Grammar blind spots? -

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Daphne Reading Wanted by Tim Arnot

26 Aug 2014, 07:11 AM | Post: #21

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RE: Grammar blind spots?

(26 Aug 2014 06:59 AM)Ray Kingfisher Wrote: Wrote:

The one I'm starting to have a complex about is 'that' and 'which'. No matter how much I check usage and think it's straight in my mind,. whenever I write something like 'Johnny stole the car that was the brightest and biggest' I end up thinking how many cars there are and how many are bright and big, and how much easier it would be if Johnny wasn't so fussy and just 'stole a car'.

I have occasionally re-worked a sentence just to avoid using a word I am not quite sure about grammatically. I also tend to re-write a sentence such as "They had had an interesting day." which is probably grammatically correct, but just comes out lumpy.

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Tim_A Reading strictly murder by Lynda Wilcox

26 Aug 2014, 07:35 AM | Post: #22

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RE: Grammar blind spots?

I like the odd "had had" or "that that" but my editor nixes them...

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LexiRevellian Reading A book which I have forgotten to add here

26 Aug 2014, 09:09 AM | Post: #23

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RE: Grammar blind spots?

(26 Aug 2014 07:35 AM)Tim_A Wrote: Wrote: I like the odd "had had" or "that that" but my editor nixes them...

I'd nix the editor.

Cool

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davidwailing Reading

26 Aug 2014, 09:24 AM | Post: #24

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RE: Grammar blind spots?

(26 Aug 2014 09:09 AM)LexiRevellian Wrote: Wrote:
(26 Aug 2014 07:35 AM)Tim_A Wrote: Wrote: I like the odd "had had" or "that that" but my editor nixes them...
I'd nix the editor.

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alexroddie Reading The Terror by Dan Simmons

26 Aug 2014, 09:59 AM | Post: #25

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RE: Grammar blind spots?

Hehe! I'm on David's side here. It's almost always possible to rework a sentence to avoid awkward phrasing.

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Christopher Antony Meade

26 Aug 2014, 01:26 PM | Post: #26

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RE: Grammar blind spots?

(24 Aug 2014 04:21 PM)Daphne Wrote: Wrote: Affect or effect? Passed or past? Lying or laying? I have to think about these every single time. I just resorted to emailing my lovely editor to ask if my character should be lying or laying on the floor. I could almost hear her sighing all the way from America as she patiently explained the basics to me yet again. Anything that confuses you every time?

Only if she was a bird, a tortoise/turtle or a reptile. It can be a problem, mind you. Spelling can be a right p[ain as well.

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Tim_A Reading strictly murder by Lynda Wilcox

26 Aug 2014, 03:16 PM | Post: #27

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RE: Grammar blind spots?

(26 Aug 2014 09:59 AM)alexroddie Wrote: Wrote: Hehe! I'm on David's side here. It's almost always possible to rework a sentence to avoid awkward phrasing.

Bloomin' editors sticking together... Wink

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Santos Reading

26 Aug 2014, 06:31 PM | Post: #28

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RE: Grammar blind spots?

'calender' and 'calendar'
'cant' and 'can't' (this one catches me out more often then i'd like)
and my personal favorite 'then' and 'than'

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Anna Faversham Reading

27 Aug 2014, 07:35 AM | Post: #29

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RE: Grammar blind spots?

I'm a lying, laying mixer. I squirm and worry every time I use them and do what Daphne (and others) do, I try to write it out.

The rules for that and which are plastered over my writing board (daughter's old cork thing) and I manage to ignore them when perhaps I shouldn't.

Interesting to see that lots of us seem to be caught by the same traps and over and over again.

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Jan Hurst-Nicholson Reading Haven't got a Kindle. A big pile of books.

27 Aug 2014, 07:45 PM | Post: #30

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RE: Grammar blind spots?

I have both the Cambridge Advanced Dictionary and the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English on my computer so it's just a quick click to look up a word (and get the audio pronunciation). But it does make one lazy as you don't have to remember the meaning if you can look it up Rolleyes

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