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    #76
    Originally posted by Feast of the Muse View Post
    *sighs contentedly* I am no expert, but I do care and I love that we can talk about this stuff in such a civil manner. I visited a shipper thread for one of the other shows recently and the energy in there was not any fun at all. Lots of whining and pouting and childishness. I really appreciate that we all communicate like adults in here!


    (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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      #77
      My Chicago Manual of Style doesn't address this and my AP Stylebook is for writing articles, not fiction, so i'ts no help.

      With a third-person omniscient narrator, would characters be referred to by their first name or last name? For instance, Jack O'Neil and John Sheppard are referred to by fans and the characters by first name usually while Richard Woolsey and George Hammond both fans and character tend to refer to last name.

      When would it make more sense in the narrative to use a first name and when would it make more sense to you a last name when mentioning characters?
      Price for Pain What do you mean violence isn't the answer?

      Burn It All Away Blood moves the heavens. Fire purifies the land. Legends change worlds. Destiny burns.

      Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Fiat justitia et pereat mundus. Fiat justitia ruat caelum.



      All are PG-13, each with a single act of rated R violence. Adults situations and other, tamer violence.

      Ficta voluptatis causa sint proxima veris


      I'm creating a fan comic and I want input from as many fans as possible. Please PM me if you want the discord link. You can also chat, show off your own creations, and rp.

      Comment


        #78
        Originally posted by WraithRichard View Post
        With a third-person omniscient narrator, would characters be referred to by their first name or last name? For instance, Jack O'Neil and John Sheppard are referred to by fans and the characters by first name usually while Richard Woolsey and George Hammond both fans and character tend to refer to last name.
        Character name usage isn't really a function of what person you're writing in, but it can be a function of who your narrator is. My rule of thumb in 3rd-person omniscient is to just pick one version of the name and then stick to it. I used to write in 3rd omniscient all the time, but these days people complain about the head-hopping involved in that, no lately I write in more of a tight 3rd, except that my POV switches from character to character depending on what chapter I'm in, or I may possible switch POV into someone else's head with a distinct scene change within a chapter. One thing this does is allow me to use different names for the same character, as I will call other characters by whatever name the POV character would be most likely to use. For scenes in which the narration isn't really coming from any character, I then tend to simply use people's last names. (You'll notice both of the above techniques in my current story, if you haven't already.)

        When would it make more sense in the narrative to use a first name and when would it make more sense to you a last name when mentioning characters?[/QUOTE]

        (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.

        Comment


          #79
          Originally posted by blazingfire View Post
          Advice or advise?

          I prefer to think the former as the noun and the latter as the verb, although some people prefer to use advise for everything:

          Jack gave Daniel some advise. (for an example)

          What's the correct form, by the way?
          Jack gave Daniel advice.
          Daniel asked jack to advise him.
          Where in the World is George Hammond?


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            #80
            Originally posted by WraithRichard View Post
            My Chicago Manual of Style doesn't address this and my AP Stylebook is for writing articles, not fiction, so i'ts no help.

            With a third-person omniscient narrator, would characters be referred to by their first name or last name? For instance, Jack O'Neil and John Sheppard are referred to by fans and the characters by first name usually while Richard Woolsey and George Hammond both fans and character tend to refer to last name.

            When would it make more sense in the narrative to use a first name and when would it make more sense to you a last name when mentioning characters?
            Taking a stab at it here - as you say, there is no rule.

            Personally, I call them by what the other characters do. When my character Sarah first meets Sam, she calls her either Doctor or Major, until they get to know each other and Sam asks her to call her Sam. After that point in the writing, she is referred to as Sam, instead of, for example, "Major Carter led them out of the room."
            Last edited by Feast of the Muse; 16 April 2011, 06:22 PM. Reason: oops, silly fingers
            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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              #81
              Pssst... the past tense of lead is led.

              (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.

              Comment


                #82
                i go with that

                whomever's voice you're writing in, that's how you address the other characters.

                teal'c calls sam captain/major/colonel carter, he calls jack o'neill, calls daniel daniel jackson, etc

                even though you're omniscient, you're going to have characters speaking to each other, so you use the speaker's voice.

                i think, when it's not from a person's specific POV, just keep it consistent. Don't see how many different ways you can refer to daniel in a single paragraph
                Where in the World is George Hammond?


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                  #83
                  Oops. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - I'm a terrible typist. Thank goodness I usually catch them all... thanks for the point.
                  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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                    #84
                    Originally posted by Feast of the Muse View Post
                    Taking a stab at it here - as you say, there is no rule.

                    Personally, I call them by what the other characters do. When my character Sarah first meets Sam, she calls her either Doctor or Major, until they get to know each other and Sam asks her to call her Sam. After that point in the writing, she is referred to as Sam, instead of, for example, "Major Carter led them out of the room."
                    Thanks. My inner editor and my inner writer can sometimes confuse each other.
                    Price for Pain What do you mean violence isn't the answer?

                    Burn It All Away Blood moves the heavens. Fire purifies the land. Legends change worlds. Destiny burns.

                    Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Fiat justitia et pereat mundus. Fiat justitia ruat caelum.



                    All are PG-13, each with a single act of rated R violence. Adults situations and other, tamer violence.

                    Ficta voluptatis causa sint proxima veris


                    I'm creating a fan comic and I want input from as many fans as possible. Please PM me if you want the discord link. You can also chat, show off your own creations, and rp.

                    Comment


                      #85
                      Originally posted by WraithRichard View Post
                      Thanks. My inner editor and my inner writer can sometimes confuse each other.
                      You're welcome! I know what you mean, too.

                      Also just saw this in my email:
                      Once the sunsets we are gone.
                      Uh boy.
                      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)

                      Comment


                        #86
                        More questions:

                        1. The sentence 'You've also been giving the guards a hard time getting here' sounds awkward and I think it will even if I add the word 'you.' How best should I write this?

                        2. The sentence 'The best off you have given me so far is...' should there be commas around 'so far'?

                        3. The sentence 'He was dressed differently than those on Atlantis, similar to Sheppard when he dressed causally.' Should that be 'similarly'?
                        Price for Pain What do you mean violence isn't the answer?

                        Burn It All Away Blood moves the heavens. Fire purifies the land. Legends change worlds. Destiny burns.

                        Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Fiat justitia et pereat mundus. Fiat justitia ruat caelum.



                        All are PG-13, each with a single act of rated R violence. Adults situations and other, tamer violence.

                        Ficta voluptatis causa sint proxima veris


                        I'm creating a fan comic and I want input from as many fans as possible. Please PM me if you want the discord link. You can also chat, show off your own creations, and rp.

                        Comment


                          #87
                          Originally posted by WraithRichard View Post
                          More questions:

                          1. The sentence 'You've also been giving the guards a hard time getting here' sounds awkward and I think it will even if I add the word 'you.' How best should I write this?
                          I can't even find a place in that sentence for the word "you". However, I interpret the original sentence to mean, "You've been giving the guards a hard time while you've been getting here" or "You've been giving the guards a hard time at their own getting here". Which is closer to your intentions? If I know that, I can probably help you with its structure.

                          2. The sentence 'The best off you have given me so far is...' should there be commas around 'so far'?
                          Before addressing punctuation, I need to know what the sentence is intended to mean. "The best off" - what does that phrase mean? Are you sure it shouldn't be "The best of?"

                          3. The sentence 'He was dressed differently than those on Atlantis, similar to Sheppard when he dressed causally.' Should that be 'similarly'?
                          Yes.

                          (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.

                          Comment


                            #88
                            Originally posted by WraithRichard View Post
                            1. The sentence 'You've also been giving the guards a hard time getting here' sounds awkward and I think it will even if I add the word 'you.' How best should I write this?

                            2. The sentence 'The best off you have given me so far is...' should there be commas around 'so far'?
                            1. "You've been giving the guards a hard time getting here." Without the context, I can't say whether that's the precise meaning you're going after ("giving someone a hard time" can be interpreted as faux teasing/chiding etc throughout the trip, or this could mean the person did something to make the guards' trip harder ie by being uncooperative, or could mean s/he deliberately put obstacles in their path). The removal of "also" makes this sentence far less awkward to my ear. "Also" is a word that, 99.9% of the time, can be deleted because it's usually only functioning in a filler capacity.

                            2. "The best off you have given me so far is..." Is there a typo here? Because as it's written this doesn't make sense to me. Even "The best of you have given me..." doesn't make sense, unless it's an expression I'm unfamiliar with.

                            Comment


                              #89
                              Originally posted by SF_and_Coffee View Post
                              I can't even find a place in that sentence for the word "you". However, I interpret the original sentence to mean, "You've been giving the guards a hard time while you've been getting here" or "You've been giving the guards a hard time at their own getting here". Which is closer to your intentions? If I know that, I can probably help you with its structure.
                              The closest would be 'You've been giving the guards a hard time getting you here' but that's still awkward and messes with the fluidity of the story.


                              Originally posted by SF_and_Coffee View Post
                              Before addressing punctuation, I need to know what the sentence is intended to mean. "The best off" - what does that phrase mean? Are you sure it shouldn't be "The best of?"
                              That should be 'the best offer.'
                              Price for Pain What do you mean violence isn't the answer?

                              Burn It All Away Blood moves the heavens. Fire purifies the land. Legends change worlds. Destiny burns.

                              Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Fiat justitia et pereat mundus. Fiat justitia ruat caelum.



                              All are PG-13, each with a single act of rated R violence. Adults situations and other, tamer violence.

                              Ficta voluptatis causa sint proxima veris


                              I'm creating a fan comic and I want input from as many fans as possible. Please PM me if you want the discord link. You can also chat, show off your own creations, and rp.

                              Comment


                                #90
                                Okay, so the guards have been trying to bring someone someplace and the person they have in custody has been fighting that? In that case, I really think "You've been giving the guards a hard time getting you here" works. It isn't fluid, but sometimes people do say awkward sentences, and this is dialogue. So the better question to ask yourself is, "Would the character say this?" If the answer is "yes", then I don't see a problem.

                                "The best offer you have given me so far is..." No commas. They'd only make it awkward.

                                (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.

                                Comment

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