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For heaven's sake, people, you're authors.

40K views 615 replies 115 participants last post by  Jan Hurst-Nicholson 
#1 ·
Wordsmithing is your trade.

It's "Yea or nay," not "Yay or nay."

You sit for a while, not for awhile.

You try to write every day, not everyday.

Etc.

Feel free to add your own.
 
#8 ·
Lydniz said:
I have terrible trouble with this one. I know the difference but have to stop and think about it every time.
Well give it some context, then it's easy. 'I gave the horse free rein and he found his way home'.

What about past and passed? I know the noun is past, but as to the others... Anyone know this for certain? He went passed? He went past? I think the first one is right but the second one looks right. I try to avoid the word.
 
#9 ·
I could of liked this post if it wasn't incinerating that my technical skills is lacking.

Doglover said:
What about past and passed? I know the noun is past, but as to the others... Anyone know this for certain? He went passed? He went past? I think the first one is right but the second one looks right. I try to avoid the word.
"He passed" = correct.

"He went past" = correct.

"He went passed" = not correct.

You could remember it as "He passed wind" if you like :p. If it passes that test, then it passes without needing the 'went' before it :)
 
#13 ·
A.A said:
I could of liked this post if it wasn't incinerating that my technical skills is lacking.

"He passed." = correct.

"He went past." = correct.

"He went passed." = not correct.
Oh, Lord, now I'm even more confused. So 'he past' is wrong as well then?

When my daughter's private school closed down, one of the mother's told me about her son: 'he's had private intuition all this time; he's going to carry on having private intuition'. :)
 
#14 ·
Doglover said:
Oh, Lord, now I'm even more confused. So 'he past' is wrong as well then?

When my daughter's private school closed down, one of the mother's told me about her son: 'he's had private intuition all this time; he's going to carry on having private intuition'. :)
Yes, 'he past' is wrong. It's missing any information about what he did 'in the past'. You could say, 'he played guitar' in the past, for example.

Whereas if you say 'he passed' then you usually mean that he either died (passed away) or he went past (walked past, drove past, rode past) or he 'passed something' (passed wind, passed a kidney stone).

The mother's statement is technically correct.
 
#16 ·
A.A said:
Yes, 'he past' is wrong. It's missing any information about what he did 'in the past'. You could say, 'he played guitar' in the past, for example.

Whereas if you say 'he passed' then you usually mean that he either died (passed away) or he went past (walked past, drove past, rode past) or he 'passed something' (passed wind, passed a kidney stone).

The mother's statement is technically correct.
The word is tuition; not intuition.
 
#17 ·
alawston said:
Definitely. Defiantly.

Not even vaguely similar.
Oh, while we're on that subject - how many times do you read definately instead of definitely? I used to work with a girl who kept saying her little boy was very 'destructful'. I had to bite my tongue, as I never correct people's language in real life; it is ill mannered. But it did annoy me.
 
#20 ·
Doglover said:
What are you trying to say? Out with it!

Ok, it is not action pact; it is action packed.

It is not shuttered, it is shuddered.

It is free rein, not free reign.

These are just a few I have come across recently.
I'm the first one to admit I'm having difficult trying to understand what you're pointing out in your first line...
 
#21 ·
Quiet and quite irritate me a lot. As in, I will yell at you to fix it because you come across as a complete idiot if you manage to mix the two up. I recently read a traditionally published book that had mixed up "waging" and "wanking," which caught me by surprise. Though I suppose anything or anybody "wanking" would.

Lydniz said:
Please stop getting "off of" things.
Is this not more of an Americanism than something incorrect? I understand what you're pointing out here. It's an odd choice of words, especially if you're writing a romance... In America, we do say "he got off of his bicycle," as you don't stand up from it or step off of it.
 
#22 ·
Abalone said:
Quiet and quite irritate me a lot. As in, I will yell at you to fix it because you come across as a complete idiot if you manage to mix the two up. I recently read a traditionally published book that had mixed up "waging" and "wanking," which caught me by surprise. Though I suppose anything or anybody "wanking" would.

Is this not more of an Americanism than something incorrect? I understand what you're pointing out here. It's an odd choice of words, especially if you're writing a romance... In America, we do say "he got off of his bicycle," as you don't stand up from it or step off of it.
I would associate the phrase with sloppy English, not American. Many people might say 'got off of' but an author wouldn't write it. Got off his bicycle would be much better.

My mother always used to say 'what you doing of?' instead of 'what are you doing?' I think this is similar.
 
#23 ·
Doglover said:
I would associate the phrase with sloppy English, not American. Many people might say 'got off of' but an author wouldn't write it. Got off his bicycle would be much better.

My mother always used to say 'what you doing of?' instead of 'what are you doing?' I think this is similar.
Oh, yeah, I see what you mean now. Sorry, it's two in the morning here and, well, we just put the clocks an hour back. It's really three in the morning but the coffee and the bag of apples next to me is keeping me going. :)

Wouldn't that count as a dialect issue? I tend to write characters who ride bikes in a different manner. They rarely get off their bicycles. Instead, they're hurled across their handlebars at breakneck speed and sometimes at risk of breaking their neck.

*sips coffee*
 
#24 ·
Abalone said:
Oh, yeah, I see what you mean now. Sorry, it's two in the morning here and, well, we just put the clocks an hour back. It's really three in the morning but the coffee and the bag of apples next to me is keeping me going. :)

Wouldn't that count as a dialect issue? I tend to write characters who ride bikes in a different manner. They rarely get off their bicycles. Instead, they're hurled across their handlebars at breakneck speed and sometimes at risk of breaking their neck.

*sips coffee*
Oh, yes. I'd use it in dialogue, but not in narrative. That's the difference. If I was basing a character on my mother, for instance, I would have her saying 'what you doing of?' She had some other very quirky phrases as well which no one who hadn't grown up with her would ever understand.
 
#25 ·
Lydniz said:
Please stop getting "off of" things.
Why? It's how people talk and immortalised in song, especially for dialogue or first person.

I says, Hey! You! Get off of my cloud
Hey! You! Get off of my cloud
Hey! You! Get off of my cloud
Don't hang around 'cause two's a crowd

Same if someone says. "Write me" which grammatically speaking means you should write down the word "me" but we would all know what is meant in the context of "Write to me" In the same way we use "email me" = "send an email to me."
 
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