A note to a LOT of fanfic authors

[starrylizard]

There is something that is simply driving me insane of late.

PASSED: To move on or ahead; proceed.
EXAMPLE: Dean PASSED the girl as he walked.

PAST: So as to pass by or go beyond
Dean walked PAST the girl.


Got it? Good!


I've read the wrong way so many times, I now have to double think when I write it in a sentence. I had to double think my examples above. STOP confusing me when I have enough bad habits in my writing as it is.

Kthxbai
SL

Definitions from http://www.thefreedictionary.com, example sentence by me. :P


EDIT: I'm told this may be another "American-ism." Is it? If so, can someone find me proof in the form of an American English dictionary with example sentences or something, because I just don't believe it.

Comments

[chaps1870.livejournal.com]

Oh thank you! That just drives me bat-shit insane. I see it way too much and it makes me wonder what they are actually teaching in schools.

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

I've read it so many times that I had to ask Rinne if I was right before posting. It's untaught me, when I never thought about it before. Hence my ranting.

You just don't walk passed someone. nononononono! Gah! *cough*

[looleebelle.livejournal.com]

thankyouthankyouthankyou....

This is one of my pet hates. *sigh* And whether/weather... oh, crap. There I go again.

*perfect 10 dismount off high-horse*

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

Heee! Oh yeah. Anything the spell checker won't catch, but that should be second nature and drilled into your brain at school. Somehow I think people rely on spell checkers way too much these days. *climbs down from high horse too*

[looleebelle.livejournal.com]

LMAO! Exactly... oh, and another fave of mine? I got this in an email the other day:

"They went to they're house..." followed shortly thereafter by "They werent their."

*face/desk*

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

hehehehe, oh yes, that makes me cringe.

Or when they say "Sam and me went to the..." followed by "Come with Sam and I to the" It's in everything, even newsreaders say the wrong one, so I have started getting it wrong now and then and it bugs me to all hell when I catch myself.

If another person cries "Common usage" to cover their ignorance, there may well be violence. :P

[looleebelle.livejournal.com]

Holy Crap! I started doing that! *forehead slap* I was like "ARGH! Must. Fight. Colloquialism. *grimace* "

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

It's insidious I tell you! :P

[chaps1870.livejournal.com]

No, you past them in the hall! LOL

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

Gah! :P

[kellifer-fic.livejournal.com]

*sheepish*

I am so completely guilty of this... these two words are like my writing kryptonite or something...

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

Teehehe! I can't remember if I noticed it in your fics or not. I do notice it in a lot of fics in which the grammar is otherwise perfect though. At least you're aware of it. My kryptonite is putting commas in odd places. :P

[looleebelle.livejournal.com]

HAHA!!!

*pins "I'm a long-sentence whore, what's your excuse?" badge to my jumper*

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

I think the long sentences are what does it. Eventually I have to cut them shorter of add hyphens/brackets. :P

[looleebelle.livejournal.com]

God bless semi colons, i say. :P

*dances with punctuation fairies*

And I've somehow become a huge fan of the ...'s. The dot-dot-dots have been popping up EVERYWHERE in my writing recently.

*is confused and concerned*

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

I think they are called ellipses and be careful for they can also drive people batshit insane, or so I've been told. I used to use them A LOT! *grins*

Semi-colons are actually an invention that I never really got. Barring the odd instance where it kinda makes sense, I usually put a full stop and start a new sentence. I get into arguments with my supervisor over that, for he loves semicolons. Oh yes he does. :P

Plus someone recently posted about how ellipses are often used incorrectly in speech, when hyphens should be used. To be honest it went over my head a bit. *sheepish*

[looleebelle.livejournal.com]

*face/desk*

Supervisors. Who needs 'em? :P *grumbles*

I always read things out loud and sometimes the pause is too long for a comma and too short for a full stop.

Thanks for the warning. Will tone the elliptical-speak down. HAHA!!

*note to self: must buy punctuation dictionary*

[looleebelle.livejournal.com]

*pats on head*

Well, grasshopper... this be the place to learn. LMAO!!

[gumnut.livejournal.com]

I have noticed the lack of the word 'past' in American writings and have discovered that American English does not use the word 'past' in this manner.

They do use it to indicate 'the past', but not 'walking past'.

At least I think so.

But then American English doesn't use 'learnt', 'burnt' or 'leant' either. I know those ones for sure since I've been corrected repeatedly for using them in my Australian English.

So to say 'Dean walked passed the girl' may actually be right in another country?

Nutty
(always stumbling over regional English)

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

Find me an example and I'll believe you, but I have been searching online disctionaries for an example and I haven't found one yet. Know any American disctionaries?

I'm not at all obsessed. *crazy look*

[missyvortexdv.livejournal.com]

Lose/loose is another that shouldn't make it past people

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

*nods*

[looleebelle.livejournal.com]

*head explodes*

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

Sounds messy!

[(Anonymous)]

:P LMAO!

A little... but I'm at work so I don't have to clean it up...

*sigh*

I thought of another one for this thread last night, but it seems to have been buried underneath my pile of journal articles that somehow found their way onto my desk. *grumbles*

Man, coffee is the devil...

OMG, after your comment the other day about ellipses, I went through one of my multichap fics last night and had to change them! It's made me paranoid!! LMAO!!!

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

Oops!

I didn't mean to make you paranoid. No need to change all of them. Just I used to use them ...well ...excessively ...and incorrectly! :P