Grammar gripes of the month

[elderwitty]

Here's the thing. I love words. I love to push them and pull; stroke, throw, and play with them - until they mean exactly what I need them to. So it really jars me out of the moment when I'm reading and the wrong word is used. I sort of tense up for the rest of the story, waiting for the next word-shaped shoe to drop.

These are the three I've see most often lately. I wish I could go, author by author, and gently teach people the difference between what they meant and what they wrote. I don't seem to have the gentle touch (in writing, anyway) needed, so all I can do is post my frustration here and hope for the best.


reign in =/= control. This comes from the horse riding world. Rein - you know, like those things on a bridle. (See also "give free rein".)


discrete =/= on the down low. This is the one that inspired the homonym list. I'd be very discreet in my tutelage, I promise. :grin:


albeit =/= although. It is close, even if not precisely the same. I think that someone who knew how to use it correctly did, and then a bunch of people took it to mean 'although', and used it themselves not realizing it was a shade of meaning off.


That's it for now. I feel better.

Comments

Re: grammar gripes

[elderwitty]

That's what she said. She might have mentioned the word scolding. :grin: Apparently, I have a tone in print.

Most of the really bad ones I've seen are in Supernatural or Hawaii Five-0. I have a list of author's whose stuff I won't even glance at. Most of them are betas for each other. :P

Re: grammar gripes

[ldyanne.livejournal.com]

LOL

Well, and the people who beta for each other aren't going to find the mistakes they themselves make.

I write for fun, but I want it to be the best it can be, too.

I don't read a lot in either of those fandoms (no time with all the SGA fic I still have to read!), unless they're recced by someone I trust.

Re: grammar gripes

[elderwitty]

:>

That's true. And they all praise each other's work to high heaven.

Same here! It's not like I'm getting paid for it, but I still have pride.

Well, if you trust me, here's a series in the SPN universe. I've sent you to the earliest Strangers and Angels page. Ignore the bottom two entries, for Frail. That's the second in the series. Start with Strangers and Angels. Let me know how you like it. :D

Have you read alipeeps' SGA stories? She has quite a nice line of h/c.

I have to say, there are a couple of stories (not the above one) where the writing isn't perfect - but I still read, and in some cases, re-read, just because the story is compelling enough to overcome it. I do try to warn for that, though, although sometimes I auto edit it mentally and don't actually realize. Oops.

Re: grammar gripes

[ldyanne.livejournal.com]

I do trust you! I'll check out the SPN series. Thanks for the rec ;-)

I have read alipeeps, she's great! That's the thing about Atlantis fic. So much of it is excellent. And yeah, sometimes the story rises above those things. I have a few of those that I go back and reread because I love the story so much.

Re: grammar gripes

[elderwitty]

I should warn you. There are more than a few stories in the series. When you get sucked in by the terrific writing and wonderful OC, I don't want you to say I didn't warn you. :D

The good news is that a lot of the SGA peeps have migrated over to H50, and there are new ones there who I'd not seen before. Yeah, I recced a story called Home Improvement to Walter, then had to field phone calls where he didn't understand what was happening due to bad formatting (no visual break between scenes). That's one of those that I auto edit, but still really enjoy. Warning: angst (with happy ending), 31,909 words.