Help with Grammar Class

[WhoGuru]

As many modders do not speak English as their first language and often need help, this thread will serve as a catch all for those questions on grammar, vocabulary and whatever other confusion you're having.

We will do our best to help you here. If you are stopping in to offer advice, please make sure it is accurate and worded so as not to be confusing to those using translation programs. As we all know, translation programs don't always do the best job.

This doesn't mean you can't ask for Grammar help here if English IS your first language.

Thank you and carry on.

Grammar Quick Reference

Parts of Speech:

NOUN

a person, place, or thing. Can be the subject or object of a sentence. Ex: cat, horse, mother, Denmark

PRONOUN

a word that replaces or stands for ("pro" = for) a noun. Ex: he, she, it

VERB

an action word. Ex: sit, laugh, screw

ADJECTIVE

a word that describes or modifies a noun. Answers the questions "how many," "what kind," etc. Ex: happy, suicidal, red, dangerous

ADVERB

a word that describes or modifies a verb. Ex: carefully, quickly, wisely. Also sometimes modifies an adjective. ("She was very tall." 'Very' is an adverb modifying 'tall,' which in turn is an adjective modifying 'she'.) Adverbs usually, but not always, end in "-ly". (However, not every word ending in "ly" is an adverb: "friendly," for example, is an adjective.)

PREPOSITION

(literally "pre-position") a word that indicates the relationship of a noun (or noun phrase) to another word. Examples of prepositions are to, at, with, for, against, across.

Putting Words Together:

PHRASE

an expression (can be a single word, but usually more) which contains a single thought but is not necessarily a complete sentence. Words make up phrases; phrases make up sentences. By some definitions, a phrase cannot contain a verb.

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE

A phrase beginning with a preposition. For Example: I am sitting in the bushes.

"I am sitting" is a complete sentence unto itself; it contains a subject ("I") and a verb ("am sitting"). The phrase "in the bushes" is a prepositional phrase ("in" being the preposition) that expands upon the basic concept.

SENTENCE

the basic unit of writing. A sentence should have a subject and a predicate. The subject is the noun to which the sentence's verb refers; the predicate is the verb plus whatever other parts modify or elaborate on it. Example:

My mother sings. - "My" is a possessive pronoun; "mother" is the subject (noun); "sings" is the verb.

There are several types of sentences. The major ones are:

DECLARATIVE

The majority of sentences are declarative. A declarative sentence makes a statement. This sentence is declarative, as are the previous two.

INTERROGATORY

An interrogatory sentence asks a question. Do you understand that? Which of these sentences is an example?

IMPERATIVE

An imperative sentence gives a command. Ex: "Shut up and kiss me." Note that an imperative sentence does not require a subject; the pronoun "you" is implied.

RUN-ON SENTENCE

A sentence that is too long and should be broken into two or more sentences. One sentence should present one basic concept; if it presents more than that, it may be a run-on. A large number of "and"s, "but"s, and similar joining words is one warning sign of a run-on.

SENTENCE FRAGMENT

A phrase that is acting like a sentence but is incomplete. Examples:

My favorite color. This is not a sentence because it contains no verb.

Walking very slowly. This is not a sentence because it contains no noun.

On the table. This is not a sentence because it contains neither a verb nor a subject.

Sentence fragments are acceptable as answers to direct questions:

"Where is my sword?" "In the bushes."

About Verbs:

PASSIVE vs. ACTIVE VERBS

A verb is active when the subject performs the verb. A verb is passive when the subject is the recipient of the verb. In general, passive verb construction is considered "wimpy" or nonspecific.

Xena was watched by the villagers. Xena is the subject of the sentence, but the verb is "watch" and Xena is not doing the watching; therefore the verb is passive and "the villagers" is the object. This construction is not ideal.

The villagers watched Xena. Now the villagers are the subject, Xena is the direct object, and the verb is active. This is better than the previous example.

CONJUGATION

To conjugate a verb is to state the form the verb takes for each person. For example, to conjugate the verb "to have" (in the present tense) you say "I have, you have, he/she/it has, we have, y'all have, they have."

TENSES

I assume we all know what past, present and future are. Most verbs take different forms depending on tense. For example, "I eat" is present, "I ate" is past and "I will eat" is future.

In addition, every verb has a past participle (p.p.). Use a form of "to have" plus the p.p. to indicate nonspecific past events.

Example: The p.p. of "to eat" is "eaten." For a specific event, use "ate": "Yesterday I ate an apple for lunch." For something that happened in the past at an unspecified time, or over a period of time, use "have" plus the p.p.: "I have eaten many apples in my lifetime." For double-past (talking about something that happened before something else in the past) use "had" plus the p.p.: "Yesterday Xena offered me an apple for dinner, but I had eaten one for lunch, so I had an orange instead."

Most (but certainly not all!) past participles end in -en, e.g. eaten, spoken, ridden.

Miscellaneous:

DIRECT vs. INDIRECT OBJECT

An object is a noun that is the recipient of the verb in the sentence. It's easier to demonstrate than to explain:

Xena grabbed her sword.

Xena is the subject, because she performs the verb. "Grabbed" is the verb; "her" is a possessive pronoun; the sword is the direct object because the grabbing is performed upon it.

Xena put her sword on the table.

Xena is the subject; "put" is the verb; the sword is the direct object; the table is the indirect object.

PERSON

Tells whom the speaker (or writer) is speaking (or writing) about. The majority of stories are written in the third person singular: "Xena woke up. She was hungry, so she started a fire and made pancakes."

Some stories (notably "If on a winter's night a traveler" by Italo Calvino; also all those "Choose Your Adventure" books we loved when we were kids) are written in the second person: "You look around and see Xena approaching. You reach for your sword."

A good number of stories ("Catcher in the Rye," all the Sherlock Holmes novels, etc.) are written in first person: "I woke up to find Xena had abandoned me again. 'Gabrielle,' I said to myself, 'this is the last straw.'"

First Person: I

Second Person: You

Third Person: He, She, It

The plurals are: first person "we/us," second person "you", third person "they/them."

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Source link for this information: http://www.englishchick.com/grammar/grrem.htm

[grond]

Awesome lesson!

[WillieSea]

Awesome Red! I actually enjoyed the refresher course.

Your last verb was an interesting choice.

It reminds me of the Schoolhouse Rock cartoons from my younger days.

[Leodoidao]

I have an issue with prepositions.

Sometimes, it is hard for me to remember when I should use "in", "at" and "on", since I have studied English a long time ago.

How should I use them in a phrase like "the dungeon is located at the Colovian Mountains, in the lands of Cyrodill, at Tamriel"... without making it look so ugly?

[WillieSea]

The dungeon is located in the Colovian Highlands inside the border of Cyrodill in Tamriel.

Notes:

* World of Nirn

* Continent of Tamriel

* Province of Cyrodiil

* Mountain range: Colovian Highlands

To me, it makes more sense just to say "in the Colovian Highlands" since they are inside Cryodiil, which is inside Tamriel. But it really depends on the context of how you are using it. In speech, text, etc..

But, you could also go the 'other' way...

The dungeon is in Tamriel, in Cyrodill, with in the Colovian Highlands.

[ZuTheSkunk]

Can you tell me does those sentences are correct, please? I will probably never be absolutely certain about my sentences.

"You cannot soultrap the soul of the Daedric Prince!"

"Mind affecting spells will never work on the Jyggalag!"

"You feel that there is some Oddity nearby..."

"All ghostly arrows disappears from your inventory shortly after taking them."

"Eye of Madness spell activated."

"Beast races cannot use closed helmets. You can sell this matrix - it's useless for you."

[WillieSea]

"You cannot trap the soul of a Daedric Prince!"

"Mind affecting spells have no effect on Jyggalag!"

"You sense something strange nearby..." or "Your spidy senses are tingling!"

"The ghostly arrows vanish soon after you take them."

"Eye of Madness spell activated."

"Beast races cannot use closed helmets. You can sell this matrix since it's useless to you."

There are many ways to say the same thing, it really depends on what you want to convey. Check out my changes above, I am sure other people would probably even do some of them different than I did.

[ZuTheSkunk]

"You sense something strange nearby..." or "Your spidy senses are tingling!"

In this case using "Oddity" word is essential, since it's an item for The Museum of Oddities.

Thank you for the others sentences.

[DaMage]

In this case using "Oddity" word is essential, since it's an item for The Museum of Oddities.

Thank you for the others sentences.

I suggest:

"You sense some sort of Oddity nearby..."

[ZuTheSkunk]

This sounds good, thank you.

How about this one? "Mystical power of Sheogorath's Regalia has protected you!"

[DarkRider]

"The mystical power of Sheogorath's Regalia has protected you!"

[ZuTheSkunk]

New ones.

"Order and Jyggalag himself grows stronger and I'm weakening with every passing minute! I must defeat Jyggalag as soon as it's possible and at all cost, or everything will be lost!"

"The air becomes more and more cold..."

"Your hands are starting to freeze..."

"After long and desperate battle, you finally feel that you cannot stand any longer. All life has driven out from you, drained by merciless might of Order. You fall weakly on the ground, without any strength to rise again. Before your eyes closes for the last time, you see Jyggalag standing over you and laughing loudly over his next victory..."

[WillieSea]

I am confused, some of your sentences are in first person (I, My), others are in second person (You, them). I have converted them to first person since I was not sure of the context of the messages to the player.

"Jyggalag and his Order grows stronger with every passing minute as I grow weaker! I must defeat Jyggalag quickly at all costs or everything will be lost!"

"The air becomes increasingly colder..."

"My hands are starting to freeze..."

"After a long and desperate battle I now feel that I cannot stand up any longer. All life has been driven out of me, drained by the merciless might of Order. I fall weakly to the ground, without any strength left to rise again. Before my eyes close for the last time, I see Jyggalag standing over me laughing loudly over his victory!"

[ZuTheSkunk]

I am confused, some of your sentences are in first person (I, My), others are in second person (You, them). I have converted them to first person since I was not sure of the context of the messages to the player.

Well, one of those sentences was the journal entry, while the others were just simple messages, so such difference was intended.

Thank you very much for help.

[ZuTheSkunk]

I'm coming with a bunch of new things that are uncertain for me.

Journal entry:

My personal smith from Vitharn is able to create armors and weapons from pieces of Obelisks left by Knights and Priests of Order. I should check his offer.

Message:

You have already taken 10 apples. Wait for some time before taking more.

Argonian name (just unsure is it correctly spoken or not):

Waves-With-Broom

Book text:

[The entire book is filled with creepy professional drawings of hearts. Blood-stained, sometimes still pulsating hearts of various living creatures. And in some cases, with additional poem about them.]

[WillieSea]

Journal entry:

My personal smith from Vitharn can create armor and weapons from pieces of Obelisks left by the Knights and Priests of Order. I should check out his offer.

Message:

You have already taken 10 apples. Perhaps there will be more apples later.

Argonian name (just unsure is it correctly spoken or not): Looks good to me

Waves-With-Broom

Book text:

[The entire book is filled with creepy but well made drawings of different types of hearts. The blood stained pages graphically show pulsating hearts of various creatures. Some of the drawings have a poem scrawled next to them.]

I am not really sure what you were trying to say, so I guessed on this one.

[ZuTheSkunk]

Thank you about those first three ones.

About that description for book, although your version looks good (and I thank you for this), it's not exactly what I had in mind. "Creepy professional" was supposed to mean "so professionally drawn that it gives you the creeps". And those three sentences was supposed to add new facts about the book with every next sentence, making the "OMG" feeling greater and greater. Like it was a one big sentence, but was divided into three to say its content even more emphatically.

I hope you get what I mean.

[Critterman]

I'm a native English speaker but one of my teachers told me something recently that really confused me. She said "alright" is actually incorrect and it should be spelled out as "all right". But I have never seen it split into two words before, so does everyone just spell this wrong or is she the one that is wrong?

Edited June 3, 2010 by Critterman

[greenwarden]

I'm a native English speaker but one of my teachers told me something recently that really confused me. She said "alright" is actually incorrect and it should be spelled out as "all right". But I have never seen it split into two words before, so does everyone just spell this wrong or is she the one that is wrong?

Your teacher is correct.

[WillieSea]

The word 'creepy' to me does not really give me the creeps. And Professional makes me think of cubical dwealers, nerdy perhaps, but not scarey.

I can give it another go since nobody else wants to step up to the plate.

The book is filled with expertly drawn gruesome drawings of hearts. Portraits of blood stained, still pulsating hearts of various creatures. Some of the drawings have a poem scrawled in blood next to them.

[ZuTheSkunk]

Yes, this one is much closer to what I had in mind. Thank you.

[ZuTheSkunk]

I have another bunch of uncertain texts to check, if it's not a problem.

Message after taking the weapon from the ground:

"The cane in cold and lifeless. When you touches it, a shiver goes through your back. Even if it had any special powers in the past, now it is only a piece of wood with very old eye on top of it. It can serve you now only as a something to prop on, or as a stick to hit someone in the head."

As above:

"This staff has been made from Obelisk Shard taken from remains of Order's final assault. It is filled with specifically great power, supposedly a vestige of Jyggalag's appearance."

Notify when having specific helmet worn and being close to specific NPC:

"You feel that you can fool Ushnar with this mask that you're not a Khajiit..."

Message after taking a bath:

"You feel very fresh!"

Note in the journal:

"[Entries from this journal resembles lunatic ravings, and all of them are concentrated on "yellow squares".]"

Name of some clothing (just unsure is it grammatically correct):

"Regalia of XXX"

[grond]

I have another bunch of uncertain texts to check, if it's not a problem.

Message after taking the weapon from the ground:

"The cane in cold and lifeless. When you touches it, a shiver goes through your back. Even if it had any special powers in the past, now it is only a piece of wood with very old eye on top of it. It can serve you now only as a something to prop on, or as a stick to hit someone in the head."

"The cane is cold and lifeless. When you touch it, a shiver runs down your back. Even if it had any special powers in the past, now it is only a piece of wood with very old eye on top of it. It can serve you now only as a something to prop on, or as a stick to hit someone on the head."

As above:

"This staff has been made from Obelisk Shard taken from remains of Order's final assault. It is filled with specifically great power, supposedly a vestige of Jyggalag's appearance."

"This staff has been made from an Obelisk Shard taken from the remains of the Order's final assault. It is filled with a great power, supposedly a vestige of Jyggalag's appearance."

Notify when having specific helmet worn and being close to specific NPC:

"You feel that you can fool Ushnar with this mask that you're not a Khajiit..."

"You feel that with this mask you can trick Ushnar into believing you're not a Khajiit..."

Message after taking a bath:

"You feel very fresh!"

This is fine!

Note in the journal:

"[Entries from this journal resembles lunatic ravings, and all of them are concentrated on "yellow squares".]"

"[Entries from this journal resembles lunatic ravings, and all of them are concentrated on one strange phrase: "yellow squares".]"

Name of some clothing (just unsure is it grammatically correct):

"Regalia of XXX"

This is fine.

These are just grammatical fixes. I don't want to change too much of your own work.

[ZuTheSkunk]

Great thanks for grond. (I wasn't replying just because I didn't want to clutter the thread.)

I have a question that just came to my mind - is it common in English to use four dots at the end of a sentence that is supposed to look mysterious and is "finished" at the same time? Personally, I've never experienced using four dots in my language other than just being a typo (only three dots, regardless of does the sentence is "finished" or it's just a part of longer sentence).

[DarkRider]

No, three dots "..." is called an Elipses The acceptable English usage for an elipses is to indicate the end of a sentence that is incomplete, or to indicate a pause between two segments when used in dialogue.