Welcome to Gaia! ::

As of recent, it has become even more dissatisfying how terrible some of the grammar and spelling has been within RPs. For the sake of other players and writers being able to even understand what the Hell some of you are trying to say, I have been editing posts and putting them into readable English. But learn it now and learn it fast, you're all big kids now, and you'll never make it through high school or university/college/life without basic literacy skills. While the occasional typo such as a wrong version of their/there/they're, or grammar that your browser doesn't pick up on, many of you are ignoring Kindergarten rules. Read this now, and every day for the rest of your life.

DOWNLOAD A SPELLING AND GRAMMAR CHECKER: IT'S FREE
ALWAYS RE-READ YOUR POSTS BEFORE OR AFTER SUBMITTING THEM, AND EDIT TO CORRECT ISSUES

RULE 1: PROPER NOUNS AND OTHER CAPITALIZATION TECHNIQUES

Hopefully you all know the difference between a noun and a proper noun. A noun is a person, place, or thing, while a proper noun is the name of that person or place. For example, in the next sentence, I will italicize a noun, and bold a proper noun.

I have a horse whose name isTaz

As you can see, the thing is the horse, and the proper noun is the horse's name.

PROPER NOUNS YOU WILL ALWAYS CAPITALIZE
-Names of people (Jack, Chang, Dok, Billy-Joe-Bob, etc)
-Names of places (Canada, Britain, Toronto, Oregon, Texas, Houston, etc)
-Names of specific items, as in a certain brand (Band-Aid unless it is another brand of bandage, Stratocaster if you are speaking of the guitar type, etc)
-Addresses (Wilson St, Polloway Rd, Barron Rd, etc)
-The first letter of an abbreviated word (Rd, St, Bl, etc)
-ALL letters of shortened forms (U.S.A, CAN, E.U, AUS, etc)

-OTHER CAPITALIZATION
There are other times you should capitalize, such as:
1.Beginning of a sentence
2.Beginning of a quotation/speeh
3.In titles
4. The names of residents (I.E., German, Canadian, American, Australian, etc)
5. Hell, God, and Joan

DO NOT capitalize regular nouns. We're not speaking German here, so don't.

RULE 2: THE USE OF AND, THEN, AFTER, AND OTHER SUCH WORDS

It is annoying as Hell when you all make a list of things that goes like this:

"(Thing) and (Thing) after (Thing), but only after (Thing), Then (Thing) and (Thing) and then )Thing)"

Trust me, you look a little dumb. Actually, a lot dumb. Think things out and make a proper time line. For example:

GOOD


BAD


Note the repetitive use of "and"? A bit annoying, isn't it? Use these words sparingly, or find other connective words. For example:

INSTEAD OF:


USE


RULE 3: PROPER USE OF QUOTATION MARKS, APOSTROPHES, COMMAS, EXCLAMATION AND OTHER MARKS

Clearly, they existed for limited purposes. Let learn 'em, shall we?

APOSTROPHE
They mark omissions, the possessives of all nouns and many pronouns.
To keep it short, because it's 2300 over here, just read these damn examples. Be aware, they are all very similar, but very drastically different in meaning:

* My sister's friend's investments (the investments belonging to a friend of my sister)
* My sister's friends' investments (the investments belonging to several friends of my sister)
* My sisters' friend's investments (the investments belonging to a friend of several of my sisters)
* My sisters' friends' investments (the investments belonging to several friends of several of my sisters)

More:
* Those things over there are my husband's. (Those things over there belong to my husband.)
* Those things over there are my husbands. (I'm married to those men over there.)

Apostrophes showing omissions:
PAY ATTENTION, THESE ARE MISTAKES WE'VE ALL MADE AT ONE POINT OR ANOTHER

Cannot= Can't
It has= It's
It is= It's
I will= I'll
I shall= I'll

It is used in abbreviations, as gov't for government, or '70s for 1970s.
Knocked Out= KO'd

ALSO COMMONLY SEEN IN:
French, Italian, Scottish, Irish and other Gaelic surnames.


QUOTATION MARKS
Seeing as the majority of us are in the or United States, Canada, or countries that follow similar rules, most are going by the North American rules, and those used most in the U.K.
For speech, you use quotation marks before and after the speech. ("insert speech here")
It is also acceptable in some areas to use single quotes as well as doubles.

"Good morning, Dave" Called Frank
'Good morning, Dave' Called Frank.

For speech within a speech, use alternate forms, allowable up to five speeches within speech. (Such things are common in the Bible)

'Frank said "Good morning, Dave!,"' recalled Hal.
"Frank said 'Good morning, Dave!,'" recalled Hal.

EXCLAMATION:
An exclamation mark or exclamation point is a punctuation mark: ! It is usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or high volume, and often marks the end of a sentence.

A sentence ending in an exclamation mark is either an actual exclamation ("Wow!", "Boo!"), a command ("Stop!"), or is intended to be astonishing in some way ("They were the footprints of a gigantic hound!"). However, exclamation marks can also be placed mid-sentence and function like a comma ("There was a loud bang! at the door.")

Casually, exclamation marks may be repeated for additional emphasis ("That's great!!!"), but this practice is generally considered unacceptable in formal composition.

COMMAS:
Commas are used to separate items in lists, as in They own a cat, a dog, two rabbits and six mice. In English a comma may or may not be used before the final conjunction (and, or, nor) in a list of more than two elements

Commas are often used to enclose parenthetical words and phrases within a sentence (i.e. information which is not essential to the meaning of the sentence). Such phrases are both preceded and followed by a comma, unless that would result in a doubling of punctuation marks, or the parenthetical is at the start or end of the sentence. The following are examples of types of parenthetical phrases:

* Introductory phrase: Once upon a time, I didn't know how to use commas.[5]
* Address: My father ate the bagel, John.
* Interjection: My father ate the bagel, gosh darn it!
* Aside: My father, if you don’t mind my telling you this, ate the bagel.
* Appositive: My father, a jaded and bitter man, ate the bagel.
* Absolute phrase: My father, his eyes flashing with rage, ate the bagel.
* Free modifier: My father, chewing with unbridled fury, ate the bagel.
* Resumptive modifier: My father ate the bagel, a bagel which no man had yet chewed.
* Summative modifier: My father ate the bagel, a feat which no man had attempted.

A comma is used to set off quoted material that is the grammatical object of an active verb of speaking or writing, as in Mr. Kershner says, "You should know how to use a comma." Quotations that follow and support an assertion should be set off by a colon rather than a comma.

Dok has many more rules, but is tired and wants to sleep. Check back soon, and that's an order.

stare I object. Literacy isn't the only problem. Some people just can't RP correctly. They can't follow a plot, or a theme, they don't know how to even type so other RPers can understand them, they refuse to allow other players a chance (i.e. Godmodding), and overall, they tend to kill an RP, wreck it, and make it less fun for everyone else. If they can't do it right, they might as well not do it at all. General, one thing you still have to learn about leadership is being objective for the good of the Army, not just for a couple of nitwits that don't even bother to consider how their post will affect the RP.

Eh, I guess the point's taken. I'm just trying, can't I get credit for that? It was a good thought anyhow. I still think it is, and I'll just keep it out there as an option. These are good tips though.

Yea, that's true. Like I said, just leaving that out there as a possible option in case there should be anyone that wants to have a more laid back thread.