Some tips for writing in correct English.

[Koopa]

Every forum should have one of these. This is basically a list of guidelines to help you to type high-quality posts in correct English and a list of common mistakes I've seen on many forums. I would like to thank General_Fondue for the original this is based on.

1. Make full sentences.
One of the most common mistakes new members make is to post an idea or thought without making it into a full sentence first, like the one-word posts "cool" or "nice!!!". Whatever you want to say, make it into a sentence. For example, "I think that's really nice."
Let's look at how a sentence is made up: The first letter of a sentence is always capitalized, no exceptions - see also the next point. Inside each sentence, make sure there is at least one verb. If you're talking about yourself or your opinion, you should include the word "I" too. Each sentence ends with one of these - a period ( . ) after normal sentences, a question mark ( ? ) after questions, and an exlamation mark ( ! ) for something important or surprising. While we're there, never repeat punctuation. There's no such thing as "??" or "!!!!!!" in correct English. You can put smilies in your post, but it's best to finish a sentence properly first and stick a smily after that - a smily is no replacement for proper punctuation!

• Always make sentences.
• Sentences always start with a capital letter.
• Sentences contain a verb.
• Sentences end with a ( . ), ( ? ) or ( ! ). Don't leave them out, don't repeat them either.
  

Wrong: nice
Correct: That is nice.
Wrong: where is the new post button
Wrong: where is the new post button???
Correct: Where is the new post button?


2. Correct capitalization
The alphabet has two kinds of letters, capitals or "big letters" and normal or "small" letters. Capitals are the ones you get by pressing shift and a letter, or by using caps lock. There are rules for when you must use capitals, in all other cases use small letters. Note that in all these rules, it's the first letter of a word only that's capitalized - don't ever write all letters of a word in capitals. It's considered rude.

• The pronoun I is always capitalized, wherever it appears.
• The first letter of a sentence is capitalized.
• Names (of people, animals, places and things and so on) have the first letter capitalized. This includes names of countries and languages.
• Anything else, as a rule, is not.
  

I know there are a lot more rules and exceptions for capitalization and I could write several pages on it, but if you follow the simple points above you'll get it right most of the time and your posts will look a lot better.
Wrong: can i have a cookie?
Correct: Can I have a cookie?
Wrong: READ THIS IT IS IMPORTANT
Correct: Read this! It is important!

3. Correct spelling
First of all, words consist of letters and not numbers, symbols or lines. Getting it wrong on purpose won't, in this place at least, make you look cool or even "elite", just silly.
Wrong: l8r, c00l, 1n+ere5+1ng
Correct: later, cool, interesting

Next, don't leave out the vowels or abbreviate words.
Wrong: Don't tlk r spk lk n txt msgs.
Correct: Don't talk or speak like in text messages.

Words are not spelt the same way as they are spoken. I know you say "u r" but you write "you are". It's not obvious or easy, but that's how it is. Of course spelling is a far bigger topic that I can cover here, but here are some of the shortest and most common words in English. These, in my opinion, it's most important to get right. But first, some common mistakes.
Wrong: u, teh, i, ur, hte, im, r, c
Correct: All one-letter words: a I, o (rare). I is, I'll say it again, always capitalized. These are the only one-letter words, anything else with one letter is simply wrong.
Common two-letter words: of to in it is be as at so we he by or on do if me my up an go no us am
Common three-letter words: the and for are but not you all any can had her was one our out day get has him his how man new now old see two way who boy did its let put say she too use
If you have some time to spare, here's the 100 most common spelling mistakes.
Don't confuse these either.

to - Used with a verb to indicate a direction or goal as in "The treasure lies to the north" or "go to bed".
too - A shorter way to say "as well" as in "I'm eating cookies. Do you want one too?"
two - The number "2", as in "I have two cookies".

The correct spelling of words with apostrophes is so important it gets its own section.

4. Beware of apostrophes
The apostrophe is a little line that looks like this: ' It has two different uses: Firstly, it is used in short forms of words where the shortening consists of removing one or more letters, and the apostrophe marks the place they were removed. This is important because there are similar words with and without apostrophe, and you can often tell which to use by seeing if you could put the letters back in. The second case I'll deal with later on.
Words not to confuse:

it's - short for "it is". Example: "It's cold today."
its - possessive pronoun, means "belonging to it". Example: "This is my dog, and this is its lead."

they're - short for "they are". Example: "These are my friends. They're at school with me."
there - describes a place. Example: "My friend is sitting over there."
their - means "belonging to them". Example: "Has everyone got their books?"

you're - short for "you are". Example: "You're looking good today!"
your - means "belonging to you". Example: "Is this your book?"

ill - unwell. Example: "I'm feeling ill today."
I'll - short for "I will". The I keeps its capitalization. Example: "I'll go and eat a cookie."

Here's a list of all common uses of the "short form". Basically it can occur with the verbs "to be", "to have" and "will".
to be
Full form: I am - you are - he/she/it is - we are - you are - they are
Short form: I'm - you're - he's/she's/it's - we're - you're - they're
Short forms can also occur in this "impersonal" construction: there is - there's. The plural "there are" isn't usually abbreviated.
to have
Full form: I have - you have - he/she/it has - we have - you have - they have
Short form: I've - you've - he's/she's/it's - we've - you've - they've
Note that the third person short forms (he's/she's/it's) are the same for to be and to have. You have to tell from context which one is meant.
will
Full form: I will - you will - he/she/it will - we will - you will - they will
Short form: I'll - you'll - he'll/she'll/it'll - we'll - you'll - they'll
The careful reader will note that I used an abbreviated negative above. The common negatives are:
are not - aren't
is not - isn't
has not - hasn't
have not - haven't
will not - won't (Warning. Irregular spelling here.)
can not - can't (Warning. Without apostrophe, it's "cannot" in one word, not "can not".)
Never use two apostrophes in a negative: You can say "you aren't" or "you're not" but not: "you'ren't".
The short forms can be used with nouns too - I can say "Koopa's writing a post about apostrophes" (short for "Koopa is writing ...").
There are also expressions like "let's" (let us)

The second place apostrophes are used, is to indicate posession. You can stick " 's " onto a noun to indicate that something belongs to someone or something: "This is Koopa's topic." There is no letter left out here - it is not short for "Koopa is topic". If the noun ends with an "s" already, you put the apostrophe after the "s" and do not add another: a book belonging to Ness would be:
Wrong: Ness's book.
Correct: Ness' book.

One place apostrophes are not used is to make plurals. For those words that do gain an "s", just stick the "s" on without anything else.
Wrong: One tree. Several tree's.
Correct: One tree. Several trees.

One final rule: If the plural of a word is formed with an "s", then the plural possessive is " s' ". Let's get that clear in an example:
Koopa is a turtle. (singular)
This turtle's name is Koopa. (singular possessive)
Koopa likes to play with other turtles. (plural)
The other turtles' shells are different colours. (plural possessive)

Warning! In fact it's even more complicated than this, some things aren't even agreed on, and others seem to vary between England and the U.S. Here's two points: For abbreviations like CD, depending on who you ask either the plural is "CDs", or both with and without apostrophe is acceptable. I recommend not putting an apostrophe, but I can't forbid it. For normal words, it is definitely wrong though. Thanks to LTM for pointing out that the "'s" rule on singular nouns doesn't seem to be universally agreed on either.

[Migokalle]

You did a really great job on this Koopa!
I'm sure this will help new and old members alike
Which is why I decided to pin it.

Thanks for taking the time to do this. I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say that I really appreciate it

[Twilight Knight]

its very good kopa!!! you did a excelent job at it! trooly!

Hmm, now a bit more serious, this is indeed very useful. A good addition for everyone.

[Prospekt]

Quote:you're - short for "you are". Example: "You're looking good today!"
your - means "belonging to you". Example: "Is this your book?"

I'm possibly going to put this in my sig. Or refer people to it when they mess this one up.

[Lithium]

Amazing topic.

Might wanna add "Hell" and "He'll" to part 4.

[LinktheMaster]

You're guide is great. Ill be sure to look at this often.

Seriously though, the only thing that's not 100% correct is the ownership with apostrophe s (saxon genitive). Really and truly, with nouns ending with s, the singular form can end with either just ' or 's. Both are grammatically correct. Well, at least at the moment. It's still one of those tossup things that hasn't really been decided yet.

[Prospekt]

Oh wow, LTM. I was about to metaphorically punch you over the internet.

[Radien]

Nice guide, although various parts of it may be more obvious to some than others. The link to the 100 most commonly misspelled words is useful, although it's really a lot to take in all at once, considering how inconsistent English is. I guess just remembering that a word is on that list will help remind you to double-check it, though.

I wanted to add three other common mistakes, though these are most often committed verbally rather than written:

- Height. The word "width" describes how wide something is, but there is no such word as "heighth." Drop that "th," your tongue will thank you.
- Tooken. It's either "took" or "taken" depending on the sentence. If you're not sure, decide on one, because "tooken" is guaranteed to be wrong.
- Boughten. If you went to the store, you may have bought something. That's all.


Yes, people really do say some of these, and it makes me cringe to hear it. What's even worse is when they say it so often it starts to stick in your head. I was so ashamed the one time I said "boughten"...


Edit:

LTM, where are you getting your information? When added to the end of a word to show possessive form with a noun, "apostrophe S" is not interchangeable with anything. I'm pretty sure that hasn't changed. Omitting the apostrophe is nothing more than an error that's become so common that people have started to accept it when they shouldn't. If you don't use an apostrophe, it becomes indistinguishable from a plural noun in many cases.

Another fact: when you make a noun possessive and it already ends in "S," you add an apostrophe and nothing else. For example, "Jesus' cross." I don't think you pronounce it any differently from the original word, either. This rule is ignored so often anymore that I wonder whether it is eventually going to be stricken.

[Koopa]

I'm going to revise it a bit in a minute and put in more apostrophe examples. I'll post an edit here when it's done.

Thanks for the encouraging comments, everyone.

EDIT: Apostrophe part extended and more examples. Warning about undecided issues added.

I'm still planning on adding yet more to this later.

[Radien]

Not bad, Koopa.

The only time I use apostrophes for plural is when it's a single letter, like "P's and Q's." The only reason I do this is because it looks really odd to write S's without the apostrophe. Using letters as nouns is a pretty irregular thing to do, though.

Also: I like turtles.