Dr. Shades's Grammar Lesson of the Day

[_Dr. Shades]

Hello everyone,

Welcome to a new feature of this message board: "Dr. Shades's Grammar Lesson of the Day," a public service to the participants and viewers of MormonDiscussions.com.

Up until now, I've bitten my lip at pretty much all of the grammatical errors I've seen here (not to mention spelling errors), but I can no longer restrain myself; the English major in me is screaming to get out.

These entries aren't targeted at any one poster. They're meant to address the errors I come across while perusing the threads and to make us all better posters and, by extension, to make the board itself even better. Therefore, with no further ado:

GRAMMAR LESSON #1: "Their," "they're," and "there"

This is a problem I see quite often, not just here, but within nearly any less-than-formal written communication. Let's examine the difference:

THEIR: They, possessive. I.e., it's the word you use when something belongs to "them." EXAMPLES: "My in-laws are planning their vacation." "The patrons are still waiting for their food." "The missionaries want to get their bikes back."

THEY'RE: A contraction of "they are." EXAMPLES: "They're getting cold." "They told me they're from Indiana." "They said they would stay, but they're leaving."

THERE: A temporo-spatial location at some distance from the speaker. EXAMPLES: "No, he went there after his mission." "I dropped my fork on the floor yesterday, and it's still there." "My favorite store is over there."

Thus concludes our lesson. Now nobody has any excuse for juxtaposing "their," "they're," and "there." :-)

[_Jersey Girl]

Dr. Shades,

Could you please give us another grammar lesson about the use of the words: Your and You're? We also need a lesson about dropping "e" when adding "ing" to a word. Thanks so very much for your contribution to our literacy!

Jersey Girl

(I"ll tell you what bugs heck out of me, the way posters spell definitely..."definately"....ugh!)

[_Bond...James Bond]

Onestlee Shadez, its knot adze if eye donut no what your talkin aboot. ;)

[_Jersey Girl]

Onestlee Shadez, its knot adze if eye donut no what your talkin aboot. ;)

Oh, definately!

Jersey Girl

[_Gazelam]

We also need a lesson about dropping "e" when adding "ing" to a word.

I am very guilty of this one.

[_Mary]

Well, I forget my possessive s's.

I forget the darn rules, who made the rules anyway, wasn't it some French bloke? Get me the gun! (Shade's maybe you could enlighten)

Shades, no way should you read some of Shakespeares original stuff. His spelling was about Level 1 National Curriculum (as I tell some of the children who don't find spelling the easiest of things) written at a time when spelling rules were not formalised. But heck, where is the logic in the spelling rules, the person who devised them must have been...well I don't know...illogical for a start.

At least we get to type. I had (a now masters educated) young man come up to me in a restaurant who I had taught as an 8 year old (very bright one too), who laughed amongst our catching up chat, and said that he STILL couldn't read my handwriting on his report!!! We all had a big laugh at that, particularly my mother for some entirely unknown reason.

I find handwriting such a labourious bore, but then I have a few Dr's for good company on that, so I am not beating myself up over it.

http://www.spellingsociety.org/index.php

[_asbestosman]

Those of you with Internet Explorer can download the free spell checker iespell for personal use. Commercial use requires a license.

[_Jersey Girl]

We also need a lesson about dropping "e" when adding "ing" to a word.

I am very guilty of this one.

Well let us hope the good doc, can fix us all!

Jersey Girl

[_asbestosman]

I don't want the doc (or anyone else) to fix me.

Let's call a spayed a spayed.

[_Turandot]

The words I see most often misspelled on the 'net:

devestated

rediculous

definate

inevidible

etc.

excape

seperate

discusting

Isreal

there/their/they’re (misuse of)

your/you’re (misuse of)

beleive

And don’t get me started on the complete and utter lack of punctuation by many on message boards (not this one). I don’t expect perfection because messages fly by fast and furious in the cyber world but it seems that a lot of people have no concept of tossing in an occasional period or comma to break up a run-on sentence or organize their thoughts. I don’t expect any semi-colons or ellipses, just a sporadic period or comma, for god’s sake. Please.

Turan