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    #31
    Originally posted by ShaViva View Post
    Being Australian but participating here and on fanfiction.net which have a high proportion of US readers often trips me up. Not just spelling either - word usage (e.g. nappy vs diaper, crib vs cot, trunk vs boot, etc.), units of measurement, and things like the date being mm/dd/yy instead of dd/mm/yy like it is in Aus.

    I've created my own rule here ... if I'm writing a character who is from the US and they are saying or directly thinking something then I'll use Mom, color, etc for that (to the best of my ability because I still have words pointed out to me that I just didn't know were different in the US than in Australia). But if it is part of the descriptive prose - i.e. not something someone is directly saying - then I'll stick with my Aussie-isms.

    What do others think - should we tailor our spelling for who the main audience is or write to the version of English that is native to us?
    Despite the fact that I have never lived outside of the USA, I use international dates dd/mm/yy because it always drove me nuts the way they tell us to do it here. It makes no sense... do them in order! Anyway. I'm an oddity here. I also use the centigrade system, metric measurements (we learned them in school, and I was promised the USA would be using them by the time I was an adult) and a 24-hour clock, all of which my dad still thinks is a phase, over a decade later.

    As far as I am concerned, if you voice the character correctly and write in the past tense, I don't care which nationality or dialect of English you use. I'll take well-written in a different 'flavor' any day over some of the pretty awful stuff that purports to share my variety of English. If you listen to the radio, watch TV, or even get your news online, you are going to be exposed to tons of varieties of English. I think it's healthy.
    Grammar / Spelling / Punctuation Discussion and Appreciation (questions welcome!) | Plot Bunny Adoption
    Fanfic Helpdesk: Technical and Scientific Help for Writers | Fanfic Pet Peeves | My Fanfiction (Abnormal Newt)

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      #32
      Originally posted by SF_and_Coffee View Post

      It's pregnant, not pregnate
      Best mistake ever.
      My Stargate fan fiction @ FF.net | NEW: When Cassie Calls Teal'c.

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        #33
        Originally posted by Goose View Post
        Best mistake ever.
        Ummm, what?

        Seriously, "pregnant" is the proper word for when a woman is with child.

        (Yes, I'm female. Okay?)
        Sum, ergo scribo...

        My own site ** FF.net * All That We Leave Behind * Symbiotica ** AO3
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        now also appearing on DeviantArt
        Explore Colonel Frank Cromwell's odyssey after falling through the Stargate in Season Two's A Matter of Time, and follow Jack's search for him. Significant Tok'ra supporting characters and a human culture drawn from the annals of history. Book One of the series By Honor Bound.

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          #34
          Originally posted by Feast of the Muse View Post
          As far as I am concerned, if you voice the character correctly and write in the past tense, I don't care which nationality or dialect of English you use. I'll take well-written in a different 'flavor' any day over some of the pretty awful stuff that purports to share my variety of English. If you listen to the radio, watch TV, or even get your news online, you are going to be exposed to tons of varieties of English. I think it's healthy.
          That's where we differ. For me, reading a character that I know is from the American Midwest, and I know that's the dialect he speaks (think Jack O'Neill) and seeing that the author has him speaking some other dialect, is an incorrect voicing for that character. Jack would never sound like a Londoner or a Texan or someone from Australia.

          (Yes, I'm female. Okay?)
          Sum, ergo scribo...

          My own site ** FF.net * All That We Leave Behind * Symbiotica ** AO3
          sigpic
          now also appearing on DeviantArt
          Explore Colonel Frank Cromwell's odyssey after falling through the Stargate in Season Two's A Matter of Time, and follow Jack's search for him. Significant Tok'ra supporting characters and a human culture drawn from the annals of history. Book One of the series By Honor Bound.

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            #35
            Originally posted by SF_and_Coffee View Post
            That's where we differ. For me, reading a character that I know is from the American Midwest, and I know that's the dialect he speaks (think Jack O'Neill) and seeing that the author has him speaking some other dialect, is an incorrect voicing for that character. Jack would never sound like a Londoner or a Texan or someone from Australia.
            You misunderstand; voicing the character correctly doesn't exclude the character's dialect. But if the descriptions and such are told in say, a kiwi flavor (I like the word flavor, sorry), that's cool as far as I am concerned.
            Grammar / Spelling / Punctuation Discussion and Appreciation (questions welcome!) | Plot Bunny Adoption
            Fanfic Helpdesk: Technical and Scientific Help for Writers | Fanfic Pet Peeves | My Fanfiction (Abnormal Newt)

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              #36
              Oh, okay. Then that's basically what I said, with the caveat that if the description is originating inside the thoughts of a particular person, it still should remain more or less true to that person's actual dialect (since most people think in the same dialect in which they speak).

              (Yes, I'm female. Okay?)
              Sum, ergo scribo...

              My own site ** FF.net * All That We Leave Behind * Symbiotica ** AO3
              sigpic
              now also appearing on DeviantArt
              Explore Colonel Frank Cromwell's odyssey after falling through the Stargate in Season Two's A Matter of Time, and follow Jack's search for him. Significant Tok'ra supporting characters and a human culture drawn from the annals of history. Book One of the series By Honor Bound.

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                #37
                Originally posted by ShaViva View Post
                I also have a question about the use of contractions in writing. Is there a rule about this? I ask because when I read a fic where there are few contractions used, particularly when it's dialogue, it breaks the flow in my head ... I'll actively notice that Sheppard keeps saying things like 'I am ...', 'did not', or 'It is ...' when watching the show his verbalisation is much more casual than this. If you read something aloud this kind of thing is really obvious. So, are there rules about using contractions, and if so what are they?
                I wanted to address this too, don't know why I didn't. I've found that when I write, I tend to write things out sans the contractions. I just let it happen and go back later. If the character is very proper, I leave it. If they need a very specific kind of voice, I change it to that. But I need to get it all out of my head first. I tend to go until my brain runs out, go back and correct, then add more new material. I guess the 'rule' is whatever the character dictates. And there is nothing wrong with them anywhere else in the writing, either.
                Grammar / Spelling / Punctuation Discussion and Appreciation (questions welcome!) | Plot Bunny Adoption
                Fanfic Helpdesk: Technical and Scientific Help for Writers | Fanfic Pet Peeves | My Fanfiction (Abnormal Newt)

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                  #38
                  Originally posted by SF_and_Coffee View Post
                  Ummm, what?

                  Seriously, "pregnant" is the proper word for when a woman is with child.
                  Yes, I know. I just found it funny that would someone would say "pregnate" rather than "pregnant". I wasn't saying that you were wrong
                  My Stargate fan fiction @ FF.net | NEW: When Cassie Calls Teal'c.

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                    #39
                    Oh, okay. Yeah, I see that one all the time, and it makes me *headdesk*. Of course, the more I think about it, the more I realize there may be one possible explanation.

                    How do you get someone pregnant? You impregnate them. So maybe, just maybe, people who are familiar with the second word then think that simply removing the prefix "im" results in the proper word for the resulting condition? I don't know...

                    (Yes, I'm female. Okay?)
                    Sum, ergo scribo...

                    My own site ** FF.net * All That We Leave Behind * Symbiotica ** AO3
                    sigpic
                    now also appearing on DeviantArt
                    Explore Colonel Frank Cromwell's odyssey after falling through the Stargate in Season Two's A Matter of Time, and follow Jack's search for him. Significant Tok'ra supporting characters and a human culture drawn from the annals of history. Book One of the series By Honor Bound.

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                      #40
                      Originally posted by SF_and_Coffee View Post
                      Oh, okay. Yeah, I see that one all the time, and it makes me *headdesk*. Of course, the more I think about it, the more I realize there may be one possible explanation.

                      How do you get someone pregnant? You impregnate them. So maybe, just maybe, people who are familiar with the second word then think that simply removing the prefix "im" results in the proper word for the resulting condition? I don't know...
                      Makes sense.
                      My Stargate fan fiction @ FF.net | NEW: When Cassie Calls Teal'c.

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                        #41
                        One grammatical error that always throws me out is the use of "could of", "would of" and "should of". Judging by the phrasing of the rest of the sentence I think the writer means "could've", "would've" and "should've".

                        Another is the use of "drug" as a past tense of "drag". Unless the term is used by someone of the Redneck persuasion I always correct in it the fics I beta read.
                        No Sam w/o a Jack and no Jack w/o a Sam.
                        It's like and immutable law of the multiverse.

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                          #42
                          Originally posted by iiradned View Post
                          One grammatical error that always throws me out is the use of "could of", "would of" and "should of". Judging by the phrasing of the rest of the sentence I think the writer means "could've", "would've" and "should've".

                          Another is the use of "drug" as a past tense of "drag". Unless the term is used by someone of the Redneck persuasion I always correct in it the fics I beta read.
                          I've seen the first one plenty of times, but never the second one. That's just odd.
                          My Stargate fan fiction @ FF.net | NEW: When Cassie Calls Teal'c.

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                            #43
                            Originally posted by iiradned View Post
                            One grammatical error that always throws me out is the use of "could of", "would of" and "should of". Judging by the phrasing of the rest of the sentence I think the writer means "could've", "would've" and "should've".
                            Oh wow. I used to have a friend who was a songwriter. (Ok, I have lots of those, but still, I don't hang with her anymore.) She is a year older than me, and we went to high school and college together. We even managed to get the same English classes (I got AP), in which we did kick major booty. Anyway, so one day I type up one of her new songs for a 'press kit' (for a class, not the real deal) and give it to her to proof.

                            I had typed this:
                            It must've been you, it must've been me...
                            Which she changed to:
                            It must of been you, it must of been me...
                            So we argued about it for a bit, but in the end I turned in a PK with the correct version of the words and let her keep one she had 'corrected' for her own purposes. I'm still trying to figure out why she insisted that it be a preposition. I still wonder what she thought she was trying to say.
                            Grammar / Spelling / Punctuation Discussion and Appreciation (questions welcome!) | Plot Bunny Adoption
                            Fanfic Helpdesk: Technical and Scientific Help for Writers | Fanfic Pet Peeves | My Fanfiction (Abnormal Newt)

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                              #44
                              Originally posted by Goose View Post
                              I've seen the first one plenty of times, but never the second one. That's just odd.
                              The second one seems to be endemic to certain parts of the United States. I don't think it exists anywhere else in the Anglophonic world.

                              (Yes, I'm female. Okay?)
                              Sum, ergo scribo...

                              My own site ** FF.net * All That We Leave Behind * Symbiotica ** AO3
                              sigpic
                              now also appearing on DeviantArt
                              Explore Colonel Frank Cromwell's odyssey after falling through the Stargate in Season Two's A Matter of Time, and follow Jack's search for him. Significant Tok'ra supporting characters and a human culture drawn from the annals of history. Book One of the series By Honor Bound.

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                                #45
                                Dear Ghu, I think I'd have had to ask her that point-blank, Brooke.

                                (Yes, I'm female. Okay?)
                                Sum, ergo scribo...

                                My own site ** FF.net * All That We Leave Behind * Symbiotica ** AO3
                                sigpic
                                now also appearing on DeviantArt
                                Explore Colonel Frank Cromwell's odyssey after falling through the Stargate in Season Two's A Matter of Time, and follow Jack's search for him. Significant Tok'ra supporting characters and a human culture drawn from the annals of history. Book One of the series By Honor Bound.

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