Question for the editors out there!

[Heibi]

And "then" there's the infamous use of "then" when they should use "THAN". The old "I'm better then you." sentence. And other horrible uses.

[False Dawn]

Originally Posted by tritoch

I know some words that use "an" instead of "a" and yet, "an" makes it sound funny whenever someone pronounces it. I was asking how to write it not speak it.

Such as?

Both those cases are where you would use a because they both start with the long "u" (trust "u" to be awkward). If you break it into phonetic syllables:

Ugandan = You-Gan-Dan
Unanimous = You-Na-Nim-Us (roughly like that, anyway)

Both words are said as if there is a Y in front of the U, making it a consonant sound. Whereas words like uneducated, for example, break down into - Un-Ed-You-Kate-Id (roughly). Same with hero = Here-O, whereas heir = Air.

Rules for this? Well, I'm sure there are some. I don't know the steadfast iron rules though, or when they can be broken. I just know how it works within speech (and as we are dealing with speech in subtitling, I'd say that dictates our grammatical tendencies more than what you might call "written" grammar. Personal preference maybe...)

Originally Posted by Heibi

And "then" there's the infamous use of "then" when they should use "THAN". The old "I'm better then you." sentence. And other horrible uses.

Editors who don't know that rule should be shot.

[Medalist]

then and than..how simple....in context - then = a transition | than = comparing (rather) [particle] - it's easy to depict that way if you think about it like that. Common 2nd grade english knowledge

[Heibi]

Originally Posted by Uchikatsu

then and than..how simple....in context - then = a transition | than = comparing (rather) [particle] - it's easy to depict that way if you think about it like that. Common 2nd grade english knowledge

Unfortunately, we see them used incorrectly all the time.

[ths1138]

Another common mistake I've often found (for some weird reason) is the mix-up between "its" and "it's" as well as "your" and "you're". Some people just don't seem to realise one is a contraction and another is a possessive. -_-;;

ths1138

[False Dawn]

There, their and they're...

Ah there's just too many cock-ups to name!

[TheFluff]

It's is not, it isn't ain't, and it's it's, not its, if you mean it is. If you don't, it's its. Then too, it's hers. It isn't her's. It isn't our's either. It's ours, and likewise yours and theirs.

A good reminder to avoid common errors. It's actually not that hard to dechipher, just keep track of the commas.

[AK-kun]

And inverted commas.

One thing to take note: 'It's' means 'it is', while 'its' refers to something that belongs to 'it'. Basic rule.

[ScR3WiEuS]

...
why are we discussing primary school english

edit: and don't go like "because some editors don't know," or "some editors make those mistakes"
in my eyes, those people aren't editors.
of course, everybody is entitled to some small mistakes, but because of negligence, not lack of knowledge

[stfu]

Mistakes in comma usage are more common. Most of them are usually made in an attempt to accomodate for pauses. An editing quirk I'm kind've curious about are the different preferences when a sentence gets split for timing. I've seen it handled a variety of ways.

[Ensign Shiro Amada]

Originally Posted by stfu

Mistakes in comma usage are more common. Most of them are usually made in an attempt to accomodate for pauses. An editing quirk I'm kind've curious about are the different preferences when a sentence gets split for timing. I've seen it handled a variety of ways.

When there is a line broken in two for timing purposes, I like to use no end-punctuation on the first line and just start the next line lower case. When there's a noticeable break in speech at the break (even if it's just a fraction of a second), I like to use ellipsis. To me, it doesn't make sense to add arbitrary punctuation (like a comma or a hyphen) when two lines separated simply because the original was too long to have on screen at once.

As a side note, there is no "kind've" (I suppose that, though it doesn't make any sense, it would mean 'kind have'). What you meant to say was 'kind of'.

[False Dawn]

As a timer and editor, I'm a fan of the all-ellipsis approach because it reads better. The viewer always knows what's coming, whereas no punctuation feels like a drop into nothingness, rather than preparing them for the rest of the sentence. In my opinion, though, having no punctuation at the end is better than having a comma to finish because that just looks ugly.

[tritoch]

Originally Posted by False Dawn

As a timer and editor, I'm a fan of the all-ellipsis approach because it reads better. The viewer always knows what's coming, whereas no punctuation feels like a drop into nothingness, rather than preparing them for the rest of the sentence. In my opinion, though, having no punctuation at the end is better than having a comma to finish because that just looks ugly.

It looks ugly >,>

[False Dawn]

Originally Posted by tritoch

It looks ugly >,>

My face has suitably cracked into a smile ^,^

[Medalist]

Well correct editing is always good for those people who can't speak english now. Being able to read it is just help. If everyone was native english speakers...who have learned all the grammar rules and spelling...no one would need any punctuation or capitalization in a sentence... since I guarantee some time or another or even on irc no one uses correct spelling and grammar >.>

[chaos4ever]

Originally Posted by Uchikatsu

Being able to read it is just help. If everyone was native english speakers...who have learned all the grammar rules and spelling...no one would need any punctuation or capitalization in a sentence...

I disagree. Having a sentence punctuation helps organize sentences to make it easier to read, even for native speakers. It sure beats having to sit down and parse sentences that would otherwise make reading much, much smoother. Granted, people would suggest splitting it into shorter sentences, but it would severely cut down on the flexibility on writing styles in English. Punctuation also avoids confusion. I'm sure there are examples in English involving modifiers, but I'll just categorize it with the parsing scenario just for the sake of my argument .

[...] since I guarantee some time or another or even on irc no one uses correct spelling and grammar >.>

Sadly, this is very true, but mostly with the crowds you find on the internet.

[ScR3WiEuS]

sadly? what's wrong with that?
not everybody has the patience to write perfect english
when you're having a conversation on IRC...

[tritoch]

Atleast get the punctuations right. Nobody will mind the mispellings but putting in the wrong punctuation makes the sentence look like crap.

[monster]

Question: Is it

stfu and tritoch's posts

or

stfu's and tritoch's posts

[Cythraul]

Depends on what you want to say. "stfu and tritoch's posts" would mean the posts stfu and tritoch have made together, while "stfu's and tritoch's posts" is short for "stfu's posts and tritoch's posts"

Which reminds me of something ScR3WiEuS posted earlier in the thread. I guess it goes like this: "How do I encoded xvids?" is to encoders what <questions asked in this thread> is to editors. We have threads of the first kind so why not the latter?