[P:-1150][P:-1150]
Post by Bengal Brat on Apr 16, 2009 18:35:46 GMT -5
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There, Their, & They're
What's the difference?
There, Their, & They're
What's the difference?
There -- There refers to a general location. One easy way to remember what it means is to mentally erase the letter 't.' Without it, the word 'here' is formed, which points you in the direction of a place.
Ex: Molly heard a howl and raced in the direction that it came from to find her friend, Lilly. When asked if she had found something good to eat, the she-wolf said, "Yes; I left the deer carcass over there, in the bushes."
Their -- Their shows ownership of something. There are two ways to remember the definition of their; erase the 't' and get the word 'heir,' which means you will inherit, or someday own, something. You can also find the word 'I.'
Ex: Stewart glanced at his mares, and shook his head. It was their own fault that they caught the flu. They were the ones who stayed out in the rain the other day.
They're -- They're is the abbreviation of the two words 'they' and 'are.' Therefore, they're means 'they are.' Not that hard to remember, huh?
Ex: The young colt stumbled after his mother as she and a few other mares headed toward the edge of the clearing. Then, a voice rang out from behind him. "Stop, my son; they're only going to scout out a new territory for our herd to reside."
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A & An
Which one to use...
Which one to use...
A -- The appropriate time to use the word 'a' in a sentence is before a word that begins with a consonant (which is any letter except a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y). The only catch is that the consonant actually has to make a sound, like the letter 'd' in 'dog' does. Therefore, you would not use 'a' before the word 'hour,' because the 'h' is silent.
Ex: Fred stamped his foot on the ground before taking off running. When he was going fast enough, the zebra cleared a fallen tree without any trouble.
An -- It is appropriate to use the word 'an' before a word beginning with a vowel or a silent consonant. If the consonant can actually be heard (like 'r' in 'river'), then you do not put the word an in front of it.
Ex: Shirley nosed her way through the tall grass, and poked around a nearby oak tree; today was the day that she would finally explore the perimeter of her territory. She had such an amazing pace that she toured the entire area in just a few hours.
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Punctuation Marks
What goes where?
What goes where?
Exclamation Point (!) -- An exclamation point is a mark that you put at the end of a sentence to show excitement and/or surprise. It looks like this: !
Ex: "That kill was absolutely amazing!" she cried.
Question Mark (?) -- A question mark is a mark that you put at the end of a sentence to ask a question. It looks like this: ?
Ex: The brute came forward and yelled, "What's going on here?"
Period (.) -- A period is a mark that you put at an end of a sentence that doesn't show either excitement or ask a question. It looks like this: .
Ex: An incredibly radiant mare stepped forward and batted her eyelashes at the muscular stallion.
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Past, Present, & Future
Which one is it?
Which one is it?
Past Tense -- If you are writing in past tense, then what you are referring to has already happened. Some phrases that can often indicate that a writing piece takes place in the past include was, yesterday, last year, a few hours ago, a while back, and when I/she/he was younger.
Ex: When Shanook was a pup, his father was anything but nice to him.
Present Tense -- If you are writing in present tense, then you are referring to what is happening at that precise moment. Some phrases that can often indicate that a writing piece takes place in the present include was trying (or something along those lines), currently, is, and now.
Ex: "I'm watching that cat over there; he's jumping off of that log... and now he is sprinting across the clearing," said the stag.
Future -- If you are writing in the future, then you are referring to what is going to happen. Some phrases that can often indicate that a writing piece takes place in the future include will and is/are going to.
Ex: "Tomorrow, I will go and apologize to Bracket for being mean to him," said the filly.
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I was bored, and felt like I haven't been doing my job as a tutor, anyway, so I wrote this up.