Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (Full Version)

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Firefly -> Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/7/2008 0:31:28)

C'mon, y'all saw this coming... L&L's grammar-Nazi was /bound/ to make this thread sometime...

Exactly what the title says. Where did you learn your grammar skills (or lack thereof, in which case, call me over =P)? School? Reading? Parents? Society and friends?

I personally picked up most of my grammar skills from books, especially the more advanced things. Things like unitalicizing things in italicized thought to emphasize or how speech tags can be taken off when it's two people alternating speech, ect. The basic spelling and punctuation I learned from school. My grade seven teacher taught a lot about clauses and commas, ect. in a funny manner. I forgot some of the formal terms, but the skills I remember. So, essentially, I mainly learned from reading books though I learned a little from school as well.



Shodu -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/7/2008 0:32:40)

I just kinda picked it up from books, however I read most as a child which is why mine absolutely suck =P

And of course, a bit from teachers here and there.



MiraG3 -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/7/2008 0:43:06)

I probably have a collection. I learned my basics in the early school and parents, and just catching on to speech. And then as I became a bookworm, I started to pick up more grammar, and literature thereof. If there is one thing I excel in is school, it's my grammar.

~WK~



mastin2 -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/7/2008 2:48:42)

I picked it up from lotsa places, but mostly, taught myself. Yup. Self-taught. Reading helps, of course.

...And this is perhaps the worst grammatical post I've made in a long time.



demolitiondragon -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/7/2008 3:58:23)

Reading, and here.



_Depression -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/7/2008 8:58:47)

I haven't learned anything new in grammar since third grade, but by reading and writing (and progressing) I've come to more fully understand the rules/regulations/guidelines of grammar.

If I picked up on grammar through speech, me and my pals will had been droppin' it like this, with everything in.



gwoonjustin -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/7/2008 10:41:58)

Before any reading or writing was thought in school I was already curious about them, and learned it with help of my mother, along with basic algebra (not much beyong 1+1=2). Then it kinda expanded in school and through experience. Before high school English already interested me, so I mastered a very basic level of it. Most of it came through my high school English though, which I am now still in.



r0de0b0y -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/7/2008 12:09:32)

From observing the flow of how people speak these days, naturally I pick up from that. I do have to constantly have to filter out the jive, slang, 1337speak and the wanna-be rappers.



Master Samak -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/7/2008 20:03:47)

Me were teached grammer from me mom at two years of livin'. Durin' kindergarden i taked more solo lessuns by a old geezer.

*"What the--?" Quickly removes anti-grammer virus from computer*

Whew...anyway...yeah...



Eukara Vox -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/8/2008 21:55:05)

Let's see.

Grammar as a directly taught subject matter, as I recall, ended after 6th grade. After that, the emphasis was placed on literature and writing about the literature at hand. Also, types of writing became the focal point with grammar reviewed as a sidenote. My vocabulary, and to some extent grammar, was greatly influenced by the enormous amount of reading I do in non-fiction and fiction. If you journey through my personal library, you will find everything from nature books and ancient civilizations encyclopedia/references to fantasy and sci-fi, both Christian and secular (yes, you read that correctly).

For anyone who reads my stories, you will notice that my dialogue (and sometimes everything else) is greatly influenced by the local dialect that I grew up immersed in and curently am surrounded by. I write like I talk, which does drive a few people crazy here. I can honestly tell you that I do not see the problems that many people *coughFirefly* sees in my wording, simply because I read it out loud and it sounds fine to me. It is only when someone else reads my writing that such 'mistakes' stand out. Half the time, I still don't understand what the problem is...



Baker -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/10/2008 0:54:44)

Some from school, but mostly from reading. Fortunately, when starting out I read fairly recent authors who used the same grammar as we do today. Reading series like the Jack Aubrey books (I have the older edition of publication in a set of all the books) frustrates me because of the apparent lack of editing that went on at the time, and they would not have been good influences on my grammar. I actually used many things that I read in books incorrectly in the earlier grades, but teachers were impressed with the fact that I knew about the devices at all and showed me how to use them correctly. Ex: I would just split words at any place they went over the edge of a page instead of between syllables, leading to an odd-looking report on summer reading in fourth grade. :P

The same is true with vocabulary; I picked up words years ago from reading that are just now being taught in our vocabulary lessons at school.



Firefly -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/10/2008 1:05:20)

*groans* The older books /really/ annoy me. There were so many missed commas, cases where "tomorrow" was "to-morrow" and lots of those old usages. We had to read Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass for class, and they nearly made my eyes bleed. I never managed to look past it... Grammar is constantly changing, and what was correct back then no longer is.

Yeah, it took me a while to know about the syllables rule as well. But I don't follow it to this very day. I don't use it in electronic/computer typing for any reasons (the lines of different places, like Word and this forum, being very different in length so I can't use it properly). I only use it when I'm doing hand-written stuff, and since that's all rough, there's no reason for me to follow this particular rule that doesn't translate into the computer format.



er23. -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/10/2008 14:33:33)

Mostly reading, a little from school and from a certain english teacher....*mutters darkly*

I used to stick my nose in a book whenever possible (from which came my fairly expanse range of vocabulary). Now I have a computer with internet, so a little less of that now. ^_^; But I still love exploring different realms in books.



Baker -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/10/2008 19:02:22)

@FF:

Hah, yep, it's that sort of thing. You feel like they're so small that they shouldn't annoy you, but yet they still do. I've even noticed that Terry Pratchett's books - or at least the eBook versions - have a fair amount of minor punctuation errors (leaving quotes open, etc.), and I always double take when I run across those.

It's funny... I didn't even think about not using the break-up dashes much any more, which I really don't. As you said, almost nothing I ever do that is a final copy or formal is written, so it means nothing there, and I even just run over the margins to add or finish words. Then, with computer margins being so precise and me not using words that are insanely long, I never have to split up words because it doesn't really matter if they just hop down to the next line.



paintdrop -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/15/2008 23:39:38)

I learned in schools, college, and grad school. But I think the most important influence was reading. A lot of reading prepares someone to be a good writer.



Kafei -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/16/2008 3:26:55)

Yeah, I learnt most of my grammar from here, the forums as a whole, not by seeing what to do, but by seeing what not to do. I still don't understand where you use ; <----- Colon, If im correct? I don't know where to use them. Is this the place to ask?

~{AR}~



Resolute -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/16/2008 11:18:35)

I've been writing (rather naively) for a very long time. Coming here and reading works here has helped me develop my style. But I was in a grammar class in like... 5th grade and I learned a lot from that. Additionally I am reading books on grammar for school, AND my dad edits the newspaper for our city so he has taught me a lot.

~GB5~



Firefly -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/16/2008 14:50:27)

@ axael rosaria
No, it's not the place to ask, but I'll answer anyways since I'm the resident grammar-Nazi. =P Well, one of them anyways. *points to Versy*

; isn't called a colon. It's a semi-colon. : is a colon.

Semi-colons: Used to join independent clauses that relate to each other greatly. An independent clause is something that can stand alone as a sentence. (eg. I walked my dog). So a semi-colon would join two or these, /not/ one of these and a dependent clause (that's for commas).
Example: I hated him with a passion; he loathed me as well.

And since you asked, I'll tell you 'bout colons too. They're used to make elaborations about the things before with the things after. (eg. I looked at the contents in my backpack: a pencilcase, three sets of books, and my new timetable.)



Kafei -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/16/2008 21:38:40)

Thanks Firefly, Yeah, I was away that day in Year 6 when they did that, and as it was a small school nobody really bothered to repeat the lesson. Finally now in Year 10 (Everyone's probably like: "What Year 10 and doesn't know semi-colons!") I have learned more grammar from the forums of my favourite game, not from school. Funny isn't it.

Yeah, I read all the Milly Molly Mandy books to my little sister for bed-time. It's all, like Firefly said, to-morrow not tommorow and very loosely used grammatical features, with no line breaks for speech etc.
This forum has been a major learning point for me.

~{AR}~



2k2ewyn -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/16/2008 21:43:03)

I no learn grammar



Coyote -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/17/2008 3:30:04)

I just picked it up from books. I was a /major/ bookworm in elementary school. I almost instinctively knew the ropes when I started writing, and what I didn't know, I caught on to.

Yep. Humble beginnings for the forum's resident grammar-Nazi AK. XP



jerenda -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/18/2008 1:16:38)

I'm gonna copy Versy. Actually I'm not, to save space, but my answer is what he said. Minus the grammar-Nazi part.

Axael- *laughs* Yup. I learn so much from this place I would never have known. Critiquing other people is an amazingly effective way to learn.

Poor poor Flight... unable to read old-fashioned books because thier grammar makes her eyes bleed. *catches glare* Sorry, I'll quit teasing you. *huggles* I like the old-fashioned books- Old English is an amazingly cool way of speaking. Hard to do, but cool. ^_^



Firefly -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/18/2008 13:55:15)

I dislike hate most old-fashioned books for more than just the grammar. They aren't well-written. I honestly don't see what's so good about, say, Alice in Wonderland... But that's off topic...

I dislike old English as well. I once changed my nick to "I_Hate_Ye_Olde" on IRC...

Now, to be on topic.

This forum is insanely helpful. I don't only butcher others for their grammar, but also get butchered once in a while. I only realized the practice/practise things a few weeks ago from indirectly reading one of Fabula's posts...

Funny how both Versy and I learned from books rather than class. =P



garnetdragoness -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/18/2008 19:52:14)

Books, books and more books! I have been an avid reader from the moment I first grasped the concept of reading a book on my own. I will never forget this: I was maybe in 1st grade and was trying to read a "Clifford the Big Red Dog" book. He was going to see the "veterinarian" (an extremely large and intimidating word for a 1st grader) and I had went to ask my father what it was. He MADE me sound it out myself and then MADE me look it up in an actual dictionary to understand the meaning of the word. I was hooked. I never asked for help with a word again and could not read enough. School taught me a lot but books gave me an education.



Eddy II -> RE: Where Did You Learn... Your Grammar? (7/18/2008 20:37:56)

From reading. Anyone who's ever attempted to edit my work will know that my punctuation is terrible - this is because I don't consciously take note of punctuation while reading.

My education has never placed much emphasis on creative writing so I never actually been taught proper punctuation rules, just the basics - enough to write an essay or paper but not to deal with the types of sentences that arise while describing something in detail.



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