Grammar, Capitalisation, Canon issues, etc

[luinrina]

Molly, I just checked PS: He Who Must Not Be Named. "You-Know-Who" is hyphenated and capitalised. And in the British editions, it's also "wizarding", not capitalised.

Ari, GoF offers "wand-maker" in the chapter The Weighing of the Wands.

Hope that helped.

[Equinox Chick]

Ari, GoF offers "wand-maker" in the chapter The Weighing of the Wands.

However, chapter twenty-four of DH is called THE WANDMAKER and Ollivander is referred to as the wandmaker.

Carole
xxx

[padfoot_returns]

A l l r i g h t or A l r i g h t?

So. I always thought "alright" was okay to use but then I was looking at the PI tips and they told me when in doubt, check dictionary.com. So I did. And it said there that although using "alright" is becoming more widely accepted in writing, it is not grammatically correct. This what they said on the matter:

Which is correct - alright or all right?

It is not all right to use alright in place of all right in standard American English, even though there are similar contractions like "already," "almost," and "altogether." However, alright is coming into acceptance in British English. Alright as an adverb meaning 'just, exactly' is considered obsolete. The one-word spelling alright appeared about 75 years after all right itself had reappeared after disappearing for 400 years. Alright is less frequently used than all right but is found in journalistic and business writing. All right is used to express acquiescence or assent and also in predicative use as 'satisfactory, acceptable', and as an adjective phrase (often hyphenated) to indicate approval.

So I stopped using it and even changed every "alright" I saw into "all right" when beta-ing. But I see it so much around the boards and in the stories I read that I'm starting to doubt whether or not it's okay to use. Help?

xxRiham

EDIT: Thank you for the super fast reply, Terri! <3 And oooh, yes. Very insightful post. Thanks Akay!

[mudbloodproud]

When it comes to seeing a story with alright in it, I always request it be changed to all right. Alright isn't in the dictionary I bought upon becoming a mod so, I don't accept it.

I also request authors to change ok to okay. Though again, OK does appear in the books.

When in doubt, always use all right and okay. Better safe than sorry.

[Padfoot Patronus]

Riham - Check post 42 in this thread. It's got some really good insight into this topic.

[A.H.]

Omniscient and head hopping, two of my least favorite things in the world.

I started to make a thread on this in GFD but realized it's a small question I have and probably better suited for here, and now that I'm here I feel like it's too broad a subject and probably should have it's own thread for discussion, but I'd really like insight into my one problem, and basically, if I'm not asking in the right spot, well, blame my indecisiveness. >.<

So, I started a story with omniscient. The first 800/900 words were more prominently from Sirius' PoV, but also dipping into others', and now that I've got the ball rolling on the story I've basically just got it from Sirius' PoV only. Is this in any way, shape, or form acceptable? I've read a lot of good books that successfully do this, staying prominently in one character's PoV but occasionally going to another, but I can just never use this PoV right and will most likely end up with that confusing head hopping syndrome, and want to stay with Sirius now. Do I need to edit the first part? Or is one passage of 800/900 words all right to leave?

>.<

Edit: Ha ha, wow, and I considered going there but since this wasn't rejected, figured this was the place to look. That's sort of weird. lol. -hugs fate and Akay- Thank you for both responding and pointing me there.

[Padfoot Patronus]

This is a very personal opinion . I'm thinking it'd be better if you edited it. Since you said, 'basically just got it from Sirius' PoV only' I'm thinking something from another POV would at least attract my attention unnecessarily to the narrative, in other words meaning, it'll break the flow. Unless it is what you mainly use throughout. I love Lord of the Rings but even in those books, I have to snap back when the focus changes from one character to another, because sometimes I'm so engrossed in one of them, that a sudden shift will make me raise my brow.

But sometimes that I have inadvertently written in this same style, it was because I didn't actually realise it and it was basically my incompetancy -cringes- You, on the other hand, know that you have actually brought in another person's POV, so maybe if you have written it in a good enough way that will not confuse your reader, then go ahead with it. See post 91 on this, interesting suggestion on how to carry this style.

Is it a one-shot? I'd prefer to read something consistently with Sirius' POV then. If it is chaptered, there is chance that you may have to introduce a different character's thoughts even later on, and so it can work.

Actually, it can work both ways. It'd be good to have it read by a beta so that you won't be in doubt anymore as to whether (if you decide to leave the piece unedited) it is pulled off sufficiently. Otherwise, it is only 800/900 words

-Akay-

[Equinox Chick]

When it comes to seeing a story with alright in it, I always request it be changed to all right. Alright isn't in the dictionary I bought upon becoming a mod so, I don't accept it.

My dictionary - a rather weighty tome - ( Chambers English Dictionary) has this to say about 'alright'

alright - An alternative, less acceptable, spelling of all right.

So it is less acceptable, however it has made the Chambers dictionary here in Ye Olde Britain - so does that make it valid?

On the subject of 'gotten' (Pet Peeve alert), it only has a side-entry under get and is described as a US word. There is an obselete noun 'gotten' which refers to offspring (all those bibilcal begats spring to mind.)

*closes dictionary and hurries to get a life*

[Sainyn Swiftfoot]

Has Imperius every been used as a verb in the books? If so, how? He Imperius'ed her? He Imperio'd her?

[Inverarity]

Has Imperius every been used as a verb in the books? If so, how? He Imperius'ed her? He Imperio'd her?

I'm pretty sure that Imperius, Crucio, and Avada Kedavra/AK being used as verbs is entirely a fanon invention. That said, it does seem like an informal coinage that wizards might use.

Personally, I'd go with Imperiused and Crucioed, which sound most natural in English. "Imperioed" sounds like a butchered hash of Latin/English inconsistent with how Latin verbs are usually Anglicized. I've seen "Cruciated" occasionally, but that sounds like an overly formal variant. And I think only younger (possibly Muggle-born) wizards would really say "Avada Kedavraed," much less "AKed." (And older wizards probably wince when they hear any of these usages.)