they're - They are ("They're cool.") their - Possessive ("Their shots weren't falling." there - Placement ("Go over there.") it's - It is ("It's a shame the Jazz suck.") its - Possessive ("The ball bounced its way across the court.") who's - Who is ("Who's guarding Cato?") whose - Possessive ("Whose ball is it anyway?") definitely - There is definitely no "a" in definitely. Keep in mind that adding " 's " onto anything, like "Steve's" makes the word possessive. (ie: "Steve's mom came to the game.") Adding a simple " s " onto a word makes the word plural. (ie: "There were a lot of Steves at the game, today.") Thus ends today's grammar lesson. My favorite recent BBS misspelling: "i than sold him as his smallworld hype died down and his value dropped. with the prophet i made, i bought the next guy i thought would go up." - The Voice of Reason ------------------ My dream job is to be a Houston Rockets towel-boy. [This message has been edited by fadeaway (edited October 07, 2000).]
i dount undertend whut your trying to sey. plese stop making fun ov peopel. Their trieing they're best! ------------------ Talking to a dead hare about art
You missed the worst one. Then - adverb denoting time (If Stro wins ROY, then the Grizz will make the playoffs.) Than - conjunction used in comparisons (The Grizz will be better than the Raptors.) ------------------
I do the same thing, but that's more of a typo than a grammar mistake. ------------------ Houston Sports Board DFW Sports Board
Ain't that thar an unnecessary use of a comma? Tell that to Hemmingway. He used commas all over the place. ------------------ My dream job is to be a Houston Rockets towel-boy.
I hope Duke doesn't see this thread ------------------ In order to be a success in life, you need 2 things: 1. Don't tell everything you know.
Bob- You forgot your ".". ------------------ The Serious Police are watching. Follow the rules or be assimilated. Shandon is underrated.
I always type just as "jsut" and when I'm chatting and ask someone to wait a sec, I often say "wait a sex". A minor slip of the fingers! ------------------ Too often, we lose sight of life's simple pleasures. Remember, when someone annoys you it takes 42 muscles in your face to frown, but it only takes 4 muscles to extend your arm and pimp-slap the mother****** upside the head!
I think fadeaway is one of Mango's missionaries. Azim da Dream ------------------ We don't live for the destination. We live for the journey. http://www.clutchtown.com
Why are we even discussing this on a basketball bulletin board. ee cummings never used capital letters or punctuation and spelled words inside of words for effect and he was a brilliant poet. William Falkner had run-on sentences that lasted several pages. Misspellings are just something that comes with the territory. ------------------ Save Our Rockets and Comets SaveOurRockets.com
youmeanlikethisjeff?itsuremakesithardtoreaddon'tyouthink?plusitissohardtonothitthespacebar ------------------ In order to be a success in life, you need 2 things: 1. Don't tell everything you know.
Well, he used the space bar, just not punctuation or capitals. ------------------ Save Our Rockets and Comets SaveOurRockets.com
Sorry, couldn't resist pointing that out. ------------------ The Serious Police are watching. Follow the rules or be assimilated. Shandon is underrated.
Jeff>> Well.. it's the BBS Hangout section, which technically can be used to talk about anything. Besides, I'm an English major, so I need to do this every now and then. It's in the contract. Besides, why shouldn't people strive for perfect spelling? It makes one look more professional and is a better way of judging status than simple post count. ------------------ My dream job is to be a Houston Rockets towel-boy. [This message has been edited by fadeaway (edited October 07, 2000).]
This is what's wrong with the world today! Our kids are allowed to do these vile mis-spellings and we condone it by saying things like "Hemmingway did it", "cummings did it". Well, if Hemmingway jumped off a bridge, would you do it, too? Remember : today's mis-spellers are tomorrow's death row inmates!!!! Well, ok, so I may be exaggerating... ------------------ I got nothin'.
I would also have to question the hyphen in your signature "towel-boy." According to my grammar handbook ("When Words Collide") a hyphen should be used to join compund modifiers that precede a noun ("a good-natured person") or between a prefix and the following word if the prefix ends in a vowel and the next word begins with the same vowel ("extra-attentive"). Neither rule seems to apply in your case. But why nitpick? After all, this is a basketball bulletin board, and we're all just here to have some fun.
For some reason when I post I always spell the "teh." ------------------ This signature space for rent call 555 ...
Fadeaway: My father has a masters degree in English and his siblings were all journalism majors so I have first-hand experience with grammar and spelling. (Of course, journalism rules and formal English rules are VERY different.) It has always been one of my strong suits and I certainly don't advocate misspelling and poor grammar. I just think we are a bit too caught up in getting things right as we see them now. Shakespeare invented hundreds of words! Creativity is at the heart of the English language, not just correctness. Our language is a mixture of a variety of other older languages and was formed by someone breaking the "rules" and turning machina into machine for example. English requires the evolution of words, grammar and spelling as a means of expanding its borders. Hundreds of words have shifted meanings and been added as the result of the computer and internet. That expansion was necessary. Just as slang and other language concepts came before, we are constantly seeing an updating of English. Anyone who says "ain't ain't a word," for instance, is wrong because the aknowledgement that "ain't" is used by some is the same as saying it is a legitimate word. I guess, at heart, I am a person in favor of bending and breaking rules as a way of expanding ourselves. I like the rules, however, because the limits give me something to work with. (damn those dangling participles!) But, the creativity is what is most important, not just the perfection. Sometimes, striving for perfection means making a mess and breaking the rules. ------------------ Save Our Rockets and Comets SaveOurRockets.com
