Five Rules for Good Grammar: USE THEM
Aug. 10th, 2007 12:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
leia131I keep seeing these things, and it's driving me INSANE!
1. Loose vs. Lose: If you loose something, you are setting it free. "She loosed the birds from their cage." If you lose something, you have misplaced it, or it has left you. "I'm going to lose my sanity any day now." Loose can also be an adjective, as in "The cat is loose. He got out the back door and ran away."
2. Ran vs. Run: These two words are in fact different tenses, and are not interchangable. Ran is the past tense. "I ran yesterday. He ran yesterday. We all ran yesterday." Run, on the other hand, is the past participle. This means that it's the form you use with "have" (and all its forms.) "I have run 20 miles since Sunday. He had run ten miles, and now he was exhausted." It is NOT the same as ran. You CANNOT say "I have ran, he had ran." It is INCORRECT AND WRONG. (This is confusing, I admit, because run is also the present tense. "I run for fun. He runs for fun." But still. We're talking past tenses here.) Oh, and runned? Is not a word.
3. More Past Participles: Because people seem to have issues with this tense. (Remember, these are the verbs you use with "have.") The past participle of drink is drunk. Yes, I know it's funny. Giggle all you want, but use it correctly. "I drink milk every morning. I drank milk yesterday morning. I have drunk milk my whole life." The next time I see "have drank" I'm going to hurt someone. Drinked and dranked are not words. Unless you are a toddler, (in which case it's adorable) don't use them.
The same thing goes for swim, sink, sing, ring, and swing.
Swim: "I swim in my pool. I swam in my pool on Tuesday. I have only swum in my pool a few times this summer." (Yes, swum is a funny word. That doesn't mean you can stop using it.)
Sink: "At the end of Titanic, the ship sinks. The ship sank, get over it. The ship had sunk 50 years ago." Sunken is an adjective, and another issue entirely.
Sing and Ring: As these words rhyme, so do their other tenses. "I sing as I ring my bell. I sang on Monday, until Mom rang a bell to stop me. I have sung that song many times, and Mom has rung that bell as many times." (I never said the sentences had to make perfect sense, as long as they're gramatically correct.)
Swing: Some of you may point out that this also rhymes with sing and ring. Well, it does, but its tenses do not. Such is the mystery of English. "I swing my arms when I walk. She swung her bat, and hit him in the face. She had swung that bat 100 times, but never with as much satisfaction as when it connected with his nose." The past and past participle tenses are the same. They just are. So use them that way.
4. Its vs. It's: This one is the simplest of all. Its indicates posession. "The butterfly flapped its wings." It's is a contraction. It means it is. "It's impossible for me to keep quiet about this any longer." If you're writing, and you're not sure which to use, put "it is" in place of your "its/it's." If it doesn't work, leave the apostrophe out. "The butterfly flapped it is wings." See how that's wrong?
5. Your vs. You're: This one is my personal pet peeve, and I've ranted about it in here before. But I'm going to do it again. Because this is my journal, and I can do that. Your IS NOT NOT NOT the same thing as you're. Your shows posession, just like its. "Your brain must be very small." You're is a contraction, (just like it's) and should be used as such. "You're an idiot." If you're not sure which to use, do the old "put it in a sentence" bit. Sub in "you are", and if it doesn't make sense, don't use it. If it does, there you go! "You are stupid," is correct! "Your stupid," is not (unless it's followed by a noun. As in "your stupid cat is on my head again.") "Get your hand off my ass," will get results. "Get you are hand off my ass," will get you blank stares.
Just because you are typing on the internet, you do not have the right to abuse grammar. I don't care if it's only the internet, it's still the English language, and if you can't use it properly, then don't use it at all.
Disclaimer: I understand and forgive typos (despite my mocking icon) . I make them all the time. I've probably made some in this post. Proofreading can fix a lot of them, but sometimes you miss a few. I'm cool with that. But when the word is used wrong EVERY SINGLE TIME it's used in a written piece, it makes me want to lose my temper, run screaming in the other direction, get my grammar bat, and beat in your head. (See how I did that?)
1. Loose vs. Lose: If you loose something, you are setting it free. "She loosed the birds from their cage." If you lose something, you have misplaced it, or it has left you. "I'm going to lose my sanity any day now." Loose can also be an adjective, as in "The cat is loose. He got out the back door and ran away."
2. Ran vs. Run: These two words are in fact different tenses, and are not interchangable. Ran is the past tense. "I ran yesterday. He ran yesterday. We all ran yesterday." Run, on the other hand, is the past participle. This means that it's the form you use with "have" (and all its forms.) "I have run 20 miles since Sunday. He had run ten miles, and now he was exhausted." It is NOT the same as ran. You CANNOT say "I have ran, he had ran." It is INCORRECT AND WRONG. (This is confusing, I admit, because run is also the present tense. "I run for fun. He runs for fun." But still. We're talking past tenses here.) Oh, and runned? Is not a word.
3. More Past Participles: Because people seem to have issues with this tense. (Remember, these are the verbs you use with "have.") The past participle of drink is drunk. Yes, I know it's funny. Giggle all you want, but use it correctly. "I drink milk every morning. I drank milk yesterday morning. I have drunk milk my whole life." The next time I see "have drank" I'm going to hurt someone. Drinked and dranked are not words. Unless you are a toddler, (in which case it's adorable) don't use them.
The same thing goes for swim, sink, sing, ring, and swing.
Swim: "I swim in my pool. I swam in my pool on Tuesday. I have only swum in my pool a few times this summer." (Yes, swum is a funny word. That doesn't mean you can stop using it.)
Sink: "At the end of Titanic, the ship sinks. The ship sank, get over it. The ship had sunk 50 years ago." Sunken is an adjective, and another issue entirely.
Sing and Ring: As these words rhyme, so do their other tenses. "I sing as I ring my bell. I sang on Monday, until Mom rang a bell to stop me. I have sung that song many times, and Mom has rung that bell as many times." (I never said the sentences had to make perfect sense, as long as they're gramatically correct.)
Swing: Some of you may point out that this also rhymes with sing and ring. Well, it does, but its tenses do not. Such is the mystery of English. "I swing my arms when I walk. She swung her bat, and hit him in the face. She had swung that bat 100 times, but never with as much satisfaction as when it connected with his nose." The past and past participle tenses are the same. They just are. So use them that way.
4. Its vs. It's: This one is the simplest of all. Its indicates posession. "The butterfly flapped its wings." It's is a contraction. It means it is. "It's impossible for me to keep quiet about this any longer." If you're writing, and you're not sure which to use, put "it is" in place of your "its/it's." If it doesn't work, leave the apostrophe out. "The butterfly flapped it is wings." See how that's wrong?
5. Your vs. You're: This one is my personal pet peeve, and I've ranted about it in here before. But I'm going to do it again. Because this is my journal, and I can do that. Your IS NOT NOT NOT the same thing as you're. Your shows posession, just like its. "Your brain must be very small." You're is a contraction, (just like it's) and should be used as such. "You're an idiot." If you're not sure which to use, do the old "put it in a sentence" bit. Sub in "you are", and if it doesn't make sense, don't use it. If it does, there you go! "You are stupid," is correct! "Your stupid," is not (unless it's followed by a noun. As in "your stupid cat is on my head again.") "Get your hand off my ass," will get results. "Get you are hand off my ass," will get you blank stares.
Just because you are typing on the internet, you do not have the right to abuse grammar. I don't care if it's only the internet, it's still the English language, and if you can't use it properly, then don't use it at all.
Disclaimer: I understand and forgive typos (despite my mocking icon) . I make them all the time. I've probably made some in this post. Proofreading can fix a lot of them, but sometimes you miss a few. I'm cool with that. But when the word is used wrong EVERY SINGLE TIME it's used in a written piece, it makes me want to lose my temper, run screaming in the other direction, get my grammar bat, and beat in your head. (See how I did that?)
