Helpie's Grammar 101
By Steemian Teacher @Diebitch
“They’re” is nothing worse than bad grammar!
Are you a grammarian or a barbarian? Some of the first things that catch a reader’s eye are those gaping holes that undress words. So, here are a few basic rules to dress up your Steemit posts to make them look more professional.
1. i-scream if you use i instead of I. This is a common mistake mostly due to laziness. Please don’t dot your “I”s when talking about yourself.
2.Mixing up then and than. I understand how it can be confusing, so here’s a trick:
- Then=Time “Then” is always related to time.
- Than=Comparison “Than” is used when comparing things.
3.You’re your worst enemy. This is a good rule to remember.
You’re=You+are. The apostrophe stands in place of the missing letters.
Your=No apostrophe, so it belongs entirely to you. It is your own.
Similarly,
They’re=They+are
Their=No apostrophe, so entirely owned by them.
It’s=It+is
Its=possessive
4.Articles: They provide a flow to your sentence and often help give context to a noun.
“A” is for general.
“The” is for specific.
There is a friend from work who is coming to dinner today.
This is the friend I was talking about.
5. Double negatives: Not okay or never not okay? It may be cool, but double negatives tend to confuse your readers so should be avoided.
Ain’t nothing wrong with confusing readers, eh?
There is nothing wrong with confusing readers, eh?
Free Resources
One basic thing that everyone should do is copy and paste on a Google doc and run spell check. It is automated and weeds out common errors and typos.
Grammarly is a good extension which is also free. It can be added to your browser. But don't let it be your bible
Need a fancy word?
Check out https://www.merriam-webster.com/ thesaurus section.
A great free online tool is http://www.onlinecorrection.com/.
Exercise
No, don't run away, it's not that exercise!
Go through your last two posts and paste it on googledocs.
Enable the comment mode and edit your own post according to reflect better grammar.
Grammar is not the most important thing, but bad grammar is a big turn off for a reader. You might have something important to say but people might just focus on a trivial grmmatical error.
Please ask any questions you have in the comments. We're happy to helpie.
Check out the Grammar English Language Channel on Discord.
https://discordapp.com/channels/319885228464406528/339520357587484672
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