Common Errors in English (with off-site link)

[Isfahan]

Common Errors in English (off-site link)

http://wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

This is not Dick-and-Jane-level English help, but more for people with solid writing skills looking to tweak their work with just that much more professionalism and consistency. Have a look and see if it can't clear something up for you.

I like this page because it addresses many of my personally hated non-words, including repeat offenders "alot," "anyways," and "alright," just to name three from the A section. ^^

And, holy crap, "everyday/every day." I see those two mixed up almost... every day.

 

[Negrek]

Ah, thanks for that. I've been collecting reference sites like this, so it's always good to see a nice one. Some of these errors are pretty cute (oral versus aural, oh dear!), and I see they've even got the classic "PIN number" in there. Nice.

 

[Dragonfree]

Yes, I like that site. It's very useful. Of course some of those are more borderline than others; I don't exactly see any non-grammarian fussing about using "to access" as a verb.

 

[Bay]

I check out the site a little bit and it's a good one.

Oh my gosh, just yesterday my English professor talked about how a lot of students would make those spelling errors (alright, alot, etc.). He even said that "everday" is supposed to be an adjective.

Yeah, I will use this site for reference.

;134;~Good night, and good luck~

 

[RaZoR LeAf]

Things like "anways" and "alright" I see as acceptable to write down when you are portraying a character speaking. Real human beings do not speak in perfect written english, so writing slang and speech mannerisms as they are prounounced should be acceptable.

 

[Isfahan]

Dialogue is a different story, yes.

Even for dialogue, though, there's no reason to use an incorrect version of words that are phonetically the same, such as "alright" instead of "all right."

 

[Ledian_X]

How about writing people with accents? How would that play into this whole thing? Couple characters in my story have southern accents so I use a lot of "Ah'm", "Ah reckon.", "Sugah." and other things to show a southern accent. How would you go about doing it?

Dunno if it counts as common errors. But, do they come into play when a character has an accent from various parts of the world or the US?

LX

 

[Isfahan]

There again, with dialogue, phonetics take on more importance than usual. I'd say you don't have too much to worry about.

For example, in my own fic, I use woulda/shoulda/coulda on occasion, but only for dialogue and never for narration. It's common practice in writing to eschew grammar and spelling rules for the purposes of allowing a reader to better "hear" a character's voice in their mind, but this too can be overused and make the dialogue difficult to read. The thicker the accent, the more often accented words should be typed out, but it doesn't take much for the accent to come across as too thick or stereotypical.

 

[Bay]

There again, with dialogue, phonetics take on more importance than usual. I'd say you don't have too much to worry about.

For example, in my own fic, I use woulda/shoulda/coulda on occasion, but only for dialogue and never for narration. It's common practice in writing to eschew grammar and spelling rules for the purposes of allowing a reader to better "hear" a character's voice in their mind, but this too can be overused and make the dialogue difficult to read. The thicker the accent, the more often accented words should be typed out, but it doesn't take much for the accent to come across as too thick or stereotypical.

Sorry to criticize, but how about if the story is in first person point of view? What if that person is trying to tell the story his own way, like for example Mark Twain's character Huck in "Huckleberry Finn"? (Hope I spelled it right ). I don't know. Sometimes it might be weird for a ten year old who is narrating the story saying all formal and such.

Sorry if it sounded as if grammar should not be worried in stories. I do beleive decent grammar is needed in stories, but I am probably taking this as an realistic approach. I hope this makes sense. ;

;134;~Good night, and good luck~

 

[Isfahan]

That's an excellent example you put forth, Bay, and it brought a smile to my face because I never could take much of Mark Twain's work in anything but small doses for mostly that reason. With the persistent conversational tone in Huck Finn, most of it just reads like a big long monologue to me. If you approach it from that viewpoint, I suppose the writer can (with enough effort) find cause to bend whatever English rules he or she finds necessary, since monologues are spoken by characters.

The question comes down to whether the narrator is making the errors or the writer is. The page is intended to help writers with their English moreso than the writers' characters.

 

[Orange_Flaaffy]

I love Mark Twain's writing, it is so honest and real to me . All and all, I wish more writers wrote their characters talking like real people do than the ones that make everyone sound as if they are high and mighty English majors from the time they can talk (Not that anything is wrong with an English major, I happen to be one). Good grammar is fine but you have to take into account the characters age, job, and upbringing to...

I'm always making errors, not from any lack of trying, but because I have a learning disability and some dyslexia. I just don't see when I make mistakes . And although I know a lot of words I don't have a clue how to spell them, and a dictionary is not worth anything if you can't figure out what the first three letters or so of the word is to began with .
That's way, despite the many errors it makes I love my speech to text program for giving me the freedom to use all those hard words I always knew but could never write in my essays