Friday, November 19, 2010

Another Grammar Tutorial --By Request--and Edited

I've had a request to go over some commonly confused words with my grammar tutorials. Commonly confused words--you know, sets of words people confuse and don't know how to spell? Well, here's a list, how to use them, and some hints to help you.

  1. Then/Than:
  • "Then" is a time indicator. "Then instead of now," or, "this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened."
  • "Than" is a comparison. "I like Joe better than you," or "My life is more righteous than yours." These statements, of course, are not true.
  • HINT: thEn= timE ; thAn= CompArison. Not my most unique hint, but it works.
2. There/They're/Their:
  • "There" is a location. "You are here, please go there"
  • "They're" is a contraction of they and are. "They're all so spectacular"
  • "Their" is a possessive. "They are getting in their car."
  • HINT: tHERE= opposite of HERE (see how they're the same word?); tHEIR= HEIR of the throne (you inherit it, or OWN it; see? Possessive)
3. Between/Among:
  • "Between" is to be used with TWO people, places, or things
  • "Among" is to be used with THREE OR MORE people, places, or things
4. Good/Well:
  • "Good" is an adjective--which means that it is to be used when describing what a person, place, or thing is. For example, "This is a good sandwich." or "You did a good job." In both of these sentences, we have a noun (sandwich, job), and a modifier (or a descriptor) of the noun (good).
  • "Well" is an adverb--which means that it is to be used when describing how something was done. For example, "It was a job well done." In this case, the action word, "done" is modified by the word "well." "He said it well." This one sounds weird, but it is actually correct because it is modifying how it is said, which is an action.

  • 5. Regardless/Irregardless: These words are basically the same word. What happened was that stupid Americans, who fancied themselves brilliant, started using 'irregardless" in place of "regardless" because it sounded smart, even though it wasn't a real word. So eventually, instead of fighting the degeneration of our language, Webster threw up its hands and said, "whatever." So it is a word. Yet another example of how we have allowed our language to become bastardized.
6. To/Too:
  • "to" has two meanings: the first is placed in front of verbs (to walk, to laugh, to love, to learn, etc). This is called an infinitive. "To" also shows position or placement (to the store, to the movies, to the boss, etc.) In this case, it is called a preposition.
  • "too" also has two meanings. The first is quantity, as in "I have too many O's in my word!" or "A girl can never have too many pairs of shoes" The other meaning is "also," as in "I wanna go to Harry Potter, too!" or "I, too, have read Harry Potter at least 7 times."
  • HINT: you can remember to use a "too" word by thinking this the phrase I wrote above, "I have too many O's!"
  • SIDE NOTE: If you are using the "also" version of "too," you should surround the word (too) with commas.
7. Theater/Theatre:
  • These words mean the same thing. Basically, the -er version is American, and the -re version is European/Fancy American. What happened was that during the Colonist time period, the colonists began to feel separate from the Europeans, and they started exerting that independence, years before actually fighting for independence, by simplifying things, and making them their own, thus words like "theatre" became "theater." Some other changes were "colour" to "color," "labour" to "labor." The colonists were a hard-working, no-frills bunch-you had to be to survive the land--and they rejected the extra "baggage" letters in such words. As a side note, the colonists were also the inventors of the newspaper, because people didn't have time to actually read novels. Who knew?
That's enough for now. If you have any more grammar requests, let me know and I will graciously oblige.

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Tutorial Part 2

This particular tutorial is a pet peeve of mine that I haven't really seen on any particular blog, but something I have noticed on many, many blogs. I don't even think that this is a real grammar rule, but it's something that has always bothered me, so I devised my own solution.

Here's the problem: I want to say "yea," as in , "Yea, I'm coming over." I also want to say "Yea" as in "Yea! I don't have to go to work!" But then there's also "yea"as in "yea, listen to God." Are they all spelled the same?

Answer: No. They are not. Unfortunately, I have never seen a consensus on what is correct. So, here is the Grammar Word According to Sarah:

1. Yeah: "Yeah, I really like that donut."

2. Yay: "Yay! I get a donut!"

3. Yea: "Yea, yea, verily I say unto you, eat a donut."

I have implemented this in my own spelling choices and have found them to clarify the way my writing sounds to the inner voice (you know, the one that talks when you read silently?).

Maybe if everyone likes it, we can all just start using it, and it will then become a rule. You know, like Will Ferrell did with the word "ginormous," which I physically and emotionally hate. But... whatever.

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