What even is "bad grammar"

FieryLou

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As a non-native English speaker, I often ask myself what viewers mean by 'bad' grammar. Can someone give me an example? Is it beyond the right word choice and spelling? It's always hard to judge if my grammar is good or not if I don't know what people base grammar quality on.
 

RedMuffin

OwO
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As a non-native English speaker, I often ask myself what viewers mean by 'bad' grammar. Can someone give me an example? Is it beyond the right word choice and spelling? It's always hard to judge if my grammar is good or not if I don't know what people base grammar quality on.
I won't answer the question, instead I offer you the solution: Use Grammarly.
 
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FieryLou

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I won't answer the question, instead I offer you the solution: Use Grammerly.
No, thank you. I used it for quite some time, even the premium version, but it did not make me more confident in my own abilities. Also, Grammarly's comma placement is often weird. Grammarly is nice for the correction of spelling mistakes, however, it won't correct you if you use the wrong word.
 

LEGENDGOD1

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I won't answer the question, instead I offer you the solution: Use Grammerly.
lol dude Grammerly, after providing solution?
No, thank you. I used it for quite some time, even the premium version, but it did not make me more confident in my own abilities. Also, Grammarly's comma placement is often weird. Grammarly is nice for the correction of spelling mistakes, however, it won't correct you if you use the wrong word.
Feet > Ass > Thighs > Boobs

??
 

Tempokai

The Overworked One
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Bad grammar is this:
Hi my name is Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way and I have long ebony black hair (that's how I got my name) with purple streaks and red tips that reaches my mid-back and icy blue eyes like limpid tears and a lot of people tell me I look like Amy Lee (AN: if u don't know who she is get da hell out of here!). I'm not related to Gerard Way but I wish I was because he's a major fucking hottie. I'm a vampire but my teeth are straight and white. I have pale white skin. I'm also a witch, and I go to a magic school called Hogwarts in England where I'm in the seventh year (I'm seventeen). I'm a goth (in case you couldn't tell) and I wear mostly black. I love Hot Topic and I buy all my clothes from there. For example today I was wearing a black corset with matching lace around it and a black leather miniskirt, pink fishnets and black combat boots. I was wearing black lipstick, white foundation, black eyeliner and red eye shadow. I was walking outside Hogwarts. It was snowing and raining so there was no sun, which I was very happy about. A lot of preps stared at me. I put up my middle finger at them.

Everyon, I has finally decided to write~
Please read a lot~
The story’s about the strongest dragon the invisible dragon moving to the other world… hehehe
If you’re curious, jus read~

1 (2002/07/25)
“Kuaaaaa”
the strongest among dragons the invisible dragon roared
since the invisible dragon was super duper strong it was the strongest dragon
it won against gods and demons it won against everyone there was only
one invisible dragon in the world anyway it roared
“argh shoot lets run”
the balrogs ran away the invisible dragon was awesome
that was why the balrogs ran away
Continuu

2 (2002/07/25)
The invisible dragon was bored
so it decided to kill gods
so the gods became emergency
“shit the invisible dragon’s invading”
“yeah lets fight”
but since the invisible dragon was a invisible dragon it was invisible
since dey couldn’t see it the gods all died
the invisible dragon got bored of this world so it
decided to go to a different world
Continuu

3 (2002/07/25)
Viiiiin
the invisible dragon moved dimensions
then the modern world appeared
“oh cool let’s kill everyone”
the invisible dragon did a breath no it just
shoot laser beams from its hands
americas blew up in one hit
the invisible dragon was super duper strong
people didn’t kno who did it because the invisible dragon was invisible
the invisible dragon was bored aagin so…
(hehe the next chapter’s gonna be cool)
Continuu

4 (2002/07/25)
I’m stopping writing here~~~
bya bya~~~ I’ll write tomorrow~~~
and this is my first time writing so why are you all so mean…
please gib me sum face~~~
and is no one going to publish this~~~
it would be cool if it became a book ;-;
Continuu tomorrow

Now, excuse me, I'll go to find a holy water to cleanse my Ctrl, C, and V buttons.
 

LEGENDGOD1

Active member
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Bad grammar is this:




Now, excuse me, I'll go to find a holy water to cleanse my Ctrl, C, and V buttons.
?? I can confirm I am much better than this toddler level English even though it's not my first language.
Bad grammar is this:




Now, excuse me, I'll go to find a holy water to cleanse my Ctrl, C, and V buttons.
and what do you mean "Now, excuse me, I'll go to find a holy water to cleanse my Ctrl, C, and V buttons."

seems like this grammer got to your head "A holy water" ?

edit: got to my head too, grammer instead of grammar.
 

StoneInky

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No, thank you. I used it for quite some time, even the premium version, but it did not make me more confident in my own abilities. Also, Grammarly's comma placement is often weird. Grammarly is nice for the correction of spelling mistakes, however, it won't correct you if you use the wrong word.
1. Use Grammarly. That'll help with periods, mispelling, and forgotten capitals. Most of the stuff that qualifies as grammar.
2. Tense. Check to make sure your verbs are the correct tense and form. Check your adjectives too.
3. Use the right words that make sense within the sentence. Do not make up nonsensical expressions. For example, 'she sat off the building' makes no sense.
4. Sentence structure. Make sure they aren't dangly long things with no proper form. They have to have a... hm... goal? A single thing you are trying to express. Do not frankenstein sentences together, or make them so short they mean nothing.
5. Sentence alignment that lacks clarity. For example, if Clara said 'Hello', you want her name or dialogue tag to be close to that piece of dialogue so it is clear she is the one talking. But if you write, "Hello." Then Raven screamed, "Help!" Then things become confusing even though you technically haven't done anything wrong.

Bad grammar is this:




Now, excuse me, I'll go to find a holy water to cleanse my Ctrl, C, and V buttons.
Are you ok? That looks horrible. :blob_teary:
 
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LEGENDGOD1

Active member
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Messages
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1. Use Grammarly. That'll help with periods, mispelling, and forgotten capitals. Most of the stuff that qualifies as grammar.
2. Tense. Check to make sure your verbs are the correct tense and form. Check your adjectives too.
3. Use the right words that make sense within the sentence. Do not make up nonsensical expressions. For example, 'she sat off the building' makes no sense.
4. Sentence structure. Make sure they aren't dangly long things with no proper form. They have to have a... hm... goal? A single thing you are trying to express. Do not frankenstein sentences together, or make them so short they mean nothing.
5. Sentence alignment prone to misunderstandings. For example, if Clara said 'Hello', you want her name or dialogue tag to be close to that piece of dialogue so it is clear who she is talking to. But if you write, "Hello." Raven screamed, "Help!" Then things become confusing even though you technically haven't done anything wrong.


Are you ok? That looks horrible. :blob_teary:
hahahahahaha. cussing 'em out on a mistake.
 

packbat

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There are a few different answers to "what is bad grammar".

Grammar is, at a base level, how words are combined to mean more than just their individual meanings next to each other. If you've ever tried to communicate a complex concept using nothing but emoji, the lack of grammar is why that didn't work. So, bad grammar is a way of putting together words that fails to communicate. A famous example is "Violinist linked to JAL crash blossoms" - a newspaper headline that invites you to ask what on earth a crash blossom is, when what was actually intended was to say the violinist blossomed (i.e. grew toward their best potential).

From there we can connect to the second meaning of grammar, which is a specific language dialect's grammar. While English speakers might be able to figure out what "fox quick brown jumps dog lazy over" means, it's not a word order they're used to parsing for English text, so that figuring out ends up being much more difficult than it should be. Being deliberate in where and how you flout convention can make it easier for your audience, and in most cases making it easier to read makes your writing better.

I have to draw a distinction between the second meaning and third meaning, however. The third meaning is "following the conventions of nineteenth-century Latin-worshipping snobs so as to convince classist jerks that you are a Worthy Individual". If you ever hear anyone say you shouldn't start a sentence with "and", split an infinitive, or anything else that's got nothing to do with helping your audience understand you, this is the kind of grammar they're talking about. As an author, it's pretty much only useful if you want to play around with class distinctions - e.g. include a character in your work who's very posh. Otherwise, it really doesn't matter.
 

Tyranomaster

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I'll come at this from a different angle that will frustrate non-native speakers even more.

There are 2 versions of English. British English and American English. There are grammar differences between them. Grammar, in essence, are the 'rules' that determine the flow of the language. There are basic rules about the order of subjects and verbs, and where adjectives go.

The frustrating thing for non-natives is that, actually, native speakers violate the written rules all the time. English is full of exceptions to the rule. British and American english violate different rules from each other too. It's generally easy for native speakers to see when a writer, even a very skilled writer, is non-native because they adhere to the rules more than the exceptions. It makes the language seem programmatic, and English is full of violations of its own rules.

I would argue that English, more than almost any other language, is the hardest to sound fluent in. I have family that have lived in the US for 40 years and still don't sound fluent. It's close, but not perfect. Or rather, it's *TOO* perfect, and that's the problem.
 

Macha

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Khong co ai muon kho dau cho chinh minh, muon tim kiem ve no va muon co no, boi vi no la su dau kho
 
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