Grammar Tips for Reviewers

Contributor: Ms. N Ms. N
Let's face it. Not everyone is an expert grammarian. English was not everyone's favorite subject in school. This is a given. All people are different, and all people have different strengths and weaknesses. It isn't a criminal offense if someone doesn't know how to make their subject and verb agree, or if they don't know that "cannot" is one word, not two. It is fine, for everyday life. However, once you start trying to put your ideas out to the public...you are expected to know these things.

Reviews will be given lower marks if your grammar is overly faulty. It's true. If readers cannot (one word) follow your reasoning, they are going to mark your reviews lower. Fortunately, Eden does offer the services of editors to help you, to some extent, and there is also the fine mentor program for those who need assistance in any area of writing reviews, including grammar. You don't have to have a high school or college refresher course! You just have to take advantage of the resources here at Eden...other members! I think you will find most people are quite willing to help if you ask.

In addition, there have been multiple workshops and posts in the forum that have been devoted to grammar tips. I am posting a few links here. Read through them. You will certainly pick up on some things you may have forgotten since you were in school.

Tips for people with grammar issues
Grammar Workshop - June 2011
Helpful Tips on Grammar and Article Structure

If anyone has tips they wish to add in comments, you are welcome to do so. Here are a couple from me:

1. After you have written your review, have someone else read it. They will likely see mistakes that you don't see yourself. When we proofread ourselves right after finishing a review, we tend to read what we meant to write rather than what we did write.

2. If you don't have someone else to look over your review, put it aside for a day, then come back to it. When time has passed, it is easier for us to see our own mistakes.

3. If you know your grammar skills are weak, and you don't have someone who can check your review for you, run it through a grammar/spell check (either through word processing programs like Microsoft Word, or through online sites), and get yourself a mentor!

Good luck!
06/05/2013
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Contributor: surreptitious surreptitious
I don't have anything to add, because I think that your post is fantastic, but I definitely want to second having someone else read over your review if at all possible! I have been a tutor and an editor in real life (is this real life, or is it Eden Fantasyyyys?) for many years, but I still really struggle like a fish out of water when trying to read over my own work.

Thanks for compiling such helpful links!

Edit: Ugh, I'm an idiot. I figured that I'd post and then head to PM and message you to let you know that right now, two of the are going to the same place, but because I posted, you won't be able to edit one of them. I believe that this is what you intended to link with the third URL, and that your Copy/Paste bit malfunctioned or something. If it's not the one you were linking, it's still a great thread!
06/05/2013
Contributor: Mr. John Mr. John
Quote:
Originally posted by Ms. N
Let's face it. Not everyone is an expert grammarian. English was not everyone's favorite subject in school. This is a given. All people are different, and all people have different strengths and weaknesses. It isn't a criminal ... more
You are spot on.
06/05/2013
Contributor: Kitka Kitka
Fantastic advice and links! Thanks so much for sharing them with us all, I'm sure many of us will find them super helpful, myself included
06/05/2013
Contributor: Trysexual Trysexual
Excellent post. You said it better than I could have. Some people lack the skills, which is one thing, but others are just too lazy to bother with checking at all, who know better. I saw a review today with random capital letters on regular words, but not capitalizing proper names, or you get people who submit without capitalizing "i". Sigh



Lately I've seen the split words too, like "no where" and the like.

You can set your browser to spell check!
06/05/2013
Contributor: Ms. N Ms. N
Quote:
Originally posted by surreptitious
I don't have anything to add, because I think that your post is fantastic, but I definitely want to second having someone else read over your review if at all possible! I have been a tutor and an editor in real life (is this real life, or is it ... more
*lol* Here's another example of why it is important to proofread! Thank you! Yes, the last link is supposed to be to this workshop.

Nice Queen reference
06/05/2013
Contributor: Ms. N Ms. N
Quote:
Originally posted by Kitka
Fantastic advice and links! Thanks so much for sharing them with us all, I'm sure many of us will find them super helpful, myself included
You are welcome! Surreptitious caught that one of my links was wrong. The last forum thread I meant to post is here!
06/05/2013
Contributor: Heartthrob Heartthrob
Quote:
Originally posted by Ms. N
Let's face it. Not everyone is an expert grammarian. English was not everyone's favorite subject in school. This is a given. All people are different, and all people have different strengths and weaknesses. It isn't a criminal ... more
Watch out for fragments. Ask yourself if you have written your review in complete sentences. A lot of times, people use fragments and run on sentences throughout.
06/05/2013
Contributor: js250 js250
Great post! One thing I have noticed in the spell check is its inability to recognize certain words--but a writer does have to rely on their own knowledge sometimes as well.

I would like to add that "text talk" is fine for your friends, but not for reviewing. Emoticons are good in comments, but do not load up the review with these little guys. There is no place for them on a review!
06/05/2013
Contributor: tami tami
Quote:
Originally posted by Ms. N
Let's face it. Not everyone is an expert grammarian. English was not everyone's favorite subject in school. This is a given. All people are different, and all people have different strengths and weaknesses. It isn't a criminal ... more
thank you for the tips
06/05/2013
Contributor: PropertyOfPotter PropertyOfPotter
Just keep in mind that not all mentors are capable of helping with grammar since they, too, could use some help with it. We all just need to do the best we can and ask for some help from a friend or fellow contributor if something doesn't seem right.
06/05/2013
Contributor: PeaceToTheMiddleEast PeaceToTheMiddleEast
Great post. I sometimes notice that I have a few words that are misspelled or not right. I use a program but I always catch most of my stuff after I publish it because I can see it better that way. Then I have some awesome friends on here who will pm me if I have some stuff wrong and have not caught it in time.
06/05/2013
Contributor: Wicked Wahine Wicked Wahine
I thought this post deserved a "bump"! From your friendly editor
09/12/2013