Help with grammar

[DreamCloud]

Grammar is not a contract. It is the stylish suit in which we wrap our stories. For those of us who know so little about current fashion, may there be some forgiveness offered by the readers. To the designers who dictate the current fashion, try and do it with less exceptions in the future, please. Don't make me resort to Esperanto.

 

[legerdemer]

How about giving the students a copy of Gramarly and letting them do the bloody work ?
Ah we;;, perhaps another day. . .

That's exactly what I do.

 

[SundayNew]

If you choose to act stupid, especially in the presence of people who haven't seen any other side of you, don't be surprised if they take it at face value.

Expecting otherwise is... well, considerably more stupid than not knowing the plural of "thesis".

You're assuming that people like you are the majority, while most people click and move on.

My assumptions are most people don't assume on 'stupid' things ... where as, people who need to talk, assume on everything and type it out. Nothing more than bait for continuation of a topic that goes nowhere.

 

[Learin]

I'm yet to see a story that has been written terribly and, yet, has done well for itself.

Hi everyone!

I wanted to submit a longer story on this website, but my grammatical skills are woefully inadequate. Can you suggest any software or programs that can automatically detect any flaws and point it to me? I use MS Word 2013.

Apologies in advance if I can't reply to thank you guys.


Flin

There are some great advice in this thread. I'd suggest that you take advantage of the Editor's Forum and find someone for who'll double check everything you've written. If you're planning to write something huge, you'll definitely need a second pair of eyes.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Grammar is not a contract. It is the stylish suit in which we wrap our stories. For those of us who know so little about current fashion, may there be some forgiveness offered by the readers. To the designers who dictate the current fashion, try and do it with less exceptions in the future, please. Don't make me resort to Esperanto.

That's fewer exceptions.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Grammar is important. (So is Gramper, but that's another subject altogether.)

Poor grammar in narration, and misspellings and other mechanical errors, are like speed bumps on the highway. Too many of them and I take some other route.

Spell-check and Grammar-check might help, but don't have too much confidence in either. They miss errors and catch non-errors, especially describing perfectly good sentences as fragments. Nothing will ever replace careful reading, either by the author or an editor.

 

[SamScribble]

Nothing will ever replace careful reading, either by the author or an editor.

Careful reading? Oh, yes. And if your lips move while you are doing it, so much the better. Speed reading is way over-rated.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Careful reading? Oh, yes. And if your lips move while you are doing it, so much the better. Speed reading is way over-rated.

For editing, it's overrated, if it's rated at all. If moving your lips helps you concentrate, then do it.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Grammar is Hillary yelling about disgusting pig boys and how no good girl ever does that sorta thing.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

I'm yet to see a story that has been written terribly and, yet, has done well for itself.




There are some great advice in this thread. I'd suggest that you take advantage of the Editor's Forum and find someone for who'll double check everything you've written. If you're planning to write something huge, you'll definitely need a second pair of eyes.

At LIT you cant help falling over awful stories, and LAUREL lets the air outta the good stories.

 

[Handley_Page]

That's exactly what I do.

*I suppose the alternative would be to send them back to English classes.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Writing is very simple ... you write how you write and people will like it or not ... you can write for a job, become a copy editor, write instruction manuals, whatever ... or you can do like John Cusack said "One for me, and one for them (them being the audience). ... it's a career.

False dichotomy. Some authors write purely for themselves and some write purely for the audience, but the vast majority are writing for both, in some proportion.

And the ones who are writing purely for themselves... well, why would they be here? Why bother setting up an account and going through the submissions process if you don't care about getting readers?

Edit: 'Stylistic' reasons ... you're thinking to much for no reason. Only critiques give writing a real purpose, that's because they can't write for shit or tell a real story (typically).

Ironically enough, I can't tell what you're trying to say here, because your grammar is too poor for me to parse that sentence. I suspect I'm not missing much.