Standards for Grammar / Spelling, What a Good Writer Looks out for

[Taylor]

I enjoyed reading this. I have a problem with some of these in bold. That being, "introduction sentences" and "word repitition"

I have real problems with the above. Thankyou very much Jumpman, real pleasure to read.

[Acredula]

A very nice read. I need to show this to my English teacher XD. Go major in the English language.

Anyway, about the Punctuation and Grammer section, I would like to bring up the "then" and "than" problem. It's the second most common problem out there, because Americans (and I don't know if this applies to other English-speaking countries) say the word "then" when we should be saying the word "than". Thus, after doing this five times in our life, our brain learns it that way, and we talk that way. I see it online a lot.

Words Repitition is the hardest thing for me to do. Its hard trying not to sounding like Empoleon (being the pompous penguin it is) but also not like Farfetch'd.

[kingbattlus]

jumpman has such a way with words...

however, i still disagree with the second b in STABbed. while we're still treating it like a noun or verb or adjective or whatever it is exactly we want to treat it like, it is still an acronym for same type attack bonus (which cannot be "-ed" ironically").

it looks unnatural despite the logic behind it. i'm not sure i can give as logical an explanation as to why it shouldn't have the second b but i agree with mekkah, sirspanky and hyra.

kudos for taking the time to write this out however we end up spelling it though, perhaps helpful to put everyone on the same page for editing analyses.

[Jumpman16**]

Originally Posted by Fat Acredula

A very nice read. I need to show this to my English teacher XD. Go major in the English language.

i did lol

Anyway, about the Punctuation and Grammer section, I would like to bring up the "then" and "than" problem. It's the second most common problem out there, because Americans (and I don't know if this applies to other English-speaking countries) say the word "then" when we should be saying the word "than". Thus, after doing this five times in our life, our brain learns it that way, and we talk that way. I see it online a lot.

that is a good idea, i'll add that

[Jediment]

For the grammar section, I might suggest something about ending sentences with prepositions, since it TECHNICALLY is improper grammar (though it's used so frequently in modern English it's easy to overlook it completely). It may just be my personal pet-peeve, but nevertheless professional looking articles are always nice.

[Swimrunner]

Originally Posted by Fat Phuquoph

I think it is worth mentioning something about editing existing documents, like the analyses. I've had to edit some revisions made by others because they just threw in a sentence and it disrupted the flow of the article. In some cases, there are two or three different writing styles in the same analysis, which makes it look really messy. Or to put it another way, "a camel is a horse built by committee." We don't want to be overrun with camels.

Everything else looks good. I can see this being a big help to newer contributors (and me, to be honest).

i think i'm guilty of this, although adapting your writing style to fit someone else's is rather difficult in my opinon ~_~

[Jumpman16**]

Originally Posted by Fat Phox

For the grammar section, I might suggest something about ending sentences with prepositions, since it TECHNICALLY is improper grammar (though it's used so frequently in modern English it's easy to overlook it completely). It may just be my personal pet-peeve, but nevertheless professional looking articles are always nice.

as far as im concerned pretty much anything that is conversational but not to the point of colloquial is fine with me

[Jumpman16**]

stickying this until chaos decides exactly where he wants it for future reference

[ICanBeYourHero]

What about word repetition across articles? I see "viable" used in just about every article, often multiple times in a single analysis. It seems a little over-the-top as far as word choice goes, and its casual use comes off a little awkwardly when reading.

[Great Sage**]

http://www.smogon.com/articles/grammar_standards

CAPITALIZATION

• Stats (Attack, Special Defense, etc.) are capitalized.
• Pseudo-stats (accuracy, evasion) are not capitalized.
• Types are capitalized; additionally, when a type name is directly followed by the word "type", as in "Normal-type", a hyphen is used.
• "Critical hit" is not capitalized.
• Status (paralysis, sleep, etc.) is not capitalized.
• Pseudo-status (confusion, etc.) is not capitalized.
• "Berry" is always capitalized, even when used without a specific name.
• Weather (sun, rain, etc.) is not capitalized.
• "Physical" is not capitalized. "Special" is not capitalized when not referring to a stat e.g. "Azelf has 125 base Special Attack" but "Flamethrower is a special attack". When saying something is "physically defensive" or "specially defensive", physical and special are not capitalized.
• "Defenses" is not capitalized.
• "Substitute" (when referring to the move or the doll created by using the move) is always capitalized.
• "Pokemon" (just ignore the "e" situation) is always capitalized.
• Conditions, such as "Gyarados was Thunderbolted", are capitalized.
• Any move or ability that is a single, 12-letter word consisting of two words appended with each other (Thunderpunch, Dynamicpunch, etc.) are written like so in DP: ThunderPunch, DynamicPunch, etc.
• Other abilities or attacks that consist of two words but that fit the 12-letter restriction (Sunny Day, Zen Headbutt, Mold Breaker, etc.) are written with a space in between and with both words having an initial capital letter.
• There are some exceptions to these two rules. The following are the correct way of writing the particular word:
  • DoubleSlap, SolarBeam, Superpower, Selfdestruct, Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, Tailwind, Softboiled, SmokeScreen, BubbleBeam, Lightningrod, Compoundeyes.
  • This list is not exhaustive; I'm still searching for more exceptions.
• All attacks having a dash (Double-Edge, Wake-Up Slap, X-Scissor, etc.) are written with the word after the dash also capitalized. U-turn is the only exception to this rule.
• Ho-oh is spelled Ho-Oh.
• Tiers are capitalized (Ubers, Overused, Underused, etc). The second word isn't capitalized.
• Community created terms such as "speed tier" are not capitalized, but Nintendo created terms such as "Base Power" are capitalized as they would be in-game. "speed tie" is another example of a community created term.
• Set names are capitalized in set comments (Physical Attacker, Nasty Plot Sweeper, etc.).
• "Nature" is not capitalized (Adamant nature, not Adamant Nature).
• Pokemon roles such as sweeper, phazer, staller, special wall, etc. are not capitalized.
• When referring to the combination of Rest and Sleep Talk, use RestTalk.
• "Suspect" is not capitalized when referring to a Pokemon (Garchomp is a suspect.), but it is capitalized when referring to the Suspect metagame.
• "Dual screens" is not capitalized.
• "Bulky" is not capitalized when it prefixes a type (bulky Water-type).

GRAMMAR

• Smogon uses the serial comma (the comma before "and" in a list). (I went to the store with Bob, Jane, and Mike.).
• For unbracketed asides, use the em dash and no spaces (—). (Mareep—that is to say, the entire evolution family—is extremely cute.)
• Hidden Power Type, not Hidden Power [Type].
• The plural of a Pokemon is identical to the singular of that Pokemon. One Blissey, two Blissey. Never two Blisseys.
• OHKOes as the verb form (Salamence OHKOes Alakazam.) and OHKOs as a plural noun (Salamence scores many OHKOs.). OHKOed is the past tense (Salamence OHKOed Alakazam).
• Always append 's to a noun when signifying a singular possessive (My Latias's Soul Dew) or plural possessive that doesn't end in s (Lucario's Swords Dance), and simply a ' when signifying a plural possesive for a word that ends in s (All Latios' Draco Meteor).
• When listing multiple types, use a hyphen after each type (Water-, Flying-, and Normal-types).
• When listing effectiveness of attacks, the number goes before the x ("Earthquake is 2x super effective on Lucario") + ("Ice Beam is 4x super effective on Salamence").
• Pokemon are referred to as "people". Meaning, you use the pronoun "who" instead of "which" or "that".
• Smogon uses the American English spelling of words (favor, minimized, maximized, etc.).
• "Outspeed" is a term generally accepted by the Pokemon community, meaning "to move first in battle".
• The past tense of "to EV" is "EVed".

SPELLING

• "Super effective" is neither hyphenated nor capitalized.
• Rotom and Deoxys formes, not forms.
• The standards for forme names are as follows: Wormadam-G, Wormadam-S, Shaymin-S, Deoxys-S, Deoxys-A, Deoxys-D, and Rotom-A (where A is C for the lawn mower, H for the toaster, W for the washer, F for the refrigerator, S for the fan, and A for the five formes in general).
• Use "switch-in" when referring to a Pokemon that often switches in on another (Scizor is a common switch-in to Latias.).
• Do not use a hyphen when using "switch in" as a verb.

ABBREVIATIONS

• The standard term for the double battle metagame is 2v2.
• Use DPP as an abbreviation of Diamond / Pearl / Platinum.
• "an OHKO", not "a OHKO" (pronounce it oh-aitch-kay-oh and it will make sense).

[Aldaron*]

This is very minor, but I had this question before: OHKO, and 2HKO are always capitalized.

[chaos**]

Thanks, this is helpful.

[makiri]

Awesome, I know people do their own thing so uniform capitalization rules will help keep everything the same.

[Max]

I've always capitalized things like Sleep and Burn—I guess I should stop.

Good job, Great Sage

EDIT: I really like to capitalize stuff like Paralysis though; can't we just keep it like that? :/

[Mekkah**]

Will there be a bot for this?

[david stone]

This whole time statuses weren't supposed to be capitalized... Hmmm

[Blue Kirby]

Yeah, I consistently capitalized status effects. Thanks for this, I'll definitely be referring to it a lot.

[X-Act]

I have to ask this.

Why is everyone editing words such as "Thunderpunch" as "ThunderPunch" in the DP analyses? I'm sure they are not spelled that way in the games.

[Jibaku*]

Originally Posted by Fat X-Act

I have to ask this.

Why is everyone editing words such as "Thunderpunch" as "ThunderPunch" in the DP analyses? I'm sure they are not spelled that way in the games.

To answer your question, I opened up my English Diamond and looked into Electivire

It's spelled ThunderPunch, not Thunderpunch

[Mekkah**]

If we're going to stick to the game, alright, but I do think SolarBeam and ThunderPunch look really stupid. That said, good job putting up a list.

[Jumpman16**]

i dont have a problem with "viable" or any other word that seems to be popular over a string of analyses, it's not pretentious or an otherwise unusual word. as far as multiple times in a single analysis is concerned that would indeed fall under the umbrella of word repetition

something i was thinking of addressing is beginning sentences with conjunctions like "and" or "but"...i 100% do not have a problem with this if it's not overdone. this seems to be a popular nitpick of those who are looking to find something—anything—wrong with an analysis, and i suggest those of you who i am addressing—you know who you are—look for something more structural

[chaos**]

ThunderPunch and SolarBeam are correct. They changed the capitalization in DP.

[Taylor]

Thankyou for this Great Sage, I will be sticking to this from now on.

[Dragontamer]

A couple of questions:

What about Pokemon? When Pokemon refers to the game, it probably should be capitalized, but what about the creatures? Like... Azelf is a pokemon, or is it Azelf is a Pokemon?

And of course, the "obvious" ones should be listed, I don't think there is a problem with this list getting to long yet so might as well err on the "too many are listed" side.

*All attacks should be capitalized.
*All pokemon names should be capitalized.

Perhaps attacks consisting of two or more words should be specifically capitalized in PascalCase? IE: SolarBeam, SunnyDay, etc. etc.

[Great Sage**]

I'll add in the part about "Pokemon". As for PascalCase, also sure. I'm not going to do attacks or Pokemon names, though, because of the extremity to which they are obvious.