Literacy Courses

[Seafeather]

Hello all! This is your new "Literacy Course" teacher Seafeather! Fallen and I (Fallen: *Cough* Fallen and I ^^) had this idea when we realized that literacy nowadays means next to nothing in this world. Most of us (including Fallen and I) don't know our Grammar very much. So in a way, this is for both you (the student) and me (the teacher). Throughout the week, I will be posting several "lessons" on literacy. It will help both Fallen and I, if you would PM us if you would like to take these "courses". Of course you don't have to, but it would make your writing much, much better and you will feel a sense of completion with your posts.

Fallen and I (Seafeather) will be your teacher. Depending on where you are in this crazy and beautiful world, one of us will be your teacher. If you are in the U.S.A I will be your teacher. If you are on the opposite side of the world, Fallen will be your teacher. I'm going to start with a few basic things. I stress that you PM Fallen and I if you are reading these courses so we can reach your not-so-good spots in your grammar. And please do not comment on this thread, it is for admins only to comment. Thank you!


~Seafeather

[Seafeather]

Commas

This lesson is about commas. Commas provide a sort of "break" in the sentence. When your eyes pass over a comma, what do you do? Your mind automatically pauses and starts back up again. And even if there isn't a comma there, your mind still pauses... Or tries to find the right place to pause, at least. Here are a few rules about commas:

1: Place a comma before and, but, and or.
These provide your mind with a "checkpoint" of where another sentence could start, but has the same subject as the previous.
Ex. Seastar became the leader of FrostClan when she was 24 moons old, and she is still leader today.

2: Place a comma between the nouns of listed items.
Ex. Skyleaf grabbed the following herbs: horsetail, poppy seeds, chamomile, and lavender.
NB: Generally speaking, Fallen doesn't put a comma before an 'and' if she's writing a list, but it's really a matter of personal preference.
Ex. Smokeleaf hates kits, queens, mice and rats.

3: Place commas after the day of the month and year. (You won't need this on here, but it's good to know.)
Ex. October 11, 2010, I have an off-day at school.

4: Commas are also important when speaking. You always put a comma either after a character's name...
Ex. Smokeleaf barked, "Seastar, don't you dare run away from this!"
... Or when you're half-finishing speech, as in:
Ex. "You know," meowed Skypaw, "I really don't think these lessons are going well."
Skypaw, ever the cynic. :P

OOC: Feel free to delete this Fallen, but there is a comma after the year ^^ Never a colon. lol!
F: Seriously? O.o But... If it's something that is explaining (ie, the statement explaining the purpose of the date) then you always put a colon O.O Also, can we do apostrophes/rules of possession next? ^^
S: Sure sure ^^ Feel free to do that my friend. ^^ O.o o.O we are sub-posting...shhh don't tell the voices in my head. o.O O.o They might come out again!! O.O no...!

[Seafeather]

Manuscript

When writing a book, essay, or post you always need to use correct manuscript form. Here's how:

1: When speaking for multiple persons, always place the person who's speaking on a new line if they haven't been introduced.
Ex. Spottedwing pounced on the bird just as it started to fly away. Its wings beat furiously but to no avail.
"Hey! What'cha got there?" said a voice in the distance. It was Seastar, FrostClan's leader: she was walking this way!
"Good catch!" she said. Spottedwing's heart just glowed with pride. "Thank you!" she said and ran off to set the fresh-kill on the pile.

2: When your cat is talking in his/her mind, always put it in italics.
Ex. Seastar thought to herself, 'What am I going to do about the apprentices? They're always getting into trouble nowadays!'

3: When your character is speaking ALWAYS put quotations marks before and after the sentence ends.
Ex. "Shadowkit, don't touch that rat!" Badgerface fretted.

4: Always capitalize the first letter in a sentence, names, proper nouns, and specific places. Also capitalize the first letter after "..."
Ex. Spottedwing left for the camp.
"Here she is, Skyleaf, could you treat this wound?"
"Go to the Great Sycamore Seastar!"
"Wow...You must be really tired Oakpelt!

[Seafeather]

Spelling

How many times have I seen spelling errors in a post? Plenty. And it's quite sad when it's something so simple as "butterfly". Here are a few words that people often misspell.

They're (they are), "IvyClan. We need to make sure they're taught a lesson!" Coalheart growled.
Their (possessive), "But that's their territory! We can't go there!"
There (place), "There's something over there, Lilypetal, and I'm going to get to the bottom of it."

Were (past), They were walking through the forest when it happened.
Where (place), Silentstar leaped out from where he had been hiding.

choice (an adverb acting as a noun), The two warriors had no choice but to run.
choose (present), "Don't choose the left path," Coalheart panted as they ran.
chosen (past of choose, as in "I have chosen" or passive, as in "I was chosen"), But it was too late. Lilypetal had already chosen her path, and Coalheart had to follow.
chose (past as in 'I chose her'.) Back at camp, Seastar chose two warriors to form a search party, ready to track down her missing warriors.

lose (I will lose this game/my socks), "We can't lose him!" Lilypetal hissed as the two of them dodged around a tree root.

[/i]
loose (I had a loose tooth before it fell out), As if in answer to her, Coalheart tripped over a loose stone and clattered into a tree.

peaks (To the top of the peaks!)
piques (This piques my interest)

to (conjuntion as in "I walk to the supermarket", or beginning an infinitive "It is fun to dance in a jellyfish suit!"). Lilypetal had to get her friend out somehow.
too (used to make an addition to the previous sentence: "Sally walks to the supermarket too (or 'as well')." or as a comparative:"Too many people come here in jellyfish suits".) But he was too dizzy to run any more.
[/left]

[fαllεη •]

Possession vs. Plural

This is pretty well covered in the last section, but I promised Sea a while back that I'd write it --and besides, I want to listen to Flyleaf, even though it is past 12am. So, people!

1. Apostrophes indicate possession, not degrees of plural-ness.

[/i]anything ("The cats' eyes were watching me") so no apostrophe is required here.

WRONG: "Marys shoes are cool." (What, more than one Mary? Surely that should be 'Maries'?)
RIGHT: "Mary's shoes are cool."
This is right because we are referring to shoes that belong to Mary-- ergo, an apostrophe is required. [/ul]

2. There are exceptions to rule #1

3. You have to remember whether there is more than one owner.

[/i] or the lords'? Well, that is because the apostrophe after the 's' shows that there is more than one owner in the sentence.
If I wanted to talk about more than one person in the Mason family and their dog:
WRONG: "The Mason's dog is really nice."
ALSO WRONG: "The Masons dog is really nice."
RIGHT: "The Masons' dog is really nice."

If one person owns the dog:
WRONG: "Mr. Masons' dog..."
ALSO WRONG: "Mr. Masons dog..."
RIGHT: "Mr. Mason's dog..."[/blockquote][/blockquote][/justify]