r/grammar

Okay, so in my mind, the correct thing to do is separate multiple adjectives with commas, as in:

"the big, red, noisy truck"

But I was just working on something and had to say:

"ruched white summer dress"

And, I can't explain why, but I don't want to put those commas in it, like "ruched, white, summer dress".

Grammarly is not even flagging it as a problem when I leave out the commas.

What gives? How is that okay to not use the commas, and why do I not even want to use the commas???

Hello,
I’m going to try to teach my neighbors’ kids the difference between two, to, & too. Another lesson is they’re, there & their. I’m also going to tell them how I remember which word is correct in my sentences. (We don’t live in a great school district, and I’m a nerd who loved diagraming sentences for fun in elementary school many years ago.)

Are there any other common homophone mix-ups or issues that you see often? If anything pops into your mind, will you please let me know?

If you have tricks that helped you learn the difference, I’d love to hear them.

Of course, I’ll google this issue & read back through texts for more grammatical & spelling issues to address that could help them throughout their lives, but Reddit came to mind because there are lots of you who love to correct comments on here. lol

Recently someone reminded me that “fewer” was the correct word when I typed “less” & I genuinely appreciated it! Thanks so much

For example: "Who/Whom did you meet?" "Who/To whom should I send this E-mail (to)?"

I mean, when I say something like "I wanted to pick some movie to watch tonight.", it feels natural in my own language, but Grammarly (basically a grammar checker) keeps to remove "some" and changes it to "a movie".

I wonder if I can still use "some movie" in this sentence, or is it incorrect? This is just a quick question, thank you!

"The star of the show though, is the fresh, local toppings"

Having a moment with this sentence. I know toppings is plural, but the subject 'star' before is singular. It doesn't sound right saying "The star of the show though, are the fresh, local toppings" and it sounds weird to pluralize 'star' into 'stars'

How can I make this work? Thanks!

1: “Amazing! I love them so much, and your art style is perfect!”

vs

2: “Amazing! I love them so much and your art style is perfect!”

It seems like the first one (with the comma) should be correct since the “and” is connecting two independent clauses, but why does it feel so awkward and clunky? Or is it just me?

EDIT: Thanks everyone!

ANSWERED

it's common in a lot of older literature (i think)

>“Hey,” He brushes his hand along a table. Step, step, step. “I know how you feel.

“You want to get out, I know that. You want to escape and go back to your friends, I know that. You just want to return home. I know that, and I want to help you.”

it's when there's no quotation mark at the end of the dialogue sentence and is supposed to indicate that the character continues talking in the next paragraph/over page breaks (i.e. in this example the same character continues talking over the line break here)

thanks in advance!!!

hey everyone, quick question.

i was telling a coworker about my daily routine and said "i've been practicing speaking english every day".

immediately after saying it out loud, the double -ing (practicing speaking) felt super clunky on my tongue.

is "practicing speaking" actually natural to native speakers, or is there a better way to phrase this? like "practicing my spoken english" or "practicing speaking out loud"?

just want to make sure i don't sound weird when i talk about it haha. thanks!

this is kinda dumb, but me and my friend were having an argument and we're both really petty. She says that the sentence would be "I have not been typing earlier" and I said that it should be "I was not typing earlier" or "I have not been typing"

At a recent meeting a coworker spoke out and said "there will be a volunteer service rally next weekend where people can come to learn what types of service they can volunteer for. If you can't be there for that, there is a meeting this evening involving preparing for the volunteer service rally. If you're ironic, you could volunteer this evening to help prepare for the volunteer rally."

I I don't believe it's ironic but I can't nail down the term that would be applicable for a person to volunteer to organize a volunteer rally for people to learn where they can volunteer.

Is it irony or is it something else?

In the game, “Squirrel Stapler”, there are 5 days
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5

But on day 1 they say “In 5 days God is coming” shouldn’t it be day 6 he approaches since that adds 5 days not a total of 5 days?

I think it should state “On day 5, God is coming” but I’m overthinking this.

Saw this photo caption online today on the Daily Mail website:

"People evacuated buildings in drove after feeling the earthquake in Panama City."

I have always said "in droves". Which is correct or is that possibly Brit English?

which is correct:

. Increasing electricity demands from AI systems accelerates the replacement of servers, processors, and other electronic components, which generates significant quantities of electronic waste (e-waste) that contaminate soil, water, and air through the release of hazardous substances. 

. Increasing electricity demands from AI systems accelerate the replacement of servers, processors, and other electronic components, which generate significant quantities of electronic waste (e-waste) that contaminate soil, water, and air, through the release of hazardous substances. 

note the addition and removal of "s" to the infinite and the addition of one comma.

this is killing me i need to know which it is.

“Visitors are more likely to be concerned with what lies below. Many sections of the road have a sheer drop of more than four hundred feet, and there are no guardrails, because of the need to push snow off after avalanches.”

Regarding the section “…and there are no guardrails, because of the need to push snow off after avalanches.” The comma is a stylistic choice, sure, but I’m curious about the reason? I feel like it reads the same without the comma

example:

> IF YOU'RE ASKING FOR ALL THESE FANS TO COME, AND YOU HAVE NEW FANS WHO ARE REAL SPORTS FANS AND THEY COME AND DO SOMETHING THAT A SPORTS FAN WOULD PROBABLY DO ... THEN WE'RE GONNA GO FOR THEM FOR POINTING AND SAYING “YOU FOULED?” LIKE GROW UP.

this is a statement from sophie cunningham. she’s asking how you’re going to after fans who said “you fouled”. the phrase “you fouled” was a statement made by fans, it was not a question. why wouldn’t the question sophie’s asking be punctuated with the question mark outside the closing quotation? like this instead: then we’re gonna go for them for pointing and saying “you fouled”?

putting the question mark outside the closing quote seems like more correct punctuation. but we don’t do it like this. why not? the quote is a part of the question, it’s more like an artifact or attribute of the question. it itself isn’t the question.

Hello, all. I came across a discussion yesterday, which has had me thinking...

Have dialects and standard forms really helped people speak a language, or corrupt communication?

This isn't just about English, but any language in general... ( I just couldn't find a better post flair).

Now, hear me out...

There is a standard form of every language. The 'proper' way that we are taught in schools. We learn that, and then, when we get out of school, life happens....

Our style of speaking a particular language, changes upon interaction.

It can be from childhood, with family and friends as well.

This style, varies so much from region to region, and even individually within families, that it's considered 'normal' or a 'variation' with its own grammar rules, and is also considered correct.

But, isn't this unfair to the standard form of the language, that we learn in school?

If not, then why do we bother learning it?

Is it just our excuse to speak correctly?

"Well... As per my dialect, this is right, and no one dialect is actually wrong or comparable to another... They're all correct."

What about absolutes then? Do they not exist? I'm posting this to hear your thoughts on this... Please let's discuss this in a civil manner...

Thank you.

"I would love to have done that."
"I would have loved to do that."
"I would have loved to have done that."

Which is correct, and why? This has always confused me.

If a player dies, gamers always say "They died" even if it's one player. Why is that?