Common Errors in Grammar and Punctuation

Common Errors in Grammar and Punctuation
by Fall From Eden
Last Revision: May 19, 2012

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1. Introduction: Grammar and Style
This reference will focus primarily on common errors in English grammar and punctuation that appear frequently in games that have been (or are in the process of being) released using the Enterbrain series of RPG Maker software titles. This reference will not focus heavily on errors that could be classified as style-related, though a select few that apply to casual writing will be covered.

Given the fact that most of the writing that appears in these games is of a casual nature (primarily concerning itself with dialogue or speech), the majority of this tutorial will cover the usage of punctuation and grammar in a casual style as opposed to formal.

Please note that errors regarding the usage of commas have been omitted from this tutorial due to the extensive explanation required to understand and correctly use them. In fact, entire books have been written on the proper way to use commas; as such, explaining them in detail in this tutorial would simply be a demanding read. Another tutorial solely regarding the use of commas may be written in the future for this reason.

Please keep in mind that this is a work-in-progress. If you have any comments, criticisms, or questions regarding the material, please feel free to leave a comment in this thread.

2. Punctuation Errors
2.1 Usage of Ellipses ("...")

Spoiler for Content:

The ellipsis (plural "ellipses") is an often-used, but rarely understood form of punctuation used in casual writing. In formal writing, the ellipsis is used exclusively to indicate that a portion of quoted material has been omitted from the quotation; in casual writing, it can have far more varied uses. The most common usage of ellipses in casual writing, however, is to act as a pause or "drifting off" of speech or thought, though it is also often used to show an omission of some information.

Errors in its usage as punctuation, then, often come from a misunderstanding of how to properly use ellipses to begin or end sentences. In the middle of a sentence, an ellipsis functions almost identically to a comma: it is attached, without spacing, to the word which precedes it, and a space is used after the punctuation.

For example... this sentence demonstrates how to use an ellipsis in mid-sentence.

As previously stated, usage of ellipsis in this form creates a natural pause that lasts longer than that of a comma, and the two forms of punctuation may be used interchangeably in this context to create the desired effect; remember that overuse of the ellipsis is highly discouraged, however.

When an ellipsis begins a sentence, though, the rules may change. This, however, is a matter of style, and whatever is most comfortable to you is recommended; simply remember to maintain a consistent style. The two most common styles are presented for example here:

...this is an example of an ellipsis beginning a sentence.
... this is another example.

Note that using an ellipsis to begin a sentence is highly discouraged and frowned-upon by many editors. In most cases, you will want to use an ellipsis to open a sentence only when the preceding sentence was ended with an ellipsis to show its natural progression.

When an ellipsis ends a sentence, the recommended style is to append the appropriate punctuation to the end of the ellipsis. Again, many styles vary in their approach to this. Below are two examples of common styles used to end a sentence with an ellipsis:

This sentence ends in an ellipsis....
This sentence ends in an ellipsis, too... .
As does this sentence fragment...!

2.2 Repetition of Punctuation ("!!", "?!?!", et al.)

Spoiler for Content:

To put it plainly, the repetition of punctuation is an error. While this technique is often used to show an escalation of the associated punctuation, the result is often aesthetically unappealing and technically incorrect. The wording and style used in the sentence should accurately convey the proper level of escalation without the use of additional punctuation; if it does not, it is worth re-evaluating the dialogue in question.

This rule remains true in both casual and formal writing; the only exceptions occur in extremely informal, conversational writing (not the sort of conversational writing expected to be seen within a game project). As such, it is absolutely recommended to refrain from using this technique if at all possible.

2.3 Usage of Hyphens and Dashes ("-", "--")

Spoiler for Content:

Hyphens and dashes are not the same punctuation, and are used in entirely different circumstances. Fortunately, these circumstances are relatively easy to identify.

Hyphens are used primarily with compound words, which are essentially words which you believe would best be identified as a single object. For instance, if your game features a lance that is made of briars, you could write its name as a "briar-lance." Numbers are also regarded as compound words; for instance, the number 26 would be written as "twenty-six." Note that hyphens are not preceded by a space, and no space follows them. As such, in games written using RPG Maker, it is recommended that a hyphen be used when indicating a range (such as "January-April" or "5-10"), although this is technically incorrect in casual and formal writing (in these forms, an "en dash" would normally be used).

Dashes, then, would be used entirely as punctuation. In this case, it is recommended that you use two hyphens ("--") to represent an "em dash." These are commonly used to show pauses in casual writing, much like the often-used ellipsis. They are also used to make "asides" in conversation, much like parentheses in formal writing. Because of this, dashes are relatively easy punctuation to make use of. Essentially, they can be used to replace both commas and parentheses in most cases, and they can be very effective. The only major rule to remember when using dashes, then, is that they are surrounded on both sides by a space.

Dashes -- which happen to be incredibly useful -- are quite easy to make proper use of.

The only exception to this rule occurs when a dash is used to signify that speech has been interrupted, in which case the recommended style would be to use a dash as the sentence's ending punctuation.

"Which would go something like thi--"

3. Grammatical Errors
3.1 Contracted and Possessive Forms of "It"

Spoiler for Content:

The word "it's" is a contracted (or shortened) form of the two words "it is." The word "its" shows possession. These forms are in opposition to what is normally expected in regards to possession; in this case, "it" is a victim of the ambiguity inherent in the English language. As such, using the correct form can be confusing at times; in these cases, it may be useful to read the sentence using the extended form "it is" to clearly identify whether the usage is contracted or possessive. If it is possessive, the apostrophe is not used; otherwise, it is.

It's often confusing when you have to use the possessive form of "it," as the punctuation of its contracted form is identical to every other possessive form used.

Once you get used to its logic, though, it's not too difficult.

3.2 Usage of "Than" and "Then"

Spoiler for Content:

"Than" is a comparative word: it is only used when a comparison is being drawn, such as "lesser than," "greater than," and so on. If a comparison is not being made, the word "then" is most likely desired.

If your understanding of this was better than you expected, you didn't really need to read this section, then, did you?

3.3 Usage of "Affect" and "Effect"

Spoiler for Content:

Believe it or not, the words "affect" and "effect" actually make up five distinct words. When "affect" is used as a verb it usually means "have an influence on," but it may also be used to mean "to make a display of," and even has the additional meaning of "emotion" when used as a noun. More than likely, you will never make use of the noun form of "affect," as it is used almost exclusively by those working in psychology and psychiatry.

"Effect," then, is also two separate words. In most cases, though, it is used as a noun that means "result or consequence." In addition to this form, "effect" can also be a verb with the meaning "to create."

Given the most common uses of these words, it is likely that you will want to separate "effect" and "affect" as a noun and verb, respectively.

You affect the desired effect. (Meaning you influence the desired result.)

I effected the desired effect. (Meaning I created the desired consequence.)

This sentence affects an air of pretentiousness.

3.4 "OK", "O.K.", and "Okay"

Spoiler for Content:

The three presented forms of this word are perfectly acceptable English and may be used interchangeably. The rule to remember here is to be consistent in how the word is spelled; using alternate spellings within the same project would be technically incorrect unless the alternative spelling is a result of reading what another character wrote (in which case the difference could be applied to characterization).

Also note that when using the "OK" or "O.K" forms, both letters are capitalized. Using them as "ok" or "o.k." is not, well, okay.

3.5 North, South, East, and West

Spoiler for Content:

When used to reference a portion of a country, capitalize North, South, East, and West. If it is simply being used as a direction, they are not capitalized. It is often easy to tell how they are being used by the inclusion or absence of the word "the" before the desired direction; if "the" is used, you are referencing a part of a country and should capitalize the direction.

There is nothing but a frozen wasteland to the North, but the areas south of it are relatively temperate in comparison.

3.6 Incorrect Words in Common Usage

Spoiler for Content:

There are a great number of words used in conversational English that are not technically correct, or are only correct in certain instances. Common examples of this include "alot," "alright," and "awhile." In the case of "alot" and "alright," these are relatively recent neologisms that have not been officially recognized as words; as such, it is appropriate to use the extended versions "a lot" and "all right."

"Alright" can be a bit of a special case, though; there are many who believe that the neologism is perfectly acceptable, and it's not a glaring error to use it. Keep in mind that the meaning behind "alright" and "all right" are quite different if you plan on using them, though: "alright" means "satisfactory" or "acceptable," while "all right" means "entirely correct."

In the case of "awhile," however, there is a proper and correct usage that is often misunderstood. "Awhile" is an adverb (or a descriptive action) that essentially means "for a time." It is proper to use "awhile" instead of "a while" when a preposition is missing from the phrase. For example, this is correct:

Could you let me use that awhile?

Likewise, the extended version is proper in this case:

Could you let me use that for a while?

In this case, "for" is the preposition that makes the form "awhile" technically incorrect in the second sentence.

There are some other words that are commonly used that are incorrect; the most common of these appear to be the words "irregardless" and "orientate." Neither of these words have any real meaning: "irregardless" is used in exactly the same context as "regardless" despite the fact that it is negated by the prefix "ir-", and "orientate" is a neologism based on the word "orientation" when the correct word is actually "orient."

4. Conclusion
The most important thing to remember when writing in a casual style (such as that used for game projects) is to maintain consistency with style-related problems such as ellipses and title-casing. Style itself is not inherently erroneous; mixing styles throughout the course of a project, however, is.

With that said, grammar and punctuation are not matters of style. Grammar and punctuation have clearly defined rules that are simply correct or incorrect with very few exceptions. As such, using proper grammar and punctuation within your projects often has the effect of making them appear far more professional and well-polished; for this reason, it is highly recommended that you consider your own usage of them.

There are some cases in which you may want to "bend the rules," though. When evaluating the use of grammar in regards to proper sentence structure (such as sentence fragments, dangling modifiers, or incorrect usage of subjects and verbs), it is worth noting that these rules are not inherently strict when it comes to writing realistic and believable dialogue. Speech is often erroneous, and it can be quite desirable to make use of such errors as characterization. Be cautious while utilizing these, though: there are many errors which are not matters of structure, and those rules must still be obeyed to be regarded as proper, even when using a casual style. If you are not sure whether you are utilizing these errors effectively, it would be wise to err on the side of caution and avoid their usage.

Now, having written this reference, if you still have any comments, criticisms, questions, or concerns, please feel free to reply to this topic and we will attempt to address them within a reasonable amount of time.

Winning

Winning

Forsooth!

Okay, not really. Seriously, though, can you think of any others that I've missed, and are the examples and explanations clear enough?

I know that the tutorial is currently missing things like "your" versus "you're" and such, but those are pretty elementary while this goes into slightly more complex things. Would it be helpful to include things like that, though?

Winning

Forsooth!

Okay, not really. Seriously, though, can you think of any others that I've missed, and are the examples and explanations clear enough?

I know that the tutorial is currently missing things like "your" versus "you're" and such, but those are pretty elementary while this goes into slightly more complex things. Would it be helpful to include things like that, though?

It would be helpful if you are going for completion but I think most everyone here with maybe one or two exceptions know all about the "your" and "you're", "were" and "we're" and "where" stuff. 

I personally can't think of anything else to add except the portion about commas lol

I personally can't think of anything else to add except the portion about commas lol

THEY WANT US DEAD.

Besides, if we're going into those, why not go into sentence structure as a whole, or semicolons, or proper tense and voice, or dangling participles and modifiers, or....

I personally can't think of anything else to add except the portion about commas lol

THEY WANT US DEAD.

or dangling participles

Now you watch your language!

or dangling participles

Now you watch your language!

Oh, English... we love you.

Did think of one thing to add, by the way: nested quotations. You know, like this: "No, 'this is "Inception," he said' is what I said." Might add that in at some point, but right now, we're taking a break from all of this.

or dangling participles

Now you watch your language!

Oh, English... we love you.

Did think of one thing to add, by the way: nested quotations. You know, like this: "No, 'this is "Inception," he said' is what I said." Might add that in at some point, but right now, we're taking a break from all of this.

lol that would be the best bet