User blog:Thantosiet/A Few Writing Tips

Being here I've noticed a few recurring issues with new users. I mean both Wiki Ops and general writing, but right now I'm going to focus on the writing because I earned this English degree, dangit, and I'm going to use it!

I'll probably update this in the future.

Capitalization
Apparently to some people this is an all-or-nothing game. Capitalization should be used:

1) At the beginning of a sentence.

2) For proper nouns--names or titles of people, places or objects.

3) For every important word in a title (you can skip "the", "or" and "and" unless they're at the beginning of said title)

It should NOT be:

1) Used For Every Single Word In A Sentence, Like This: It's Really Annoying, Frankly, And A Pain To Fix.

2) TURNED INTO CAPS LOCK, WHICH IS THE INTERNET EQUIVALENT OF SHOUTING.

3) ignored entirely. it looks sloppy. this is not a tumblr post, this is part of a story you are trying to tell.

Punctuation
1) It is "word-period-space-new word," not "word-period-new word" or "word-space-period-new word." This goes for all of the other punctuation, except dashes--they do their own thing.

2) If you want a colon in the title (Power Rangers: Example), cool. If you don't, cool. Don't use semicolons. Just don't.

3) If your sentence ends with a period or comma, the quotation marks go outside it. "Like this." If your sentence ends with a colon or semicolon, they go outside, "like this": If your sentence ends with a question mark, it goes with whichever phrase is the question--if the words inside the quotation marks are the question, it goes there. If not, outside.

Spelling
If the word you are using is NOT a made-up word, and a red squiggly line appears beneath it, you've probably spelled it wrong. Right-click on the word and you'll get a dropdown menu with some different spelling suggestions.

Commonly Misspelled Words on This Wiki
1) Villain. Not "Villian."

2) Rangers. Not "Rangeres."

3) Series. Not "Serie." I know it looks plural but it works for both.

4) Silver. Not "Sliver."

5) Portrayed. Not "Protrayed."

6) Destroy. Not "Destory."

7) First. Not "Frist."

Other
They're = They are, as in "They are up to something."

Their = Belongs to them, as in "Their boat is missing."

There = A slightly distant location, as in "He ran over there."

Its = Belongs to it, as in "Its boat is missing."

It's = It is, as in "It is annoyed at the boat thief."

Its' = Not a word.

Witch = A magic-user like Rita Reuplsa.

Which = Which one, as in "Which of these two is the boat thief?"

Wich = Not a word either.

Canon = An official text--the actual Power Rangers show is our "canon."

Cannon = A really big gun.