It would be great if someone would post some more complete rules as well as keep track of who is in and out and with how many points. Otherwise, this game will go nowhere.

DiploMerlin, that's correct. I don't think what you did was wrong. Of course, you did then commit the "lol" error, but I now see that you already thought you were out. It's up to ulytau, of course, but I would say you should be considered still in the game, since you had been incorrectly ruled out before.

Sem... the rules don't say you have to post complete sentences. It just said you have to post a minimum of two (sic) complete sentences.

So now I chime in asking for a clarification... Are we aonly allowing written proper grammar? Or shall we allow verbal colloquialisms (e.g. "y'all", "sayin'", and "ain't")?

FUCK! Are we only... Damnit, I lose to myself.

@diplomerlin. I'm out but feel I must point out that two is the correct usage there, so putting in (sic) - which should actually be [sic] - is incorrect itself. Meaning you lose as well.

Draugnar, do you get a point for pointing out your own error? Or are you out before you can earn it?

DiploMerlin, posting something that is not a complete sentence is always a grammatical error, though, with the single exception of the interjections "Oh," "Ah," and the like. So although the rules only say that you must post a minimum of two complete sentences, it is implicit that everything you post must be in the form of complete sentences.

Draugnar, I disagree. "Sic" means "so thus spelled". And I spelt it right. And it doesn't have to be in square brackets.

Classic Draugnar is classic. Also, I vouch for DiploMerlin's stay in the game. He committed his errors when he was under the impression that he was out.

From now on, everyone should capitalize the nicknames correctly. It's DiploMerlin and ulytau, not Diplomerlin and Ulytau.

Sem... Rules are made to be broken, and therefore anything "implicit" is not a rule. If it was, then we wouldn't need lawyers.

DiploMerlin, when I said that the need to use complete sentences was implicit, I meant that it was implied by the rule that requires correct grammar. If you post something that does not use complete sentences, then you are violating rule 2. You are suggesting that ulytau should have had to list all of the rules of English grammar in his initial post. That is absurd.

In any case, you lose, on two points. First, you opened with an incomplete sentence. (Alternatively, you should use a comma, not an ellipses, for direct address). Second, you failed to use the subjunctive: "If it was" should read, "If it were."

Thucydides, in your first post, you said, "What would happen if someone makes an accusation of error that is not actually an error?" You neglected to use the future subjunctive in your contrafactual conditional.

@semck93 - "In any case, you lose, on two points." One too many commas, my friend. It should be "In any case, you lose on two points" since "on two points" refers to why he lost.

Draugnar said, "One too many commas, my friend." That is a fragment.

In addition, he misspelled "semck83" as "semck93." This is simply unacceptable.

Ghug, we never did get clarification as to the written or spoken nature of the grammar. Fragments like that have implied words. In this case, "That was" was implied at the beginning. But seeing as I eliminated myself on my first post, it's irrelevant.

The rules say that each post requires "two complete sentences." A fragment is not a complete sentence. In addition, shouldn't one who has lost refrain from posting?

Draugnar, the second comma is not required, but it is optional and not incorrect. In particular, an inessential prepositional phrase may be set off in commas. Since this phrase ended the sentence, setting it off in commas means preceding it by a comma.

Incidentally, I propose a new rule, and request a clarification. First, I suggest that if the first person to catch an error is the poster himself, then he is not eliminated. In particular, this would imply that Draugnar is still in the game. Second, is it legal for an eliminated player to post corrections?

Draugnar, given that we are discussing comma usage, and are writing, I would say it is safe to assume that we are talking about written grammar. I do agree with ghug, though for different reasons. Posting a sentence fragment should disqualify somebody simply because it is grammatically incorrect.

"Sem..." is an address, not a sentence, and is not grammatically incorrect. The correct term for "..." is an ellipsis, not "an ellipses" and hence you misspelled it, and hence you are out.

As for the subjunctive "If it was", I used it correctly because I was referring to "not a rule" which is singular.

Dang, DiploMerlin, nice catch with the ellipses. However, I still say you're out. As I already pointed out while I was still in, ellipsis is the wrong punctuation for direct address.

DiploMerlin, "were" is singular in this case. I take it you don't know what the subjunctive is?

And here is a third rule question... Do you actually have a way to enforce someone who has lost from not posting? Would that not be censoring them? Does that not impinge upon their right of free speech? Ok, so it was actually several questions.

And I accept that I am out. I can't type to save my life sometimes. But I stand by the idea that a fragment where the subject and verb are implied is perfectly grammatically correct for conversational English. We need the clarification of which level of formality we are going to require. Will it be conversational or will it be collegiate or literary in nature?

Sem, I am OK with being out. I am just glad to have caught you out too. lol (I can do that now I'm out).

Sorry, I was typing that as the other responses came in. But I argue that, as a message board, the inhernet nature of the forums is conversational. It matters not the medium we use. What matters is the tone of the writing. In this case, conversational is the general tone on the forum.

ghug... no, but I did OK getting this far. lol.

Damn it all to hell! "inherent nature," not "inhernet nature," is what I intended to type.

Draugnar, the problem, I would argue, is that by the very nature of conversational English, there aren't _well-defined_ rules of conversational grammar. A game like this needs well-defined rules, so it needs to be literary English.