The Grammar Query Thread!

[silverfang]

Just reading this thread...I find myself grinning at myself at a funny thought.
English is not my native language and although I live for a score of years in a country that speaks English I find myself making grammar errors with common used words like sense....since,a....an and a surprize or was it....surprise when to use a c or a s and so on.Much depends on a British-English and American-English gramar.
What is correct to use and which not!Which words or phraises to use in the theme of a tale or which ones not to use.
In my feeble attempts,while attempting to write I get easy confused using the correct grammar an/or spelling!

I often wonder if there's reasonable prised editing software out there for those who just write for personal enjoyment on diverse forums.

[juzzza]

Is it:

Who's message are you willing to listen to?

or

Whose message are you willing to listen to?

Because Microsoft is telling me it is the latter... which just seems weird to me!

Please help.

[Holbrook]

Is it:

Who's message are you willing to listen to?

or

Whose message are you willing to listen to?

Because Microsoft is telling me it is the latter... which just seems weird to me!

Please help.

Who's short form of "who is" or "who has"

So...Who is/has message are you willing to listen to... Does not make much sense.

Whose can be used as a determiner introducing a direct question or indirect question, as in whose idea was it to come here?

Or as a question pronoun, as in whose is this jacket?

Used to show something/ someone belongs to or is connected with.

So it's whose....

[juzzza]

Sweet.

Thanks H

[Holbrook]

Sweet.

Thanks H

You're welcome.

[Sir Yorkshire]

I'm not sure if this has already been answered, but please show me which is correct...
This is Jesus's life.

or

This is Jesus' life.

Thanks in advance!

Just to clarify, where do I put the apostraphe(sp?) ?

[Dawnstorm]

Both are correct. It's a question of style, not grammar. Your safest bet is to look up the style sheet of your (prospective) publisher (or - if they don't provide one, just browse their books).

[Expendable]

I'm not sure if this has already been answered, but please show me which is correct...
This is Jesus's life.

or

This is Jesus' life.

Thanks in advance!

Just to clarify, where do I put the apostraphe(sp?) ?

In America, it's "Jesus' life".

[TayTootje]

Maybe a slightly weird question. But when instead of writing about male and female, you write about three different sexes, you can´t use he/she... what do you use?

[Holbrook]

Maybe a slightly weird question. But when instead of writing about male and female, you write about three different sexes, you can´t use he/she... what do you use?

"it" or give the third sex a name and use "the name" as you would he/she etc....

[Expendable]

Maybe a slightly weird question. But when instead of writing about male and female, you write about three different sexes, you can´t use he/she... what do you use?

Not as weird as you might think.

Holbrook's right, but doesn't mention (neither did you) if this third sex was an absence of sex - neither male or female. Usually that's called a neuter.

What'll help is figuring out what part of the reproductive cycle your third sex is responsible for.

I have seen 'ix' used in an online forum. It's not he, it's not she, it's not it, it's ix.

[Dawnstorm]

Ian McDonald: River of Gods: "Yt" (or "Yd"? I think, "Yt") for neuter.

Paul diPhilippo: some short story I can't remember the name of: "heesh" for "hermaphrodite".

I can't remember any instance of "mutable gender" (meaning you can decide biochemically what gender you are).

[BrianC]

If it is an actual third gender, and not either indeterminate or hermaphroditic (which means simply both masculine and feminine at the same time, and for which there really is not a truly appropriate pronoun in English--it seems churlish to refer to a hermaphrodite as 'it'), then I believe that you would have to invent a third pronoun. 'Yd' or 'yg' or anything else really is going to be acceptable since it is an entirely made up word.

On an aside, don't forget about The Left Hand of Darkness, but of course there were still only two base genders in that story. And I sort of recall an episode in one of the Star Trek series, not even sure which one, involving a species in which there was an 'agent gender' whose sexual function was to act as a carrier of sperm from the male to the female (or something like that. Hmm, this is really more of a hazy inkling than a memory. Does this episode really exist?). Don't quite remember the pronoun useage though.

[TayTootje]

Well, then we would have to come up three new words, because there are no male or female, there are three completely different sexes...

But doesn't the story become difficult to read when you use thing like ix or yd or whatever. E.g

Namii got up and swam towards ix friend. Yd asked ix if ix wanted to come along.

That would be very confusing I think.

What if we just use 'he' for all the sexes?

[Rocket Sheep]

If the reader would consider the characters to have more in common with human males then "he" would be a better choice than "it". "It" feels cold and might not involve the reader as much.

Tell me... does it take three to tango in this world?