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Welcome to the Grammar Prose Workshop v7! We've decided to revive and revamp this project in order to encourage more users to contribute to Smogon through GP checking analyses and articles. This workshop is where users can turn to learn more about the process known as Grammar and Prose, commonly referred to as "GP". This particular facet of Smogon handles the editing of written content to ensure that it is grammatically correct before going on-site. There are several areas where grammar checking is needed, including the following:
Areas Where GP Is Needed
Please keep in mind that amchecks are currently not allowed on The Flying Press articles and Social Media Spotlights due to their time sensitive nature, but you are welcome to practice on analyses in the C&C forum!
Starting your GP Journey
Before being accepted as an official member of the GP team, you'll obviously need to prove that you have what it takes to fit the bill. The best way to show your skills here is to do what we call amchecks, or amateur checks. A full guide for joining the team can be found here.
The first step to joining the team is by learning our standards through this GP workshop, where you can practice GP standards and other grammar rules that you’d need to fix as part of your amchecks.
Learning GP Standards and Grammar Rules
Our rules may feel difficult at first, but we have key resources that you should reference when doing checks.
Example GP Check with Explanations
The comma before 'but' is added here because the clause after it is independent. As explained in fleur's notes:
As explained above, STAB can't be used on its own. The type name also can't be used on its own (without -type at the end) when talking about moves, so instead of 'a Water STAB move', we can change it to 'a Water-type STAB move.'
The term super effective / super effectively does not use any capital letters or hyphens, so look out for this example and super-effectively, both of which are incorrect.
This sentence is a good example of when a GPer would place a comment. From the GP standards, we know that using "Basculegion" without any suffix is incorrect. However, it isn't readily apparent whether the author is referring to Basculegion-M or -F, so we should ask the author or QC team for clarification.
It is also worth noting that for regional formes, they are formatted with the region first and differ from the PS teambuilder. The GP standard is Alolan Ninetales / Galarian Slowking / Hisuian Samurott not Ninetales-Alola.
The comma before 'but' here also uses the same rule as the first sentence change. 'Its lower Base Power means that it's worse at breaking through other Pokemon' works as a standalone without depending on the other part.
Note that Base Power does use capital letters.
Time to Practice!
Below are some exercises that contain several errors. Test yourself here first if you'd like by providing GP editions of these examples to correct where they are wrong. Some have more identifiable mistakes than others, and some may need to be completely reworded. To receive feedback, simply provide your corrections as a response to this thread!
Welcome to the Grammar Prose Workshop v7! We've decided to revive and revamp this project in order to encourage more users to contribute to Smogon through GP checking analyses and articles. This workshop is where users can turn to learn more about the process known as Grammar and Prose, commonly referred to as "GP". This particular facet of Smogon handles the editing of written content to ensure that it is grammatically correct before going on-site. There are several areas where grammar checking is needed, including the following:
Areas Where GP Is Needed
Contributions & Corrections
Commonly abbreviated as C&C, this is the part of the site where Pokemon analyses and articles that dictate or explain relevant information for the many generations and tiers are written. The GP phase happens after the QC (Quality Control) phase, which fine-tunes the competitive quality of the content. After an analysis has received all its Quality Control checks (usually indicated by QC 1/1 or QC 2/2), the writer will change the thread tag to Copyediting, which means that it's time for the writeup to go through GP, usually consisting of one or two checks. After the writer of the analysis has implemented the GP checks, the analysis is generally ready for upload.
Commonly abbreviated as C&C, this is the part of the site where Pokemon analyses and articles that dictate or explain relevant information for the many generations and tiers are written. The GP phase happens after the QC (Quality Control) phase, which fine-tunes the competitive quality of the content. After an analysis has received all its Quality Control checks (usually indicated by QC 1/1 or QC 2/2), the writer will change the thread tag to Copyediting, which means that it's time for the writeup to go through GP, usually consisting of one or two checks. After the writer of the analysis has implemented the GP checks, the analysis is generally ready for upload.
The Flying Press
The Flying Press releases individual articles about a variety of topics relating to Smogon, from Pokemon spotlights to tournament coverage to PS! room overviews. Note that the GP standards for The Flying Press are more relaxed than in C&C. Also, unlike C&C, The Flying Press's writing workshop is not public; you must have permission to view it, which is usually only given through having an article approved in the submission phase or becoming part of the official GP or HTML team.
Once an article's thread tag changes to Grammar, the writer is done with the article and is now awaiting your edits. After the writer of the article has implemented two GP checks, the article must have HTML done, and then it is generally ready for publishing. Be advised that art may come to a project at any time of these projects and has no bearing on the order of phases therein.
The Flying Press releases individual articles about a variety of topics relating to Smogon, from Pokemon spotlights to tournament coverage to PS! room overviews. Note that the GP standards for The Flying Press are more relaxed than in C&C. Also, unlike C&C, The Flying Press's writing workshop is not public; you must have permission to view it, which is usually only given through having an article approved in the submission phase or becoming part of the official GP or HTML team.
Once an article's thread tag changes to Grammar, the writer is done with the article and is now awaiting your edits. After the writer of the article has implemented two GP checks, the article must have HTML done, and then it is generally ready for publishing. Be advised that art may come to a project at any time of these projects and has no bearing on the order of phases therein.
Social Media Spotlights
Social Media Spotlights consist of individual Pokemon set spotlights for different tiers that are uploaded to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. These are meant to be short and sweet and only require one QC and GP check each.
Social Media Spotlights consist of individual Pokemon set spotlights for different tiers that are uploaded to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. These are meant to be short and sweet and only require one QC and GP check each.
Starting your GP Journey
Before being accepted as an official member of the GP team, you'll obviously need to prove that you have what it takes to fit the bill. The best way to show your skills here is to do what we call amchecks, or amateur checks. A full guide for joining the team can be found here.
The first step to joining the team is by learning our standards through this GP workshop, where you can practice GP standards and other grammar rules that you’d need to fix as part of your amchecks.
Learning GP Standards and Grammar Rules
Our rules may feel difficult at first, but we have key resources that you should reference when doing checks.
- The Spelling and Grammar Standards is a full list of the criteria the GP team follows (we suggest bookmarking it). Make sure to use this thread to check the rules as you complete workshop exercises.
- The GP Beginner Notes contains the most common/important standards as well as English grammar rules and prose/subjective changes. This should be your main port of call for starting out, but it is not comprehensive whereas the standards thread is.
- In Section 4, there is a guide to using ctrl + f for proofreading. This is an essential tool that guarantees a higher quality check.
- We have a GP formatting tool that is highly recommended for formatting checks because it reduces the time taken to complete a check and removes any human errors that come with manual formatting. This can be accessed here.
- A guide to using this tool, including how it works, recommended settings, and pasting text to Smogon without using line breaks is available here. If you have questions, please ask us; don't just struggle with manual formatting.
- fleurdyleurse has compiled an extensive list of notes for new GPers to use as a reference as well. It can be found here
- A guide to making subjective GP changes can be found here.
- The GP Team Queue is where analyses that are ready for the GP phase are listed; the list of links in the OP is an automated list of every analysis currently waiting for GP checks. Although you can go and search for analyses to practice on yourself, this thread will help you find an analysis much easier.
- If you've done a few amchecks and/or workshop exercises already and are interested in joining the GP team, consider signing up for tutoring to receive more involved and thorough feedback here. An official GPer will be assigned to you and will help mentor you by answering any questions you may have and looking over your amchecks.
Example GP Check with Explanations
Hydro Pump is the preferred STAB due to its power but it can be unreliable at times. Alternatively, Surf can be run for accuracy in exchange for power. Ice Beam compliments Inteleon's Water STAB really well by hitting Grass types like Rotom-Mow and Vileplume Super Effectively. Dark Pulse provides Inteleon with a coverage move so that it isn't completely useless against Water-types like Vaporeon or Basculegion. Instead of Ice Beam or Dark Pulse, Inteleon could opt for Air Slash to better target Toxicroak and Tauroa-Paldea-Aqua but its lower base power means that it's worse at breaking through other Pokemon.
add remove comment
Hydro Pump is the preferred STAB move due to its power, (AC) but it can be unreliable at times. Alternatively, Surf can be run for accuracy in exchange for power. Ice Beamcompliments complements Inteleon's Water Water-type STAB move really well by hitting Grass types Grass-types like Rotom-Mow and Vileplume Super Effectively super effectively. Dark Pulse provides Inteleon with a coverage move so that it isn't completely useless against Water-types like Vaporeon or and Basculegion. (Do you mean Basculegion-M or Basculegion-F? It needs to be one of the two) Instead of Ice Beam or Dark Pulse, Inteleon could opt for Air Slash to better target Toxicroak and Tauroa-Paldea-Aqua Paldean Tauros-W, (AC) but its lower base power Base Power means that it's worse at breaking through other Pokemon.
Hydro Pump is the preferred STAB move due to its power, (AC) but it can be unreliable at times. Alternatively, Surf can be run for accuracy in exchange for power. Ice Beam
The term 'STAB' can't be used on its own because STAB refers to the 1.5x bonus only and not any actual moves that are boosted by the bonus. Therefore, if a writer has 'STAB' on its own, you should change it to STAB move, STAB attack, or STAB option.
The comma before 'but' is added here because the clause after it is independent. As explained in fleur's notes:
- Coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) should not be preceded by a comma when the clause that comes after is dependent (i.e. the clause cannot stand alone as a sentence).
- In the same vein, when the two clauses being connected are independent, a comma must be placed before the coordinating conjunction.
- e.g. Kingdra is a great fit on Water teams and works well on Dragon teams too (correct). / Kingdra is a great fit on Water teams, and it works well on Dragon teams too (second clause is now independent; needs comma after).
A common error made is confusing compliment and complement. A compliment is something like 'you're really good at GP!', whereas complement refers to one thing working well with another. In a Pokemon context, you'll always be looking for 'complement' because analyses talk about pairings and synergy.
As explained above, STAB can't be used on its own. The type name also can't be used on its own (without -type at the end) when talking about moves, so instead of 'a Water STAB move', we can change it to 'a Water-type STAB move.'
Types are hyphenated, so we say Grass-types and not Grass types or Grass Types.
The term super effective / super effectively does not use any capital letters or hyphens, so look out for this example and super-effectively, both of which are incorrect.
As explained in fleur's notes:
- Note that "x and y" is plural, while "x or y" is singular.
- e.g. Ground-types such as Landorus-T and Dugtrio is correct, but Ground-types such as Landorus-T or Dugtrio is not, as "Ground-types" is plural and needs to be matched with a plural. If "x or y" is preferred by the writer, opt for A Ground-type such as Landorus-T or Dugtrio.
This sentence is a good example of when a GPer would place a comment. From the GP standards, we know that using "Basculegion" without any suffix is incorrect. However, it isn't readily apparent whether the author is referring to Basculegion-M or -F, so we should ask the author or QC team for clarification.
Pokemon forme names (not form) are truncated, and the full list of them is in the very first point of the standards. Not all of them are intuitive, so make sure to always reference this list!
It is also worth noting that for regional formes, they are formatted with the region first and differ from the PS teambuilder. The GP standard is Alolan Ninetales / Galarian Slowking / Hisuian Samurott not Ninetales-Alola.
The comma before 'but' here also uses the same rule as the first sentence change. 'Its lower Base Power means that it's worse at breaking through other Pokemon' works as a standalone without depending on the other part.
Note that Base Power does use capital letters.
Time to Practice!
Below are some exercises that contain several errors. Test yourself here first if you'd like by providing GP editions of these examples to correct where they are wrong. Some have more identifiable mistakes than others, and some may need to be completely reworded. To receive feedback, simply provide your corrections as a response to this thread!
- Some of these exercises were taken from published work on Smogon. We trust you to work with pure honesty, using your own judgement only; of course, practice is the key and making mistakes will only help you gain more confidence. Please don't hesitate to ask if you're unsure!
- For the best use of the GP workshop, please only do one exercise at a time before receiving feedback.
- This is because some exercises, particularly at the Beginner level. have the same errors in them, so getting feedback between trying them out will improve your knowledge and allow you to identify errors that you may have missed before.
- Posting one at a time also makes it easier for GPers to provide timely feedback!
- The new version of the workshop classifies exercises into Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. If this is your first time posting here, please start from the Beginner exercises to aid your learning. GPers will then advise you which exercise tier to try next!
Cloyster is a strong late game presence on Hyper Offense teams with powerful wall breakers and set up sweepers. It struggles to break through bulky Water types and other Ice resists since it lacks coverage; Serperior OHKOs them with super-effective STABs, while pressuring other opponents with its boosted special attack. Cloyster also has a bad matchup into Infernape and Breloom as they have access to super-effective priortiy moves such as Vacuum Wave and Mach Punch. Defoggers like Altaria-Mega, Hydreigon or Gliscor help Cloyster as it is relied on to switch in often and it cannot do so due to its vulnerability to Stealth Rocks.
Ceruledge is an exceptional early game breaker on Fire-teams as it has access to strong STABs, and priority. Swords Dance allows it to setup quickly, enabling it to break opponents who would otherwise take hits like Toxapex or Goodra-Hisui. Poltergeist is essential for Ceruledge to hit Fire resists like Gouging-Fire, Toxapex, Skeledirge and Heatran as it is otehrwise has a bad matchup into them. Weak Armor paired with Focus Sash provides a speed boost to Ceruledge, while also preventing it from being OHKOd if there are no hazards.
Brave Bird hits threatening Grass Types and Fighting Types such as Amoonguss, Celebi or Infernape super-effectively, while also having the ability to revenge-kill weakneed slower opponents. Z-Brave Bird OHKOs Latias and Hydreigon after Stealth Rocks but running it means Crobat cannot run Black sludge. U-Turn allows Crobat to utilise its high speed to pivot out of Flying resists that it has a bad match up into, while keeping up momentum for its team. Taunt is essential as it shuts down Defensive Pokemon such as alomomola, and prevents opponents such as Hippowdon from being able to setup Hazards.
Tsareena's Grass-typing and powerful STABs let it threaten staples, and break Defensive Pokemon such as Swampert, Hippowdon or Suicune. Its ability to force out most Stealth Rocks setters helps it keep hazards off the field, while also having a strong offensive presence. Tsareena is easily revenge-killed by faster opponents who offensively pressure it such as Infernape, Aerodactyl-Mega and Nihilego. Therefore, it appreciates bulky Fire and Rock resists as they can safely switch into strong attacks.
Psychic Noise helps Reuniclus against Bulky opponents with recovery as it can disrupt Dudunsparce, and Wish users like Vaporeon. Psyshock lets Reuniclus easily beat Offensive Calm Mind set up sweepers like Articuno-Galar. Focus Blast KOs the Steel and Dark Types like Copperajah, Duraludon or Incineroar who would take a Psychic Type attack but Tera Blast Fairy can be used to have a super-effective attack into Goodra and Flygon. Tera Fairy maintains Reuniclus's Fighting resist, while allowing it to take Knock Off and U-Turn from opponents such as Incineroar, Gligar or Heracross.
Slither-Wing is a niche defensive pivot which uses it's interesting type, serviceable bulk and reliable recovery in Morning Sun to check attackers like Great Tusk, Breloom or Kingambit. U-Turn generates momentum for Slither-Wing's team against mons such as Flutter Mane and Skeledirge and it importantly allows Slither-Wing to avoid being trapped by Gothitelle. Close Combat OHKOs Iron Bundle and Chi-Yu and 2HKOs Miraidon which Body Press cannot do. Will-o-Wisp's Burn stops the Pokemon Slither-Wing checks from using it as set up fodder, it also punishes opponents such as Toxapex or Corviknight for switching in. Morning Sun heals Slither-Wing for 50% of its health, helping it to consistently switch into Great Tusk. Tera Water provides a resistance to Fire type attacks from Koraidon and Chi-Yu, and Water type attacks from Iron Bundle and Palafin allowing for a last ditch counterattack. 168 speed EVs out speed adamant Breloom and the rest are dumped into physical bulk.
Thanks to Tidy Up Cinccino is the main enabler of Hyper Offense teams, letting them run many powerful hazard weak Pokemon such as Oricorio-Pa'u, Arcanine, and Ninetales-Alola. Knock Off lets Cinccino hit Ghost Types like Chandelure, as well as Bronzong, an otherwise problematic wall. Encore allows Cincinno to capitalize on passive foes which setup hazards, boost their stats, or heal up such as Gligar, Registeel, and Sylveon. Teammates like Diancie, Toxtricity and Scyther can work alongside Cinccino to overwhelm shared Steel-type checks like Copperajah and Bronzong, however Fires and Fightings such as Chandelure, Tauros-Paldea-Aqua, and Heracross that easily beat these same Steel-types work as well. Grassy terrain teams also heavily benefit from Cinccinos presence since it lets Oricorio forms, Grafaiai, and Arcanine switch-in without having to take chip from hazards.
One of Brelooms main struggles is getting past Poison Types like Vileplume, Dragalge and Slowbro-Galar, so Psychic and Ground-types like Munkidori, Uxie, or Flygon are greatly appreciated. The former two as well as Kilowattrel and Dragalge excel at Pivoting Breloom in on Dark and Steel-types like Klefki, Registeel or Muk-Alola with their U-Turn and Flip Turn. Articuno-G is an exceptionally good partner which can provide U-Turn support and can use Future Sight to limit Breloom's switchins even further, and abuse Vileplume's Strength Sap with its Competitive. In a similar vein, pivot partners such as Mienshao, Incineroar, Inteleon and the aforementioned Flygon make good partners since they commonly draw in Water types like Vaporeon, Milotic, Gastrodon or Swampert, for Breloom to abuse. Teammates like Incineroar, A-Muk, and Bronzong, also make for decent teammates, handling the Psychic and Fairy-types, like Uxie, Munkidori, Whimsicott or Sylveon who force Breloom out.
Chien Pao appreciates Mandibuzz defogging away hazards to prevent it from being worn down by hazards. It can also bring Chien Pao in safely using a slow U-Turn. Mandibuzz is a great switch in to Fighting attacks from enemies like Scarf Sneasler and Scarf Tusk which Chien Pao is extremely vulnerable to, as well as being capable of checking set up sweepers like Azumarill or Scizor with Foul Play. In return, Chien-Pao deals with opponents which can cause problems like Sandy Shocks or Baxcalibur. Kingambit has impressive offensive synergy with Chien Pao due to its Neutrality to Fairy-type, being able to eliminate opponents like Hatterene with Iron Head, and Scarf Flutter Mane with Sucker Punch after rocks. In return Chien Pao hits threats to Kingambit like DD Dragonite, Iron Treads, Landorus-Therian and Defensive Gliscor.
Black Glasses and tera dark should exclusively be used with Kowtow Cleave as these enhance Kingambit's offensive pressure; with 5 Supreme Overlord boosts, Kingambit can reach feats like 2HKOing Dondozo with Kowtow Cleave and 1HKOing Walking-Wake and at +2 Dragonite through Multiscale with Sucker Punch. Air Balloon allows Kingambit to setup on would be checks in Landorus-T and most Great Tusks, become a sturdy switch in to offense threats like Kyurem, Roaring Moon, and Dragonite who rely on their Ground-type coverage to hit it, and gain an immunity to Spikes that limits Kingambit before it gets going. Kingambits potential and defensive utility in the late game make it a nearly staple on offensive archetypes from Bulky to Hyper Offense while still fitting on Balance. Physical teammates like Ogerpon-Wellspring, Zamazenta, and Swords Dance Valiant can overwhelm shared checks like Zanazenta, Landorus-Therian, and Dondozo. Dark Type offensive threat in Darkrai, and Samurott-Hisui form a Darkspam core with Kingambit to overwhelm Dark resists like Zamazenta and tera Fairy users like Gholdemgo and Moltres together.
Nihilego’s Rock and Poison-typing and above average special bulk allows it to setup Stealth Rock on threatening Fire and Fairy-types like Sylveon and Moltres, granting it several opportunities to setup Stealth Rock. It’s strong special attack and decent speed tier also allow it to threaten key Pokemon like Togekiss or Celebi and Life Orb boosted Thunderbolt eases Nihilego's matchup into Bulky Water Types like Empoleon or Tentacruel with little prior damage ensuring its hazards remain on the field. However, Nihilego has abysmal Physical Defense, and cannot switch-in to even some resisted Physical Attacks, so Physically Bulky teammates like Scizor or Slowbro can assist it. Nihilego also sports a crippling weakness to the common Ground- and Steel-types in UU with few options outside of Grass Knot, HP Ice in Gliscor's case and a Z Move to utilise against them, so pairing it with teammates which can handle them, such as Breloom and Chandelure, gives Nihilego more opportunities to break, and ensure Stealth Rock stays up.
Choice Specs Primarina is a very potent early to mid game wallbreaker which can soften foes up for a teammate to clean in the late game as its Water + Fairy-type gives it unresisted coverage into almost all of the metagame with it’s powerful STABs. With Psychic Primarina has the ability to hit Poison-Types super-effectively. Psychic helps remove the pressure that Poison-types like Tentacruel and Amoonguss put on Primarina. It’s high SpAtk allows it to even threaten some specially defensive walls such as Muk-Alola since it 2HKOs it after Stealth Rocks however struggles with bulky walls like Blissey, and so appreciates strong Physical Wallbreakers, such as Heracross, to support it. Primarinas slow speed leaves it outran by common staples such as Mega Manectric or Serperior so pairing it with a Scarfer such as Hydreigon and Infernape removes some of the pressure.
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