#grammar examples

[littlemizzlinguistics]

Studying linguistics is actually so wonderful because when you explain youth slang to older professors, instead of complaining about how "your generation can't speak right/ you're butchering the language" they light up and go “really? That’s so wonderful! What an innovative construction! Isn't language wonderful?"

[english-learning-hub]

Simple Past Tense in Passive Voice with Examples in six ways

[gammija]

ig another annoying thing about the 'this transcends language 😲😱' comments about the most obvious of cognates and literal english loanwords, is that it's another example of how native english speakers (and, by virtue of their population size, mostly USamericans) are the arbiters of what gets seen as 'universal' vs what's weird and foreign on the anglophone internet. cause to me as a dutch speaker, a lot of german compound words would '''transcend language''' - but the tweets that go viral about those kinds of words are about how they're silly little nonsense words to laugh at, can't be a real language, can you believe anyone speaks that!

[stygiansauce]

Hey gamers! I'm gonna give you an entire lesson on hyphens, Em dashes and En dashes via tumblr, right now.

Lets preface with this: Grammar has two modes of use.

Prescriptive: A set of rules that dictate how a language "should" be used.

Descriptive: How grammar/language is ACTUALLY used.

This is an important distinction for this lesson because I am going to start with a powerpoint that explains the rules/uses of hyphens and dashes. THEN after, we will talk about the rhetorical effects dashes have on readers and how authors can use them to their advantage. COOL lets begin.

The first thing you all need to know about hyphens and dashes is what they look like.

Please note how the EM dash is the longest, the EN is next, then the minus, and the hyphen. The sizing and name of these dashes was historically decided because Em dashes were the size of an M and an En was the size of an N.

This is wonky now considering typing and fonts and all that jazz, but the size still matters (haha).

These are how you type them! I am a google docs user, and the short cuts in docs are weird. You will want to go into Insert then go down to special characters. Type in the dash you need, and click it to insert.

Hyphens so these things! What is a modifier? It's a word that MODIFIES the noun. like a light rain, or a long drive. these are adjectives/adverbs (depending)

Hyphens can link two modifiers. They can also link compound nouns.

These are the things Em dashes do! If you take a gander through Margin of Error (Chapter 4 would be best because that's where I learned the special character function) you'll see all of these examples in action!

En dashes aren't as common as EM dashes or hyphens. These are used strictly in a prescriptive sense. From my knowledge there is no way to use these rhetorically. only for clarity and these are the three times you'll see them.

COOL! Now lets talk about how Em dashes are used rhetorically. What does an Em dash do to your writing? How does it effect a reader?

Emphasis Em dashes create pauses in speech. If I were talking to you and I wanted to pause-- or cut myself off, I could use either an elipses or an Em dash. Where an elipses is more of a trail off... the Em dash draws the readers eye. It makes the reader stop and look at what is around them.

THATS IT! Thats what it does! It's more emphasis than a comma or a parenthetical. You could in theory use a comma, but think of how much stress you want on something.

FOR EXAMPLE, in this line from Margin of Error.

With no Puncuation: “Ah well Grian and I weren’t really getting along at the time…” He trails off in a way that screams I’m done talking about this something he does a lot when talking about his family so Tango moves the conversation in a different direction.

With Commas: “Ah, well, Grian and I weren’t really getting along at the time…” He trails off in a way that screams I’m done talking about this, something he does a lot when talking about his family, so Tango moves the conversation in a different direction.

With Em dashes: “Ah—well, Grian and I weren’t really getting along at the time…” He trails off in a way that screams I’m done talking about this—something he does a lot when talking about his family—so Tango moves the conversation in a different direction.

Notice how it's different? The commas certainly do their job at making the reader pause. They help insert the phrase, but its not the same as the dashes. The dashes make the reader LOOK at what is between them. it becomes the focus of the sentence. We are no longer worries about what Jimmy's tone is, but that he uses it often when talkin about his family.

Look at this example with parenthesis too, and see how those change the effect.

With parenthesis: “Ah—well, Grian and I weren’t really getting along at the time…” He trails off in a way that screams I’m done talking about this (something he does a lot when talking about his family) so Tango moves the conversation in a different direction.

Seeeee? it makes a difference! The parenthesis make it more of a passive thought. Something for the reader to consider, but is overall not important to the story. This is why us authors sometimes hem and haw over grammar! I certainly think that Em dashes can be used based off vibes (I do this all the time) but now you know what its really doing for your reader! I want to look at one more example of this before we wrap up.

With no Puncuation: “Your eyes are pretty.” Jimmy says wistfully suddenly like he can’t hold it in any longer

With Commas: “Your eyes are pretty.” Jimmy says wistfully, suddenly, like he can’t hold it in any longer

With Em dashes: “Your eyes are pretty.” Jimmy says wistfully—suddenly—like he can’t hold it in any longer

With Parenthesis: “Your eyes are pretty.” Jimmy says wistfully (suddenly) like he can’t hold it in any longer.

TADA! You can now use hyphens, em dashes and en dashes!!! Thank you for coming to class. Your homework is to play around with these in your writing. I will accpet questions via the Ask box or the comments of this post. Happy writing nerds, go use your new toy.

xoxo Ms. Sauce

[guardian-angle22]

911 lone star -> 5.05 tarlos counseling scene pt. 3

[mistfallengw2]

Charr Name Guide + Name List

Disclaimer: what is written here is derived from attentive observation of what's seen in-game and strives to be as lore-compliant and close to canon as possible.

Impotant note: if you want a name that can be used in-game, remember that the character limit is 19, spaces included!

FIRST NAMES

Can be pretty much anything you want, though there are some general guidelines.

Traditionally, first names are usually: - of Latin or Greek origin (Crecia, Galina, Vitus, Scylla, etc) - regular nouns (Ember, Rage, Talon, Flint, Snarl, etc) - simply made up for the sound (Rytlock, etc)

Exceptions are pretty common nowadays, with names taken also from other races, as a charr named Simon Blackgut is poked fun at for his human-sounding name.

Masculine names tend to have sharper sounds, while feminine sound smoother.

WARBAND NAMES

The name is picked when the warband is formed. While that usually happens in the fahrar, warbands can form and dissolve for any reason and at any point. Any charr who later joins the warband must change their last name to one that includes the warband's name. On certain occasions (death of the Legionnaire, their removal from the position, or events of importance to the warband), the name can be changed.

Warband names are not unique, and multiple warbands can have the same name even within the same Legion.

Warbands' names tend to indicate either their primary skills or line of duty (Net for fishers, Pick for miners, Welder for builders, etc), but some can be more generic or refer to different aspects shared by its members (Dawn, Paw, Heart, etc). Some warbands formed to fulfill a highly-specific duty might pick an otherwise "incorrect" name directly related to it (Ogre is a warband tasked with pushing back ogres).

Some warbands pick their name as a way to honor fallen soldiers or pay tribute to historical figures (the Scorch warband with Kalla Scorchrazor, Bhuer Goreblade with the Gore warband after his sire cleaned the tainted legacy of the name Gore).

Ash, Blood, Iron and Flame are not strictly off-limits as warband names, as there appear to be at least a Blood warband and an Iron warband seen in game. Regardless, individuals regularly pick them for their personal part of the last name.

[Note: the lore about the "Primus warbands" and Imperators needing to be part of them (or descendants of the Khan-Ur) seems to have been completely abandoned, other than the High Legion's names being implied to be derived from the warbands of the sons of the Khan-Ur]

LAST NAMES

The last name of a charr belonging to a warband is made of two words. One is the warband's chosen name, while the other is more descriptive of the individual (personality, appearance, ideals, history, occupation, etc).

Important: nouns, base form verbs and adjectives only. No adverbs, no comparatives.

The two words can be in either order, though they have to make grammatical sense and "sound right" (Shotfierce and Keepersoul don't really work, while Fierceshot and Soulkeeper do. Stoneglow and Glowstone work in either case.)

Nouns and verbs can be used in either position, while adjectives tend to be used for the first word (Fierceshot, Crimsonfist, Heavyblade, etc).

Most verbs can also be used as suffixes in their derivative noun form (chase/chaser, crack/cracker, gut/gutter, etc), and they can also be warband names. Note that the word used for the warband can't be altered in personal names (a member of the Welder warband can't change it to Weld, and so a member of the Weld warband can't use Welder).

Words used in warband and last names are singular. There are rare exceptions, usually for things that come in pairs or multiple (Haunteyes).

Last names can be compound words (Brimstone is both another name for sulphur and brim+stone), but compound words can't be used as part of surnames (Brimstoneblade wouldn't work, as they're effectively 3 words).

Words tend to be short, usually not longer than 7-8 characters.

Given their martial and industrial culture, charr are unlikely to pick peaceful, cutesy and weak-sounding words for their name, especially when combined. However, such words can still be worked with depending on the warband name (Sweetflower wouldn't be used, but both Sweetpoison and Flowerblade could be chosen by the right charr in the Poison and Blade warband respectively).

Likewise, names related to food, other species (animals or races), plants and the "beautiful/nicer" parts of nature are rare, usually coming down to the individual's duty or particular skills (there's a charr named Drakecatcher who could be part of either the Drake or Catcher warband, while Hawkslayer and Skaleslayer are found in the same map and could be both part of the Slayer warband). [Note: titles and names like those are more typical of norn and kodan.]

Despite their military-based culture, words that indicate ranks (both inside and outside of the Legions) are not used, likely due to the risk of mixing them up with actual ranks (boss, master, rookie, captain, general, soldier, tribune, etc).

Words used should be things reasonably known by the charr and especially Tyria as a whole (things that don't exist in Tyria like "horse", "bleach", "digital", etc). That said, some charr might end up using previously "off-limits" words after certain discoveries ("Holo" is unlikely to be used before the tech spread around Tyria after Personal Story, while "Jade" can be used for its other meanings but never in reference to Canthan tech prior to EoD) or mingling with other races ("Cable", "golem" and "aether" are common words for asura, but charr are unlikely to pick them unless they specialize in that kind of tech).

While not a rule per se, charr are quite unlikely to use technical or "fancy" words for their name, instead opting for more common and generic ones ("Coal" is more likely than "Carbon", "Salt" instead of "Sodium", "Iron/Steel/Metal" instead of more specific metals, etc).

It's important to note that not all charr regularly use a last name tied to their warband or even feel the need to have one. Some stick to their titles (Smodur the Unflinching, Erracus the Wise, Howl the Brazen, etc) or only their first name (usually gladia who renounce their previous last name or those born outside of the Legions who never had a warband).

Last but not least, keep in mind that most charr decide their names when they're cubs or teenagers, so don't be afraid to have fun and be cringe with them! :3

Other useful resources

→ Charr Name List ← Made by me. Hopefully includes all words used for names found in the game, plus a whole lot more that make sense for the average charr. I'll try to keep it updated/adding to it.

From the GW2 Wiki - Names section in the Charr page - List of known warbands on the Warband page (only includes mentioned warbands, leaving out all the NPCs that don't appear with someone who shares part of the name) - Charr NPC list (contains ALL charr NPCs in the game, so it's very long) - GW1 Charr NPC list

My fave name site, which has categories (Roman and Greek for charr specifically, but Italian might help too) and provides actual meanings, pronounciations and variants of names!

Guild Wars 2 Name Generator by newms34 (very good generator for all playable races if you quickly want ideas to start from, not extremely varied but still a great aid)

[Dividers by @soulbeastdragon]

[an-ruraiocht]

it's annoying when people say "english-speakers" when they actually just mean "USamericans". did you know not every english speaker experienced an education system resembling the us school system(s)? did you know not every english speaker's exposure to literature (modern and ancient) was shaped by the titles that happen to be common on US school syllabi? hell given that the US education system isn't, like, nationally standardised, i'm fairly sure this is the case even within the US, but it's certainly true outside it. "we all read X in high school" "English speakers are exposed to Y and not Z" your experiences are not universal

[akitossohma]

the blatant sinophobia that infests white western anime communities is so foul. like what do you mean you are watching a donghua dubbed in japanese? does it really pain you that much to hear chinese languages spoken? will you really only consume donghua if you can pretend it’s japanese?

[danishphoner]

one thing that really fascinates me about alex is his devotion to art – and more specifically, how he chooses to get some inspiration from scientific works of what he aims to implement in his art. every time one gets to examine some of his lyrics, or even how he explains these lyrics in an interview, they can be greeted by some bits of actual scientific information. an example is how he named his taquería on the moon with the term “information-action ratio”, coined by the critic neil postman, and referenced it in the song four out of five, something that might also indicate an interesting articulation with postman's concept. the line “cute new places keep on popping up”, for example, can express his well-known sardonic discontent regarding the flood of information being generated and transmitted over and over and, as much as it seems visually appealing and does give the idea of benefiting from advanced technologies, it doesn't really add anything substantial to the receiver's critical thinking – and worse, it distances the information receiver from the sender in a communication channel, according to postman.

what i'm saying with this interpretation is, it's known that alex is enamoured with the idea of gathering a bunch of references and condensing them into a mixture of metaphors in his writing, but it's so thrilling how, at times, we can find some bits of science inside of it – and it's even more exciting, just like playing a puzzle game, to find these references and analyse them by doing a similar research to what he did to create his works.

[serpentface]

Do you conlang? I was wondering if you had naming languages (or possibly even more developed ones) for pulling the words you use. I tried to search your blog but didn't find anything, wouldn't be surprised if the feature is just busted tho. Your worldbuilding is wonderful and I particularly enjoy the anthropological and linguistic elements.

Ok the thing is I had kind of decided I was not going to do any conlanging because I don't feel like I'm equipped to do a good job of it, like was fully like "I'm just going to do JUST enough that it doesn't fail an immediate sniff test and is more thoughtful than just keysmashing and putting in vowels". And then have kinda been conlanging anyway (though not to a very deep and serious extent. I maybe have like....an above average comprehension of how language construction works via willingness to research, but that's not saying much, also I can never remember the meanings of most linguistic terms like 'frictives' or etc off the top of my head. I'm just kinda raw dogging it with a vague conceptualization of what these things mean)

I do at least have a naming language for Wardi (and more basic rules for other established languages) but the rudimentary forms of it were devised with methods much shakier and less linguistically viable than even the most basic naming language schemes, and I only went back over it LONG after I had already made a bunch of words so there's some inconsistencies with consonant presence and usage. (This can at least be justified because it IS a language that would have a lot of loanwords and would be heavily influenced by other language groups- Burri being by far the most significant, Highland-Finnic and Yuroma-Lowlands also being large contributors)

The 'method' I used was:

-Skip basic construction elements and fully move into devising necessary name words, with at least a Vibe of what consonants are going to be common and how pronunciation works -Identify some roots out of the established words and their meanings. Establish an ongoing glossary of known roots/words. -Construct new words based in root words, or as obvious extensions/variants of established words. -Get really involved in how the literal meanings of some words might not translate properly to english, mostly use this to produce a glossary of in-universe slang. -Realize that I probably should have at least some very basic internal consistency at this point. -Google search tutorials on writing a naming language. -Reverse engineer a naming language out of established words, and ascribe all remaining inconsistencies to being loanwords or just the mysteries of life or whatever.

I do at least have some strongly established pronunciation rules and a sense of broad regional dialect/accents.

-'ai' words are almost always pronounced with a long 'aye' sound.

-There is no 'Z' or 'X' sound, a Wardi speaker pronouncing 'zebra' would go for 'tsee-brah', and would attempt 'xylophone' as 'ssye-lohp-hon'

-'V' sounds are nearly absent and occur only in loanwords, and tend to be pronounced with a 'W' sound. 'Virsum' is a Highland word (pronounced 'veer-soom') denoting ancestry, a Wardi speaker would go 'weer-sum'.

-'Ch' spellings almost always imply a soft 'chuh' sound when appearing after an E, I, or O (pelatoche= pel-ah-toh-chey), but a hard 'kh' sound after an A or U (odomache= oh-doh-mah-khe). When at the start of a word, it's usually a soft 'ch' unless followed by an 'i' sound (chin (dog) is pronounced with a hard K 'khiin', cholem (salt) is pronounced with a soft Ch 'cho-lehm')

-Western Wardin has strong Burri cultural and linguistic influence, and a distinct accent- one of the most pronounced differences is use of the ñ sound in 'nn' words. The western city of Ephennos is pronounced 'ey-fey-nyos' by most residents, the southeastern city of Erubinnos is pronounced 'eh-roo-been-nos' by most residents. Palo's surname 'Apolynnon' is pronounced 'A-puh-lee-nyon' in the Burri and western Wardi dialects (which is the 'proper' pronunciation, given that it's a Kos name), but will generally be spoken as 'Ah-poh-leen-non' in the south and east.

-R's are rolled in Highland-Finnic words. Rolling R's is common in far northern rural Wardi dialects but no others. Most urban Wardi speakers consider rolling R's sort of a hick thing, and often think it sounds stupid or at least uneducated. (Brakul's name should be pronounced with a brief rolled 'r', short 'ah' and long 'uul', but is generally being pronounced by his south-southeastern compatriots with a long unrolled 'Brah' sound).

Anyway not really a sturdy construction that will hold up to the scrutiny of someone well equipped for linguistics but not pure bullshit either.

[akemiiya]

you think you have a good grip on grammar and then a professional reads your writing and corrects your phrasing by citing ten million new grammar rules that you've never heard of in your life

[petrovna-zamo]

What is your favorite memory from working together?

[cakeisnotpie]

Writing Advice

Writing is hard, so please take this piece of writing advice as a loving little pat on the shoulder, okay?

When you use the verb tense "sat" you don't use a helping verb.

Clint sat on his couch, sipping his whiskey. (correct)

Clint was sat on his couch, sipping his whiskey. (incorrect)

I see this mistake all the time and, yep, it's because English is a fucked up crazy language that has two verbs like sit and set that are super easy to mix up.

Sit = present tense, means to be resting (for a person, it means the seat of the pants are in the seat of the chair).

Set = present tense, means to put something somewhere

Clint's bow sits on the ground next to him. (it's already there)

Clint set his bow on the ground next to him. (the act of putting it down)

Sat is the past tense of sit.

Clint sat quietly, thinking about his life.

The past tense of set is ... set.

He set the bow there yesterday.

I could go into the big explanation of how sit comes from the intransitive Old English world sitten (which once DID have set as a past tense, but that's disappeared) and set comes from Old English settan (a transitive verb) with a detour into the proto-Germanic setjan (sit) and (bi)satejanan (set), but I won't bore you with the specifics. The easy answer is

sat doesn't use a helping verb

and you're almost always right.

[huayla]

Hi @ervikirvi! A while back, I read a post of yours asking for recommendations for fics about certain chess pieces. That day, I was inspired and wrote in the comments a little list of some of my favorite fics. Time passes, and I don't know, I loved the works I found so much that I thought you might be interested.

If it's not too much trouble, I'll just copy the comment (with corrections + a new fic I found) I wrote that day:

Listen, my native language is not english and I'm not used to interact on tumblr. But I loved reading your analysis posts about queenie and kinger that led me to know your account. And well, how a person that taked a period of time to search material of this chess couple in ao3 I can tell that there aren't too many to my taste 😅 and in amount. But the ones I found are GOLD (maybe there are so many others to be found but who knows). Of course this is only my opinion with all respect to fanfic writers whose dedication and constancy I appreciate. Below I'm going to write my list (which is short hopefully only for now). I need to clarify that it's not put in order of preference, all of them offer an idea that attracted me above the general I checked.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/59808613 -> metamorphosis by beepborpdoodledorp its the longest and I loved reading each letter of it. It's a kinger/queenie fic. "Queenie hasn't been feeling alright lately." is the summary, i will not say no more 😊. (also check the other works of the author, they are so good. I like his Gumigoo!)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/59939308 -> Atta Cephalotes by Anonymous. It was a great surprise to find this fic! A Kinger & Pomni fic. It feels like it could easily happen in an episode (But of course that all the fics I love always I want to be happen in a episode). Whoever you are who wrote this I need you to know how marvellous is.

Ok, I admit it, these first two are my favourites, but I also enjoy reading:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/55277785 -> First Days by Silvery_Soul. This fic was written when the series was just starting, and it still managed to capture the couple's dynamic and their adaptation within the circus, taking on their roles as leaders. (And an Ragatha & Kinger fic before episode 2!!??? I don't know how common it was at the time, but I cherish its execution.)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/59689234 -> Check by LateNightDaydreams (Kinger forgetting things before his wife abstracted? a part of a angst i didn't know i need it after reading this)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/63602545/chapters/163010482 -> Kingers Gambit by OhSunnyKnight. Although I support this theory of https://www.tumblr.com/wtpyrofreak/770600255510216704/the-best-thing-to-happen-to-kingers-lower-half?source=share , it´s pleasant and interesting to read an analytical monologue from a grieving Kinger.

Honorific Mentions:

Finding the Queen Piece -> Finding the Queen Piece by Silvery_Soul

my heart aches for you -> my heart aches for you by basedmiser

So, maybe I'm forgetting some others, but there you go, all the fics I keep :D. Sorry if this is long

PS: I need to specify in the notes of "Check" about the forgetful Kinger: To avoid spoilers for some fics, I'll just say that this one in particular does it more drastically. You'll notice it as you read.

*End of the comment copy*

There you have it :D. Although you've probably already read these fics, I decided to post this as well to support these works that I loved and their respective authors.

[an-ruraiocht]

honestly a solid like. 70% of my complaints about books are that people don't care enough about sentences and details these days. not least all the writing advice that tells people they don't need to understand how grammar works because someone will fix it for them later which is entirely missing how copyediting has been devalued and farmed out to overworked underpaid freelancers who don't have time to fix your goddamn comma splices so they simply won't get fixed

so many books simply do not have good sentences. and they could. and they would be better books if they did. but publishing doesn't seem to prioritise that. line edits are cursory and editors often don't even really know how to make a good sentence themselves. copyedits get a quarter of the time they need to be thorough. everything is rushed and simple things are easier to fix so everything gets simpler and more generic

[ouroboros-sys]

not sure if we've posted this but random sentence time has come again

-Aethra