. That:
Ex. That you have many books does not make you smarter.
“That” clauses are always conjugated in the 3rd singular.
B. What:
Ex. What I received for Christmas last year was a box of chocolates.
What I received for Christmas last year were a box of chocolates and a box of books.
“What” clauses are conjugated depending upon the object.


Sorry about the numbering as these are copied directly from my SAT notes. I'll have more posted up once I type them up on my word processor. ^^

No matter how much you post, I cannot edit the first post without destickying my own thread. :/  

[Zealot of Insanity]

zingebar

abarrach

fewer vs less :
fewer : for countable things, e.g. fewer marbles, fewer boys
less : for non-countable things, e.g. less water, less salt
You'll make fewer cookies if you have less cookie dough.

I think it's just a singular/plural thing.

Generally, countable things are plural and non-countable objects are singular. Both of you are correct.

Edit: Madness Freak: So you wouldn't mind if we (moderators) took over the thread?  

[MadnessFreak]

Not at all.