Grammar / Spelling / Punctuation Discussion and Appreciation (questions welcome!)

[fems]

For my current fic I have 13 green lines, 2 blue ones and 6 red ones in... 10.185 words. That really doesn't bother me since I only see ~700 words at the time.

[SF_and_Coffee]

I have black and white pages, no lines... over 145,000 words, and since I generally use "web layout" mode at 90%, I'm looking at 800 - 900 words per screen.

Any errors I have, I'll find on my own. Granted, if I were writing primarily in a language other than my birth tongue, my approach would likely be different.

I think one reason for grammar checker throwing up a lot of flags in my work is that I have a somewhat archaic writing style. In narrative passages, I tend to choose sentence constructions more common in the 19th and early 20th centuries than those generally used today, and the software isn't really up to dealing with that.

[fems]

Web layout for me too, only I have it at 100%. This fic is new and I'm working on the (end of the) second chapter now, but my other fics are all novel-length too.

No matter what language I write in, I use the spelling and grammar checks. Simply because I sometimes skip words/letters because I'm thinking too far ahead or because I type "too fast" for the screen to catch up (especially when auto saving etc). And sometimes one hand/finger is faster than the other, giving me a different word which could still be spelled correctly yet wrong in context.

But it's true that sometimes when I write in English my fingers automatically type non-English letter combinations. And there are specific words I often type incorrectly, like "length" and even "like" (I hit "lenght" and sometimes "liek"), which don't stand out too much when there aren't squiggles.

[SF_and_Coffee]

Oh, I do leave spell-check turned on when I'm working really fast, and it catches those. I'm on Office 2010 and I have it set to auto-correct common misspellings for when I type too quickly. It's only grammar checker that I routinely leave turned off.

[Goose]

BBC News - Americanisms"

[SF_and_Coffee]

Nearly half of those are things that make me cringe, too... while the other half are perfectly acceptable in American English, and anyone using the Brit terms would be considered if not wrong, certainly confusing. I understand "transport", "expiry" and "shopping trolley", but they aren't part of the language here at all. And to me "going forward" seems a perfectly natural expression for use in speaking of the span of time beginning now and extending into the unlimited or undefined future. Certainly as legitimate as "from now on" or "henceforth" or "in future/in the future" (yes, I use both, though most Americans use only the latter of the pair).

But "that'll learn you" would make me want to smack someone.

[Goose]

I'm in two minds about the "Americanisation" of British English. On one hand, it's perfectly normal for language to evolve, but on the other, I prefer tradition

[SF_and_Coffee]

For that matter, both American and British English have evolved from earlier forms anyway. Even stripping out the Americanisms, it isn't as if the English currently used in Britain is the same as what was used even a century ago.

Of course, having said that, I will admit that what some people see as language evolution even here in in the US makes me want to cringe. Then again, I'm one of those odd Americans who brings the cross-pollination the other direction and drops British expressions into my speech and writing on occasion simply because I find the expression in question to be the best option for what I'm trying to say. This actually seems to be a trend here in recent years.

[Whytewytch]

Nope, no native speaker and I'm 23 years old. It would be very sad if I needed a translation dictionary if I was a native speaker...

Well, that's why I asked. You never know who you're talking to on the internet...

There are a lot of things you can (un)check for the grammar check in Word, I've only ticked several boxes and don't really have a lot of colored squiggles all over the screen. Same thing for the spelling check, all the Stargate-related terms are added to my customary dictionary (and autocorrect for the annoying apostrophes etc).

I've also added many of the Stargate-related terms as well as names. I hate when it tries to get me to correct the grammar, but my fingers also fly over the keyboard so I sometimes need it to correct for that. One I have to watch is automatically adding a "t" to the end of "though"; I'll mean "though" but be typing "thought". In fact, I just did it for the first time I typed "though" in that sentence.

[Whytewytch]

For that matter, both American and British English have evolved from earlier forms anyway. Even stripping out the Americanisms, it isn't as if the English currently used in Britain is the same as what was used even a century ago.

Of course, having said that, I will admit that what some people see as language evolution even here in in the US makes me want to cringe. Then again, I'm one of those odd Americans who brings the cross-pollination the other direction and drops British expressions into my speech and writing on occasion simply because I find the expression in question to be the best option for what I'm trying to say. This actually seems to be a trend here in recent years.

I pick up accents, dialects and colloquialisms very easily. I left Texas "fixin' to" move to Florida. When I'm around Southerners, my speech is dripping in sugar. In the Northeast, my language is fast-paced and biting. I also tend to use "British-isms" when they seem more appropriate.

I agree that the English language is constantly morphing into something more, but using text-speak for words or things like "that'll learn ya" also make my smacking hand itch.

[SF_and_Coffee]

I pick up accents, dialects and colloquialisms very easily. I left Texas "fixin' to" move to Florida. When I'm around Southerners, my speech is dripping in sugar. In the Northeast, my language is fast-paced and biting. I also tend to use "British-isms" when they seem more appropriate.

So you're a parrot, like me?

Having been born and raised in the Northeast, my normal dialect is that of the eastern shore of Lake Erie. However, I moved from there to Cincinnati, Ohio in my early twenties, and spent a dozen years living and working both there and in Northern Kentucky. So I picked up that accent, dialect and colloquial speech. Get me around someone from there or parts farther south, and it all comes right back in about thirty seconds, and takes me hours afterward to get it out of my system again. On the other hand, if you put me around almost anyone with a different dialect or accent, the same thing occurs. You should hear me after I've spent an hour or so on the phone with my friend Jilli, who calls me regularly from her home in Melbourne, Australia. Hell, every time I've been interviewed by the BBC (it happens every so often; I'm on a list) I've had to work to not sound like anything other than your average resident of Cleveland, Ohio. I simply have a tendency to sound like the people I'm talking to. Though it certainly comes in handy for learning other languages; I tend to do well with pronunciation and shed any American accent quickly.

I agree that the English language is constantly morphing into something more, but using text-speak for words or things like "that'll learn ya" also make my smacking hand itch.

If things get much worse, I swear they'll have to medicate me for that someday.

[WraithRichard]

You know those towns int he middle of nowhere that are just places to stop on long car drives? What are those called? I don't want to say 'town' be cause that misses the point, and I don't want to say 'pit stop' because that's too small.

[Whytewytch]

You know those towns int he middle of nowhere that are just places to stop on long car drives? What are those called? I don't want to say 'town' be cause that misses the point, and I don't want to say 'pit stop' because that's too small.

Are you thinking of byway? Or maybe crossroads? Whistle-stop?

[Skydiver]

Outpost if it's any kind of organized place. like a military outpost

maybe a Junction??? a place located at the junction of two roads

[Goose]

Roadhouses?