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This is not a Hall of Shame thread.  Please do not copy posts with people's names.

This is a condensed thread to teach specific lessons to those who want to learn correct grammar and spelling.
We have many members whose mother tongue is not English.

Please title your post if you choose to add a lesson.  A font size of 12 pt in capitals will make that post easy to find.  The lesson posts will also be referenced in the wiki.

LESSONS

1.  there / their / they're
2.  a vs. an
3.  went vs. have gone
4. It's vs. Its
5. Affect vs. Effect
6.  Capital vs Capitol

  • Commas go before the space, like this, not like ,this.
  • Commas/periods go after the close parenthesis (like this), not before (like this.)   (Unless the entire sentence is enclosed.)
  • All punctuation goes inside the quotation, like "this." not like "this".

« Last edited by YitzyS on July 23, 2020, 12:12:43 PM »

Author Topic: Grammar and Spelling Lessons 101  (Read 54231 times)

Offline skyguy918

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Re: Grammar and Spelling Lessons 101
« Reply #60 on: December 01, 2017, 02:12:33 AM »
"Where else can you find [blah blah blah] than [XYZ location]?"

Saw this on a subway ad (for CUNY no less). Googling reveals that this might actually be a correct usage, but the else/than combo just seems off to me.

Thoughts?

Offline beeweegee

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Re: Grammar and Spelling Lessons 101
« Reply #61 on: December 01, 2017, 07:56:31 AM »
"Where else can you find [blah blah blah] than [XYZ location]?"

Saw this on a subway ad (for CUNY no less). Googling reveals that this might actually be a correct usage, but the else/than combo just seems off to me.

Thoughts?
Maybe it's a shortened version of "other than..."

Offline good sam

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Re: Grammar and Spelling Lessons 101
« Reply #62 on: December 02, 2017, 11:08:49 PM »
SPONTANEOUSNESS is an adjective
SPONTANEITY is a noun


Your dancing shows your spontaneity when you break out in spontaneous dancing.
They are both nouns.

The word in question is spontaneousness, not spontaneous.
If you don't care why would you comment?
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Offline ExGingi

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Re: Grammar and Spelling Lessons 101
« Reply #63 on: December 03, 2017, 12:26:56 AM »
Very interesting, and I didn't put it together at the time, but I was explaining to someone the difference between true and truth. In Yiddish the difference would be true = ריכטיג, and truth = אמת. According to this it'll be grammatically incorrect to say "וואס דו זאגסט איז נישט אמת". It has to be either "וואס דו זאגסט איז נישט ריכטיג" or  "וואס דו זאגסט איז נישט דער אמת". Saying "וואס דו זאגסט איז נישט אמת" is akin to saying "this is not table" instead of "this is not a table".

In short, truth is a noun, and true is an adjective.
If branching off to Yiddish grammar, is it דער אמת, די אמת, or דעם אמת?
I've been waiting over 5 years with bated breath for someone to say that!
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Offline shlonx

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Re: Grammar and Spelling Lessons 101
« Reply #64 on: December 03, 2017, 01:31:11 AM »
Or maybe "דאס אמת"?
Brevity may be the soul of wit, but floridity is its spirit.

Offline Work-for-ur-muny

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Re: Grammar and Spelling Lessons 101
« Reply #65 on: December 03, 2017, 02:46:47 PM »
If branching off to Yiddish grammar, is it דער אמת, די אמת, or דעם אמת?
Would probably largely depend on context.

Offline ExGingi

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Re: Grammar and Spelling Lessons 101
« Reply #66 on: December 03, 2017, 03:46:24 PM »
Would probably largely depend on context.
Huh?

The question is whether אמת is a masculine, feminine or neutral noun. From what I read in researching this, the only way context changes די to דער for a feminine and דאס or דער to דעם is if there's a preposition.

See https://yi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%90%D7%A8%D7%98%D7%99%D7%A7%D7%9C_(%D7%92%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%98%D7%99%D7%A7) (though based on what it says there about לשון קודש ווערטער it would seem that @shlonx might have the correct answer, and it is דאס אמת)
I've been waiting over 5 years with bated breath for someone to say that!
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Offline wayfe

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Re: Grammar and Spelling Lessons 101
« Reply #67 on: December 03, 2017, 06:19:34 PM »
SPONTANEOUSNESS AND SPONTANEITY.

Someone here used the word spontaneousness. It is a proper word and I believe his usage was proper, but now I don't know when to use spontaneity vs spontaneousness.

Virtually no difference. Spontaneity is more commonly used.
"I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers which can't be questioned."
— Richard Feynman

Offline shlonx

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Re: Grammar and Spelling Lessons 101
« Reply #68 on: December 03, 2017, 07:50:00 PM »



I have two comments on the above picture, which is an ad from the great series Gefen ran this year. I wonder what fellow DDFers think.

1. In the poem, shouldn't it have been, for poetic and rhyming reasons, "Adults, teens or tykes"? (with or without the Oxford comma)

2. More importantly, I think that the final quote should be "Ask not where you can take it, but where it can take you", especially since it's based on JFK's famous line.

I actually sent these comments to the marketing company, but annoyingly enough, they didn't change it (for the calendar which they later produced), especially the second one.

What do you think, do I have a point (or two)?
Brevity may be the soul of wit, but floridity is its spirit.

Offline beeweegee

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Re: Grammar and Spelling Lessons 101
« Reply #69 on: December 03, 2017, 07:57:43 PM »



I have two comments on the above picture, which is an ad from the great series Gefen ran this year. I wonder what fellow DDFers think.

1. In the poem, shouldn't it have been, for poetic and rhyming reasons, "Adults, teens or tykes"? (with or without the Oxford comma)

2. More importantly, I think that the final quote should be "Ask not where you can take it, but where it can take you", especially since it's based on JFK's famous line.

I actually sent these comments to the marketing company, but annoyingly enough, they didn't change it (for the calendar which they later produced), especially the second one.

What do you think, do I have a point (or two)?
1. I think you'd be right in a different context. Here, though, the line is remaining consistent with the author's style, matching "campsites or mountain hikes." You can argue it both ways, but it's not wrong.

2. Agreed.

Offline ludmila

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Re: Grammar and Spelling Lessons 101
« Reply #70 on: December 03, 2017, 08:58:04 PM »
1. I think you'd be right in a different context. Here, though, the line is remaining consistent with the author's style, matching "campsites or mountain hikes." You can argue it both ways, but it's not wrong.

2. Agreed.
2.Agreed, on 1 not sure.
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Offline Yehuda57

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Re: Grammar and Spelling Lessons 101
« Reply #71 on: December 03, 2017, 09:35:08 PM »
If we're going to start critiquing frum marketing campaigns, @Dan's gonna need to up the site's bandwidth.

Offline ExGingi

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Re: Grammar and Spelling Lessons 101
« Reply #72 on: December 03, 2017, 09:41:41 PM »
If we're going to start critiquing frum marketing campaigns, @Dan's gonna need to up the site's bandwidth.
-1
The few members that would engage in this couldn't consume much bandwidth.
I've been waiting over 5 years with bated breath for someone to say that!
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Offline shlonx

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Re: Grammar and Spelling Lessons 101
« Reply #73 on: December 03, 2017, 09:51:24 PM »
If we're going to start critiquing frum marketing campaigns, @Dan's gonna need to up the site's bandwidth.

Lol.

It was just this ad that got me more nervous than the weekly ones I usually spot, since the copy of rest of the campaign was written so well.

This ad is from months ago, and it was still bugging me...
Brevity may be the soul of wit, but floridity is its spirit.

Offline good sam

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Re: Grammar and Spelling Lessons 101
« Reply #74 on: December 03, 2017, 10:20:20 PM »
First piece of advice to the marketing company :

The beauty of the JFK quote is the wording and the timing. You'd have to remove the "but" and replace the period with a semi colon to replicate it. You might want to emphasize the "it."

"Ask not where you can take IT; ask where IT can take you."


Second piece of advice:

It's stupid. Back to the drawing board.
If you don't care why would you comment?
HT: DMYD

Offline Yehuda57

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Re: Grammar and Spelling Lessons 101
« Reply #75 on: December 04, 2017, 12:37:45 AM »
First piece of advice to the marketing company :

The beauty of the JFK quote is the wording and the timing. You'd have to remove the "but" and replace the period with a semi colon to replicate it. You might want to emphasize the "it."

"Ask not where you can take IT; ask where IT can take you."


Second piece of advice:

It's stupid. Back to the drawing board.
What is "IT"? Turns out, "IT" is a Tradition soup. They should say so.


Offline ExGingi

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Re: Grammar and Spelling Lessons 101
« Reply #76 on: December 04, 2017, 04:22:51 AM »
What is "IT"? Turns out, "IT" is a Tradition soup. They should say so.
Talk about branding!

You're referring to a product which is the subject of an ad with the competition's brand name.

(Just shows how the category was theirs to lose, which they did).
I've been waiting over 5 years with bated breath for someone to say that!
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Offline Yehuda57

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Re: Grammar and Spelling Lessons 101
« Reply #77 on: December 04, 2017, 07:14:41 AM »


Talk about branding!

You're referring to a product which is the subject of an ad with the competition's brand name.


My point exactly

Offline good sam

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Re: Grammar and Spelling Lessons 101
« Reply #78 on: December 04, 2017, 10:28:50 AM »
Talk about branding!

You're referring to a product which is the subject of an ad with the competition's brand name.

(Just shows how the category was theirs to lose, which they did).
This is known in marketing as over-branding. Once the the brand name takes the place of the product name, it makes no difference to the consumer if it's the brand name or not.

Examples:
Band-aids
Roller Blades
Vaseline
Q-tips
If you don't care why would you comment?
HT: DMYD

Offline skyguy918

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Re: Grammar and Spelling Lessons 101
« Reply #79 on: December 04, 2017, 10:41:38 AM »
This is known in marketing as over-branding. Once the the brand name takes the place of the product name, it makes no difference to the consumer if it's the brand name or not.

Examples:
Band-aids
Roller Blades
Vaseline
Q-tips