Grammar is Great!

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Why is Grammar Great?

Spelling covers the letters that make up words and punctuation are the funny bits that go in between. Grammar is essentially the structure of these and the use of words (spelt correctly) and punctuation (used correctly) to create coherent sentences. The following information assumes that you are writing in formal situations, for example writing descriptions or details for objects, notes/worlds, etc. Obviously when using chat channels some rules are disregarded because of informality.

Special Spelling Spiel!

This is a list of common errors made, usually as a result of the words sounding similar, but they actually have different meanings.

to/too/two

‘to’ implies direction or action, for example: ‘I am going to Lensmoor’ and ‘I want to PK Arawn’.

‘too’ is another way of saying ‘in addition’, for example: ‘I am going, too’ and ‘Orinn is fabulous and Azshanna is too’.

‘two’ is the written form of the number 2, for example: ‘I received two respected status’ and ‘There are two people in my group’.

Matreya is going TO the park and Seragon is going, TOO. The TWO will have a lovely time!

their/they're/there

‘their’ implies ownership, for example: ‘Their group always gets good quests’ and ‘Our clan is better than theirs’.

‘they’re’ is the contraction of ‘they are’ which is a state of being, for example: ‘They’re in a different faith’ and ‘I can’t believe they’re going to beat us’.

‘there’ is a place or position, for example: ‘Commerce Road is over there’ and ‘There are a lot of people online’.

Aleria and Astaria hid THEIR chocolate over THERE and THEY’RE not sharing!

where/wear/were

‘where’ is a place or position, for example: ‘Where is the graveyard?’ and ‘Who knows where the mob is hiding’.

‘wear’ is a verb which is used with clothing, armor, weapons, etc. for example:, ‘I would like to wear the boots you crafted for me’ and ‘Teon likes to wear pink socks’.

‘were’ is sometimes confused because of the spelling of the word. This is past tense for the word ‘are’, for example: ‘Nyxus and Eladar are funny’ becomes ‘Nyxus and Eladar were funny’.
Additional examples of the word: ‘There were too many mobs assisting’ and ‘Syn and Dredor were searching for hidden chocolate’.

NB The word ‘were’ is past tense for ‘are’ and ‘was’ is past tense for ‘is’. Tense will be examined later but it is important to note the difference between the two. For example:
[incorrect] There was lots of people.
[correct] There were lots of people.

WHERE WERE you when RocShaman was trying to figure out what to WEAR?!

you're/your

‘you’re’ is the contraction of ‘you are’, which is a state of being, for example: ‘You’re a really awesome crafter’ and ‘I can’t believe you’re not questing’.

‘your’ implies ownership, for example: ‘Your house is huge’ and ‘Is that your sword?’

YOU’RE a great crafter, I especially like YOUR weapons!

that/which/who

These words are often misused and confused with one another.

‘that’ can be used to refer to an object or to a group of people, but should not be used to refer to one person, for example: ‘That is a really great sword’ and ‘I like to quest with that group’.

‘which’ should only be used to refer to objects or places, for example: ‘Which sword should I use?’ and ‘I don’t mind which zone we hunt in’.

‘who’ is exclusive to referring to people, for example: ‘Who is Kanshec?’ and ‘Celeste is the one who ate the chocolate’.

WHICH clan is he in? Do you know WHO else is in THAT clan?

who’s/ whose

‘who’s’ is the contraction of ‘who is’, which is a state of being, for example: ‘Who’s up for a quest?’ and ‘Dahani, who’s generally awesome, was especially fabulous today’.

‘whose’ implies ownership, for example: ‘Whose spear is this?’ and ‘If only I could remember whose boots I borrowed’.

Yanac, WHOSE favorite color is pink, always worries about WHO’S going to find out.

could/would/should of

This is always, always, always wrong.

It is could/would/should have. NEVER of. EVER.

alot/a lot

‘alot’ is always, always, always wrong.

It is ‘a lot’. Think of it as having ‘a lot’ of words since it is two words and not one. ‘alot’ is NEVER correct.

it's /its

‘it’s’ is the contraction of ‘it is’ and ‘it has’, for example: ‘It’s impossible to catch Zyanya’ and ‘Would you believe it’s taken three hours to catch up on the boards?’

‘its’ implies ownership, for example: ‘The bear in the forest always uses its claws’ and ‘Chocolate is best served on its own or with ice cream’.

IT’S not possible to break the sword because ITS blade is too strong.

In general adding ‘ ‘s ‘ to the end of the word should only be done when you are contracting the word plus ‘is’, for example: ‘Sindri’s really good at making cakes’ or to imply a noun (NOT a pronoun!) having ownership, for example: ‘Orinn’s toes are great when they twinkle’.

The following examples are incorrect: ‘I have a lot of book’s’ and ‘There are lots of tree’s in the forest’. These words are plural and do not require apostrophes.

Perfect Punctuation!

Apostrophes

- Used as a contraction for the word ‘is’, for example: ‘Arawn’s scarier than Etienne’.
- Used with a noun to establish ownership, for example: ‘The mob’s armor is really good’.
- When giving ownership to plural nouns the apostrophe is placed at the end of the ‘s’, for example: ‘The girls’ voices were loud’ – if it was one girl it would be ‘the girl’s voice was loud’.

Commas

- Used to separate words in a list, for example: ‘I need someone to make me some armor, a sword and some food’. Sometimes a comma is added before the word ‘and’, for example: ‘some armor, a sword, and some food’. This is correct however it is uncommon.
- Used to combine two independent (or ‘whole’) sentences along with a conjunction such as and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet. For example: ‘I really need a sword, and I need new armor’ and ‘I can make lots of things, but I can’t make weapons or armor’. [incorrect] ‘I can make lots of things, and not armor’. The last example is incorrect because the second part of the sentence does not have a subject and a verb, therefore is not two sentences combined.
- If you start a sentence with a conjunction such as because, since, while then you should use a comma in the sentence, for example: ‘Since I left the faith, I can’t cast divine spells’ and ‘Because she is in his clan, she can avenge his death’.
- Used to provide additional information to the sentence without being as informal as using parenthesis, for example: ‘I can make a full set of armor, including enchantments, for less than ten platinum’ and ‘Celeste, Goddess of Night, is evil’.
- It is really important not to stick commas in where they don’t belong as they can really detract from the meaning of your sentence. For example: [incorrect] ‘I have mana stones, available for sale, and some armor’.

Semicolons

- Used to connect two independent sentences without using an apostrophe or a conjunction, for example: ‘Twelve mobs entered; two came out’ and ‘I have new armor; I need new weapons’. Typically the second sentence is related to the first but not a direct consequence – think of it as being an afterthought! Generally you can avoid using semicolons by using apostrophes, conjunctions, or separate sentences, for example:
‘Twelve mobs entered. Two came out’ and ‘I have new armor, and I need new weapons’.

Colons

- Used before a list, for example: ‘I need the following: a sword, a breastplate, and a helm’.
- Used before detailing important information, for example: ‘If I make your armor you have to do the following: pay me before I make it and give me an idea of what you want in the description’.

Fullstops

- Used at the end of a sentence, followed by a capital letter, for example: ‘Using good grammar will enhance your writing skills. It’s fun.’
- Variations of the fullstop are the exclamation mark, the question mark, and an ellipse.

Exclamation mark

- Used at the end of a sentence to give a sense of excitement or surprise, for example: ‘I can’t believe he beat me!’
- Only ever used ONCE at the end of a sentence, regardless of how excited or surprised one may be. ‘!!!’ means the same as ‘!’ therefore it is unnecessary to use more than one exclamation mark.

Question mark

- Used at the end of a sentence to make the sentence a question, for example: ‘Who ate Rhosme’s chocolate?’
- May also be used in writing dialogue to infer that someone speaks as though asking a question even if they are not (perhaps they lack confidence or simply do not speak “properly”), for example: ‘I like chocolate?’ and ‘That’s a nice sword?’
- Only ever used ONCE at the end of a sentence, regardless of how passionate one is asking the question! ‘???’ means the same as ‘?’ therefore it is unnecessary to use more than one question mark.
- May also be used in combination with an exclamation mark to infer the question is being asked with a tone of excitement or disbelief, for example: ‘Who dared question Aleria’s greatness?!’ It is important to note that this usage is common but not wholly correct, therefore should be avoided in formal situations. The exclamation mark always comes after the question mark.

Ellipse

- Used to indicate an omission, for example: ‘She always said that “good things come to those who wait” and after waiting I finally got to PK her!’ becomes ‘ … I finally got to PK her!’
- Also used to indicate the end of a train of thought or a pause, for example: ‘I used to be a crafter but then I wondered if there was something more … ’ and ‘I don’t know … what do you think?’
- It consists of three fullstops in a row with a space before the first and after the last: ‘ … ’ – note that it is ONLY three fullstops. Five, ten, thirty-seven fullstops are all incorrect, regardless of how long the ‘pause’ is supposed to be! There does not have to be a space between each fullstop but there should be one at the beginning and the end.

Sizzling Sentence Structure!

- A sentence typically consists of a noun, a verb, and a subject, for example: ‘Astaria [noun] loves [verb] grammar [subject]’.
- You don’t really have to know the technical sides of these in order to write, but it helps to remember that in order for a sentence to make sense you need a noun, verb, and subject. The other bits just add more to the sentence!
- Nouns and verbs and all the other bits:
o nouns are names for something, for example: a person, place, animal, or thing (Teon, Lensmoor, cat, sword).
o pronouns are words that replace a noun such as her, him, it.
o verbs are doing words, for example: read, play, eat, sleep.
o adjectives are describing words, for example: beautiful, naughty, funny, tall.
o adverbs are words that describe a verb; simply, they are adjectives with ‘ly’ added to the end, for example: quickly, hungrily, slowly, poorly.
o prepositions are words describing the position of something, for example: on, in, beside, at.
o conjunctions are words that connect things, the most common being ‘and’.

- Using all of these: ‘Astaria [noun] loves [verb] grammar [subject] and [conjunction] sitting [verb] at [preposition] the computer [subject] writing [verb] fun [adjective] grammar guides [subject] makes [verb] her [pronoun] heart [noun] beat [verb] quickly [adverb]’.
- Some quick tips on writing sentences:
o Don’t write really, really long sentences that have excessive amounts of words, commas, adjectives, or general lists because too much is often hard to read and make sense of, and using lots of conjunctions (words that connect sentences) is often needless because it just makes a sentence long and boring and we forget what we are reading because the sentence just goes on and on, and no one likes a long boring sentence regardless of how fantastic, wonderful, exciting and extensive the sentence may be. If you made it this far, you’ve experienced a perfect example!
o Don’t start a new line for every sentence, that’s what a paragraph is for! Sentences should make sense in relation to what was said before it and what is going to be said after it.
o Avoid writing how you speak as we actually do not speak in correct sentences! Our thoughts get in the way, we change topics halfway, and we can be interrupted! Writing is not the same as speaking!
o Be descriptive! Make sure your descriptions are not at the expense of the length of your sentence!
o Read it aloud. If you read your writing aloud you may ‘hear’ errors you have made.
o PROOF READ! Read your work and make sure it makes sense and flows. If you are not confident with proof reading your own work, ask someone to help you!

Loosen up your Tense!

- Tense is the ‘time’ of your writing. For the sake of simplifying tense we will break tense into past, present, and future (there are lots more but it can be extensive and confusing and is not necessary at this point).
- Past tense is used when you are writing about something that has already happened, for example: ‘Arawn has eaten all the chocolate’ or ‘Teon ate all the chocolate’.
- Present tense is used when you are writing about something currently taking place, for example: ‘Azshanna is eating the chocolate’.
- Future tense is used when you are writing about something that has not yet happened, for example: ‘Nyxus will eat all the chocolate’ or ‘Dahani might eat all the chocolate’.
- Before you start writing make sure you know WHEN you are writing: are you writing about something that has happened, is happening, or will happen?
- A really good example is PK.
o PK notes are written after someone has been killed, and you might write something like ‘He WAS following me and when he attackED me I FOUGHT him and he DIED.’
o If you were talking about this event on clan chat while it was happening then it would be taking place in the present. You would be saying something like ‘He IS following me. He IS attackING me! I AM fightING him!’
o If you were aware of what might happen you might be saying something like ‘He IS GOING TO follow me. He IS ABOUT TO attack me. We WILL fight. He IS GOING TO DIE!’
o Note the ways the verbs change according to the tense!

Enhance Your Writing!

Other ways of enhancing your writing style can be found in literary techniques. These can help involve your reader and add interest to your descriptions.

Alliteration is the repetition of a letter or sound at the beginning of two or more words in close succession to achieve a specific effect, eg. ‘The mystical moon rose magnificently over the mountains’.

Ambiguity is the use of double meaning, whether intentional or not.

Assonance is the internal rhyming of words through the use of similar vowel sounds, eg. ‘And all is seared with trade – bleared, smeared with toil’.

Cliché is an expression which has lost its effectiveness through overuse and stereotyping, eg. ‘It’s raining cats and dogs’ and ‘She’s as pretty as a picture’.

Epigram is a very brief, witty expression summing up a thought on something, eg. ‘one man is as good as another, or better’.

Emotive Language is relatively strong and suggestive language used to convey or evoke an emotion.

Figurative Language is not meant to be accepted as true but is designed to convey a feeling or idea, eg. ‘I could eat a horse’ conveys the feeling of extreme hunger as opposed to the ability or actuality of devouring a horse.

Hyperbolev is the use of exaggeration for emphasizing some point.

Imagery is the creation of word pictures; when one object or idea becomes associated in the writer’s imagination with something else.

Irony is the conflict between appearance and reality, where what is said is usually opposite to the intended meaning or idea, eg ‘it’s a lovely day’ when it’s pouring with rain.

Juxtapose is to place near or next to. It is when ideas are placed side by side to better enable a comparison or contrast to be made. Juxtaposition is a simple technique used to draw attention to and to emphasise something, eg. Juxtaposing a description of a formal banquet in a millionaire’s mansion to a description of poverty stricken men lined up in a soup kitchen.

Metaphor is a comparison between two things where one thing is said to be another. A metaphor is similar to a simile, however, instead of using ‘like’ or ‘as’, a metaphor is a more direct comparison, eg. ‘you are a pig’.

Onomatopoeia is the use of a word that imitates the sound it is to represent, eg. Thud.

Oxymoron is a figure of speech where an idea or feeling is expressed by words usually thought to be contradictory, eg. Bitter sweet, eloquent silence, cruel to be kind.

Personification is the giving of human qualities to non-human things (animals, feelings, or inanimate objects).

Puns are made when a word is deliberately used in two different senses at the one time, eg. When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Repetition is the repeating of words and phrases. Effective repetition allows a writer to add an emphasis to his or her work.

Rhyme is usually thought to occur at the end of a line (though assonance and alliteration are forms of internal rhyme) and is when the sound of one word is matched by the sound of another, eg. Cool … Pool.

Rhythm is the movement in language created by the weight, sound, and pace with which individual words in a line/s are said. It is the musical flow of words, and rhythm is said to be effective when it matches the mood and meaning of passage.

Sarcasm is when the language is used to express ridicule, disapproval, and contempt. Sarcasm is at its most effective when its personal criticism is hidden behind praise and commendation.

Satire is the use of devices such as irony, sarcasm, innuendo, and humour to provide comedy and ridicule by exposing human weaknesses.

Simile is a comparison between two things which can be easily identified by the use of ‘like’ or ‘as’, eg. ‘the rain spat down like a thousand bullets’.

Symbol/symbolism a symbol is something that stands for or represents an idea or emotion. Symbols are used by authors to evoke certain ideas or feelings which are common amongst many readers.

Tone refers to the attitude presented by the author towards his or her subject and audience. Tone relies on an examination of how things are said – the use of devices such as word choice, sentence structure, irony, and humour.

Verbosity is the fault of using more words than necessary to express an idea.

Wit is the brilliant and sharp use of language expression ideas in an unexpected and amusing way.

(Please note that all of the above definitions of literary techniques were sourced from a handout called ‘Dictionary of Style’ and the original source is unknown)