Writing Exchange

6 posts5 participants0 posts today

Day Use X Mockin' UhSo, "Paper Towel" is a proper noun in English but not in Spanish… huh?<a href="https://defcon.social/tags/English" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#English</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/Spanish" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Spanish</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/Grammar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Grammar</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/Sign" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Sign</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/Signs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Signs</a>

RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<blockquote><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/WritersCoffeeClub" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#WritersCoffeeClub</a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/WCC" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#WCC</a> 2504.21 — In honor of <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/@johnhowesauthor" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@johnhowesauthor</a> who doesn’t really like coffee: what “established” writerly traits don’t really apply to you?</blockquote>Forgive me for inverting this question. I like positivity.<ol><li>Drinks whiskey and whisky and bourbon. Check. See photo.</li><li>Has a pet cat. Not currently. Historically, tho.</li><li>Drinks gallons of coffee. Decaf cappuccino please, and only a cup or two. Extra credit: I've only written in a coffee shop a few times; I prefer the tables outside because drinking with a N95 mask is difficult.</li><li>Depressed and melancholy. I was depressed, then I realized I held the illusion that I was in control of events in my life. (Thank you Wayne Dyer.) When I gave up on the illusion, literally became disillusioned, I kicked the depression. Let's give that trait a half-point for historical reasons.</li><li>Is eccentric. I feel rather symmetrical, even if I was always a square and never a rounder. If this means hyperbolic, count me in! Maybe I should ask my spouse? Um, maybe not.</li><li>Has a god complex. That's kind of a sexist question. What about goddesses? Not answering.</li><li>Is reclusive. Does shy count?</li><li>Unkempt. Not describing my current state of clothing, current lack thereof, grooming, or smell status. Nope.</li><li>Broke. I had a day job. Not stupid.</li><li>Chain smokes. The only time you smell smoke around me is when I tend a barbecue. My mum was the chain smoker, which I think accounts for my asthma.</li><li>Writes longhand. Are you flapping nuts? I was obviously destined to be a doctor if you believe that about bad pen craft. I learned on a mechanical typewriter, progressed to a Smith-Corona, then an Apple ][ and haven't looked back since. (11½. Writes with a fountain pen. My writing greatly improves with a nibbed pen; I studied calligraphy. Still, I think faster than I can talk, let alone type on a keyboard, so why would I do something so cripplingly ridiculous to my productivity?)</li><li>Procrastinates. Um. Here I am replying to an Internet prompt. Again.</li><li>In a state of continual angst. Maybe. Depends on the day, or whether what I am writing might contradict the conservative social climate fomenting in my country of origin. Okay, likely. Very likely. Oh noes!</li><li>Eschews adverbs. I definitely use adverbs. Whether they survive revision is another matter.</li><li>Is a literary snob. Whiskey snob, maybe. Okay. I confess it! I love Charles Dickens. The rest of them, never read 'em. I'm not well-read literally. [Is that the right word?] Even in my genre(s), I like what I like not what other readers hold up as the best. Another good reason to be shy. I can't even carry on small talk about literature!</li><li>Writes under various noms de plume. Yes.</li><li>Cuts a dashing figure. That kind of implies a gender, doesn't it? Nobody can accuse me of being pretty or rugged. Average. Which may explain why I write about average looking people. In any case, I do know a few things about clothing and fabrics; I can put together a nice ensemble, with accessories and shoes. I even own a turtleneck. Hats are good. I can package well. Maybe true.</li><li>Swears and curses a lot. Ask my computer. The people in my life would say, "Incapable." I'm reputed to be "delicate." I use my computer when nobody is around, and self-censor when they are.</li><li>Has a giant vocabulary. Word choice counts and I will use the exact word. See item 14.</li><li>Is a grammarian par excellence. Me! Ha! I often write in grammar B and perpetrate grammaricide with glorious glee, enough so that any self-respecting high school English teacher would not only fail my purple prose ass, but send my sorry hind-part to the principal's office on principle for a paddling!</li></ol>Enough fun. Forgive me. Please!More in <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/altText" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#altText</a>. [Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]<a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BoostingIsSharing</a><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#gender</a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#fiction</a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#writer</a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#author</a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/grammar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#grammar</a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#writing</a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#writingcommunity</a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#writersOfMastodon</a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#writers</a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSdiscussion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#RSdiscussion</a>

Robert KingettToday, in a fit of absolute rage, I turned off grammar check in my word processors. Spelling check still remains, but I was doing a basic check in Microsoft Word for someone else the other day to show someone how it worked and it kept suggesting wrong suggestions! Seriously! For example, whenever the dude would write, Friday morning, it kept wanting to capitalize morning and put a dash between Friday, and, morning when morning wasn't a noun. There are other little things I spotted too, so either my grammar is getting better or this new machine is dumb enough to think it knows better than me.I'm keeping my autocorrects on though because I love the magic of typing two letters and having it transform into ten sentences.But grammar? I've decided I'm leaving that to the editors. More work for them, but honestly, some of these suggestions are outright incorrect. This is especially ironic because I know some form of ML, Machine Learning, is behind these suggestions. Damn. You couldn't even code how fucking American English works, tech bros?<a href="https://caneandable.social/tags/Grammar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Grammar</a>

SecondUniverseCan we agree to get rid of normative spelling? Spelling rules are the spawn of early dictionaries - without standard spelling, a dictionary is useless. But spelling in Shakespeare's day was completely different, tactical - if a typesetter had run out of "w" glyphs, they would happily slot in "vv" instead, and no-one cared. Spelling rules are not a human creation, they are an artefact of academicization and information systems such as dictionaries. <a href="https://autistics.life/tags/grammar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#grammar</a> <a href="https://autistics.life/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#writing</a>

SecondUniverseCan we just agree to write "it's" with an apostrophe in all cases? It should be valid for both the possessive and contraction cases. There's no good reason going around complicating things. <a href="https://autistics.life/tags/grammar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#grammar</a> <a href="https://autistics.life/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#writing</a>

Stan CareyDangling modifier in the Irish Times Weekend Quiz. As a usage dictionary notes, "It's the funny ones that cause trouble." <a href="https://stancarey.wordpress.com/2013/06/06/a-hovering-dangling-modifier/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://stancarey.wordpress.com/2013/06/06/a-hovering-dangling-modifier/</a><a href="https://mastodon.ie/tags/grammar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#grammar</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ie/tags/language" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#language</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ie/tags/EnglishUsage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EnglishUsage</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ie/tags/journalism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#journalism</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ie/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#writing</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ie/tags/editing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#editing</a>

Jonathan Kamens<a href="https://federate.social/tags/Grammar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Grammar</a> exploration for today. While reviewing a document at work I encountered this phrase: "do's and don'ts"The pedant in me wants this to be either "dos and don'ts" or "do's and don't's".I'm not the only one this bothers. According to this well-researched page, all three are considered acceptable to different constituencies:<a href="https://www.vocabulary.com/articles/wc/dos-and-donts-or-dos-and-donts/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://www.vocabulary.com/articles/wc/dos-and-donts-or-dos-and-donts/</a>I will therefore resist the urge to mark up the document with a correction for this phrase. 😉

KimberlyN 🇨🇦Grammar annoyance from the past couple of days: worse vs. worst.Worse [the comparative form of bad] is used to compare two things that are both bad/low quality. “This event is worse than the last one.”Worst [the superlative form of bad] is used to describe something that’s of the lowest possible quality. “That was the worst event I’ve ever attended!”Read recently: “It only got worst when the event was over.” 😖Correct: “It only got worse when the event was over.” <a href="https://cosocial.ca/tags/Grammar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Grammar</a>

BrandonDid you know we did hats 🤔 because they are quite nice and memes on top of memes. Turns out my grasp of English grammar isn't the best so we made two hats one with correct grammar and one without. See via the link in the Bio <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/Hats?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Hats</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/Meme?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Meme</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/Grammar?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Grammar</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/Style?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Style</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/Hat?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Hat</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/Corduroy?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Corduroy</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/Pōneke?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Pōneke</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/Aotearoa?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Aotearoa</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/Wellington?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Wellington</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/NewZealand?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#NewZealand</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/Style?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Style</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/Fashion?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Fashion</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/Streetwear?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Streetwear</a>

Carsten BeckerIs it just me or is there like no research in <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/LFG" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#LFG</a> on disjunct <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/adverbials" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#adverbials</a>? I found an MPhil thesis on the typology and placement possibilities of <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/adverbs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#adverbs</a> in English (<a href="https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:d808caba-2c2c-4b84-8ec3-f62d78c67ab3" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:d808caba-2c2c-4b84-8ec3-f62d78c67ab3</a>), but that explicitly excludes comma-intonated adverbials like sentence adverbials and other disjuncts. A subsequent paper on disjuncts specifically is referenced (Cobb 2006), but it was apparently never published.<a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/syntax" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#syntax</a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/grammar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#grammar</a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#linguistics</a>

Cheryl Lindo JonesI find it annoying that Toby Ziegler, a speechwriter, says, "I could care less..." 🙄🤦‍♀️ <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/TheWestWing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#TheWestWing</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/grammar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#grammar</a>

Mike L Tilford 📚 😺Good writer's know when colons don't belong. <a class="hashtag" href="https://bsky.app/search?q=%23grammar" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#grammar</a> <a class="hashtag" href="https://bsky.app/search?q=%23writing" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#writing</a> <a class="hashtag" href="https://bsky.app/search?q=%23writingcommunity" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#writingcommunity</a> <a class="hashtag" href="https://bsky.app/search?q=%23amwriting" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#amwriting</a>

swissletAfter the boat race, one of my rowing coaches was saying on our WhatsApp how much he hates Oxford, but doesn’t know why. People started listing things: “Marmalade” “Brogues” “Bags”We should make a list, I said. “Marmalade, brogues, and bags”Nothing. Not a single reaction. Pearls before bloody swine. I ask you. <a href="https://mas.to/tags/grammar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#grammar</a>

Kagan MacTane (he/him)This piece makes the good point that "suspicion of the em dash also speaks to our mounting paranoia over automated communication" — we know there are people passing off AI crap as their own writing, and we want to be able to spot it. But the em dash "cannot be a reliable metric of AI reliance for the simple reason that it is a case of the software mimicking *human* writing patterns."h/t <a href="https://social.bau-ha.us/@raganwald" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@raganwald</a><a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/chatgpt-hypen-em-dash-ai-writing-1235314945/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/chatgpt-hypen-em-dash-ai-writing-1235314945/</a><a href="https://wandering.shop/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#writing</a> <a href="https://wandering.shop/tags/grammar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#grammar</a> <a href="https://wandering.shop/tags/EmDash" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EmDash</a> <a href="https://wandering.shop/tags/EmDashes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EmDashes</a> <a href="https://wandering.shop/tags/AI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AI</a> <a href="https://wandering.shop/tags/AICrap" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AICrap</a>

DuncanOn the thorny issue of the Oxford comma I'm personally on the team that says any sentence where it noticeably increases or decreases ambiguity is poorly constructed. Redraft time.I use it sometimes but generally prefer to avoid it for aesthetics reasons, it's certainly not something that should ever be load-bearing.<a href="https://mas.to/tags/grammar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#grammar</a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/OxfordComma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#OxfordComma</a>

DuncanPopped onto the other place (or the other other place? BlueSky in any event) to catch up on current events. Not much useful today but I did see this headline. The context was someone, not usually an Oxford comma advocate, saying this headline would benefit from one as the current text makes it sound like Katy Perry is Bezos's fiancé. A comma would clarify that she's not.But surely it's actually more misleading that way? Katy Perry gets put in a subordinate clause!<a href="https://mas.to/tags/grammar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#grammar</a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/OxfordComma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#OxfordComma</a>

David Cantrell 🏏Your attention please. Verbing nouns and nouning verbs is common practice, but this should be extended. Your task for this week, class, is to verb a different adjective every day.<a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/grammar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#grammar</a> <a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#linguistics</a> <a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/AnnoyingTheSortOfPeopleWhoDeserveToBeAnnoyed" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AnnoyingTheSortOfPeopleWhoDeserveToBeAnnoyed</a>

Paco Hope #resistIt. Is. Already. Plural. (And I expected the Staff door to say “Staffs” or even “Staves”) <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/grammar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#grammar</a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/spelling" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#spelling</a>

Mark Daniels-Wr. 🟢I know it’s called “the future tense” but I wish the tense part could be a bit less overbearing… <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/grammar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#grammar</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/philosophy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#philosophy</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/tension" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#tension</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/future" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#future</a>

The Japan TimesThe term “bakari” can be used in several different ways to emphasize and define the limit of a range. Check out your options in this week's Bilingual piece. <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2025/04/11/language/osaka-expo-grammar-bakari/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2025/04/11/language/osaka-expo-grammar-bakari/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/life" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#life</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/language" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#language</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/nihongo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#nihongo</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/voacbulary" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#voacbulary</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/grammar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#grammar</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/jlptn1" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#jlptn1</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/jlptn2" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#jlptn2</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/jlptn3" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#jlptn3</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/2025osakaexpo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#2025osakaexpo</a>

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