Get better with my grammar
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BertrandRussell
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Much of our bad grammar/spelling/punctuation is learned from listening to other people talk, not from reading their words. Even if they are speaking correctly, we may still learn badly from them because we cannot hear a comma or paragraph break, and we cannot hear good spelling.
To unlearn the bad habits that you have acquired, listen to someone and then parse their words.
To do this, just turn on the TV. Listen to almost anything, and then write the conversation that you heard. ( You probably won't be able to keep up. Use a video recorder for this so that you can replay multiple times. )
Once you have written down what you heard, take a chunk of it - usually between three and ten words - and Google it. Sometimes you will find the original text, sometimes you will find sentences that are similar. Then compare their grammar to yours. The results can be enlightening.
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As an example, you could randomly choose the phrase "I have a hard to with it" from your text above, and Google it. You will find that nobody has ever used the phrase before. That tells you that there may be something wrong with it.
So you shorten it. Google "I have a hard". Google will tell you that the next word is often "time".
Then you try "I have a hard time with it". Google will tell you that millions of people have used that phrase, so it is probably correct.
Next, look at how it is used. If you scroll through google's output, you may notice that almost none of the 43 million have a comma preceding the phrase. You can therefore guess that it is used incorrectly.
THEN you go to the traditional grammar sites. Eventually diligent searching will lead you to the concept of a run-on sentence.
To unlearn the bad habits that you have acquired, listen to someone and then parse their words.
To do this, just turn on the TV. Listen to almost anything, and then write the conversation that you heard. ( You probably won't be able to keep up. Use a video recorder for this so that you can replay multiple times. )
Once you have written down what you heard, take a chunk of it - usually between three and ten words - and Google it. Sometimes you will find the original text, sometimes you will find sentences that are similar. Then compare their grammar to yours. The results can be enlightening.
--------------------------------------------------
As an example, you could randomly choose the phrase "I have a hard to with it" from your text above, and Google it. You will find that nobody has ever used the phrase before. That tells you that there may be something wrong with it.
So you shorten it. Google "I have a hard". Google will tell you that the next word is often "time".
Then you try "I have a hard time with it". Google will tell you that millions of people have used that phrase, so it is probably correct.
Next, look at how it is used. If you scroll through google's output, you may notice that almost none of the 43 million have a comma preceding the phrase. You can therefore guess that it is used incorrectly.
THEN you go to the traditional grammar sites. Eventually diligent searching will lead you to the concept of a run-on sentence.
Last edited:
Weird Harold
Opinionated Old Fart
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A good word processor's spelling and grammar check can be a big help if you take the time to figure out why it is detecting a fault. You probably need to disable some checks because MSWord and other business oriented word processors default to "PC-speak" and extreme formality.
A grammar checker won't find every error in grammar any more than a spell checker finds all spelling errors, but it can highlight your most egregious errors. You can google the web for more information on those elements of grammar to make a good start at improvement.
The second step would be finding a really good editor that will highlight and explain the changes they make in your story -- that will help with your story-telling as well as your grammar. NB: it doesn't take good grammar to be a good story-teller. Some of the best of all time wrote in dialect and ignored conventional grammar; most could also write "formal and proper" but made their reputation with regiona, dialect, and plain "bad grammar."
moncrief_the_advocate
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guyver101 read good books. Like, seriously. If you don't like lyrical, violet-hued writing, go for someone like Kurt Vonnegut. He is funny, poignant, writes satire in the guise of sci-fi and his works have been around for awhile, so have passed the snuff test for grammar.
Take a course on CourseRA for English Grammar and Punctuation. This helped me a lot.
I'm not trying to shamelessly self-promote, but I have seen your question, asked by different people, of course, come up again and again and I think there is a real need for people to learn the basics of English grammar and writing style, so I've started a blog that covers just that.
I cover things like the different clauses, parts of speech, how to properly use commas, etc.
www.moncriefs.net
Take a course on CourseRA for English Grammar and Punctuation. This helped me a lot.
I'm not trying to shamelessly self-promote, but I have seen your question, asked by different people, of course, come up again and again and I think there is a real need for people to learn the basics of English grammar and writing style, so I've started a blog that covers just that.
I cover things like the different clauses, parts of speech, how to properly use commas, etc.
www.moncriefs.net
gtnlynn
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Learn the rules of proper grammar. They aren't that difficult and should be available online. Then listen to network news folks and try to catch their errors. Reading well-edited articles in magazines and newspapers can help. Avoid popular press such as "People" and "Us." Their writers are famous for grammatical errors.
quietlylooking
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Get a copy of Strunk and White and read it cover to cover a couple of times. It's not long.
Grammarly has a free version of their online software that might be of use.
Grammarly has a free version of their online software that might be of use.
quietlylooking
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Also, cheers to you for wanting to improve your grammar!
tryn2Bgood
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I find the quote above to be the best advice. You can search Google and find a lot of sites for grammer advice. You may want to do that just to get an idea of the basic grammer rules, but there are a lot of times when certain grammer rules don't apply. There are accepted standards in journalism or when writing a novel that break 'correct grammer rules'. Also, when writing dialog, you write it exactly as the character would have said it, dismissing grammer rules as they speek.
It can be difficult to learn when it's acceptable to 'break the rules'. You can also pick up a lot of bad habits by reading unedited stories or articles on the internet. Read more published works to get a better feel for it. Continue honing your craft as a writer. Great storytelling is more valuable as an author than proper punctuation and grammer. That's what experienced editors are for. The critique from an editor would probably be your most helpful learning tool.
SimonDoom
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This website, on its writer's resources page, has a link to the online version of the Strunk & White Manual of Style, which is about as good a condensed guide to grammar, punctuation, and style as you will find. It's not very long. Here's the link to it: http://www.bartleby.com/141/
nfrrdscnnr1
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might
You might also sign up at www.writing.com which would allow you to post stories or other things you've written and receive helpful suggestions. You'll find the members, for the most part, kind and generous with suggestions.
You might also sign up at www.writing.com which would allow you to post stories or other things you've written and receive helpful suggestions. You'll find the members, for the most part, kind and generous with suggestions.
