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So I was enjoying the initial conversation with Khem Val...


Apano

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This isn't actually a word.

 

Grammatically speaking no, but I often heard people saying it. We're talking about dialogue here. If real people say there're, then why shouldn't a fictional character?

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Except "they're" is in English dictionaries.

 

So are you saying that all character dialogue should be grammatically correct, rather than representing the way that many people do actually speak? That's an interesting viewpoint, but I doubt you will find many writers who would agree with you.

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So are you saying that all character dialogue should be grammatically correct, rather than representing the way that many people do actually speak? That's an interesting viewpoint, but I doubt you will find many writers who would agree with you.

 

It's also a viewpoint I didn't advocate, so I'm not sure who you're talking to.

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Nonsense. The Imperials in this game all speak like Americans ... they just do it with English accents :)

 

True, but no really. It's perfect acceptable to spell words phonetically when they are spoken in dialog. Almost every writer does it. When you read a book, you can see "Let us get out of here!" but you can also see "Let's get outta here!" It depends on how the writer wants to accentuate the dialog.

Edited by AGSThomas
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technically speaking, it doesn't have to be defined to be a valid contraction. It's valid. So is where've, (where have) which is also not commonly defined, and is often flagged by spell checkers. The one on the forum for instance. There're others as well.
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It is not a recognized contraction in the Standard English sense, however it is an accepted colloquial contraction if used in a conversational / spoken context.

 

If the benchmark for the game's conversations is Standard English, then "There're" would be considered a grammatical error.

 

HOWEVER, while I have not heard the conversation, it must be pointed out that the words that appear on screen are subtitles to what is spoken. As such, if the spoken words are "There're" in the colloquial sense, and the words that we hear are in fact, "There're" (rather than "There are"), then the contraction is perfectly acceptable.

 

JUSTIFICATION for response:

 

Fours years Honours Bachelor of English (Canadian University) and 15 years High School English Teacher.

 

Cheers!

Colloquial_Canuck :)

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I think it should be "grammatically correct"... Just like the conversation piece should actually be what is written there.

The amount of times I've picked an option and my Sith has said something completely different is pretty amazing.

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There're (heh) some pretty embarrassing spelling and grammatical errors in the SWTOR text (many of which have, thankfully, been fixed), but this isn't one of them, due to the context.

 

A quick search shows that it's a common colloquialism as used in speech, though it doesn't formally exist as a contraction. (This is odd, because "there's" is used instead, which is an issue with plurals:"There's lots of bugs in SWTOR" would be expanded "There IS lots of bugs in SWTOR", which is incorrect; it should be "There ARE lots of bugs in SWTOR." Yet, "There's" is considered an acceptable contraction even when referring to plurals.)

 

Because it's used in dialog (as opposed to descriptive text, lore entries, and so on), though, it's correct, in that it's reflective of spoken language, and dialog options should be based on the character's style of speech, which may be informal and/or ungrammatical. Ask Mark Twain.

 

There is a good discussion of this here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/askaboutenglish/2010/03/100330_aae_there_page.shtml

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There is a bunch of "debate" in this thread over an obvious miss spelling.

 

Perhaps this post should be moved to the technical support forums for the QA guys to put in their list of "cosmetic" level bug fixes.

 

I am trying to decide if this is deliberate humor or if my irony meter just exploded.

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There're (heh) some pretty embarrassing spelling and grammatical errors in the SWTOR text (many of which have, thankfully, been fixed), but this isn't one of them, due to the context.

 

A quick search shows that it's a common colloquialism as used in speech, though it doesn't formally exist as a contraction. (This is odd, because "there's" is used instead, which is an issue with plurals:"There's lots of bugs in SWTOR" would be expanded "There IS lots of bugs in SWTOR", which is incorrect; it should be "There ARE lots of bugs in SWTOR." Yet, "There's" is considered an acceptable contraction even when referring to plurals.)

 

Because it's used in dialog (as opposed to descriptive text, lore entries, and so on), though, it's correct, in that it's reflective of spoken language, and dialog options should be based on the character's style of speech, which may be informal and/or ungrammatical. Ask Mark Twain.

 

There is a good discussion of this here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/askaboutenglish/2010/03/100330_aae_there_page.shtml

While your answer is nearly exactly what I stated 2 posts above, I believe, as far as my knowledge of, and experience in teaching the English Language, you are mistaken when you say "There's" is an acceptable contraction for plural forms.

 

This is not the case in fact.

 

"There's" is strictly for singular. The confusion stems from its common usage in refering to "lots" of items.

 

For example, if one says: "There's a load of eggs on the truck", the reference is to "the load" (which is singular) as opposed to the "eggs" (which is plural).

 

As well, if one says : "There's a lot of people here tonight", the "lot" (which is often used as an adjective meaning "many") is in fact a singular term refering to a "grouping" of people. So again, the usage is still singular.

 

If however, you say: "There's people on the bus", or "There's noodles on my plate", this usage is technically incorrect in Standard English and only permitted (and accepted), in the colloquial sense.

 

Cheers!

Corrective_Canuck :)

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