Grammer problem

[bob414bob]

I am writing a book about the ice age, in it i am trying to describe why the number three is sacred. I have put, " Earth,wind and fire. Man. woman, child. Sun, moon and stars, all contain the sacred number." However when i use my spell check it tell me this is incorrect grammer. Please help

[Amie]

Hiya again

First, little nitpick -- it's grammar, not grammer.

As for your paragraph, technically speaking, the first two are phrases and not sentences (there's only subjects, no verbs).  I don't really see that this matters though.  Stylistically, if I were going to write this sentence, I might make it something like this:

Earth,wind and fire; Man, woman and child; Sun, moon and stars. All contain the sacred number.

But your spell-checker won't like that either

[bob414bob]

 Oops, spelling is not my strong point, sorry.
I've pretty much written what you suggested but does it matter if my spell check doesn't like it?

[Amie]

You aren't going to like this but:  it depends   If you want to be perfectly grammatically correct, you should listen to your spell checker, and also get some other advice (spell-checkers often get things wrong).  On the other hand...

There's a bit of subjectivity.  Personally, I don't mind lists as fragments, but I get rather annoyed by other types of fragments.  The general rule I would use is, does the sentence or fragment confuse the reader?  I don't think your lists do.  But this site gives some examples of fragments that grate:  http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_frag.html

In casual discourse (eg, responses on an internet message board), I relax my grammar guard.  One could argue that some types of novel are also intended to be more relaxed than formal.  I think the bottom line is, is your style easy for your reader, and does it convey your ideas?  After that, I might be concerned if certain grammatical errors made me look like an ignoramus, and might pick and choose from there. 

You might like to get a slim volume on grammar, such as "Elements of Style":  http://www.bartleby.com/141/

[bob414bob]

Thanks, i think you are right, in the context of my book it does make sense. I have just this minute ordered a cpoy of  Write Right: A Desktop Digest of Punctuation, Grammar and Style. Hopefully that will help.

[Katinka]

Bob, where did you send for the program? I used to have it and lost it in restoring my pc. I liked it but still, you have to preserve your individual style. You can't submit totally to any program.
kat 

[Lin]

I was reading through this and Im not sure if you guys are getting mixed up between spell checkers and grammar checkers.   You can find both of these on Microsoft Word in the Tools.   I suppose there are other more expensive programmes but I do find this is adequate for me.

Lin
Moderator

[bob414bob]

My computer has spell and grammar check as one tool. The computer came with it so i dont know where you can get it, sorry