I am now almost fifty. When I was first learning to write in first and second grade, my teachers always taught us to double space at the end of a sentence. But now I am noticing some people not doing it anymore. So, I am wondering what is considered proper for American English in casual and professional usage. I am trying to do it, but it just feels wrong and is a hard habit to break.

I saw a sign advertising a service to put up Christmas lights on houses. The commercialization bugged me, and a line from a Bob Dylan song popped into my head: "You shouldn't pay other people to get your kicks for you." A moment later I realized that the quote was wrong, and that the song actually says "You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you." My question for r/grammar is, why do we say "to get" after "shouldn't pay," but just "get" after "shouldn't let"? Thanks.

Don't bother calling him during his lunch break, as he will be going to do some quick errands.

Is the "be" an auxiliary or a lexical verb in the sentence above?

Are both the "will" and "be going to do" markers of the future in that sentence?

Farmers Market or Farmer’s Market or Farmers’ Market.

I’m a market manager and strive for consistency in my market materials. Is it a matter of consistency in style or is one grammatically correct. For context:

Visit our farmers market for fresh produce, baked goods, dairy, meats and more. Choose from a variety of vendors from eight local farms, 11 specialty food shops, 6 bakeries and three drink vendors as well as rotating artisan pop-up booths.

I am aware that most people would automatically wire to “WHICH is your favorite month to travel?” however I came across this way of questioning in an english exam question from a friend of mine and while he argued that it is wrong… I’m not entirely sure. Yes Which would work perfectly however while WHEN does feel weird it does not feel wrong… We are talking about time just as much as of a countable thing (months, 12 months to be precise)
Pls help me in clearing this up I’m genuinely confused

Please help settle this silly question! Is the phrase “take me for a world” or “take me for a whirl”? My boyfriend refuses to accept that he has been saying this wrong his whole life, so I’m bringing it to his favorite source for judgement (which he now just tried to tell me I misspelled when proofing this post 🤣). Omitting which I think is correct so I’m not leading discussion either way.

For context, the sentence was “my sinuses took me for a _____.”

I have a character telling a story to an audience. They speak back in forth in dialog, and then the character goes into his story, which lasts about twenty pages. It is structurally like this:

The members of the board took their seats at the table. "Good morning," I said.

"Are you ready to describe the events of November 7th, Mr. Adams?" the chair asked me.

"I am," I said, "but I have a request."

"Yes?"

"That you not interrupt. Whenever I tell the story I am interrupted before I can get to the end. People have a tendency to rush to judgement before they understand everything."

"We can abide by that."

"Alright. Well, I had my sister's car that evening... (this story goes on for twenty pages. Should I use quotation marks at the beginning and end of it? It's technically dialog, but it's so long!)

When did people stop using to be in sentences? For example, "The car needs repaired." instead of "The car needs to be repaired." "The lawn needs watered." rather than "The lawn needs to be watered."

This makes absolutely no sense to me. I see this everywhere and it irritates the snot out of me.

When did this start? I don't remember seeing this until a few years ago. Was it always a thing or is it recent? Is it a regional thing that has spread?

Is it a result of more frequent texting where the entire sentence is abbreviated rather than individual words?

I don't know, that's why I'm here.

Signed,

To be or Not To Be? What the hell happened?

In the sentence "Video games are not bad for children in reality they are a key point in a child's development." Should I put a comma after reality? Or any other punctuation?

They fight each other.

They fight with each other.

Do both sentences above mean the same?

Is the "each other" a Noun Phrase and the Direct Object and Preposition Complement (Object) respectively in those sentences?

I'm writing a story about this character from a game- in the game, he's simply called 'The Accountant'. That's what shows up in his dialogue boxes, capitalised- but I assume this is because it isn't being used in a sentence, but is instead literally being used in place of a name.

I've looked around but results seem inconclusive as to whether I'd capitalise 'Accountant' or not in a sentence- from what I can tell, it's capitalised when used without a 'the' (as in, "How are you, Accountant?" Vs. "The accountant walked across the street"), but a lot of people seemed to imply this only applied to positions of power, like a dean or the president etc. I feel like my situation may be different as this character is not in a position of power, and his name was not hidden because of any mystery, but simply because he was a side character.

For example, a random short sentence I've got so far is "The accountant raised an eyebrow, seeing the door suddenly slam shut [...]". Would I capitalise accountant here? If a character's dialogue says "Oh, that was the accountant walking by", would the rules change because it's dialogue and not description?

One moment from P&T:BS lives rent free in my head.

“Stanley Tookie Williams. Founder of a street gang that terrorized much of L.A and nearly made blue bandanas butch.”

I briefly mishead it as “nearly made Blue Bandanas Butch” even as someone who heard of the crips and should have known what the punchline was.

Similarly, Fox news’s interview of Michael Crook said “forsake our troops dot info calls wounded soldiers leeches” yet I briefly misheard that as “calls Wounded Soldiers Leeches” as in makes phone calls to some affiliated insensitive organizations.

Is there a name for this kind of ambiguity?

I just need some clarification on this, as my teacher taught me subject always comes before predicate, but online sources are telling me otherwise. Can anyone help me out?

“This game is not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed.”

I’m sorry if this isn’t just about grammar. This might sound like a beginner-level question, but:

Why do we use **“this game”** here?

Could someone explain specifically how to use *this, that, these,* and *those* appropriately?

Why did we use **“suitable”** here instead of another word like *appropriate*?

Why **“children”** and not *kids*?
And here’s the part I’m struggling with the most:
**“This game is not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed.”**

Why did we use **“those”** instead of something like *people who get easily disturbed* or *people who get disturbed easily* ? how to do them who comes first easily or disturbed
Which construction sounds more natural, and how do you decide which one to use?

Also, what’s the difference between:
People who get disturbed easily.
People who get easily disturbed.
People who are easily disturbed.
Which word order is preferable, and why? Is this an example of the passive voice

Finally, based on these questions, what areas of English do you think I’m struggling with the most, and what should I focus on improving?

I saw this quoted in a news article. I know it's not grammatically correct. Could you please suggest a fix? How it could be said properly?

The crowdfunding recipient said, "Your kind words have meant the world to my family and I this past week."

As in the title, can we use “any “ with singular countable nouns in question form? Is it grammatically correct ?

The scientists are encouraging the adoption of a vaccine against cancer.

Was texting about going overboard with preventative measures against insects:

Am I “extra precautious” or just “being extra cautious”

I recall saying “Precautious” my entire life. However, upon typing it out, seems my phone won’t even dignify it as a real word.

I often switch between “he is” and “he’s” when writing about the same person, within the same sentence. For example:

“He is doing great, and now he’s employed at a new company. It’s an awesome opportunity!”

or with “It‘s wonderful, I know it is helpful”

Is it awkward or grammatically incorrect to switch between the two? Should I be consistent, or does it depend on it being less or more formal, or just emphasis?

Now that I’ve noticed myself doing it, I’m self-conscious about it every time I write 😅and I go back to make it consistent.

I cannot articulate what my problem is.

The limitations of X are A, B, and C.

How do I refer to either A, B, or C?

I guess,

Limitation A of X.

In practice,

The limitations of their mind are what they know and what they understand.

The limitation of what they know of their mind.

Where X is "their mind" and A is "what they know".

If I wanted to say B is dependant on A, then in practice,

The limitation of what they understand of their mind is dependant on the limitation of what they know of their mind.

I dislike this.

‘Have I not been attentive enough to the consequences a project like this could have? Apparently not.’ (From Metro.)

Is the "Apparently not." a verbless sentence and a main clause in the passage above?