#grammar stuff

I had no idea people were so argumentative about the Oxford comma. Also just, the arguments seem dumb? Its all punctuation. As long as its making your idea clear, then it doesn't matter how you punctuate.

​Yeah it's frankly a pretty silly hill to die on, given it literally doesn't matter unless you're at university or work at a journalism / news place etc. or your publisher has a fixed style guide (in which case, that's why they have editors lol).

Hey Nonnie!

Well, that's a new one for me, and it's something I've honestly never thought much of before this post I contributed on yesterday (one of Lynne's rules directly opposes what I've been taught). You may not realise I'm from Australia, so I use British English grammar rules, rules that have been pretty harshly stamped into my head over the course of my uni degree's and unfortunately I can't shake them 🤣.

Here is a direct quote from grammarly of all places that can answer this pretty succinctly:

American English and British English differ in the way they use quotation marks. American English uses double quotation marks (“ ”) for quotes and reserves single quotation marks (‘ ’) for quotes within quotes. In British English, the convention is the opposite. Another difference is that in American English, periods and commas go before closing quotation marks. In British English, they go after the closing quotation mark. 

So there you go! Over here, it's single quotation marks (inverted commas) and we only use double for quotations within quotations (in creative writing that would just be dialogue within dialogue).

I'm glad you're enjoying my writing!! Come back and ask me more, I'm always happy to answer ❤❤❤

Oh no, I don’t find that mean at all, can’t imagine who would! (Well, yes I can, but it ain’t me 😎 #I’m a cool cat)

So, it depends - have I been pronouncing "SPN” incorrectly?

If I’m wrong and it’s supposed to be pronounced “SPIN”, then you’re correct, “a SPN [a.k.a. “SPIN”] story” would be right.

But! If it’s pronounced how *I* thought, it would be like “Ehss - Pee - Inn”, saying the individual letters, so since it kicks off with a vowel sound, “an” is  what works. Another example would be something like “an FBI agent”, because that is pronounced “Eff - Bee - Eye”.

Contaction, if you don't quite remember what that word means, it basically what we call shortened words like 'don't', 'can't' 'I'll' and 'we'll'.

Contractions are good, but don't use them when they would take away from a sentence, for example:

Do not turn 'I will not leave you!'

You're wary of possible scams not weary. Unless of course you mean you're tired of them. In that case, carry on. Sincerely,

infinitive: lie (to recline)

simple present: lie/lies (He lies down when he gets tired.)

present participle: lying (She’s lying on the floor right now.)

simple past: lay (I lay in bed all day yesterday.)

past participle: lain (I have lain in many beds throughout my life.)

^^^these conjugations also apply to “lying with” (in the biblicial sense) or “lying in wait.”

infinitive: lie (to mislead or deceive)

simple present: lie/lies (I lie about my age.)

present participle: lying (I’m lying through my teeth.)

simple past: lied (I lied to him.)

past participle: lied (You’ve lied to me for the last time.)

infinitive: lay (to put or place)

simple present: lay/lays (She lays her head on my shoulder.)

present participle: laying (I’m laying the chair down right here.)

simple past: laid (I laid the blanket on top of him.)