Your "You're" Is Lacking

[Cross]

Since this is an intermediate role-play, I'd like to help everyone here write at this level. I know excellent grammar and spelling isn't always needed, especially in the general board and Cbox, but it is helpful and greatly appreciated in your posts. This may have been done before, but I am a huge Grammar Policewoman.

So, first things first. Contractions versus possessives.

Your = 'This belongs to you. It does not belong to me.'
You're = The contraction for 'You are'

There = 'Not here, but there.'
Their = 'This belongs to them.'
They're = The contraction for 'They are'

There's = The contraction for 'There is'
Theirs = Similar to 'their', but can stand alone. 'This is theirs. It belongs to them.'

Whose = 'This belongs to who.' Used in questions.
Who's = The contraction for 'Who is'

It's = The contraction for 'It is'
Its = 'This belongs to it.'

Were = The past tense of 'was'
We're = The contraction for 'we are'

These next ones are not mistaken for each other, but they can get a little muddled every now and then.

I'm = I am
My = This belongs to me.
Mine = (Like my, but can stand alone.) This is mine. It belongs to me.

He's = He is
His = This is his. It belongs to him.

She's = She is
Hers = This is hers. It belongs to her.

Your = This belongs to you.
Yours = (Similar to your, but it can stand alone) This is yours. It belongs to you.

Now for more active contractions. People usually use these correctly, they just forget the apostrophe.

Can't = Can not
Don't = Do not
Wasn't = Was not
Won't = Will not
Aren't = Are not
Isn't = Is not
Shan't = Shall not (This one is not used much nowadays, but for a medieval role-play, I thought it was worth mentioning.)
Shouldn't = Should not
Wouldn't = Would not
Couldn't = Could not

PLEASE, PLEASE , PLEASE DO NOT FORGET ABOUT APOSTROPHES! THEY DO NOT ALWAYS MEAN POSSESSIVE! FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS POINT, POST IN THIS THREAD, AND I WILL TRY TO EXPLAIN AS BEST I CAN!

Secondly, sentence lengths. This isn't a big one, and if it's too nit-picky for you, don't worry about it too much.

If a clause (group of words) has a subject and a verb and can stand alone, it is a complete sentence.

Examples: Nik loved Mira. She did not love him back.

Those are two separate simple sentences. They can stand by themselves without sounding awkward. They can also be joined by a conjunction.

Nik loved Mira, but she did not love him back.

They MUST be joined by a conjunction, not just a comma, otherwise it is a run-on sentence, like so.

Nik loved Mira, she did not love him back. <- Wrong.

I realize this is usually done for emphasis, but your English teacher/professor and programs like Microsoft Word would hate your guts for something like this.
If you really want to add emphasis, separate the sentences into two simple ones like the first example.

If you absolutely HAVE to use a comma to separate these ideas, either use a conjunction, or write it something like this.

Having always loved Mira, Nik was brokenhearted when he found out she did not love him back.

See? You have just turned 'Nik loved Mira' into a fragment. It now reads (by itself) 'Having always loved Mira...' which cannot stand alone. It is no longer a sentence.

As I've said, this isn't a huge problem, and commas and fragments for emphasis are ok on RP sites. I just felt I had to mention it, since this is a grammar lesson.

Also, capitalization. Basic rules are as follows:

Capitalize the first word of a sentence. Ex: This one is pretty self-explanatory.
Capitalize proper nouns like names, places, etc. Ex: Django, Logalog, Redwall, etc.
Capitalize names of months, days, etc. Ex: Tuesday, January, Christmas Day, etc.

If there are any other points I should expand on, please let me know, and I will add to my lesson. This was all I had the energy for at the moment. Also, I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings or call anyone out, I just wanted to point out these few things. Since they are some of the most common errors on the Internet.

If you have any questions, post to this thread, and I will answer to the best of my abilities.

God bless y'all! (You all )
Django

[Django]

Mmhmm, things were missing. And I've also noticed quite a few common mistakes still happening 'round here. I won't name any names, but I felt these mistakes had popped up enough times to be addressed.

It + ' + s = It's - and this means "It is." This contraction is NOT possessive. It is (see?) a pronoun and a verb put together. Without the apostrophe, it could even stand alone, since it has a subject "It," and a verb "is." It is. Period.

It + s = Its - and this means "This belongs to it." For example: "The bird flew to its nest."
"Its" is being used as a possessive, and it does NOT need an apostrophe. I cannot stress this one enough, y'all. I'm sorry if I'm sounding nit-picky, but this is really one of my biggest pet peeves, and I've seen it happen so often.

Next, Comparison vs. Demonstrative Adverb
A.K.A: Than and Then

Than - used to compare two dissimilar (or slightly similar) objects. "This flower is a darker blue than that flower." Or, "I would rather go for a walk than do my chores." Or even, "It rained more today than it did yesterday."

Also, a note on than- when using pronouns at the end of a comparison, make sure you are using the correct type of pronoun, either subjective or objective.

Example: "He was taller than she (was)." The verb is not necessarily always used, but it MUST be implied.
I know this one is probably too troublesome to worry about much. However, please note that this kind of thing: "He was taller than her," is not acceptable when using correct grammar.
With that second sentence, you're essentially saying, "He was taller than her (was)," which I'm sure you can see sounds quite awkward.
But in this case, "His height was higher than hers (or: her height was)," it's okay, because you started with an objective/possessive pronoun (his), so you can end with the same kind (hers).

Then - Used to describe a point in time. "They were walking along the trail, and then they saw a bird." This word is NOT acceptable to use in comparisons.
It would be like saying, "This flower is a darker blue then that flower . . ." Then that flower . . . what? Did the Charleston?
Then essentially means this: Something happened, and after that, something else happened. It needs another sentence after it. Or at least another thought.
Example: "The noise rang out incessantly over the wall tops, and then it stopped."

Then usually needs a conjunction before it to make it work properly, too. I know leaving the conjunction out, like so:
"I ran into my room, then I sprinted back out into the hallway,"
Is used for emphasis. But this pretty much turns the sentence into a comma splice (run-on sentence).

Using a conjunction, thusly:
"I ran into my room, and then I sprinted back out into the hallway,"
Is correct.

EDIT: Thanks to Freckle (Tenor), I've thought up another lesson to add.

Affect vs. Effect

Effect is a noun, and it means, in layman's terms, to change something in some way. Example: "Your poor grammar has had an effect on your grades. They've dropped dramatically in the last week."
Effect can also be used as an adverb, like so: "Using his staff, he effectively brought the hard-to-reach toy boat back to shore."
Effect can also be used as a verb, thusly: "They hope to effect a compromise tonight, even though the two parties are in complete disagreement."
But. BUT. Effect is very different from affect.

Affect is more often used as a verb, usually meaning (but not always) 'to have an effect'. Example: "All this rain will affect my garden." Or, to show you how versatile a verb it is, "Never before had a storm so affected the woods. Half the trees were toppling over, and the river was flooding." And again, more versatility, "So much rain was affecting the level of the river."

Think of "effect" as the special effects in movies. The objects you SEE on screen, manipulated by computers, green screens, and whatnot, since "effect" is most often a noun. Think of "affect" as the producers and filmmakers MAKING the effects, since "affect" is most often used as a verb.
Hope all that made sense!

EDIT2: I've seen this mistake quite often, and I'm not really sure why, but I should really try to clarify this point.

Weary vs. Wary

Weary means: tired, worn out, ragged, haggard, impatient etc. Example: "She had grown weary of waiting for the doctor to show up."
Or, "After ten grueling hours of constant training, he was weary, and rightfully so."
Weary can also be a noun, like so: "His weariness showed after those long, ten hours of training."

Wary is a whole different ballpark. Wary means: being aware, aware of, apprehensively aware of, etc. "She watched him with wary eyes, unsure of his motives."
Or, "Wary of the coming danger, he unsheathed his blade, preparing himself for the worst."
I could go off for hours on this kind of thing, but I'll leave the basics here for y'all. Again, I never mean to call anyone out. I just want to help.

And I'm sure I'll think of more, but I needed to address these because I'd seen them happening so often. Sorry, y'all. I know I can get a mite long-winded, but I'm trying to help! I promise!
God bless!
Jan