Help needed with English grammar

[panyasan]

Hi,

For a story I am writing I need some help with English grammar, or better with abbreviations.

If you would write:

You would - is the abbreviation you'd?

We have - is the abbreviation we've?

Is there a link to a site with English grammar?

It's been 25 years since I studies English grammar, so I don't know any more.

[Distracted]

Contractions are optional. Some writers don't use them much. They do make dialogue more believable, though, and not using them can indicate a character's state of mind. I'm not familiar with any specific English grammar website, but if you do a search I'm sure you can find something useful. My main recommendation would be for you to have a native speaker beta your work. Dialogue especially is difficult to do well without knowledge of the way native speakers talk. This is done by ear and experience usually, and isn't something you can get from a website.

[Cogito]

It's been 25 years since I studies English grammar, so I don't know any more.

Evidently.



I'd say you've got the abbreviations correct for colloquial English, for what it's worth.

[putaro]

Here's a basic list:

http://grammar.about.com/od/words/a/Eng ... ctions.htm

Funny, I was going over these with my son this evening. I couldn't remember what a 'd (like he'd) really stood for.

I think I told him the wrong thing

[panyasan]

It's been 25 years since I studies English grammar, so I don't know any more.

Evidently.

But...but... I wrote this post in a hurry. Note to self: "never write a post in a hurry".

Thanks for the help everyone!

[Alelou]

Here are two sites I recommend to my students if they need extra help with something in grammar/usage:

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/quiz_list.htm

and

http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html#errors

Grammar Girl is also good at explaining this stuff in plain English. (Just google it.)

[Cogito]

I couldn't remember what a 'd (like he'd) really stood for.

It could stand for "he had" or "he would".

T'Pol asked Trip if he'd like a slice of pecan pie.

Archer said he'd been dismissed for gross incompetence.