Quote: "As a fellow writer ...I know what you are talking about
When I'm tired, in caffeine and in "must finish chapter" mode I sometimes even forget to add words or entire followup sentences.
"
Yes, caffeine is the culprit! I've not actually had a proper all nighter in a long time, I hate them because sometimes I can have a good idea at 2am and have to write the bloody thing. Tea and Monster are good friends of mine, Monster is obviously for when tea's not powerful enough and I can't stand coffee I'm afraid.
Editing is actually a chain of facepalms of "did I really write that?"
Quote: "I have to add that I often have trouble with these A lot of us aren't native englishspeaking. And I learned most of my english from the internet and games so therefore my grammar fails me from time to time."
Yeah I can imagine non-native English speakers have trouble with the language, it's a creole language that has a LOT of borrowings, so it's horribly inconsistent.
I think an easy way to consider it: often when we use an apostrophe it's used when combining 2 separate words together (a contraction).
You're = you are (so if 'you are' is a sensible replacement, then use 'you're')
They're = they are
It's = it is
don't = do not
should've = should have (people get confused because it's often pronounced 'should of' so people write 'should of')
There vs their on the other hand. Perhaps differentiate between the two with a simple question and answer:
Where?
There!
You know how to spell 'where', therefore you can spell 'there'. I'm beginning to remember my primary school days when being taught to spell, the image of Wonder Hen will be stuck in my head forever (Wonder hen is how you spell 'when'), a super hero chicken ftw!
But of course, we also use an apostrophe for the possessive, to make things confusing, because 'it's' is a contraction, so what about the possesive of 'it'? "Oh my God
it's an alien!
Its tentacles are wrapping around Steve's throat! Please, won't Siggourny Weaver save us?"
Hurray for being consistent!