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Writing Advice Thread

Discussion in 'Fanfic Discussion' started by Halt, Jan 18, 2018.

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  1. ScottPress

    ScottPress The Horny Sovereign –§ Prestigious §– DLP Supporter

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    Check threadmarks, there's one called "descriptive writing".
     
  2. Download

    Download Auror ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    Which is correct?

    He started sipping on the few spoonful’s of sweet, chocolate flavoured thick shake left in the glass.

    or

    He started sipping on the few spoonful of sweet, chocolate flavoured thick shake left in the glass.

    or

    He started sipping on the few spoonfuls of sweet, chocolate flavoured thick shake left in the glass.

    Word is stuck in a loop telling me that 1 and 2 are wrong and to change it to the other. But 3 seems more correct to me as it's plural and "sweet, chocolate flavoured thick shake" is not a possession of the spoonful.
     
  3. Mr. Mixed Bag

    Mr. Mixed Bag Seventh Year

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    I could be wrong because I'm not necessarily the best with grammar, but I would think 3 is correct for the reasons you said. It is kind of a strange sentence with probably one more adjective than it needs which might be what's tripping up your autocorrect, but I'm pretty sure the third is grammatically correct.
     
  4. Download

    Download Auror ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    Strangely, Word straight up thinks "spoonfuls" isn't a word, and wants me to correct to spoonful's or spoonful. It's not just the Australian English dictionary as changing to US English says it's wrong too.
     
  5. MonkeyEpoxy

    MonkeyEpoxy The Cursed Child DLP Supporter

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    MW online here says spoonsful and also spoonfuls.

    The spell-checker here on chrome doesn't like spoonfuls, and doesn't have a problem with spoonsful. While reading it, spoonsful does read a bit better.

    https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spoonful
     
  6. ScottPress

    ScottPress The Horny Sovereign –§ Prestigious §– DLP Supporter

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    MS Word isn't the arbiter of correct spelling. A spoonful is a noun and spoonfuls is a correct plural form of it. Apostrophe+s as plural is used with numbers (1's and 0's) and I think when you write single letters (dot the i's and cross the t's) but in most other cases, apostrophe+s indicates possession, not the plural, and if you give in to MS Word and write spoonful's, you better be meaning that something belongs to that spoonful.

    Your first example is a plague among many English speakers and it shreds my soul every time I see it because it just looks so incredibly obviously wrong.
     
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    Download Auror ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    I wasn't pretending it was.
     
  8. ScottPress

    ScottPress The Horny Sovereign –§ Prestigious §– DLP Supporter

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    I suppose my post does come off unnecessarily combative, that's my bad.
     
  9. dnemes

    dnemes Muggle

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    I feel, that all three versions create a strange, internally inconsistent image in my head, because sipping on something implies (for me) that it's happening with regards to something mostly full, and not the last spoonfuls of it.
     
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