Hi. This is my second guide for Bay Area Roleplay (check out my Drugs Guide, if you haven't) and it's about common grammar mistakes made during roleplay. I could say that this guide is for beginners, but I'd be lying. I've seen way too many "not so new" roleplayers make these simple mistakes and I'm making this guide to fix that.
Proper usage of the /me command
Bad example: /me Rocks a Nike Windbreaker.
How it looks: Zion Bell Rocks a Nike Windbreaker.
Good example: /me rocks a Nike windbreaker.
How it looks: Zion Bell rocks a Nike windbreaker.
It's like writing a book, must be nice and clean. Nobody likes capital letters coming out of nowhere. It's incorrect and looks ugly. If you're unsure about how a specific word's written, just Google it, it literally takes about 30 seconds to do that. Being an intelligent roleplayer makes a better impression.
Punctuation and capital letters
Bad example: Yo im Zion whats up bro?
How it looks: Zion Bell says: Yo im Zion whats up bro?
Good example: Yo. I'm Zion, what's up, bro?
How it looks: Zion Bell says: Yo. I'm Zion, what's up, bro?
It's very important to use periods, apostrophes, commas and capital letters properly. Always use a period when you end your character's sentence. Capital letters always follow periods, also, capital letters are used for names and locations.
Proper usage of capital letters: Carlton Heights, Queens Avenue, Nike, Adidas etc.
Commas are used to separate things when you're listing something or when you want to add a short pause to your sentence. I'll give examples for both now.
Listing things: I want a Glock, a .45, a Desert Eagle, and an M16A4.
Short pause: Listen, we gotta talk.
I've seen many people that miss apostrophes and their sentences look very unprofessional and bad. Here are some examples.
Bad example: Hey, Im about to hit the gym, its legs day today.
Good example: Hey, I'm about to hit the gym, it's legs day today.
Apostrophes are used in contractions when you want to combine two words.
Contractions
This is where a lot of people mess up and this is probably the biggest reason I'm doing this guide for you. Let's start off with the most commonly mistaken contractions.
Their, there, they're;
Their: used to describe a possession of a group of people. (e.g. Their cars looks better than ours.)
There: used to describe a location. (e.g. He's there, at the train station.)
They're: used to describe an action by a group of people. (e.g. They're going to kill me.)
It's, its;
It's: means it is. (e.g. It's cool out here.)
Its: refers to something that someone has. (e.g. I love my pet and its tail.)
Too, to;
Too: it is used to replace "also" and to describe an excess quantity of something. (e.g. I love you, too.) and (e.g. There were too many of them.)
To: (e.g. I went to the store to buy Coca Cola.)
These two aren't contractions, they're conjunctions. I won't make a new headline about them, I'll just add them right here.
Than, then;
Than: then is a conjunction used in comparisons.
Then: it has a couple of meanings, "next", "at that point in time", "on top of that". (e.g. I got home and then I had lunch.), (e.g. I'll call you then.), (e.g. It costs $756, and then there's tax too.)
Should've, should of;
The phrase should have indicates a missed obligation or opportunity in the past. In informal speech, it is contracted to should’ve, not "should of."
Bad example: You should of called me.
Good example: You should've called me.
Usage of dashes and multiple dots;
I've seen many people use (..-), (-..), (..), (--.) and so on. I'll give examples on how to use 'em properly.
Bad example: You should have called me..-
Good example: You should have called me...
Bad example: You should have called-- Oh, actually-..
Good example: You should have called me— Oh, actually... (To type the double dash, you need to use a combination of keys: Alt 0151)
I hope this was helpful. Give it a thumbs up if it was!
