[HPFGU-OTChatter] Info for FF moderators and writers. (sort of Humour)

[udder_pen_dragon]

Dina Lerret <redina at silverbloom.net> wrote:

davewitley said:

> David, pleased to note that every post concerned about grammar has
> contained an error

Dina Lerret continued,

Hey, be glad I actually know the difference between a subject and a verb.
{g} After all, I nearly failed grammar.

For a hypothetical scenario, if I was to submit an HP fic to FA and it
didn't pass their scan, I'd probably have no clue on how to correct it,
even if I was pointed to a resource. In some cases, a webpage is not
going to correct what several years of honours and advanced placement
English classes couldn't achieve. As to acquiring a beta/proofreader,
finding a competent and thorough one is a difficult task because it's all
voluntary.

I'm going to pick on this fic:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/nenyaentwhistle/14701.html

If you scroll down to the feedback and look for a bunny holding a hair
dryer, you'll find my critical comments. The irony is this writer has a
beta *team* at http://www.livejournal.com/community/nenya_project/

The examples brought up in this thread tended to stray on the extreme as
if English is something definable in terms of black and white. The thing
about grammar is that there's frequently no hard rule. I remember seeing
an FA test example and disagreeing with the one on usage of commas versus
periods. I think there are stylistic choices where periods imply a more
definitive pause versus a smoother transition from a comma.

If you can reasonably argue your choices and a site still doesn't approve,
then there are other sites.

Dina

UdderPD Again,

I will comment on DaveW's Grammar comments of previous posts by saying even I spotted his 'deliberate' mistake.

Now to Dina's comments. I completely agree with, I think. 

I am a 63 year old retired Engineer who prior to starting to write happy Harry F'Fiction just over a year ago hadn't written dialog for about fifty years. (Although I do have a degree in Engineering, we don't do dialog.) 

The return posts I receive from FA  might just as well be written in Chinese, they are almost meaningless to me. A period in English, the language I speak, is a segment of time, not the full stop at the end of a sentence. I am not trying to be rude or clever, we speak different languages and one of the troubles is we both call them English. 

Heidi asked what was annoying in Fan Fiction, miss use of words springs to mind as does my major irritant, incomplete stories. Has anyone any idea of how many of the latter are simply because the authors have given up trying to post them at F'Alley and post them on FF.net instead.

I am going away now and I will not reenter 'this' debate again unless someone specificly asks me to. Or you can e-mail me directly.

Bye   UdderPD



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